Liv: Thanksgiving

"Something smells good," Brody said, coming into the kitchen.  He'd been holed up in his office trying to take care of a poorly-timed emergency of some sort before the holiday tomorrow.  "I'm starving."

"Unfortunately, this isn't dinner," I said with an apologetic smile.  "I'm just getting some stuff ready for tomorrow."  Tomorrow was Thanksgiving, and we were hosting.  Brody's mom and her boyfriend Tim were coming, along with Ken, Brody's employee Pete and his wife Serena, and Jen.  This was my first time ever hosting a holiday meal, and I was a little nervous.  I wanted to get at least a few things made ahead of time so I wouldn't have to be quite as stressed tomorrow.  It wasn't going to be a huge gathering by any means, but I was sure I'd have plenty to manage.

Brody pulled open the fridge and I said, "There's still some lasagna from the other night if you want to heat that up."

"I do," he replied.  "Do you want some?"

"Sure."  Brody pulled out the lasagna and I checked my sweet potato casserole that was in the oven.  While Brody heated up the leftover lasagna and garlic bread, I threw together a salad.  Eddie hung out in the corner of the kitchen, watching us carefully just in case we dropped something.  I pulled the sweet potatoes out of the oven while Brody got plates and silverware, and I stirred my cranberry pear sauce that was simmering on the stove before I went to sit with him.

"I'm an asshole," Brody said suddenly.  "I completely forgot to ask you how your meeting went."  He looked up at me expectantly.

I'd had my meeting this morning with the school that was interested in contracting with my agency for a school-based therapist.  We'd had a little trouble coordinating schedules and today was the best day, so I'd been waiting impatiently for a couple weeks.  I grinned and said, "It went really well.  They liked me a lot and wanted to talk start dates and plans already.  We ended up being there for almost two hours."

"I'm not surprised they liked you," Brody replied, return my excited grin.  "So what are they thinking for start dates?"

"They want me in the school right after Christmas break, attending meetings and such, and hopefully starting to take referrals around the beginning of February, if not sooner."

"That's awesome, Liv," Brody said.  He glanced at his watch.  "Shit, I need to get to the airport.  Do you want to come?"  Jen was flying in from Philadelphia and Brody was picking her up.  She was staying with us and I was excited to see her again.

"I can't," I replied, frowning and looking towards the stove.  "I've got the cranberry sauce on still and I want to make my pie crust tonight still."

"I had no idea I married Martha Stewart," Brody said, chuckling and standing up.  "Done?" He motioned to my plate, and when I nodded he grabbed it and took it to the sink.  "I'll help you clean up tonight, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed.

"Do you need me to pick anything up while I'm out?"  I shook my head and we kissed goodbye, then he took off for the airport.

I decided to make the mashed potatoes tonight too, and got to work peeling and chopping them.  After I had those done, I started on my pie crust.  I normally wasn't much of a baker, but I was bound and determined to make everything from scratch as much as possible.

The kitchen was everywhere and I was up to my elbows in in flour when I heard the garage door opening, signaling that Brody and Jen were here.  When the door to the house opened, Brody called, "Liv, can you come help Jen with her bag?  I need to grab something out of the car."

"I'm covered in flour," I called back.

"I can't hear you!" Brody yelled.  "Just come grab her bag and take her to her room, please!"

I sighed in mild irritation and grabbed a towel to wipe my hands off as much as possible.  I walked out of the kitchen towards the door and stopped dead.  "Oh my god," I said in shock.  "Mom!  Dad!  What...?"  Standing just inside the door next to Jen were my parents.  Brody came back in from the garage grinning as I rushed forward and hugged them.

Since I cry at everything, I got a little teary from the surprise.  "Well don't cry," my dad said, laughing.

I looked at Brody, who said, "It didn't seem right for us to host our first holiday together and not have your family here too, so I thought I'd surprise you."  My lip quivered and I threw my arms around him.  He hugged me back tightly.

"Thank you," I said softly.  "This is amazing."

"I thought you'd like it," he replied, leaning back to kiss my forehead.

I detached myself from Brody as Jen loudly cleared her throat.  She was grinning at me though, and I quickly hugged her.  "I'm so excited to see you too!" I told her, laughing now.

