“Hey sweetie,” I say. “I don’t know what you should call her. She is pretty cute though.”
“She is! He says I can bring her to brunch, so you’ll get to meet her!”
“That’s great. I can’t want to pet her and see you. I miss you.”
Charlotte rambles on about her week, telling me about a crush she has on a boy in her class, filling me in on her latest masterpiece, a hand puppet, and the details of every meal she’s eaten since I’ve last seen her.
Mom watches, and her face turns as she witnesses this for herself. I’m happy here, and she knows she shouldn’t fight it.
After Charlotte says goodbye, Andi’s fingers run through my hair. “Now. We need to talk about where you’re sleeping when you get out of here.”
I wrap our hands together and set them in my lap. “I’ll stay with Cory.”
She shakes her head. “No. I meant you won’t be able to walk up the stairs. Mac is moving one of the guest beds into the study for you.”
We’d broached moving in before Matt came at her with custody papers, but then it had been postponed. We never discussed what it meant when I moved in. When I first met Charlotte, she’d promised her that if a man moved in, it was because they were getting married.
“You’re stuck with me now, Officer Black.” She winks, and I pull our hands to my mouth to kiss her.
“There’s no one else I’d rather be stuck with,” I promise.