67. This Is Us Now
I watchas Chloe and Brant work together on the other side of the room. Chloe takes down a large black and white photograph of something that looks like the rusty underside of a bridge, and Brant replaces it with Dad”s painting. Silver moves to whichever one of them isn”t actively doing something at the time, thinking they should be petting him, Usually they agree.
Brant and Chloe both insisted that Dad”s painting had to come with me to Brant”s house. Our house. I wanted it here too. I want a piece of Dad to be here with me. I want the reminder of the man who always loved me, even when I couldn”t love myself.
”So this is you now.” Em rests her arm over my shoulders.
I lean against her. ”This is us now.”
A warmth I never knew was possible spreads from the center of my ribcage. These are my people. Mine. Brant and Chloe. And Em, though staying in Salt Lake means I won”t see her nearly as often as I want. Even all the guys on the team. These are the people who will always be there for me, and the people I”m promising to always stand beside.
”I still think Chloe should have made you work for it,” Em says. ”Held out for the biggest bedroom, negotiated a later bedtime, something. I would have.”
I”m surprised Chloe didn”t try to make me squirm, but I couldn”t have handled it if she did. Once we finally let go of each other, the three of us walked into Michael”s office. We told her what we want to do. That we want her to live with us, and that we want to be her legal guardians so she won”t have to worry about her parents ever doing anything to her again. Just as importantly, we want it to be a symbol to her that we”ll always be there for her.
Even without a judge”s order, we will be, but today is the first day of a life proving to that girl she is worth everything she could ever dream of. I almost laughed as I held her hand there in the office of Bridges. Now I know what my dad and Brant felt about me.
Chloe listened silently as we told her our plan What the most likely steps are, and where there might be problems along the way. None of us want her to think this will be easy. For all we know, her parents might contest it and do everything they can to stop us, just to keep their daughter unhappy. But she needs to know that we”re committed. The only reaction she gave while we were telling her all this was an occasional tightening of her hand around mine, but as soon as we asked her if she wanted this too, she nodded. She didn”t try to hide behind sarcasm or pretend to be indifferent. She nodded so hard her upper body bobbed along. Even though I did everything I could to fight it, I broke down. Chloe just looked at me and rolled her eyes. That made me so happy there was no way I could have stopped the tears after that.
”Of course you would have held out,” I tell Em. ”You”re a cunning and cruel woman who always uses others for her own gain without a trace of remorse.” I rise on my toes to kiss the cheek of my best friend, the woman who would sacrifice anything for me. Another one of my life”s goals is to make sure she knows that feeling goes both directions.
”That”s me. Pure evil in the form of a smoking hot goddess. Speaking of smoking hot, who”s that puck boy who obviously thinks way too much of himself?”
There”s no way he could have overheard her quiet whisper, but Kayden sets a box onto the kitchen island and looks up at us right then. The corner of his mouth tilts up as he does. More accurately, it tilts up as he looks at Em.
”See what I mean?” She rolls her eyes so dramatically I can see it in the corner of my vision.
”Kayden? He”s such a sweetheart. You might realize that if you”d listen to your best friend”s begging and move to Salt Lake so you could see her all the time.”
Em drops her arm from my shoulder and moves in front of me, taking my hand, and deliberately turning her back to Kayden who is still staring at her. Just before she blocks my view, I see his attention move down her body. ”And give up my exciting life in Denver?”
”You mean the one where you work seventy hours a week at a job where you don”t feel appreciated, and the only break you take is to hook up with random guys you meet at a bar?”
”Living the dream, right?”
”So, what do you think?” Brant walks up and pulls me into him before I get to plead more with Em. I close my eyes as his arms go around me. His muscular body gives just enough to make room for me to be tight against it.
Em looks around the room, avoiding the spot where Kayden is doing his best to act like he”s not staring. ”You mean this? Straight off the cover of Hospital Waiting Room Weekly. The only thing you”re missing is a sick woman sitting over there sniffing snot. If you had that, I”d say you captured the vibe perfectly.”
Brant chuckles. ”Yeah, Lily kind of said the same thing the first time she saw it. She might have been a little more polite about it, but the sentiment was there.”
”I was way more polite than that.”
”Sorry.” Em twists her lower lip in her teeth.
”Don”t be.” Brant rolls his shoulders. ”You”re not wrong. I”ve hated it from the time the designer told me what his vision was. I just never had a different vision to take its place. Until now.”
”Until now,” I repeat as I turn to wrap my arms around him. It”s the end of January, but Brant has a hint of sweat from helping to move me. My heart speeds a little. I can”t wait until everything is done and everyone is gone, so I can help him get clean in that enormous shower in the primary bathroom.
”Hey, so what”s for dinner? I was thinking maybe pizza? Or Mexican or Chinese. Just anything that Lily doesn”t cook would be fine.”
I let go of Brant to playfully swipe at Chloe, who is just out of my reach. Of course, Chloe will be here tonight once everyone else is gone. I”m so used to her leaving at the end of the day, but this house is just as much hers now as it is ours. She is ours now. Not officially, but where it counts.
Maybe my plan for the shower will have to wait a little longer, at least until she goes to bed.