We got everyone settled and their things to their rooms, and I hurried back into the kitchen to finish my pie crust so I could be done prepping for the evening and spend some time with our guests.  "Can I help with anything?" my mom asked, following me into the kitchen.

"Absolutely not," I replied, smiling.  "But you can keep me company while I finish up."

Brody came into the kitchen with two bottles of wine.  He opened one and poured a glass for each of us.  "Can I help you?" he asked me after he'd rinsed out the empty wine bottle and deposited it in the recycling bin in the garage.

"If you wanted to start on the dishes, that would be great," I replied.

Jen and my dad wandered into the kitchen next and each also offered to help.  I refused their offers and they sat down at the table with my mom, and we all chatted while I finished up my pie crust and wrapped it in plastic wrap to rest in the fridge.  I helped Brody clean up the mess and we all moved to the living room, where we spent the rest of the evening.

I was brushing my hair in our bathroom, getting ready for bed, when Brody stuck his head in the open door.  I smiled at him in the mirror and came in, wrapping his arms around my waist.  "Thank you for getting my parents here," I said, leaning back against him.  "You're amazing."

"I'm glad you're happy," he replied.

I set my brush down and turned to face him, slipping my arms around his neck.  "I am," I said, pushing my fingers through the hair at the back of his head.  "I love you."

"I love you, too," Brody replied, before he leaned his head down to kiss me.  He lifted me easily onto the counter, bringing me up to eye level.  His fingers traveled up my back and into my hair, tugging it away from my face and neck.  He lowered his head to my neck, kissing and nibbling from my jaw down to my shoulder.  I sighed and wrapped my legs around his hips, pulling him even closer to me.

"I absolutely loved how excited and surprised you looked when you saw them," he said softly, taking a break from kissing my neck.  His fingers slid beneath the hem of my shirt and danced lightly across my lower back.  "I love surprising you."

"I love your surprises," I replied.  "But can we maybe not talk about my parents right now?"

Brody laughed, dropping his head onto my shoulder.  "Good call," he agreed.  "How about we talk about what I'd like to do to you right now instead?"

"Mmm, I like the sound of that much better," I murmured.  Brody's lips were on my neck again, tracing the same path they'd taken before, but this time from my shoulder back up to my jaw.  He nipped at my earlobe before softly detailing everything he planned to do to me.  While he did that, he unhooked my bra and brushed his thumbs over my nipples, making me shiver.  Then he lifted me off the counter and took me out of the bathroom, setting me carefully on the bed.  We quickly pulled our clothes off, not wasting any time there.  Brody followed through on everything he'd said he'd do, and I found it ridiculously hard to stay relatively quiet.

When we were done, we laid tangled together diagonally across the bed, breathing hard.  "One of the reasons I never wanted to be in a relationship was I was worried about having boring sex...or not having any," Brody said randomly.  "I'm glad that hasn't happened."

"Yet," I corrected him, teasingly.  "It hasn't happened yet."  Brody laughed and we untangled ourselves so we could actually get in bed.  I was relieved for the distraction, because thinking about tomorrow was stressing me out a little, and I felt a lot more relaxed now.  We got comfortable, and for once I fell asleep quickly.

I woke up fairly early the next morning.  Brody was still in bed, but he opened his eyes when I rolled over.  "Good morning, beautiful," he said sleepily.

"Good morning," I replied, smiling.  I had slept well, and even though it was early, I was in a better mood than most mornings.

"Don't get up yet," he requested.  "Come here."  I turned onto my side and scooted closer to him, settling my back against his chest.  We cuddled for about 15 minutes before I wiggled away and got out of bed, despite Brody's protests.

"I'm hungry," I complained, which made him laugh.

I was surprised to find that I was the only one awake so far.  Brody ended up coming down while I was making myself some coffee.  "Take your coffee and go relax," he urged me.  "Let me make breakfast."  He didn't have to work hard to talk me into it, and I happily went and turned on the fireplace and curled up in the recliner next to it with my coffee.

By the time Brody finished breakfast, everyone else was up.  After we ate, I kicked everyone out of the kitchen, including Brody.  I did some more prep work and rolled out my pie crust.  Once I had my pies in the oven I had a little time to relax.  I ended up going for a walk with my mom and Jen.  We wandered around the neighborhood in the snow that was falling.  Because of the snow and cold, we only walked about 20 minutes but it was nice to get a little fresh air.

