Claire and Tess are here too, bringing her Starbucks and just sitting with us guys, trying to be normal. Or, at least, our new normal.
After a week, real life sets in. Jack has a show back east, McQueen has a trip to see his parents in the mid-west, and Landon has met with Stacy a bunch of times to figure out if the property Grotto lit up is salvageable and if we can still purchase it.
Looks like it’s a go. Apparently Landon’s parents are requesting he come home in a few weeks for a family pow-wow, and so he’s trying to wrap up the deal before he goes.
Claire and Tess are back at work, and that leaves Emmy and me.
I still have some business to take care of though.
I leave the penthouse, promising Emmy I’ll bring back dinner, but knowing I’ll be bringing back more than that.
I meet Landon at one of his father’s stores, THE KING’S DIAMOND, which has surpassed Tiffany’s blue box with its status. Any woman in the world would want to get married with a King’s Diamond on her finger. And sure, Emmy may be down to earth, but she’s still a motherfucking girl. She’ll get her panties wet when she sees what I’ve picked out for her.
“You sure that’s the one?” Landon asks, as I hold the black box in my hand.
“No question.” I just paid an ungodly sum for that rock. But I know it will be worth it. Emmy is worth anything. Everything.
Landon looks at me as I pocket the box. When I nod, he adds, “I can’t believe it. A bad boy like you getting down on one knee should be a sight to behold.”
“Yeah, well, you never know when you’re gonna get blindsided by love.”
“You’re a pussy, Ace. I’ll never fall like you did. Tonight I’m gonna find a piece of ass and enjoy it. Because tomorrow I’ll find myself a new one. That way, things never get old.”
“Your loss, asshole.” I get in my car and head for home. Knowing that sooner or later, when he least expects it, Landon is gonna find himself a woman that changes everything.
I sure as hell did.
EMMY
I’m getting out of the shower when Ace comes home. Home. When did this penthouse become my home? Somewhere in the space of a week, this became the only place I wanted to be.
“I’m getting dinner ready,” he calls to me. “No rush.”
“Okay, babe.” I pull his robe around me, because, really, his robe is one hundred times sexier than anything I own—and then there is the small detail that I actually don’t own a robe.
I actually don’t own a lot of things, I’m realizing. At some point I’m gonna need to return to Washington for my things, but for now I’ll be content wearing Ace’s terrycloth.
I run a comb through my hair and sigh contentedly. The tears have finally dried, and my memories of sitting with Janie in the hospital for two months don’t feel so raw. Because I was hanging onto a sister for two months that I never really had.
Am I sad that she died? Obviously. She was my flesh and blood. But she also let go of me a long time ago. I’ll never know if she confessed her part in Grotto’s crime because she wanted to make things right with me or not—but I don’t need that answer. If I knew the truth, nothing would change. She would still be gone.
And I would still be here.
“Smells ... familiar,” I say as I walk in the kitchen. The stainless steel and granite space still amazes me. I’m so used to dingy white Frigidaires and laminate, and everything Ace owns is a luxury I never dreamed of having for myself.
Claire says I need to stop gawking, and Tess says I am the luckiest girl in the world. I’m trying to listen to my girls. But as I walk into the kitchen and see that Ace is making us peanut butter and Nutella again, I smile. It may be a state of the art apartment, but deep down, Ace and I are very much alike. This stuff—the house, the cars, the money—is extra.
I just need Ace and a jar of Jiffy.
Well, and that whipped cream wasn’t half bad.
“Made you dinner,” he says.
“Thanks baby.”
I sit down on a barstool and take a gooey bite, moaning as I do.
“Like it?” he asks.
“Love it.”
“What else do you love?” he teases, coming behind me and wrapping his arms around me.
“You, Ace. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he says, spinning me around on the stool. When the stool stops, Ace is on one knee. My hands fly to my face.
“I may say I’m a bad boy, but you’ve made me a man. I know we’re both alone in this world—we have no family, no ties—but, baby, I want to be your family. I want to put down roots with you. I want to make our own motherfucking family tree. Emmy Rose, will you marry me?”