Chapter 13 Drew
DREW
Several hours later, I was still mulling over how to bring it up when Emilia and I were walking up to my front door with a woozy Winston, directly from the vet hospital.
“Wow. This’ll do,” Emilia deadpanned as we walked through my door.
“I’ll show you to your room after we drop Winston off in his habitat.”
Emilia whistled softly as I led her though the marble anteroom, down the hall, past the formal dining room, through the family room and out onto the patio.
“How many people live here?”
“Point taken,” I chuckled as I slid open the door. “But now, the answer is three. And the most important one is about to check out his new habitat. What do you think?”
I stepped to the side and Emilia gasped at the space that was currently taking up some major real estate in my back yard.
The space had always been impressive, with a garden, a pool, and a conversation gazebo with cozy couches, but it had been enhanced with a new fenced-in area that was going to be home to a very spoiled desert tortoise.
“Oh my gosh, this is incredible,” she said. “Winston, look! Do you love it?”
She’d kept up a babble of conversation for him the entire drive home, and while I usually found that kind of chatter annoying, from her it was actually pretty charming. She’d talked to Winston like she thought he was going to answer her back, and her insights were genuinely interesting and funny.
I watched her take in the habitat, showing Winston each new feature.
“An automated misting system? Win, you’re going to love it! And a solar powered heating pad?” Emilia turned to me with grateful eyes. “This is incredible. Thank you.”
“I can take very little credit, I just made the call to start the process.” I walked over to join them.
“There’s a little sensor over here that allows us to monitor the temperature and humidity settings, along with a remote surveillance system.
You’ll be able to see everything on your phone.
Or at least that’s what I’ve been told.”
Derrick had offered to put the app on my phone so that I could then show and explain it to her but I’d opted to let him give the lesson.
“This is perfect,” she said giddily. “Are you ready to explore, Win?”
She placed him down gently in the pen and he swung his head to take it in.
“He likes it!” Emilia exclaimed.
She plopped down on the ground to watch him and I decided to join them. The Winston and Emilia Show was surprisingly adorable.
“Okay, I have to ask; why do you talk to him so much?”
Emilia stared at Winston wearing a little smile as he took a few tentative steps.
“My grandfather talked to him constantly and he’s convinced it’s the reason why Winston is so social. I vowed to keep it up for him. Have you noticed that he’s more outgoing than the average tortie?”
I tried not to laugh at the thought of a chatty tortoise. “Well, I haven’t had much opportunity to get to know the guy—or any other tortoises, for that matter—but I’ll take your word for it.”
“That changes now,” she insisted. “You’re roommates, you should get acquainted. Let’s do some Q&A. Win wants to know how much time you usually spend out here in the yard.”
“Not enough, buddy,” I admitted. “But hopefully you’ll enjoy it.”
Emilia looked back at Winston and pretended to be listening to him. “He told me he thinks that you should try to get outside more often. It’s good to get a little sunshine, and stop and smell the hibiscus. And he said that hanging out with him is healthy because it boosts serotonin.”
“Wow, big word for a little guy,” I marveled.
“Oh, you didn’t know? Winston graduated summa cum laude from Tortie University. I need to hang his diploma up somewhere. Now you ask him something.”
I laughed at the absolute absurdity of what was happening. A beautiful woman who was moving into my house was forcing me to do a get-to-know-you interview with a turtle.
Ahem. Tortoise. I knew better than to make that mistake again.
“Uh, let’s see. There’s so much I want to learn about you that it’s hard to pick just one question.” My eyes rested on Emilia as she stared at her pet. “Winston, tell me, what’s your favorite thing about your caretaker?”
She blushed. “He said that’s a tough one to answer. Probably that I know all of his top scratching spots. Like here.”
She rubbed along the back half of his shell and he paused to enjoy it.
“Thanks for letting me know, Win,” I said. “I’ll keep that in mind the next time you need a cuddle.”
“He said he appreciates it,” Emilia turned to me and I got a momentary jolt from the sincerity in her gaze. “And everything you did to make him feel comfortable. This is so much more than I expected. Than we expected.”
“Of course,” I replied. “He’s part of the family now. I want to do everything I can to make him as happy as possible.”
Our eyes snagged. How was it possible that we were sharing a moment about a tortoise? At least we now had a cute couple story we could share when people started getting into our backstory.
Which reminded me …
“I have an unusual request for you,” I began. “You know we have to keep up appearances about being in a relationship, right?”
Emilia nodded but also looked a little suspicious.
“Would you be willing to tag along with me to a gender reveal party on the 22nd? The mom-to-be has a fairly substantial social media following, so we’ll definitely be noticed in the background of any photos she posts.”
“Sure,” she said. “That’ll be fun! The way you pitched it made me think it was going to be something awful.”
“Well,” I continued. “I probably should let you know that it’s a family party. It’s my brother Harrison’s baby.”
She froze with her hand hovering over Winston. “Oh.”
“So it is something awful after all?”
She pursed her lips. “Not awful, but definitely on a different level than a friend party. Do they know about …” She held up her ring finger.
“They do. The real story.”
“Oh, okay.” She flashed me a relieved smile. “That changes things. They’re not going to be testing me like I’m actually about to become an Ashford.”
“Nah, they think the whole thing is hysterical. You’ll probably get the little sister treatment.”
“Bring it on,” she said, curling her arm to reveal the world’s tiniest bicep. “That I can handle.”
As I watched her scratch Winston I realized that I’d never doubted it for a minute. From what I’d seen, there was nothing Emilia couldn’t handle. The woman continued to surprise me, and yes, impress me too.
I’m sure by the end of the party, every Ashford would be under her spell.
I chose not to think about whether that included me.