Chapter 43
JASON
One week after the Wedding
The soft melody of a piano starts playing. It sounds like a Billy Joel cover, maybe a little in reverse. A voice begins to accompany the music. She sounds gorgeous. Her voice wraps me in a warm embrace, like a lover I never knew I needed.
Instead of dancing like a soulless chump, desperate for one more round of applause, I search for her voice.
Wading across the stage with a simmering spotlight on me is hard, but I manage.
The piano gets to an accelerando, and I run out of shits to give. I belt out a melody of being so close yet so far—a melody to match her subtle vibrato.
She sounds like an angel waiting to take me home.
I find her lying on top of a grand piano. It’s Eileen. She’s in a black dress that hugs her all the way down. Her hair is curled like something out of a noir flick.
She belts into a microphone before sitting up.
“Hey, hot stuff,” she says, beckoning me closer. “What took you so long?”
“I literally have no idea,” I murmur.
“Come on, Jason,” she says playfully. “You know this part.”
I harmonize with her as I help her down from the piano. We dance slowly in circles as we sing. Not to the audience, not to anyone else. Just to each other.
My alarm goes off a little later than ass o’clock in the morning, as it always does on Sundays. I groan, stretching as I realize how fucking trapped I am in someone’s hug.
I look over my shoulder, grinning when I see her head buried against my back. “Hey beautiful,” I murmur.
Eileen hugs me tighter. “It’s Sunday, so shush.”
I chuckle, rolling over to hold her better. She hums, settling her head into the crook of my neck.
“You know... ass o’clock could be literal if we wanted it to be,” I suggest. “That’s one place we haven’t explore yet.”
She swats me lightly. “I’d rather have coffee first.”
I chuckle, squeezing her tighter. “We could make arrangements for that.”
She grumbles under her breath, but she kisses my neck so damn lovingly.
We get up ten minutes later, trudging into the kitchen together while I pour the coffee and she turns on the news.
“Hey, they’re passing some new legislation in the state house about sales taxes,” she says.
“Well, turn it the fuck up,” I say enthusiastically. “Fuck yeah, let’s start our morning with a party.”
She laughs like a million bucks, like the sun floating around the moon, singing praises of its love.
“Come on, Jason,” Eileen says jokingly. “Let’s cuddle.”
“Hey, that’s my thing,” I say, even though my heart fucking stutters with how perfectly she slips into my life.
We watch the news wrapped around each other, slowly sipping coffee as we quietly murmur about local events.
Yeah, this is how I want to spend every morning.
“Are you sure?” Eileen says a couple of hours later as we stand awkwardly on the most cutesy cat themed welcome mat I’ve ever seen.
“Sure, why not?” I ask.
“Doesn’t it seem a little... soon?”
I frown. “Does it feel too soon?”
Eileen shrugs. “I guess not. I just—I’m not intruding, right? I don’t want to be a nuisance—”
“Eileen, my light, my love, my precious shot of espresso,” I say. “If anything, I’m the nuisance. You’re more than welcome here and honestly, they’re fucking thrilled.”
She takes a deep breath, nodding confidently. There’s my Eileen.
I knock on the door. It only takes a second for it to fly open.
“You were right behind the door, weren’t you?” I say.
“Hush,” Emmeline glares.
“That’s—”
“No, Jason,” Eileen says. “It’s sweet. You’d pull that stunt any day.”
Emmeline has the audacity to giggle at my expense. “See? You found a good woman here, Jase.”
I say, “Don’t call me that,” at the same time that Eileen says, “Please don’t call him that.”
Emmeline rolls her eyes. “Okay, lovebirds. Anyway, come on in! And welcome, Eileen, to Sunday Brunch.”
When we step in, I suck in a breath. My parents and Alex are here too.
“Where are the girls?” I ask looking around.
“Emmeline thought it’d be best if we eased Eileen into the family,” Mom says as she steps closer giving me a kiss and a hug then hugging my girl. “It’s so nice to meet you, dear.”
I look over at Em and mouth, thank you.
She shrugs as if it’s nothing, but I know it is. And maybe I should stop being so harsh to her when she’s always so supportive.
“Everyone, the food is on the table, but you guys can eat anywhere,” Em announces, and then she also hugs Eileen and says, “Welcome to the family.”