I checked on my pies when we got home and then got in the shower.  I showered quickly and got dressed, then headed downstairs and got my pies out.  Brody came in while I was getting my turkey prepped.  "What can I do?" he asked.  I thrust a knife at him and asked him to prepare the fruit and cheese plate and get the veggies out.  He did as I asked without questions, and I loved him even more.  My dad wandered in while I was getting the turkey in the oven and asked if he could help.  I refused his offer, but he decided to help anyway.

While he was helping Brody, he asked, "So, how's business?"  I rolled my eyes, not surprised that my dad would go for business talk while prepping Thanksgiving dinner.

"Business is great," Brody replied cheerfully.  "I don't know if Liv's told you, but I just bought a second building.  So I've spent the last couple weeks getting it furnished, and we start moving on Monday.  I'm moving about half my staff over and then once that happens I'm going to create more specialized departments.  I'm pretty excited about it, actually."  Brody continued to explain to my how things worked now and what his vision was.

"That sounds much more efficient, good thinking," my dad said, nodding.  He asked Brody a couple more questions and I tuned out.  Once I got the turkey in the oven, I had a little more time to relax.  We had about an hour before the rest of the guests were arriving and I headed upstairs to do my hair and makeup.

Pete and his wife Serena were the first arrive.  They didn't want to travel this year and were planning on just spending a low-key day together.  Brody had invited them over for dinner, and they'd decided to join us.  Brody took what appeared to be some sort of dessert from Serena and headed toward the kitchen with it.

Eddie greeted them cheerfully, jumping up from where he had been napping in his bed near the fireplace.   "Hey buddy!" Pete said, scratching his ears.  Eddie wasted no time in flopping on the ground and rolling over so Pete could rub his belly.  "How's he doing?" he asked me.

"He's great," I replied with a smile.  "We love him, and he settled in pretty quickly.  I've been glad to have him a couple nights when Brody's gotten home late."

"Good," Pete said.  "We're glad he went to such a good home."

I was about to respond when the doorbell rang again, so I excused myself and went to answer the door, because I had no idea where Brody was.  Ken was at the door, and he handed me two bottles of wine.  "Brody told me you had the food under control but I didn't want to come empty handed," he said with a shrug.

"Well thank you," I replied, smiling and hugging him.  "You would have been fine, but I appreciate it anyway!"  I stepped aside so he could come in, and I was shutting the door when I saw Thalia's car pulling up in front.  I handed the wine back to Ken and asked him if he'd take it into the kitchen, then waited for Thalia and Tim.

Once everyone was inside, I went into the kitchen to grab the cheese and fruit plates.  Brody and Ken were standing in the kitchen, looking worried.  "What?" I asked.  Neither of them said anything.  "What?" I demanded again.

"Liv, there's...a problem," Brody started.  I gave him a look, and he hurriedly continued.  "Well, the oven seems to have stopped working."

"What?"

"I walked past it and it wasn't warm, so I opened it up and it was cold and the turkey is still very much uncooked."

I pursed my lips and walked over to the oven.  I opened the oven door and confirmed what Brody had said.  I pushed all the buttons and got no response.  "But..." I said, starting to feel a little panicky.  "But...what are we going to do?"

Brody shrugged.  After a quick, slightly heated discussion (because my perfectly planned Thanksgiving was collapsing around me), I finally said that I couldn't decide and told Brody to make a decision.  Brody made the logical decision to go into town to see if he could get a fully cooked turkey anywhere at this point.  "Are you okay?" he asked me with concern.

I shrugged miserably.  "There's nothing we can do about it."

Brody hugged me and said, "I know how hard you worked to make today perfect.  We'll figure it out.  Do you want to come with me?"

"No," I replied, shaking my head.  "I'll stay here and entertain our guests."

I forced a cheerful smile while I told our guests what happened.  It took Brody almost 90 minutes to return, and when he walked in the door with pizza boxes in his hands, I could have cried.  "I'm sorry," he said softly to me.  "It was all I could get."  Inexplicably, I began to laugh.  Brody looked at me like I was crazy, and maybe I was.  But I couldn't stop laughing.

