Game (Gentry Boys, #3)(80)
We finally rolled out of bed a little while later. Stephanie started another pot of coffee while I poured two bowls of cereal.
“This is how you know I love you,” I said, pushing a bowl across the table to her. “I wouldn’t even willingly share my Marshmallow Mates with the boys.”
She smiled and grabbed a spoon. I looked around the apartment while I chewed. I was just giving Steph a hard time when I complained about the boxes. There weren’t many and they didn’t bother me. There’d been so much to catch up with lately but all of it was wonderful. At the beginning of the month Cord and Saylor had moved into their rental house two miles away. Truly and Creed found an apartment in a quieter part of town and they had happily settled there the day Stephanie and I moved into our own place. Stephanie’s landlord agreed to let her break her lease if she would take a one bedroom apartment that had just been vacated. It was a little cheaper than the place she’d shared with Truly and with the two of us working we could manage the rent.
Even though I had no doubts at all about living with Stephanie, I was still getting used to not having my brothers close all the time. For nearly twenty three years we’d been together every step of the way. And even though we still weren’t that far apart in terms of distance, we were separating in a more important way. We would always be the Gentry boys; our histories were too intertwined and we loved each other too much. But we were also men who were finding our own paths and building our own families.
“What’s wrong?” asked the girl I loved.
I reached under the table and squeezed her knee. “Nothing, sweetheart. Everything is perfect.”
She slid out of her chair and into my lap. Her arms went around me and my hand went up her shirt. “You look like you need another Christmas present,” she said seriously.
Who the hell would turn down an offer like that? “I think you’re right.”
After we got a good workout in the shower and then another in the bedroom, Stephanie cursed when she noticed the time. “We’ll be late!” she panicked and started diving through boxes looking for something to wear. Since it was an activity she was conducting while completely, gloriously naked, I was in no hurry to move on to something else.
“Chase! Get dressed. We need to leave here like ten minutes ago.”
“Fine,” I sighed and threw on a shirt and jeans.
Stephanie pulled on the plain black dress she’d worn on our first real date and then hunted around for shoes.
“Fuck it,” she grumbled and then pulled on her black and white Converse sneakers. She fluffed her long curly hair and gave me a timid smile. “Do I look okay?”
“No,” I told her gravely. “You don’t look okay. You look stunning.”
We got to Cord and Saylor’s place at a quarter after two and of course we were the last ones there. Cord didn’t complain. He gave me a broad grin when he opened the door. The first thing I saw was a Christmas tree. When we were growing up, we’d only sporadically had trees for the holiday, and usually only when our Uncle Chrome brought one over. Saylor stood in front of the tree, looking radiant and even more pregnant than the last time I’d seen her three days earlier. She hugged us and then shooed us into the living room. Creed waved from a corner armchair where Truly was nestled in his lap. Brayden and Millie had their arms around each other and were standing on the opposite side of the room. My cousin Deck had ridden his bike up from Emblem this morning and he was sprawled on the couch with a lazy smile on his face.
Saylor waited until Cordero was at her side. They smiled at each other and Saylor prodded my brother with a wink.
“You tell them.”
Cord took a deep breath. “Girls,” he said proudly as he placed a loving hand over his wife’s stomach. “Two healthy girls.”
There were a lot of squeals and hugs as the news sank in. Cord went to shake my hand but I grabbed him in a full bear squeeze, feeling myself getting a bit teary-eyed over the sheer goddamn miracle of it all. There was no other word for it.
Truly had brought over a glazed ham and sitting down to a holiday meal in my brother’s home, surrounded by the people I loved, just felt surreal. Stephanie sat to my right and Deck to my left. Throughout dinner I joked with my cousin, kept my hand on my girl’s knee and just felt utterly grateful for everything and everyone around me.
Later, the girls cornered poor Declan in the kitchen and fussed over him.
“We simply have to find you a nice girl now,” Truly was saying as she handed him a plate.
Deck took the plate and began blotting it with a dishtowel. “A nice girl won’t be so nice anymore after I spend a few hours with her.”
“Deck,” I said incredulously, “why the hell are you drying the dishes?”
He shrugged. “Seemed like the polite thing to do.” He held a glass up to the light and examined it for spots. “You know I’m all about politeness, Chase.”
Saylor and Stephanie were sitting at the table giggling. Deck did that to women, all women. I decided to abandon the spectacle of my heavily tattooed leather-clad cousin performing housekeeping duties. Creed was standing out in the backyard watching the sunset.
“So how’s the cohabitation?” I asked him.
He stared at me a little blankly.
“You and Truly getting along?”
Creed flashed a smile. “Of course. How about you and Steph?”