“And if I say no?” she asks.
“Do you love me?” I ask, and she rolls her eyes at me. “Do you not want to go to bed with each other every night?” I don’t wait for her to answer. “Because I want to go to bed with you every night I’m home. I want a house with you where we combine all our shit. Where we put up frames. Where you yell at me for leaving my socks beside the basket and not in it.” I smirk at her. “I want to know that you are in our bed when I’m on the road. Now, is that too much to ask?”
She looks at me, this woman I let go of all those years ago. The woman who has owned my whole heart since I met her. Here, in the middle of her bathroom, in the middle of the night, she agrees with me. “Fine,” she huffs, walking toward the shower, “let’s move in together.”
sofia
“What do you think about this?” I say, stepping out of the walk-in closet. Matthew turns his attention from the phone in his hand to me. He is lying on top of the bed dressed in blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a baseball hat on his head.
He smiles while he looks at me. “You look amazing. Like always.”
“But does this say I really love your son?” I ask. Turning to look at the long mirror, I see myself in my white jeans with a long-sleeve cashmere sweater folded at the neck. “And I’ll make him happy.”
He chuckles as he gets off the bed and approaches me, putting his hands on my hips. “The smile on my face says everything,” he says, and my heart skips a beat. Ever since I opened the door to him at midnight, his words have hit me right in the middle of my heart. His words have filled the void in my soul I didn’t know was there. A void I denied ever having. A void only his love could fill.
“I just want them to like me,” I admit to him, “again.” I try to make a joke out of it.
“They are going to love you, as they always have,” he assures me, and I try not to think about how they felt about Helena, if they liked her or not. Were they sad about it? I have so many questions and that just fuels the anxiety to another level.
The doorbell rings and he winks at me. “Showtime,” he says, grabbing my hand in his and walking out of the bedroom together. The doorbell rings again and he huffs as he walks to the door.
He grabs the handle and unlocks it. “You want to cool your horses?” he says, pulling open the door, expecting it to be his parents but instead it’s not.
“Why are you even answering the door?” my grandfather Casey says. “This is not your door.”
“Um,” Matthew stutters.
“Oh, would you knock it off?” my grandmother Olivia says, pushing him to the side. “Hello, Matthew,” she greets, walking in the door and going to him to kiss him on the cheek. “You look different.”
“Um.” That’s all Matthew can say.
“What are you doing here?” I ask them as I make my way to the front door.
“Your grandfather,” my grandmother states, putting her purse down on the table, “was like a bat out of hell getting here.”
“What are you doing here?” I look over to the door and see my father standing there scowling. “Answering the door like you own the place.”
“Dad,” I gasp out loud and shake my head, “he does live here.”
“What?” my father and grandfather both gasp out.
“Um, I don’t think so,” my father counters, putting his hands on his hips.
“Would you go away?” my mother says, walking into the door. “Matthew, we are so happy to see you again.”
“Again,” my father pffts out. “Not that happy.”
“Mr. Barnes,” Matthew says, going over to my father, extending his hand, “great to see you again.”
My father just looks at the hand and then looks at him. “Reed Barnes, if you know what is good for you.” My mother glares at him. “You will remember this is your daughter’s house and he is…” She trails off.
“The one she goes to bed with every night,” my grandmother pipes up, and I close my eyes to stop the embarrassment from filling my face, but I suddenly feel the heat rise to my cheeks.
“Now, you two”—her voice gets tight—“you better be on your best behavior.” I look over at her and she is glaring at my father and grandfather. “Or else.”
I don’t have a chance to say anything else because I hear the sound of doors closing. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight—all like clockwork. “What the—” My father looks over his shoulder.
“My family,” Matthew says, and I put my hand to my stomach to make the nerves go away. Matthew sees it and comes over to me. He grabs my face in his hands. “They are going to love you.” He kisses my lips.
My grandmother and mother smile at Matthew while my father pffts again. “Of course they are going to love her. What is not to love?”
“Hello.” I hear a man’s voice and look over to the front door, seeing Matthew’s dad. “You must be Sofia’s dad.” He walks to my father and holds out his hand. I am not going to lie, I stand here with bated breath, wondering if my father is going to pull something but he extends his hand to Viktor.
“Nice to meet you,” he mumbles, “this is my father.” He looks over to my grandfather. “Casey.”
Viktor extends his hand to my grandfather. “Pleasure,” he says to him. “These are my brothers-in-law Matthew, Max, and Evan.”
“Gentlemen,” his uncle Matthew says, extending his hand, “great to meet you.”
“Hello.” My grandmother walks to the front door. “I’m Olivia, please ignore my husband and son, they seem to have forgotten their manners.” She forces a smile at them. “Come in.”
I slip my hand in Matthew’s as I wait for them to walk in. “Sofia,” Viktor says, coming over and giving me a big hug, “so nice to see you again.” Very different from how my family treated Matthew, which will be discussed when we aren’t in front of so many people.
I drop Matthew’s hand to hug him, and he moves aside as Matthew’s mother comes to me. “Hi,” she says and she looks like she’s blinking away tears, “you are beautiful as always.” She takes me in her arms and hugs me. “Do you remember Karrie, who is married to Matthew senior?”
“Did you just call him senior?” Max says, laughing and shaking his head. “That’s a new one. I think we should put that on your business card.” Matthew glares over at him.
“Allison is married to Max, and Zara is married to Evan.” I nod at the woman, and by the time the introductions are done with all the women, I’m ready for a nice stiff drink.
“Shall we go into…” I start to say and then look at the number of people in my home. “I want to say kitchen but I don’t think it’s big enough for all of us.”
“Oh, please,” Allison says, “we are used to too many people and small spaces.” She looks around the house. “You have a lovely home.”
“Did you guys know they are living together?” my father asks, and my eyes go big. I silently look around, hoping the ground opens up and swallows me whole.
“What?” his uncle Matthew gasps. “You can’t live with her.” He looks over at Matthew. “You have to marry her.” He shakes his head. “Did we not teach you anything?” he mumbles.
“Oh, here we go,” I hear Zoe say, then she looks over at my mother and grandmother. “I apologize for anything that my brother, husband, or brother-in-law says.”
“Same,” my mother says to her.
“I guess this settles it,” my grandfather says, standing next to Uncle Matthew, “you can’t live with each other.”
“That settles nothing.” Matthew puts his hands on his hips and looks over at my grandfather and his uncle. “I’m buying us a house, and we are moving into it, married or not married.”
“Buying a house?” my father questions. “She has a house, this one.”
“But it’s not our house.” I stand next to Matthew, a united front. “So we are getting our house and—”
“And,” his uncle Matthew says, “getting married.”
“What is it with you and getting married?” Zara asks him. “It’s the twentieth century.”