Page 16 of Beyond our Forever

I was betting my money on option one.

Warren had an eagle eye.

And a magenta suitcase was not easy to ignore, no matter how small.

So I had to calm my curiosity as soon as we got out of the house.

“What did you say to Warren?” Bruce opened the door of his truck for me to get in before answering.

“I told him I’m going to marry you,” he calmly replied, as if it was nothing of consequence.

“Why the hell did you tell him that?” God, he couldn’t make promises like that so lightly, my brother would demand that he keep his word sooner rather than later. And we were living in the new millennium, not in the middle ages where you could be forced to marry.

“Because I’m in love with you, why else?”

I gaped like a fish, speechless at his determination and quiet confidence.

Doubts? The truth is I had none.

“Don’t worry, love,” he said, bringing his lips close to mine, giving me a kiss as soft as a cloud. “We have the whole weekend ahead of us.”

Yes, what I was hiding beneath my dress was definitely going to be worth it.

My investment would pay off very well.

???

“We’re here,” he announced as he parked in front of a two-story house in a residential neighborhood near campus.

I contemplated the property, trying to calculate the number of people who lived in it and how much privacy we could count on. I knew from a reliable source that Bruce could in no way afford such a place to himself. But I was also sure that if he had invited me to come, it was because everything was already carefully planned out.

My silent questions found an answer when he took my hand, leading me to a narrow alley at the side of the house.

We walked up to a white painted metal door.

“Welcome,” he announced after turning the lock, inviting me into the small, but organized space.

It was just a long room, which served as a kitchen, living room, study, and if I wasn’t mistaken, also a bedroom, because behind a screen built with wooden shutters, a rather wide bed was hidden.

A bed.

One in which we would be sleeping that night.

Or better yet, one where we’d be spending it wide awake.

Did the temperature just rise or was it just me?

“You don’t have to be nervous,” he whispered, kissing me on his favorite place on my neck. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“This isn’t nerves,” I replied. “It’s excitement.”

Smiling, he took my hand in his and gave me a brief tour, which didn’t take long, as it must have been no more than four hundred and fifty square feet. Bruce only had the essential furniture to sleep and work, not even an armchair to watch television, nothing.

“If you want a couch,” he said. “We’ll have to go buy it together. Up to now, I didn’t need one.”

“Men!” That was the best explanation for such spartan decoration.

The walls were covered in white paint that looked quite old, but there was not a speck of dust anywhere. Nor were there any dirty dishes on the small counter in the kitchen, which contained a stove with just two burners and a refrigerator from the previous decade. There were just a few messy papers on the wooden desk, stationed next to a drawing table with a light set under it, it was quite fascinating to me.

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