Page 27 of Blake Marshall Says He Needs Me

Charlie, ever the quick-witted director, snorted, "Well if Tom Cruise ever needs a sidekick for moving furniture, you two are clearly the top contenders."

We navigated a tricky turn on the stairs, the dresser tilting precariously. Charlie's eyes widened, and he shouted, "Hold on, folks! We're entering the plot twist! The action sequence is activated!"

Wilder and I exchanged amused glances, the banter lightening the load—both literally and figuratively. Charlie's imaginative commentary turned the mundane task into a hilarious performance.

In the final steps, Charlie waved us in like a 747 and let out a whoop once we set it down.

Wilder and I shared a mock bow, playing along with Charlie's theatrics. "Thank you, thank you. We'll be here all moving day," I quipped.

Charlie chuckled, "Oh, the moving day Oscars are definitely in your future."

“What are you guys laughing about?” Missy called from outside. “You better have not gotten into the brownies. Those are for when we’re all done.”

I leaned against the dresser and wiped my brow. “Something tells me the girls don’t really appreciate all of the heavy lifting we did today.”

“I’m just glad we’re almost done. All we need to do is get this on the trailer, and we can head over and finish moving Shelby into my place.”

Today had been a carefully orchestrated dance of moving Missy and Charlie’s things here but not blocking any of Shelby’s things that needed moving to Wilder’s. Thankfully Shelby was leaving the bulk of her furniture here for Missy and Charlie to use, sans this big ass dresser and her bed.

Shannon and I had managed to avoid each other for the most part, except for a few times we were in the back of the box truck at the same time.

Thankfully, she didn’t run from me, but she certainly wasn’t warm and welcoming to conversation over hello.

“You could have told me Flo and Del lived next door,” Charlie grunted.

“How did you not know?” Wilder laughed. “Adams isn’t such a big town that no one knows where the town gossips live.”

“I’ve been busy the past year or so trying to raise Chicken Biscuit from the ashes, convince Missy to give me a second chance, and, oh, be a dad,” Charlie laughed. “I wasn’t paying attention to who lived next door to Shelby.”

I pointed out the door. “Let’s get this dresser in the trailer. I’m starving, and some weed lasagna and brownies sound good.”

Wilder helped finish moving the dresser, and then we strapped it to the trailer.

“Oh, boys,” Del called. “We’ve got some refreshments over here.”

Flo was holding Clara while Del had a tray of lemonade. Missy, Shelby, and Shannon each had a glass and were sprawled out on the lawn between the houses.

“I see how it is,” Wilder chuckled. “We do all the heavy lifting, and you girls help hold the grass down.”

“Oh, please,” Shelby sighed. “Who do you think packed all of the boxes you guys moved? That is way harder than moving them. It was like playing Tetris getting everything in there. Now all we have to do is unload at Wilder’s, and we can all pass out.”

I grabbed a glass from Del and moved to the sidewalk.

Shannon was reclining back on her elbows with a pair of dark sunglasses over her eyes, and her face pointed up at the sun.

She was beautiful. Her blond hair was piled on top of her head, and her cheeks were tinged pink.

A lot of things had changed over the years, but Shannon’s looks had not. I didn’t know how it was possible, but she looked exactly like she did ten years ago.

“We loved having you next door, Shelby,” Flo sighed, “but I have a feeling we’re going to love having this little bundle so close even better.”

Shelby shrugged. “I can’t really blame you, Flo. I’d want to live next to the little nugget, too.”

“Nugz,” I called.

Missy pointed her finger at me. “Do not call her that. We need to break that because I heard Charlie calling her then when he put her down for her nap yesterday.”

Charlie bumped me with his shoulder. “It’s catchy,” he shrugged.

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