“Molls,have Ievercontaminated your food?”
“No,but I’m just—” Her words were halted with a kiss.
“Relax,”I replied softly. “Iain’truinin’your dinner.” I grabbed for my extra spatula. “I’m evenusin’this to flip ‘em. Okay?”
Shetook a deep breath and settled her gaze in mine before her head nodded. “Okay,Chaddington.”
Sebastian’schuckle erupted about as quickly as I’d expected. “Oh, my God. That’s fuckingamazing.Does your mom call you Chaddington, too? Please, say yes.Please.”
Ihardened my glare. “My mama doesnotcall me Chaddington.”
“Dammit,”he muttered, snapping his fingers. “Gonnahave towork on that woman.”
Devinturned to Molly and asked, “So, have you gotten back to work yet?”
“Nextweek,” she grinned.
Betweenmoving in, getting married, and doing construction on the house, Molly haddecided to take some time away from performing at the Locust Lounge. Now, she wasready to get back to her life of being a small-town musician, and as she beamedwith excitement, I knew she couldn’t wait.
“Whatare yougonnado when we go back on tour?”Sebasked, raising a questioning brow.
Mollyopened her mouth to respond when Tess ran over to say, “She’s a Tour Wife now,duh!”
“You’refor real right now?” he asked, looking between my wife and me.
“Well,yeah,” I answered. “You already told me,leavin’Tabby behind sucks. Why would Iwannado that?” Afterall, I’d been away from her long enough. Why would I put myself through thatagain if I didn’t have to?
“Fuckyes,” Sebastian muttered, raising his hand to Molly. She slapped him fivebefore he gripped her hand in his. “’Causegirlfriend,let me tell you. My ass is gettingpretty flabby. I need you to whip me into shape with thatyoga shit.”
Mollygiggled. “You got it. And hey, we could even get some Skype sessionsgoin’, too.”
Theburgers were done, and I piled them onto two separate plates—one for veggie,one for beef—before announcing to the yard of family and friends that dinnerwas ready. To a backdrop of WalkTheMoon’s“Timebomb,” they flocked to the buffet table. They talked among themselvesabout the food, how good it all looked, and as I headed over to add the platesof burgers, my eyes met Molly’s and we shared a smile.
Itwas hard to believe she’d only moved in six months ago. Even harder to believethat we had eloped shortly after, with only our parents as witnesses. Ourfriends had been a little hurt by the lack of invitation—Sebastian,especially—but together, we’d decided a very private and low-key wedding wasbest for us. But we had promised a party at the house I’d always wanted as myown, to celebrate our marriage, my thirty-first birthday, and the refurbishmentof our home.
Themoment the house was in my control, I hung new sheetrock in the kitchen andliving room, installed new cabinets in the kitchen, slapped some new paint onthe walls of the bedrooms, redid the roof, and hired a crew to gut and finishthe bathrooms. Those few months had been rough. The atmosphere had been farfromzen, and Molly and I foundourselvesat her old apartment to do yoga with Morgan more often than not. But in theend, it’d been worth it to freshen the place up and make it ours.
“Y’allgottasee the bedroomfurniture we’re getting,” I overheard Molly saying to Kylie, Tess, andSebastian’s wife, Tabby. “It’sgorgeous.”
Tess’sface lit with excitement. “Is it that dark mahogany set—”
“Yo,” Sebastian cut in, piling his plate high with corn andpulled pork. “I love my Baby Bear, but I don’t need to know the details ofwhere he gets down and dirty, you know what I’m saying? Keep that shit toyourselves. Bad enough I had to listen to you two get it on all last summer.”
Molly’scheeks were on fire, red and hot, as she immediately turned to me. “Oh, my God…”
“Comeon, man. Don’t be a dick,” I muttered through gritted teeth, holdingSebwith a steely glare.
“Youknow I’m joking,” he said with an honest smile. “I crank my music up way tooloud to hear anything. ‘Everlong’ on repeat,motherfucker,” and at the mention of the song he calledtheirs, he blewa kiss to his wife.
“Uh-huh …” I shook my head, chuckling gently,as I grabbed a plate and went to load it with food, when I caught Molly’s lookof concern.
Amonth ago, during an inconvenient time when one of our bathrooms was completelyout of commission, my gut took a turn and I slipped back into the flare.Luckily, I didn’t find myself hemorrhaging or in the hospital, but I also knewhow quickly things could take a turn for the worst and Dr. Lambert had to putme on steroids again. After finding myself on the track to remission onceagain, I’d been even more strict with my diet and exercise, to prevent anotherbackslide. And unfortunately, that meant taking it easy with foods that couldaggravate my gut.
Myhand wavered over the tray of pulled pork before retreating. “It smells so damngood, and it’s my damn birthday,” I complained to her, and she noddedsympathetically.
“Iwon’t eat any in solidarity,” she promised.
“Comin’from the vegan. That makes me feelsomuch better,” I grumbled around achuckle. “I appreciate it, darlin’.”
