although she doubted he meant to tell her he was in love with her, she didn’t doubt his sincerity.
“We’re the last two people under thirty-five who are single, did you realize that? If you refuse me, it’s online dating for us or, worse, the fix-up.”
“Oh god, you make me sound so appealing,” she cried, laughing out loud. “So we’re hard up, is that what you’re trying to say?”
“Unless you want to make a play for old cray cray LeBlanc, I’d say that about sums it up. We’ve got each other and no other,” he sang.
Then in the morning, he found her out on the balcony. “I wondered where you went.”
Fresh out of the shower, Dave had that dewy look men get when they are hungover but too proud to admit it. She looked up into his blue eyes and all his glory, and it was pretty breathtaking. Having that to look at the first thing every morning wouldn’t be such a bad thing, would it?
“I’ll get you coffee,” she said, starting to stand.
“You stay put.”
He disappeared and came back a minute later with coffee, pulling the chair next to her away a little, and sat down.
“I wondered if I was alive when I got up.”
“Ha! Me too,” she replied. “But strange thing, I regret nothing.”
“Me either. As a matter of fact, I want to solidify some of the things I remember talking about.”
“Oh no,” she said, laughing. “Go ahead.”
“Okay, decision one. Can I still move in with you?”
She didn’t remember that discussion. He wanted to move into her crappy apartment?
“Dave, where do you live that you’d rather live here? It must be awful.”
“I still live at home,” he said, laughing. “I have an apartment above the garage, so it’s nice and private, but I like it here. I like you. I love you.”
“You can move in with me. It seems like it might be a bit tight.”
“We can find a two-bedroom, then, if you want. I don’t care where I live as long as it’s with you.”
“Wow, you’re sweeping me off my feet, Chastain. Aren’t you afraid your big brother might get a hair in his ass about me?”
“I’ll send him a text right now.”
He got out his phone and sent a text to Justin.
I’m in love with Amber Greely. She wants to know if you’ll get a hair in your ass about her if we move in together.
Justin looked at his phone when it beeped. “Jesus Lord, my brother has lost his mind.”
“What now?” Maggie asked, setting a glass of iced tea down on the table. They were sitting on the porch, waiting for inspiration to do something to strike, with taking a nap at the top of the list of things to do.
“Dave is at Amber’s. They’re talking about moving in together.”
“Is he asking your permission?”
“Not exactly. Well, sort of. It’s okay with me as long as you’re okay with it.”
“I’m fine with it. They’re like the last holdouts in town. Who else would they hook up with?”
“I’m telling him you said that,” Justin replied, laughing out loud.
“She’ll hate me.”
“So what? You only speak the truth.” He looked at his phone and barked out a laugh. “Dave just answered, ‘I just told her that.’ Ha!”
“Is he having to talk her into it?” Maggie asked, disbelieving. “Jeez, any woman should be thrilled with a Chastain.”
“I’m telling him you said that too,” Justin said, laughing.
“She’s going to hate me again.”
“He said, ‘I just told her that, and she said to tell Maggie she agrees.’”
While Justin and Dave texted each other, Amber drank coffee and pondered the strange turn her life had taken. She watched Dave smiling at his phone, answered when he shared the conversation with her, and agreed with everything Maggie had said. Maybe having to be humiliated by the three of them was the restitution she’d have to do for past mistakes. There was no mistake about it, Dave Chastain was a catch.
He turned to her, grinning. “My brother just invited us to Maggie’s to cut down a tree. It won’t be big; they’re thinning out the seedlings. He said theirs is about four feet high. She called it a Charlie Brown tree.”
“We can do that if you’d like. It might feel a little weird…”
“Just say no.”
“No, I want to go. If we’re going to hook up, I need to be friends with these people.”
“Not necessarily. Only where you’re comfortable.”
“You’d abandon your family for me?”
“No, but I wouldn’t expose you to them. It’s a big difference.”
“I’m fine. You