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Shane steps to my other side.
“We’re both considering it. What do you think?”
I’m suddenly proud of both of them, but I’m sad at the same time.
“This is amazing. I’m happy for you. I mean just look at it.”
I return my attention to the garden and my heart sinks a little.
“Something’s wrong.” Shane examines my face closely.
“No. I’m being selfish. You’ll be farther away from me. It’s stupid. Of course I love it. I’ll be here all of the time.”
Alex’s laughter catches me off guard and Shane walks to the refrigerator and opens it as he answers me.
“You won’t have far to go since we expect you’ll be in our beds, Kitten.” His words surprise me and I spin to see him pulling a bottle of chilled champagne from the fridge. “What do you say? Think you could live here—with us.”
Shane looks around and mutters to himself about forgetting the glassware in the car before he tells us to put a pin in the conversation and leaves, heading toward the front of the house.
I return my focus to the backyard.
Could I live here? Just like that.
“You look like there are a million things going through your head. I hope one of them is a yes,” Alex says from behind me.
“There’s a lot to consider.” I turn to find Alex has closed the distance between us.
His arms circle my waist as he lowers his lips to my ear.
“I guarantee you there isn’t anything we haven’t thought of.” He kisses my neck before pulling away at the sound of Shane setting glasses on the counter.
He leaves the champagne unopened and joins us, sliding in front of me and holding my upper arms, his fingers tracing little circles over my skin.
“I thought your mother might like the vegetable garden out back. I remember you had a garden at your place in high school.” Alex slides the door to the patio open and Shane leads us into the yard.
“Well, yes. I mean she loved to garden, but—”
“She’ll have easy access to it from her own place.” I follow Shane’s finger as he points just beyond the yard to a building I hadn’t noticed yet. “Those are the old servants quarters. They’ve been updated and now they act as a guesthouse. It’s fully furnished already.”
“Are you serious?” They nod.
“We thought she would want to be close to her granddaughter, and now that she’s moved into your apartment with you, we can’t really leave her on her own. Annie will also have somewhere to sleepover when we’re feeling—selfish.” A sly smile crosses Shane’s face.
Our time apart these last few months hasn’t just affected me.
“I can’t speak for her but I want you both there when I ask her. Then she won’t feel like she’s imposing on you.” Both men nod their agreement.
I think about Annie and if this would affect her but the doctors are already talking about putting more time between each of our visits.
“What if Dale comes back? What if he hears about this,”—I wave my hand around the room—”and he comes back looking for money?”
“You can’t deny yourself happiness because of him. He’s not coming back.” Shane turns me to face him.
He looks so sure, so confident in his words. The figurative elephant in the room niggles in my mind and there is one last question I need the answer to before we move forward.
I have to know.
“Is he—dead?”