We ended up eating everything I had successfully made along with the pizza.  It wasn't even close to ideal, and I was disappointed, but at least it was kind of funny.  Everything I had made turned out great, and while they didn't exactly go with the pizza, everyone ate them anyway.  We all also had a good laugh about everything.

In the end, it ended up being one of my favorite Thanksgivings.  It was so nice to have both my family and Brody's family there (especially since my parents were a surprise!).  After Pete, Serena, Thalia, Tim, and Ken left, Brody and I cleaned up.  Once we had everything cleaned up, I leaned against the counter and sighed, then chuckled.  Brody smirked.  "I guess we need a new oven," he said.

I laughed.  "I guess we do."

Just You and Me

I had barely knocked on the door when Lynn threw it open and shrieked.  "It's about time!  I'm so excited!"

"Where have you been?" Lauren asked, frowning at me.

"Having breakfast with my soon-to-be-husband, Mother," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Speaking of your mother, she came here looking for you about 20 minutes ago," Lynn said.  "You should call her and let her know you're here."   I fished my phone out of my purse and did exactly that.  While I was on the phone, someone knocked at the door.  It was the stylists that were coming to do our hair and makeup, and I was pleased that we had decided to spend the extra to have them come here.  I didn't really feel like trekking out anywhere right now.  I let my mom know that I was here and she said she'd be around in a little while.  I also sent a text to Jen, who texted back immediately that she and Thalia would be there in a few minutes.  I'd invited them both to get ready with us and they had happily agreed.

Erin, the stylist that would be doing my hair, directed me to a chair and got started on my hair.  Everyone else was getting their makeup done as well, but I'd be doing my own.  I never liked it when I got it done, and it was one thing I could have full control over today, which eased my nerves slightly.  I showed Erin the picture of what I wanted for my hair, and she seemed a little disappointed that I wanted something so simple.  But it fit my requirements: down, out of my face, and would work perfectly with the beautiful jeweled combs my mom had given me.  When it came to my hair, my usual style was relatively simple, and I didn't want to do anything too drastically different.  Erin quickly hid her disappointment and got to work curling my hair.  

Jen, Thalia, and my mom all arrived shortly after, and we all sat around chatting while Lauren and I got our hair done.  Lynn and my mom would be next, then Jen and Thalia.  While Erin was working on getting my curls just right, there was another knock at the door.  I gave Lynn a weird look, because she was the only person in my current line of sight, and Jen jumped up to answer the door.

"Ken?" I heard her say.  "What's this?"

"Special delivery courtesy of the groom," came Ken's voice.  Jen laughed, and my mom got up and walked over to the door as well.

"Whatever it is, thank you, Ken!" I called.  "I can't move my head or I'd come say hi."

"You're welcome, Olivia," he called back.  "I won't interrupt, I'm just the errand boy.  Enjoy your day!"

I thanked him again and then saw what Jen and my mom were carrying in.  Several to-go cups from the nearby coffee shop, a bottle of champagne, plastic champagne flutes, and orange juice.  Jen handed me an envelope, grinning.  "Did you know about this?" I asked her.

"Yes," she replied.  "Someone had to make sure all the coffee orders were right!"

I laughed as Lauren said, "You guys are already thinking alike."  I had sent a bottle of nice Scotch with Alex for him to give to Brody for them to enjoy.

I carefully took the cup Jen offered me.  "Large dirty chai for you," she said.  She handed out the rest of the coffee as I sipped mine, then set it to the side and opened the envelope.

Inside was a card, and on the inside of the card, in Brody's crooked, boyish handwriting, was written, "I figured you could all use some caffeine to get you through your marathon of getting even more beautiful than you already are.  Then I thought that the caffeine might make you even more jittery than you probably already are, so I threw in some champagne to help you with that.  I've been looking forward to this day since I first met you, and I can't wait to see you.  I'm sure you'll be even more beautiful than I can imagine, and I'm already the luckiest man in the world.  I love you."  

I bit my lip, this time a little overwhelmed by his thoughtfulness.  Lynn said, "If you're going to cry, do it now before you have makeup on!"

"Like that will stop her from doing it later," Lauren quipped.

