I did the math, then took a deep breath, and was not surprised at how easily my lungs filled. At how easy the decision was to reconcile as soon as I stopped fighting it. “I’ve got to talk to Mom.”
“Okay,” he said. “I’m not stopping you.”
This was insane. Bonkers. It made no sense, except it did. Marrying Brooke was the rashest, most unplanned, craziest thing I’d ever considered in my life.
“I love her,” I said, daring Neo to disagree.
“I know.”
“And I’m going to marry her,” I said, waiting for the pushback. But there was none.
“That’s the only good idea you’ve had since Mom and Dad put you in charge.” Neo ruined the effect of his rebuke by smiling.
“Asshole,” I said. And then, in true brotherly fashion, a second later I added, “I’m gonna need your help.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
brooke
“You’re insane,”Tina said on the phone.
“You think so?”
I dropped my stuff on the kitchen counter and made my way to the fridge. Grabbing a bottle of water, I took it out to the porch.
“I know so.”
There was no movement at Cos’s place. He usually didn’t return to the cabin until dark, unless we were doing something special. But I’d just texted to ask if he would stop by on his way home.
“Are you nervous?”
“Extremely. But it was necessary,” I said. “In other news, did you find someone to get the couch out?”
When I’d told Tina I was moving and that she could take any furniture in my apartment she wanted, provided she could get it out of there, the only thing she’d claimed was my couch and end table. They were fairly new, but I still had zero desire to get a moving truck from the city out here. I’d deal with furnishing a place later. Aside from the items Tina had claimed, most of my stuff was years old and could use a replacement anyway.
“I did. It’ll be gone by this weekend. You sure you don’t want me to pack anything up while I’m in there?” she asked.
“You’re cleaning out my fridge already. That’s plenty, thank you. I’ll be down as soon as I can string a few days together.”
“I seriously can’t believe you’re moving.”
“You can’t?”
Tina paused. “Actually, I can. But it’s still so crazy.”
“Cos just texted back.”
“And?”
“He asked me to come up to the Cellar. Probably working late, as usual.”
“Oh boy. Moment of truth.”
I put down the water and headed inside.
“I hope I didn’t just make a huge mistake,” I said, knowing it didn’t matter. What was done was done.
“You’re the one who always says to trust your gut. So this is just you taking your own advice.”