Page 240 of Avenging Angel

But now was now.

And Cap and I were getting ready to head over to Scott and Louise’s for Thanksgiving.

Dad and Deb were again at the Hermosa Inn, and they were meeting us at the house.

And by “getting ready,” I meant Cap was crafting some kind of green bean casserole, which bore no resemblance to the one I made that had three ingredients (his had about eighty! (slight exaggeration)).

As mentioned, my pudding had to have time to cure, so I’d started that yesterday, and finished it half an hour ago.

And we were having an interesting conversation.

* * *

“About all thatshit from The Container Store,” he began.

I stopped blending my eye shadow where I sat at the bar doing my makeup, and looked to the plethora of Container Store bags that were piled up in a corner.

I thought he was on about Nala, the gray and white semi-kitten (she was only eight months old) who was batting at the bags while her sister, Godiva (not a sister by blood, Godiva was much older), a Siamese, sat on my couch and stared at her like she was an idiot.

These were Shanti’s cats. Shanti lived under me and a couple over. Shanti had gone home for Thanksgiving. And Shanti gave gratitude in the form of Nordstrom gift cards.

I went back to blending, at the same time assuring, “There’s nothing in there she can hurt.”

“No, I’m talking about me installing all that shit in your bedroom closet, hall closet and laundry nook this weekend.”

As mentioned, Harlow was a master at this kind of thing, and as far as I could tell, with the sketch she delivered, she was going to double the space, and I didn’t evenneedthe space doubled in the hall closet and laundry nook.

But I bet I’d use it.

I again stopped blending. “Yeah, I thought you and Knox were down to do that.”

“We are. Just saying, when we’re done, my pans are better than yours, so we can pack yours up and put them in storage if you want to keep them.”

I could do nothing but stare.

Cap kept talking.

“I like your bed, and I have a king, so it’d be too big for your bedroom, so we can put that and my furniture in storage too,” he went on.

Was he…?

Was he…?

“Are you…asking…tomove in with me?”

He finished pouring something that smelled divine over green beans he’d roasted to perfection, put the pot down and looked at me.

“No reason for me to pay rent at a pad I’m never at. And I’m not a big fan of using your water and electricity without paying my share. You’re not gonna leave the Oasis. We’ll get on the waiting list in case a two bedroom opens up. But in the meantime, I don’t need a lot of space, I like your space, you obviously like your space, you’re not gonna leave the Oasis until we’re ready to buy. So…yeah, I’m asking to move in with you.”

I abandoned blending altogether, dropped the brush, hopped off my stool, and Godiva raced into the bedroom, but Nala lost interest in the Container Store bags and pranced after me as I rounded the column and jumped on Cap.

With my arms and legs around him, his hands on my ass, I kissed him all over his face.

He was laughing and saying, “I’ll take this as a yes.”

I stopped kissing. “Damn straight it’s a yes.”

“You might have to move some of your summer clothes to the storage unit I rent so I can put away my shit.”

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