days? I’m honest to God worried you’re going to go in there one day and never be seen again. I’m thinking we need to have a protocol that you tie a rope around your waist and to the door handle so you can find your way out again.”
“That wardrobe is not entirely my fault. And it keeps growing, somehow. There was stuff in there this morning I could have sworn wasn’t there last night.” When the maids came up to pack everything for the rushed move, I did another cull and sent some more things back to Rachel. Like three of the four Chanel handbags that had mysteriously appeared. I probably don’t even need the one I kept, but it’s so pretty. The orchid diamond necklace in a Cartier box also went back. My soul is stained enough by conspicuous consumption these days. “You need to tell Rachel to stop.”
He just grins. His arsenal of smiles is unmatched. “What do you think of the place?”
“What’s on the next floor?” I ask, taking a seat in a leather wingback and crossing my legs. Enough stairs for now.
He sits on a long low modern gray lounge opposite. “Three more bedrooms, bathrooms, a media room, and a family room. Then there’s the rooftop terrace with a hot tub and plunge pool. That’s it.”
“No ballroom?”
“Sorry.”
“Bummer. Guess we’ll just have to do without.”
“However will we manage? Henry can have one of the rooms on the top floor. Your mom can stay up there too and have her own space.” For a minute, he waits. Before finally saying, “What are you thinking?”
I inhale calm and exhale stress, just like the meditation app says to. “You bought it last night when you were drunk.”
“Tipsy.”
I frown.
He holds out a hand. “Come here.”
The hand guides me onto his lap, where I sit crosswise with my feet dangling just off the floor. It does feel better, getting closer. Rubbing up against the scent and the feel and the everything of him. Beck makes a wonderful security blanket. He wraps his arms around my middle and watches me closely with hazel eyes. “Listen to me. By the time I had papers drawn up and things were being signed this morning I was stone cold sober and only like…half as afraid of your mother as I had been the day before. Three quarters, max. But, beloved, if you don’t like the house—”
“I love it.”
“Oh, okay. Why are you so stressed, then?”
“This is all happening really fast. Us getting together, me moving out here, you buying this place…” My throat goes tight and my eyes go liquid. Ugh. The last thing I want to do is cry. There’s no reason to cry. It’s just nerves and other assorted unnecessary emotions. “You know, I’ve bought things on a whim before. Like a few months back I decided to get a DVD player so I could watch my old movies and some BBC television series I hadn’t seen in years. But I forgot to check that it was coded for all regions and then most of my stuff wouldn’t play and the place I bought it off refused to let me return it because they’re assholes. So it cost me $29.99. Thirty bucks down the drain. I was so angry at myself for wasting that money. Just because I hadn’t been careful enough to check. But you…you buy a whole building. A beautiful building, but still. I guess what I’m really worried about is, are you sure about this? Do you really think you could be happy here, Beck?”
He looks at me and then he looks around, taking in the opulent room. “You know, Selah would have hated it. She wanted a big old mansion on Grandma’s street. Somewhere she could hobnob with the rich and judgmental. Sure, this place is shiny and cost a lot. But without the right zip code and neighbors to impress, what’s even the point?”
“So we won’t invite Selah to move in with us. That’s decided,” I say. “But what about you?”
“Do you really like it? Really truly?”
“It’s like its own little world,” I say. “A modern-day castle in the middle of the city.”
“Does that make me Prince Charming?”
“Yes. And I am the poor common girl with bitchin’ taste in T-shirts who has caught your eye.”
“You’ve caught more than that and you can be the queen of my castle any day.” His smile is slow and glorious. And he’s so close, it’s hard not be a little dazzled. “Alice, you’re