"Shut up!" I said, laughing.  At least laughing stopped me from crying.  The rest of the morning and early afternoon passed quickly, and it wasn't long before my mom was handing me a sandwich and insisting that I eat something.  I did as she asked, chewing mechanically, barely tasting anything.  We opened the champagne and drank mimosas with our lunch.  The champagne did little to calm my nerves, which were now in full force.  I was looking forward to seeing Brody in a couple hours when we did our first look, because I knew seeing him would help a little.

When it was time to put on my dress, shoes, and jewelry, I got oddly calm.  That lasted all the way until my dad knocked and came into the room.  When he saw me, his face lit up, but then he blinked hard a couple times.  "Don't you dare," I warned him, feeling my own emotion bubbling up in my throat.  "I just finished my makeup and I have to go take pictures."  Lauren, Lynn, Thalia, and Jen excused themselves, leaving just me, my mom, and my dad in the room.

"Sweetheart, you look beautiful," my dad said, smiling at me, his face filled with emotion.

"Thank you," I said shyly.  "I feel...nervous."

"You don't look it," my mom said helpfully.  I smiled gratefully at her.  My dad pulled me into a careful hug, conscious of my hair and makeup.  "Here," my mom said, handing me a champagne flute.  "Finish it up."  I laughed.  I knew I could count on her to not be too sappy.  She was just like me--a hopeless romantic failure.  I sipped the delicious champagne as my mom and dad chatted for a couple minutes, then when Lauren texted me that the coast was clear and Brody was where we were meeting for our first look, we walked to the elevator.

Much to our photographer's disappointment, we didn't want him in the room for our "first look".  We wanted the time together to be intimate and without an audience.  The hotel had allowed us to use one of their smaller conference rooms that wasn't being used for another event, so it could be completely private, but so we could still check out of our rooms.  One of the hotel staff directed me to the right room while my parents joined Lauren and Lynn, who were waiting in the lobby.

I pushed the door open, and Brody--who had been looking out the window--turned as I came in.  I wish I could describe the look on his face, but I think the most obvious indication of his feelings was that he had absolutely nothing to say for several seconds.  He just stared at me.  "Hi," I said softly, feeling a little self-conscious.

"Liv," he replied, closing the space between us with three steps.  "You're absolutely gorgeous."  He placed his hands on my upper arms, holding me at arm's length while his eyes traveled up and down.  He reached out and gently touched my necklace--the one his mom had given me.  "Wow."

"You look pretty damn good yourself," I replied, laying on my hands on the lapels of his jacket and smoothing invisible wrinkles away.  I bit my lip, trying not to get emotional.  "Thanks for the coffee and the champagne," I said to distract myself.

"You're welcome," he said, pulling me closer  "And thank you for the Scotch."  He kept his hands on my arms but leaned down and kissed me softly.  "Can I hug you?  Or will I ruin your hair and makeup and dress and day and life?"  I laughed and hugged him, feeling much calmer.  He hugged me back carefully.  "I have to admit I was little nervous," he said, his arms still around me.

"About what?"

"I was nervous you wouldn't look like you," he said.  "I always see people's wedding photos, and I think, 'Nope, that's not you.'  It's weird when people don't look like themselves on their wedding day.  You look like you, and you look beautiful."  He very gently touched a curl of hair, then grinned and said, "I have something for you."

I narrowed my eyes.  "We weren't going to do gifts," I protested.

"It's not a gift," he replied.  "It's something you need.  And anyway, what do you call that expensive Scotch you supplied us with?"  He had me there, and I shrugged.  He turned and grabbed a small flat wrapped box from the table behind him.  I hadn't even noticed it.  He handed it to me and I carefully removed the ribbon and the paper, then opened the box.

I gasped as the gorgeous diamond and pearl bracelet was revealed.  "Brody..." I said softly.

"You have a necklace and earrings, I didn't want your wrists to feel left out," he said, smiling at me.  He lifted the bracelet--which coordinated amazingly well with the jewelry his mom had given me--out of the box and then gently took the box from my hand.  I held out my right wrist and let him clasp the bracelet around it.

"It's beautiful," I murmured, turning my hand this way and that so the diamonds caught the light and the slightly iridescent pearls shimmered.  I raised my eyes to his.  He was watching me, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips.  "Thank you," I said, stepping towards him and reaching for his hands.  I tugged him closer and kissed him.

"You're welcome," he replied, his lips moving against mine.

