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I grab my own sandwich and smoothie from the bag when I hear the bathroom door open.
It's my mother.
She showed up because she knew I'd be here.
This is a special time for me and my brother so I'm a little frustrated that she came in to ruin it with more talk about how I’m going to regret marrying Ryker.
“Hi, Mom.”
My brother doesn't seem to mind our conversation. His head is down, his eyes on his task at hand setting up our first game.
If the kid went to Vegas, he'd be considered a card shark. His ability to count cards is remarkable.
“How'd it go yesterday?” she asks.
“Well… I'm married.”
She rolls her eyes and looks out the window at the courtyard below, folding her hands across her chest.
“I know you're not happy about this but it’s already done and Jerrin gets to move into the new center next week.”
Jerrin’s eyes pop up quickly to look at me.
“The new center?” he asks.
We've talked about this for months. I knew I had to prepare my brother. I’ve driven him by the new building a few times just to get him familiar. And we even walked into the lobby to check the place out. His eyes lit up when he saw the baby grand sitting in the corner. I knew they would.
I know change is hard for him but this change is going to be good. And he seemed okay with the idea of it.
“They're going to set you up with an occupational therapist that loves Texas Hold'em,” I tell him.
Jerrin nods but keeps at his task at hand, not touching his food or smoothie, but he doesn’t usually like distractions when he’s playing cards.
“I told you he doesn’t need this new center,” my mom says.
“Can we not do this right now?” I ask, gesturing to the card game I’m about to take part in.
I haven’t seen Jerrin all week with my full schedule and my mom knows it.
I can see her eyes soften. She knows she’s cutting into my time with my brother and that this isn’t the time to have this conversation.
“Of course,” she says. “But we’re not done talking about this.”
“I'm sure we’re not,” I say back, not taking my eyes off my brother starting to distribute the cards.
My mom sits down quietly in a corner on the sofa. Pulling out her tablet, she starts reading some book… quietly at least.
I'm glad we can at least be in the room together, the three of us, without this being an issue.
As my brother and I start to play, I can’t help but feel as though my feelings for Ryker are starting to change. I don't know what that means considering everything's temporary. Maybe the next two years will be better than I expect.
We didn’t get much of a chance to discuss how our wedding night might affect our relationship going forward but knowing that he’ll be home in a couple more hours has me anticipating his arrival.
After Jerrin and I play our game, I head back to the apartment. Ryker gets back from being out-of-town and I have that lacy red lingerie sitting unused in the department store bag that Shawnie got me, though it seemed like the thing he loved the most was that underwear with my married name on the back.
The minute I push through the penthouse door, I hear classical music playing but I don’t remember leaving the music on when I left this morning. I walk in a little further to find a bouquet of red roses in a vase on the island and take out Thai food with candles lit all over.
I look toward the hallway to find rose petals leading all the way down to the hall.
