Page 40 of Beautiful Life

“I’ll wait in the corridor.”

I watch her leave and turn to him. “Tone, there’s nothing wrong with this one. And it’s available. I can be moved in by the time Gabby and Jude get home from their honeymoon. Really, this one is fine.”

Tony looks around the apartment again, pulls his hand through his lush hair for the umpteenth time tonight and turns to me. He looks at me a beat before he moves. He puts one hand to my back and yanks me into his long muscular body, his other hand going into my hair. I bring my hands up to his biceps and tip my head to look up.

When he speaks, his voice is gravely. “I don’t want you to have ‘fine.’ I want you to have more than ‘fine.’ You deserve more than ‘fine.’ I want to give you more than ‘fine.’ I don’t understand why you need an apartment when we end up in the same bed every night and I have no desire for that to change. I hope you don’t either. Why can’t we just decide on one bed instead of two?”

“Tony, I can’t move in with you.”

“Why not? It makes sense.”

“I’m just divorced, I need to have something of my own for a while. Please understand that. And what would your family think of me? What would your parents think?”

“I don’t care what my parents think, or anyone else for that matter.”

“Tony, please. Try and understand.”

He continues to hold me tight but looks like he’s mulling something over in his head. Finally, he changes the subject. “You can’t have a dog here.”

“It doesn’t matter, I don’t have a dog.”

“But you love Mia and she’s attached to you. You can’t deny that.”

“I can’t steal Gabby’s dog. Sure, I’d love to get a dog someday—I’ve told you that. But now isn’t the right time with me working twelve-hour shifts.” He’s pulling every card he can think of to talk me out of an apartment.

“I’ve been thinking about getting a dog,” he states out of the blue.

My mouth goes tight. He knows how much I want a dog. He knows my mom couldn’t afford one. He also knows Preston wouldn’t let me have one. And he knows how much I love Mia and what she’s meant to me while I was recovering. He’s really hitting below the belt talking about a dog.

This pisses me off. I try and control my voice. “That’s not nice.”

His expression grows warm. Now the tables are turned and he’s the one trying to suppress his grin. “What? I like dogs and I haven’t had one since I was young. What’s wrong with me thinking about getting a dog?”

“I cannot be-lieve you,” I say in a whispered-pissed voice because if I don’t keep my voice at a whisper I would be screaming.

He doesn’t even try to suppress his grin. “Though, I’m not getting some silly-ass dog.”

I shove his chest, but it does no good so I raise my voice, “Tony Carpino!”

Tony’s now wearing a smile and goes on to torture me. “I’m thinking we’ll go shopping again next week after the wedding. But not for clown cars or apartments. We’ll shop for a puppy.”

“You’re doing this on purpose!” I yell.

“Well, I’m not getting a dog on accident,” he drawls.

“You know what I mean.”

“I’m thinking a German Shepard. But a German Shepard is too badass to ride in your clown car. We might have to look at something more girlie. Maybe a Bulldog or a Husky.” He keeps planning our puppy purchasing trip as if I’m not having a moment.

“Stop it!” I yell again and give him another push for good measure.

He has the nerve to pull me in tighter and leans down to my face close. “After we pick out a puppy, then we’ll get to shop again for all the puppy shit. You know, toys, bowls, collars, stuff like that. I’ll even let you get pink shit if it’s a girl. I don’t know if it will be a boy or a girl. To do it right, the puppy really needs to pick us. Or me. It will be my dog, after all.”

That’s when we hear a knock at the door and the sales lady comes back in. Of course, Tony doesn’t let me go and I have to crane my neck around to see her. She asks, “Have you made any decisions?”

Tony says, “She doesn’t want it,” at the same time I exclaim, “I’ll take it!”

The sales lady frowns, “Are you sure?”

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