We took a couple more minutes to ourselves, then emerged from our little room into the world.  We had picked out a pretty park to take some pre-wedding family and wedding party photos at, and we all got in vehicles to go there.  We had a shuttle running from the hotel to the wedding venue, and everyone else would head back there after pictures to get the shuttle, while Brody drove the two of us there.

By the time we were almost finished taking photos, I was starting to get crabby.  It was a combination of nerves and just being over being told to smile and look this way and sit like that.  Brody, picking up on my crabbiness, asked the photographer for a break.  He focused on taking some pictures of our small wedding party, my parents, and Brody's family.  Brody, meanwhile, was making stupid faces at me behind the photographer's back.  He soon had me cracking up, and our photographer managed to snap a few quick, candid pictures of me laughing my ass off and Brody making ridiculous faces at me.  Those are probably getting framed.

Before I knew it, it was time to head towards the venue.  The photographer was following us there because there were a few pictures we wanted to take in a spot closer to the venue.  We got there just in time to get the sunset pictures that I wanted, then headed to the restaurant.  I jiggled my leg nervously as we drove until Brody reached across the center console and laid his hand gently on top of it.

Lauren was waiting outside the restaurant when we got there, and she walked up to the car. "I'm supposed to wait with you, Liv," she said.  "And you," she looked at Brody, "Are supposed to go inside right away."

Brody must have seen the anxiousness in my eyes at that, because he squeezed my leg reassuringly.  We both got out and I walked around to his side of the car and let him pull me into a tight hug.  "I can't wait to marry you," he said, smiling at me.  I smiled back.  He laid his hands lightly on either side of my face, just like he had that morning.  "Don't be nervous," he said softly.  "Just you and me, remember?"  I nodded and closed my eyes as he kissed my forehead, then pressed his lips to mine.  "See you soon," he said, grinning at me. "I love you."

"I love you too," I replied.  I took a deep breath and watched him walk toward the restaurant.

House to Ourselves Again

Brody woke me up fairly early the next morning so we could get back home.  He was planning to spend most of the day helping Ken move out.  He was cheerful and wide awake, which was much more than could be said of me.  I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep since my last run-in with Jordan, but for some reason, I'd slept great last night.  Unfortunately, I was still sound asleep and not even close to ready to get up when Brody woke me up.  I grumbled the whole time I got dressed, while Brody tried not to laugh at me.  I was lucky that he was a morning person and not fazed by my crappy attitude in the mornings.

Despite her insistence that she wasn't going to get up early, Thalia was not only awake but had breakfast ready for us when we came downstairs.  She took one look at me and grabbed the mug of coffee she had set next to one of the plates and quickly replaced it with a travel mug twice the size.  "Take it with you when you leave," she said, smiling knowingly.  I got it together enough to return her smile and thank her as we sat down to eat.

"You didn't have to get up and make breakfast, Mom," Brody said.

Thalia shrugged.  "I was up.  I need to eat too."

"Well, thank you," Brody replied.

"Yes," I agreed.  "Thank you.  And thank you for letting us spend the night."

"Don't be silly," she said.  "You're welcome here any time.  Either of you!"

We finished our breakfast and headed out, and I took Thalia up on her offer to refill my coffee mug before we left.  Despite the coffee, I was asleep in the car within 20 minutes.  I woke up when we were about 10 minutes from home.  "Enjoy the drive?" Brody asked.

"Mmmhmm," I replied, blinking sleepily.  "It was refreshing."

"Since you got to sleep, maybe you should help Ken move," he teased.

"You woke me up," I reminded him.  He laughed.

When we got home, we were pleasantly surprised to find the entire main floor spotless.  Ken had clearly spent some time cleaning.  When we thanked him, he insisted it was the least he could do.  He'd tried to pay us a month's rent, which had offended Brody and he'd refused to take it.  "I had to do something," Ken said, shrugging.

I offered to help them, but they both turned me down.  With the house clean, I had no choice but to spend most of the day on the deck with my Kindle.  That's what I did until Brody texted that he was on his way home, then I headed inside to find something to make for dinner.

"Hi!" I called, when I heard him come inside about an hour later.

"You're awake," he teased, grinning at me as he walked into the kitchen.

I laughed.  "And cheerful, even," I replied, returning his smile.  He laid a hand on my lower back and leaned down to kiss me.  "How'd the move go?"

