“Ella’s excited for me.” I forced myself to sound nonchalant. “She even offered to be my best man.” I paused and continued before I could stop myself. “I think I’ll take her up on that.”
I stared at my reflection as those words crossed my lips. I sounded happy, but there was pain in my eyes and the last thing I could do was smile. Everything had changed. No matter how badly I wanted to stuff everything back into Pandora’s box, it was impossible.
“Asher.” Mom’s voice was soft. It reminded me of all the times I would throw a tantrum as a kid and she would try to rationalize with me.
I knew she meant well, but I wasn’t in the mood to hear what she had to say. My heart was already pulverized by Ella’s rejection and George’s diagnosis. I needed to see the people around me happy if I was going to find the strength to move forward. That was the only way I was going to survive.
“Mom, I’m fine. Ella’s fine. Coralie’s fine.” I sighed and tipped my face toward the ceiling. “We will be fine.” I needed to stop saying the wordfine, or Mom was going to discover that everything was, in fact,notfine. “Be excited. My wedding is in a week.”
Mom’s sigh came through the speaker. It was a sigh that said she wasn’t happy with my answer, but she’d resigned herself to accepting it. Grateful that she wasn’t going to push talking about Ella or the marriage any further, I decided to distract her by asking what her travel plans were for the wedding weekend.
She told me she was in the process of looking for plane tickets, and as soon as she knew when she’d be arriving, she’d let me know. I told her that I’d keep an eye out for her text, and we ended the conversation withI love youandtalk to you later.
The shaving cream was half dried when I finally ended the call and turned back to the mirror. I decided to just go with it and turned on the faucet before grabbing my razor. Once I was clean-shaven, I rinsed off my chin and patted it dry.
I ran my hand through my damp hair a few times before I opened the bathroom door to find Coralie was still in bed, but she was awake and scrolling on her phone. I disappeared into the closet, where I dressed. When I came back out, Coralie had vacated the bed and was in the shower.
I made the bed and grabbed a pair of socks from my dresser. I slipped them on before I walked out of the room and into the kitchen. My stomach was grumbling, and I was ready for breakfast.
My eggs and bacon were cooked and plated when Coralie emerged from the bedroom. She was wearing a white shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. Her hair was damp. And when my gaze met hers, she smiled.
“Morning,” she said as she padded over to the fridge.
“Morning.” I was still getting used to sharing my mornings and nights. I’d never lived with a woman before. I enjoyed my solitude, but I was forcing myself to accept the fact that Coralie was going to be around. Always.
“Want some of my eggs?” I offered, holding up my plate.
She wrinkled her nose. “No, thank you. Nothing with a face, remember?” she said, her eyes widening as she tapped her nose.
Right. I knew that she wasn’t into meat, I just didn’t think that her aversion extended to eggs. “Sorry.” I gave her a sheepish smile as I set my plate back down in front of me.
“We should really talk about you cooking that in the house, too,” she said. I could see her eyeing the pan I’d left to cool on the stove. “When we’re in our own house, I’m thinking a grill on the porch is where that is all going to take place.” She motioned toward the stove and then to my plate.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about what she was saying. I ate meat. She didn’t. So why did I feel like, eventually,Iwasn’t going to eat meat, too.
Not wanting to get in an argument, I just smiled and said, “Sure. We can definitely talk about that.”
That seemed to appease her. She grinned as she moved to open the fridge.
“Who were you talking to this morning?” she asked as she pulled out the jug of almond milk that we’d picked up from Godwin’s last night and set it on the counter before turning to get a bowl from the cupboard.
“My mom,” I said through a mouthful of eggs.
Coralie paused her search for cereal in the pantry to glance over at me. “What did she have to say?”
I sat back in my chair and shrugged. “Just wedding questions. Letting me know her plans. Those kinds of things.”
“Ah,” Coralie said as she turned back to the pantry and finally emerged with a box of Frosted Flakes. “Is she excited?”
No. But I wasn’t going to say that. “She’s super excited.”
A smile spread across her lips as she opened the flaps of the box. “I’m glad.” Then she shyly looked up at me. “Are you excited?”
I grinned over at her as I pushed all feelings for Ella to a dark corner of my mind. “Of course.”
Coralie studied me before she set the cereal down and crossed the room to wrap her arms around my neck and sit on my lap. I stared up at her as I leaned in, just to feel her pull back.
“Rinse,” she said as she reached over her shoulder and grabbed the glass of water I’d set next to my plate.
