Page 54 of Lock 'em Down

Leif

“Hi, Cami!” Mom pulls open the front door to my home.

“Hi, Stella.” Cami hugs Mom hello.

“How was your second week of work?” Mom asks, leading Cami into the kitchen where I’m concocting drinks before we head to Brawler’s house for dinner.

“Busy,” Cami says, sliding onto a barstool at my kitchen island. She glances around the space, and I realize it’s the first time she’s been here. Over the past week, I dropped by her apartment, or we met out, in the city. “I like your place.”

“He did an okay job, but I really elevated it since I’ve been in town,” Mom chimes in.

Cami grins as I roll my eyes. “Thanks, Cami.” I place a mojito in front of her before adding a fresh mint sprig.

She picks up the glass and bites the corner of her mouth. “I didn’t realize I married a mixologist.”

Mom straight up cackles before sliding onto the barstool next to Cami’s. She picks up her drink. “Cheers, Cami. I want to hear all about work.”

“Thanks, Stella. And thank you for the banana bread. It was delicious and I really appreciated the walnuts,” Cami replies, clinking her glass against Mom’s before taking a sip. “Mm, this is good, Leif.”

“Thanks. I hope you ate something other than banana bread for dinner this week.” I lean against the countertop across from Mom and Cami and cross my ankles at my feet.

Cami grins. “I only had it for dinner twice.”

“Leif! Cook for your wife.” Mom scowls at me.

“This week flew by, Stella. Between work, which is boring but bearable, and getting to know my new coworkers, who are so much more fun than I thought accountants would be, the days have been hectic.”

“I’m glad you have good colleagues,” Mom replies thoughtfully.

“I really like this one woman, Maria. And two of the men on my team, Sam and Tarek. Tarek’s become my de facto mentor. We made plans to go to happy hour next Friday.” Cami looks at me. I really hope this isn’t her asking my permission or something equally as weird. “Do you want to come?”

Oh. I grin. She’s inviting me. To meet her friends—colleagues, whatever. “Yeah, I’d love to.” I want to learn all the pieces of her life. While we’ve certainly started to find our footing over the past week and spent most of the weekend exploring Knoxville together—our conversations during the workweek have consisted of hanging out and watching television, or texts and nightly phone calls.

The more I learn about my wife, the more I can’t believe we ended up together. She truly is perfect for me. I’ll have to ask Jensen what the odds are of ending up with your soul mate. And then, to refine the odds when the woman is plucked out from a random night in Vegas.

Mom’s eyes dart between us and she smiles.

“Cool,” Cami says, taking another sip of her drink. “How was your week?” she asks Mom.

“Oh, it was wonderful. As you can see, I got Leif’s house in order.” Mom gestures around the space, which looks exactly like it did when she arrived.

Cami catches my sigh and fights a giggle.

“I’ve cooked a bunch. There are meals in the freezer.” She looks pointedly at me. “Maybe invite your wife over for dinner.”

“For sure,” I mutter. “It will be real romantic with you sitting in between us.”

Mom laughs, hardly deterred. “And I got to meet some of Leif’s teammates, which is always nice. A few of them—like River Patton and his Coach, Jeremiah Merrick—I’ve known for years. River played in the same circuits as Leif and my other son, Jensen. And Jeremiah and my husband, Lars, go way back, so it was nice to see him again and catch up with his wife, Leanne. We had lunch yesterday. She has the two most adorable grandchildren, Emmaline and Fox.”

“You do too. Ryder and Rowan,” I remind Mom before she gets any ideas and tries to suggest children since Cami and I are technically married.

Mom flicks her wrist at me dismissively. “A little girl would be nice.”

Cami chokes on her mojito. Naturally, Mom slaps her on the back.

“Mom,” I mutter, passing Cami a napkin.

“Thanks,” Cami says, dabbing at the tears under her eyes.

---