"Fine," he said shrugging.  He peeled off his shirt, wrinkling his nose at it and tossing it in the direction of the laundry room.  I raised an eyebrow and he grinned and walked over to where it landed, several feet short of the laundry room door, and tossed it into the room.  "I feel disgusting now though."

"Yeah, you've smelled better," I agreed.

He laughed.  "I guess I'd better go shower then."

"Yes," I said, nodding.  He headed towards the stairs and I turned my attention back to the food I was making.  I was just about done when he returned downstairs in shorts and a t-shirt.  He got out some plates and silverware and then wrapped his arms around me from behind.

"Better?" he asked, nuzzling his face against my neck before gently nipping at my earlobe.

I turned to face him and slipped my arms around his neck.  "Much," I replied, nodding in approval.

"Guess what?" Brody asked, raising his eyebrows.  "Our house is all ours again."

"You know what that means," I replied, smirking.  Brody grinned.  "Extra leftovers from dinner."

Brody's grin fell, then he laughed.  "I was thinking more alone the lines of we can have sex wherever we want again..."

I laughed at his temporarily disappointed expression.  "That's true too.  But dinner first, because I'm starving."

"If we have to," Brody conceded.  "Kiss me, at least."  I grinned and rose up onto my toes to kiss him.  He tightened his arms around me while I pushed my fingers into his hair, and we kissed for several seconds.  Almost long enough to change my mind about dinner first, but I pulled away just in time.  "Okay, okay," he said, laughing softly and dropping his forehead down to mine.  "Let's eat."

After we ate, he even managed to control himself long enough to start doing the dishes.  When he was almost done I wrapped my arms around him and rested my chin against his back.  "Have I ever told you how ridiculously sexy you are when you're washing dishes?" I asked.

He burst out laughing.  "Oh yeah?" he asked.  "Must be the dish soap fumes going to your head."

"Nope," I countered, sliding my hands up his stomach to his chest then back down, stopping just at the waistband of his shorts.  "Definitely sexy.  Few things turn me on more than a man doing dishes." I turned my head to the side and rested my cheek against his back as I inched my fingers beneath his waistband.

"Well in that case, you'd better let me finish," he said, pressing his hips forward to gently pin my hands between his hips and the counter, stopping their downward progress.  "I'd hate to deny you your foreplay."

He reached for the last plate on the counter, which tipped his hips away and let me slip my hands lower.  I wrapped one hand around him and he groaned as he quickly washed the last plate and set it in the drying rack.  He grabbed the towel and dried off his hands, then tugged my hand away and turned to face me.  His hands were in my hair the second he turned around and he kissed me hard.

"I didn't realize how much I missed being able to have sex wherever we wanted until we suddenly could again," Brody said, laughing and lifting me onto the counter.

"I realized it...because every time I so much as had an inappropriate thought somewhere in this house I remembered your brother walking in that night!" I replied.

"Shhhh," Brody said, between kissing my neck.  "Let's not talk about him."  That was easy enough.  I stopped talking altogether, pulling his head back towards mine and kissing him.  He worked my shirt up and over my head, our lips parting just long enough for it to pass between us.  Then he went for my shorts, lifting me off the counter so I could slide them down my hips.

Then he pulled me forward so my hips were at the edge of counter before he bent and dropped his head between my legs.  I leaned back onto one hand and pushed the fingers of the other into his hair, moaning softly.  Brody teased me with his mouth and fingers as long as I let him, but I didn't let him for long.  I pulled him up, using my feet to push his shorts down his hips.  I yanked his shirt up and over his head, then trailed my fingers down his chest and stomach, laughing softly when he shivered.

Brody inched me just a little further forward and pushed into me.  I groaned and dropped my forehead onto his shoulder, moaning as he thrust into me.  I wrapped my legs around his hips, pulling him harder against me.  He lifted my chin and pressed his lips to mine, and I pushed my hands back into his hair, tugging gently.  Brody moaned into our kiss and I tugged a little harder.  "Let's go upstairs," he said suddenly, breathlessly.

"What happened to being excited to have sex wherever we wanted?" I teased.  But I didn't mind...having sex on the counter is not the most comfortable thing.

"Well, now we did and now we can go have sex in bed," he said, laughing and lifting me off the counter.

