Chapter Twenty-Six: We Fight Right Here-2

"Still hellish." I laughed. "Six months, then." "And you're moving in with me as soon as humanly possible," he added, turning back to his breakfast. "We'll keep your bed and put it in another bedroom for the times when we'd like variety." "Or when your one breaks," I addd with a wink. "From overuse and all, of course." *** It was on the drive to work that Luke reminded me of his pending trip—the same one he'd mentioned to me the day my grandfather dropped in on me. Two days at LA and he was leaving the next morning. He didn't offer a lot of details, distracted by a bunch of phone calls flooding his cell. Something about cleaning up the chaos. I had an idea what it was about. Luke had mentioned doing something to extricate Lola completely from his life and ensure that she wouldn't trouble us anymore. There were some legal work involved, especially after the nearly demonic appearance she'd made at the office recently. Should I worry? Perhaps. Would it do us any good? Unlikely. Should I trust Luke to make the right decisions on his own? Absolutely. Otherwise my own decision to be with him would be a massive joke. One didn't get in a car certain that the driver was going to run it off the cliff. You didn't get in the car. Period. I had a lot of work to catch up on that day, relieved that even as people started warming up to the idea of my engagement to Luke, they maintained a respectful distance—definitely more respectful than the one Jill kept considering how much she ribbed on me during lunch. She started calling me 'Mrs. H.' because she was hilarious like that. That night, Luke and I stayed at my apartment and made love in my big, silly, frilly bed. "I wish I didn't have to go," he murmured as he tightened his arms around me, nuzzling my bare shoulder. "I wish we could just stay here, like this. I wish I didn't do something important. I wish we could skip out on the world and go hide out somewhere quiet and tropical. I'd be pretty happy with a big bed, you, and maybe some coconuts." I laughed. "You say that now but you're going to sorely miss all your luxuries probably after the first day. And man cannot survive on coconuts alone." "You're not nearly as romantic as I thought you'd be," Luke complained, the contrast of the pout on his very masculine face all the more adorable. "You don't want me sweeping you off your feet and carrying you away to be my bride. You don't want to play Blue Lagoon with me in a tropical paradise." I grinned. "You're right. I don't want either of those things. I really just want you exactly as you are now. I want us in real life—not some fairy tale or fantasy. And part of that real life is you going away to close the door on parts of the past that have no room in our lives. And I understand that." Luke's gaze was tender when he touched the side of my face. "I'm going to come home to you and everything will be alright. We'll live in the present and make plans for the future." We were doing good the first day he was gone. We talked a couple of times and swapped a dozen messages throughout the day—very normal couple things if only one of us really knew what being part of a normal couple meant seeing neither of us had ever been part of one. After work, Jillian and Zoe came over to my apartment to help me pack up. I had about four months left on my lease but I'd struck a deal with the landlady to pay half of what I would owe for the remainder. Considering the size of my apartment, I didn't have much but I was taking some of it over to Luke's place and the rest were going to either storage or Goodwill. There was something symbolic about packing one life away to begin a new one—another moment where I felt just a bit more invincible. We ordered Chinese food, popped open a bottle of champagne that Zoe brought along for no particular reason and put some late nineties music on. Zoe audited my wardrobe for things that no longer fit me and Jillian boxed up what electronics I didn't need anymore for her 'parts' collection. Zoe had gotten over her initial shock and saw everything from a romantic perspective. Jillian reserved a less optimistic view—surprise, surprise. "I think you should keep your place," she said. "Just in case he screws it up and you need to get the hell out." I laughed and lazily sipped some champagne. "Insurance, I see. Jill, I think you should consider letting go and taking the leap. Having recently done it myself, I can assure you that it's quite liberating." Jillian skewed up her nose and pushed her glasses up, looking bewildered. "For one, I'm afraid of heights. Two, assuming for argument's sake that I take the dive, who am I taking it for? I may be levelled up all the way up to heaven in Galactic Glory but my love life is flatter than a flat line." "Maybe you just need a little zap to jolt you back to life," Zoe said helpfully. "What? A taser?" "No! Something that will give you a shot of adrenaline." "An EPI-pen?" Zoe groaned, pulling her hair a little. "Jillian, seriously! You probably just need a good poking." "A vibrator?" "If you don't have the real thing, I guess," Zoe muttered, blowing a lock of hair off her face in exasperation. "I sure don't last time I checked," Jillian said, glancing down at her crotch. "Thank God for that." Zoe turned to me, her expression nearly mad with frustration. "She's your friend. Do something."