Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Zoe
We step off the escalators, and there’s a guy holding a sign with my name on it.
David points to him. “That’s for you to take back to the office. I’m going with them. I already took today off before we knew about this trip since they were coming to town.” He motions to his family.
“Oh. Okay. Thanks for setting that up.” I feel an awkward goodbye happening inside me, so I turn to leave, wanting to avoid it at all costs.
“Not so fast.” He grabs my arm. “When can I see you this weekend?”
“Aren’t you going to be busy with them?” I ask quietly so they don’t hear, which is obviously not quiet enough.
Katie places her hand on David’s shoulder. “We have a busy schedule planned. He is just giving us a place to stay. I can let you guys know exactly when we won’t be there so you’ll have the place to yourself.”
She winks, and I internally die.
“Or he can just stay at your place so you guys can bang all you want, giving us the apartment to ourselves,” she suggests, making my eyes bulge out of my head.
“Katie, leave them alone,” Mary yells out.
This time, I can’t help myself, and I bury my face in my hands in complete and utter embarrassment.
“Wait. No!” She bounces a little on her feet—something I notice she does a lot when she’s excited. “You should come with us to pick up my dress!”
I wave my arms in front of me. “Oh, no. No. I couldn’t go do something like that.”
“Come on! I’d love to have you there. I want to get to know the girl my brother has talked about for the past year.”
“Complained about.” David speaks up to clarify.
Katie leans in to me. “You know that’s just boy speak for talking about who he likes, right?”
“No, it is not!” David tries to change her mind.
Katie looks at him and then me. “Did you not spend the night with her last night?”
His eyes meet mine, and we both turn a shade of red but keep our mouths shut.
“My point exactly. Check. Mate. Brother.” She faces me fully. “So then, you’ll join us?”
I inhale and shrug. “Yeah, fine.”
I have no idea what else to say, but going with them to pick up her dress sounds both fun and insane. I just met these people, and this is a very intimate family moment.
She does her little jump again and wraps her arms around me. “I’m so glad to have met you. See you tomorrow.”
She leaves, and David grabs my hand, holding it in his own.
“Sorry, she’s a little much.”
I chuckle. “A little?”
“It’s totally okay if you don’t want to go.”
I take everything in, then sigh. “It’s fine. It should be fun.”
“I know what else would be fun while they’re gone and we have the place to ourselves …” he suggests playfully.
“You do realize that your little sisters can hear you, right?” Katie yells out.
I drop my head to his chest, dying for what feels like the millionth time today.
“You do realize that I’m going to hurt you, right?” David shouts over his shoulder.
He runs his hand down my hair. “I’ll call you later, okay?”
I nod, keeping my head on his chest, making him laugh. He places his finger under my chin, gently moving it up so I’m face-to-face with him.
“Get home safely.” He places a soft kiss on my lips, then walks away with his family in the opposite direction of the driver waiting for me.
David
“I love her!” Katie grabs my arm with an excitement level that is way too much for an airport baggage claim.
I try to downplay her enthusiasm. “You just met her.”
“Yeah, but you’ve talked about her for a while. I know she pushes your buttons, and that makes me like her even more.”
I see her bag come around the conveyor belt and grab it, setting it down in front of her. “Do you hear yourself sometimes?”
“Yes, I do, and what I’m saying is always one hundred percent accurate.”
“Does Aiden really understand what he’s getting himself into, marrying you?” I tease.
“You two …” My mom joins in on our conversation, shaking her head. “You spend all this time apart, yet nothing changes.”
“Nope. I’ll always annoy him, and he’ll always take it,” Katie says proudly.
“Why do you think I moved so far away?” I joke, and she smacks my arm.
I check my app and that see our Uber has arrived, so we head out to find our ride and all climb in.
“Okay, don’t get me wrong. I’m ecstatic to hear about you and Zoe, but now that she’s not around, you know I have to ask about this app girl … have you heard anything from her?” Katie asks.
I shake my head. “No clue.” I pull up my app and see the last texts I sent her, then show her. “See, nothing.”
“So weird. Why would she just ghost you like that?”
I tuck my phone back into my pocket. “Who knows?”
She nudges my arm. “I guess it’s a good thing though. Can you imagine if you had two girls wanting a piece of you?”
“How would they get a piece of you?” Cindy, who is only eleven, asks.
I raise my eyebrows at Katie, making her answer since she’s the one who said it.
“Well, you see—” she starts to say, but my mom jumps in.
“They want a piece of his time. You know, your brother is so busy with work that he has very little time to spare.”
Katie snaps her fingers. “Yeah, what she said.”
I cough to hide my laugh. My poor mother probably has to constantly walk the fine line between having adult conversations with her older kids while still having little kids around her.
“There’s just not enough of me and my time to go around,” I say, then feel my mom smack my head from behind, making both Katie and me laugh.