From Grandpa:If you need anything while we're away, just let us know. We’ll send postcards. Keep an eye on my house for us, too. And tell Clare thanks again for helping with the all contractors. We both hate that sort of nonsense.
“Nonsense?” Clare echoed the last word. “They think renovating is nonsense?” She paused, letting this sink in.
“Well, it is, sort of.”
“Don’t let my mom hear you say that. She thinks creating beautiful spaces is a gift from the divine.”
“Well, it’s that, too.”
“It can’t be both.” Clare stamped her foot.
I studied her. “Did you just stamp your foot?”
She folded her arms and glowered. “What of it?”
“Is that something you do when you’re mad?”
“I’m not mad, I’m just...well, maybe a little insulted.”
I grinned. “It’s cute.”
“Here’s a tip. When your girlfriend is mad, don’t call her cute.”
“Girlfriend, huh?”
Clare swallowed.
I threw my arms around her and held her tight. “If you’re my girlfriend, then I’m your boyfriend.”
“And we’re going steady?”
I answered her with a kiss.
When I pulled away sometime later, I said, “I wonder if Vegas was part of Mrs. Henderson’s plan all along.”
“I wonder if your grandpa had used Celeste to make Mrs. Henderson jealous. How long had they been neighbors?”
“Decades. I’m glad it didn’t take us decades to get here.”
“Where exactly are we?”
I tightened my embrace. “Right where we belong.”
