"Well, first I’m going to ask her to move in with me. And if that goes well, maybe by Christmas, I'll give her a ring."
I did the mental math, figuring we were only about two and a half weeks from Christmas.
"You're not worried she'll think it's too much, too soon?" As much as I wanted to support him, if I could spare him heartache, I wanted to.
"Maybe. But I trust her to tell me if I need to put on the brakes. I waited five fucking years for this, Max. It's all I can do not to ask for it all right now. I know she needs time, so I'm trying to give it to her."
I laughed. "A week to move in together, and another week or so to get engaged?"
He laughed. "You know, for me, that's like an eternity."
"I'm happy for you, Sam. I really am."
"Thanks, bro. You know, you have something to offer a woman as well. Maybe you should think about finding someone for more than an occasional orgasm."
His words surprised me because I was pretty sure he thought I was a monk. "You know me. I like to play things safe."
"If we played it safe, Max, we'd be working for Dad and Uncle Daniel. Or maybe for Aunt Bri. Life's too short not to live it full-throttle. I've learned that from my experience with Kate."
I supposed he had a point. But living through life full-throttle made it too easy to go off the rails and crash and burn. I’d done that more than once and didn’t want to do it again.
"I know you had some shady girlfriends in the past, but you’re older and wiser now. I know there's someone out there who will love you the way you deserve. They won't give a fuck that you see Ds backward or whatever the hell it is you do."
I thought of Amelia and how I told her about my dyslexia. She hadn't looked at me like I was an idiot. When she suggested that we could do the annulment paperwork together, I was certain she was doing it because she knew of the dyslexia, but it didn't feel like pity or that she felt I was incapable.
"How did you know, Sam?"
"Know what? That we would be kickass club owners?"
"No. That Kate was the one."
"I think I knew the minute I saw her. It was like destiny.”
I practically choked on my scotch. "You're laying it on a bit thick, don’t you think?"
"Not at all. I hadn't wanted to go to the Halloween party. She told me she hadn't wanted to go either. If either of us had not shown up that night, we would've never met.”
“You also wouldn’t have spent the last five years like a mope.”
“Maybe not, but I wouldn’t have experienced the happiness I felt back then. The happiness I feel now. I’m with the woman I love and we’re having a child. And it was all by chance, by accident, that we were at the party. And because I went, I met a woman who changed my life."
It didn't escape me how he used the word ‘accident’. I’d thought it earlier in relation to how Amelia and I had met.
"I saw Kate, and it was like right then and there, my heart tied itself to her. I know it sounds stupid. Of course, at the time, I thought it was just lust. I'm sure she did too. We only planned to have a hookup. But then that one night turned into a weekend, and not long after that, we were living together. Every time one of us made a move to end what we thought was just a little fling, we couldn't. We always ended up back in the same orbit. And finally, we stopped fighting it. Maybe that's how you know who’s the one. It's that even though your mind is telling you it's just a fling, you can't stop thinking about or being with that other person."
Every word coming out of Sam's mouth was doing weird things inside my chest. They were resonating with something inside me, something that I'd been fighting to admit. Oh, sure, I knew I was falling for Amelia, but now I realized that I wasn't. The truth was, I'd already fallen. I was in love with her. Jesus fuck. What was I going to do now?
I made a noncommittal sound to know I heard him, unable to verbalize a response.
"But I know you're probably worried about what's going on businesswise out here. We didn't get a chance to look at the properties, but I feel confident on one of them. I’ll send you a video and specs for you to check out."
"If that's the one you think is best, I'm okay with that. Do you have ideas on what to do with the property out by the beach?"
"I haven't settled on that yet. I think if we demolish the building, the property value will go up. It’s worth more vacant than with that shack. But I haven't thought beyond that."
"That sounds fine to me too."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Are you okay, Max? You're not usually so agreeable."