Page 103 of Rock Chick Bonus Tracks

“Today, before you got here, I cleared out two drawers and some closet space for you.”

Her brows shot up.

“No more nighties in your purse,” he declared. “Bring some over to leave. And double up on toiletries.”

“Ooo, my man. Doubling up on toiletries. I can’t wait to tell the Rock Chicks. They’ll throw a party.”

He laughed.

“No, really,” she asserted. “They’ll throw a party. Cashews and everything.” She snuggled closer. “But I’ll make sure someone makes pigs in a blanket.”

He kept laughing, regardless that he knew she didn’t lie. She’d been holding back the RCs from throwing a Shirleen’s Got a Man party since they got together, so she was now holding them back by a thread.

He got serious, wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer.

“It’s time for the next step, baby.”

“I’m in.”

He let out a slow breath, happy that was where she was at, happy that she so easily gave it to him.

“So then, next up, and I’m not talking now. We’re not ready. The kids aren’t ready. But when we’re ready, we need to have discussed it so we know what we’re gonna do.”

“You mean, who’s going to give up their kickass crib to move in the other one.”

He fuckinglovedthey were on the same page.

“That’s what I mean,” he confirmed.

“Okay, I gotta say, Moses, my house is the only safe home my boys have ever had. I know Judith pimped this place out for you, and it’s gorgeous. So maybe, if we pick my place, we can give her a budget and she can redo my livin’ room.” She thought about it. “And maybe my dining room.”

He also loved that she offered that.

Even so.

“You have a big house, Shirleen. You and me, when all the kids are going to be gone soon, we don’t need that much space. Julien is going to be in the Army, and he’s probably not ever going to move back in.” He watched the cloud pass through her eyes at the thought of her son leaving her, so he didn’t delay moving on to the next. “And Roman will probably stick around for a while, but not long.”

She nodded. “He’s already savin’ for a down payment on a car and a deposit for an apartment. He’s in training with Lee, but even in training, Lee pays well. He might need a roommate for a year or two, but he’s already warned me, he’s wanting his freedom.”

“Okay, so…”

He let that hang.

She picked it up. “So, Christmas. Thanksgiving. Their birthdays. My birthday. Fourth of July. Eventual wives and babies. When they went fifteen years with no safe space they could call their home, I want them to have the next fifteen years knowing it’s there, waiting for them, on holidays and whatever might come.”

“You’re right,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Why?” he asked.

“You obviously have reservations.”

“No, except your boys will be gone, but I’m sensing you’ll want to keep their rooms as they are, and we have three more years of high school with Alice, one with Judith, and summers when they come home from college.”

“I hear you,” she replied. “And they each have their own rooms here. But at my place, Judith could take the guest room upstairs. We can convert the junk room downstairs for Alice.”

“Isn’t Roman’s room downstairs?”

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