Chapter 26
“Are you sure no one is going to find it weird that I’m here?” I whisper, gripping Ridge’s arm tighter as we walk into his grandparents’ house.
It’s his grandfather’s birthday on his mother’s side, and I sort of feel rude, being here, but he said he wouldn’t come without me, so here I am.
“They’ll be excited and probably ask you when our wedding is,” he says, laughing. But he quickly cringes and looks at me. “I’m actually fucking serious, so promise me it won’t weird you out and then you run away again.”
I pat his abdomen with my other hand. “I’m not going to run away, big guy. You can calm down.” I look around the old but adorable house. “Wow, this house is so …”
“Old?” he guesses, looking around. “Was it the wallpaper that gave it away? Or that smell? I’m not quite sure what it actually is, but it screams ancient.”
“Hey now, that’s not nice to say about your grandparents,” Katherine says, walking around the corner toward us. She smiles when she sees me. “Stella, it’s nice to see you back in Maine.”
When she hugs us each, one at a time, Ridge shrugs. “For the record, I wasn’t talking about Grammy and Grampy. I was talking about their house.” He looks around, sniffing. “And if you try to say it doesn’t smell in here, you’re a liar, Katherine. So, don’t bother.”
“Don’t call me Katherine, you jerk; you know I hate that.
” His mom swats at him and rolls her eyes.
“Fine, my rotten child. It smells in here. This house was built over a hundred years ago, so of course it smells. Everything smells when it’s old—even people.
” She narrows her eyes. “One day, your dad and I will smell, too, and you’ll have to take care of us. ”
“I’ll pass,” Ridge utters. “I have three brothers who are much nicer than I am. They’ll do a great job.”
His mom, being used to his sense of humor, laughs before she throws her arm around me. “Come on, guys. We were just about to eat.”
I’ve been in Maine for three days now. But for the first two, we hardly left the motel room. And then, yesterday, when we finally did get to Ridge’s house, we watched movies with Marlin and did absolutely nothing.
“Do you know how long you’re staying this time?” she asks, leading us down the hallway, where I hear laughter and chatter.
“No, not yet,” I answer softly, unsure of what to say because there’s no way I’m just going to stay here forever with a man I haven’t even known a month. I’m also not going to say that I never want to move here because it’s been crossing my mind more and more. But I don’t want to rush things.
And before I drop everything and give up my apartment in New York, first, we need to properly date. Even if a lot of it will be done long distance.
“Well, please come by and visit before you go back.” She cringes. “Good luck. Just so you know, my family is loud. All of them.”
And then we’re walking into the dining room, and every single eye at the table … is on me. Just as my heart begins to race and my palms grow sweaty, Ridge squeezes my hand.
“Wow, your hand’s gross,” he whispers into my ear, chuckling. “Good thing you’re hot. That would be a major turnoff.”
I roll my eyes at him but refrain from hitting him in front of his family. And as he turns toward everyone and starts to introduce me, I realize what a big step this is. Being here, with not only his brothers and parents, but his aunts, uncles, and cousins too.
“Hey, everyone. This is my girlfriend, Stella.” He smirks, his eyes twinkling at me because he just called me his freaking girlfriend for the first time in front of a room full of people. “And, Stella, this is everyone.”
Once everybody waves and says hello from their seats, Riley struts over toward us.
On his lips is his usual grin, and he throws his arm around me. “Oh, hey, city girl. You here to try to buy out my grandparents’ house for that fancy company you work for?” He looks around. “Just a heads-up, there’s about … four or five layers of wallpaper caked on these walls.”
“Har-har,” I say, rolling my eyes. “My days of buying property for Ironbound are over.” I glance at the wall. “And to be honest, I kinda think the wallpaper is charming.”
He seems stunned, and yet, somehow, he still looks amused and playful. I think that expression may permanently stay on his face though.
“Does that mean you left the city and are back in Holiday Harbor for good?” He lifts a brow. “After all, this guy did call you his girlfriend.”
I side-eye Ridge before I nudge him with my shoulder. “He did choose a very public moment to do that, didn’t he?” I grumble. “And, no, I’m not moving here just yet.”
Riley covers his mouth and then drops his hands down and claps. “Not yet?” He slaps his big brother on the shoulder. “She said not yet, bro. Not never. Or not … no way. She said—and I quote—‘not yet.’ ”
After clapping his hands a few more times, he turns away and heads back to his seat, leaving me the perfect chance to look at my apparently new boyfriend and hit him with a questioning gaze.
“Girlfriend, huh?”
He dips his lips closer to my ear. “Not moving to Holiday Harbor yet, huh?” He pulls back, winking. “I like the sound of that, Fireball. Because you didn’t say never. You said yet. And, yeah, you heard what I said. Girlfriend.” His eyes dance. “What do you have to say about that?”
Turning my body toward him, I gaze up. “I’d say … all right, boyfriend. Let’s go eat, shall we?”
“Oh, by the end of the night, I’ll be eating more than just the food on the table,” he drawls. “But, yes, babe, let’s eat. I’m starving.”
We walk toward a table full of people I don’t know, and something that would have terrified me a month ago suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. Because the guy next to me? Wherever he is, that’s where I want to be too.