Page 129 of Finally Mine
“I wondered what your plan was when you asked me to make pie and then told me to leave it here,” Gloria said, stretching her arms over her head and sighing.
“From now on, this is how I want to end every Thanksgiving,” Aldo announced. “A new tradition.”
“Is that so?” Gloria purred. She reached out to ruffle Ivan’s fur and snickered when the cat tried to eat her hand. Ivan puffed up and then turned tail, running up the stairs and sounding like a small pony.
“I think it would be a little easier if you lived here though. Or we could move into your apartment. Or buy a different house,” Aldo mused.
Gloria went still and quiet in his arms.
“I’m trying to be really suave and romantic and ask you to move in with me,” he said after a few more seconds of silence.
“Me? Us? Move in together?”
“You don’t have to decide now. You can think about it.” This was not how he’d pictured it going. He should have practiced what he was going to say, not blurted it out between gobs of whipped cream.
“Yes.”
“Yes, you want to think about it?”
“No, yes I want to move in with you.”
“Wait, there was a no and a yes in there.” It was very important that Gloria clarify exactly what she meant.
She twisted in his arms, pressing her breasts to his chest as they tipped backwards. “Yes, I want to move in with you. I love you. I love this house. I even love that monster parading as a kitten.”
Holding her to him, he rolled her onto her back. “You’re not just saying that to make me happy, are you?”
She grinned at him, and his heart picked up the pace. He was going to marry this woman and make a family with her here within the walls he’d built and she’d painted. But first, he was going to lick whipped cream off every inch of her body.
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“Luke broke up with Harper, and no one knows where she is.”
Sophie’s announcement upon sweeping into Blooms had the effect of a record scratch to Gloria. All the glow of Thanksgiving and Aldo’s invitation to move in disappeared like a bubble popping.
“I’m going to have to call you back,” Della, her boss, said into the phone.
“What? What happened?” Gloria asked. “Things seemed strained yesterday but not this bad.”
“According to my chickenshit asshat of a brother, it wasn’t working out, and they wanted different things.”
“Oh my God. This is awful,” Gloria said. “And he doesn’t know where she is?”
“He basically kicked her out last night. On Thanksgiving! We need to find her. Once we do, I’m going to kill my brother and make Harper fall in love with James so I can keep her in the family.”
Gloria fished her phone out of her apron pocket. No messages from Harper.
“I’ll call Hannah. Maybe Harper went there,” she told Sophie.
“Good thinking. I’m going to do another loop around town. See if she ran out of gas in any parking lots.” It was how Harper came to Benevolence and how she’d happened to save Gloria’s life. Now it was Gloria’s turn to find her friend and help her.
“Della?” Gloria turned to her boss.
“You go on now. Go help your friend. I’ll close up tonight.”
“Thank you,” Gloria said, already dialing Hannah’s number.
Hannah hadn’t heard from Harper in a few days and was as shocked about the breakup as the rest of them. After making Hannah promise to call her if she heard anything, Gloria got in her car to do what Sophie was doing.