Once we were in bed, it was easy to get comfortable after we finished.  We stayed there, tangled together, for over an hour.  Finally, Brody groaned and rolled onto his back.  He stretched and said, "I need to work."

"It's after 8," I pointed out.

"I know," he said.  "That's why I need to get up and do some now."  But he didn't move.  After a couple minutes, he said, "I could probably be convinced to not work, if you're opposed to it."

I laughed and rolled onto my side, sliding my hand up his stomach to his chest.  "I'm not opposed to it, but if you want me to convince you not to, I'm sure I can be very convincing."  I trailed my fingers back down his chest and stomach.  "And, I mean, you took off work early to do wedding stuff with me yesterday, so if you need to work tomorrow, I'd understand."

Needless to say, Brody didn't end up doing any work that night.  He did work all Sunday morning and most of Sunday afternoon, but stopped in time to take me out to dinner.

My work week went well.  Josh was still being polite but he didn't go out of his way to talk to me, which was fine with me.  After the slightly rocky start with the client that I took from him, our sessions were now going much better.

Before I knew it, it was Friday and Lauren, Kinsley, and I met for lunch and to get groceries and supplies for camping.  Lauren was only dramatic about camping for the first 20 minutes or so, then she launched into her typical director mode, bossing us around in the most efficient way possible.  I love her for it.  Once we had everything we needed (and a whole lot of stuff we didn't need), we dropped it all off at Lauren's house, which is where we were meeting.

My phone vibrated while we were lounging on Lauren's couch, and I looked at it, seeing a text from James asking what time we were meeting.  "5:00 at Lauren's, which is my old place," I replied.  Kinsley had asked me earlier in the week if it was okay if James came with the woman he was dating.  I wasn't sure how Brody would feel about it, especially after having the recent encounters with Jordan, but he didn't care at all.  I couldn't keep his feelings about James straight to save my life.

 At 3, I decided to head home, because I still needed to pack and Brody would probably be home soon too.  At my prodding, he'd dug out his tent the night before and made sure all of the stakes and poles were still there, because he hadn't used it for a couple years.  Brody made it home on time and got packed, and we were headed back into town to meet the rest of the group by 4:30.

If I were a betting woman...

It was nice to spend the rest of Thursday with Brody, since he'd been gone for a few days.  After dinner he went into his office to do some work, but didn't stay there long.  We both went to bed early, and while I slept restlessly--waking up often--I slept nightmare free and much better than I had the night before.

On Friday morning I got a call from my therapist letting me know that she'd had an afternoon cancelation and could fit me in today if I was free.  I took her up on it, and after breakfast I went into town.  I went to the gym, then had lunch with Kinsley, then went to my appointment, then to the grocery store.  I absolutely loved having all my Fridays off.  It was so nice to be able to get errands done while most people were at work and places weren't as busy.

When I got home, I worked on wedding stuff a little more.  I set up appointments to meet with two officiants next Friday afternoon.  We were getting down to the wire and needed to find someone.  I figured if Brody couldn't go, I'd ask Thalia to come with me.  I spent a good portion of the late afternoon emailing back and forth with Leigh, the event coordinator at the restaurant.  I was having a hard time with the "details" (like linen color and table set up, place cards and table numbers, etc) because I deemed them unimportant.  She'd been kind enough to put some ideas together to give me some choices so I didn't have to start from scratch, and now I was ruling out the things I didn't like.  This was much easier.

I got most things narrowed down and saved everything to show Brody later.  I got up and started dinner, and Ken came home while I was cooking.  I invited him to join us, and he agreed and offered to help.  I politely turned down his offer to help, but was glad that he seemed to be feeling more comfortable in the house and around me.

Brody got home right as I was finishing up dinner.  "What wonderful timing you have," I teased him, laughing.  "Just in time to eat and not help, as usual."

"He did that all the time when we were growing up.  It's like he has an uncanny ability to sense when all the work is done and the food is ready, and he just appears," Ken said.

"It's a great ability to have," Brody said, grinning at us.  "It's okay to be jealous."  He grabbed some plates out of the cabinet and we sat down to eat.

"My apartment complex called today," Ken said, while we were eating.  "They said I can move in next weekend.  I'd much rather move on a weekend than a Tuesday, so I'm going to do it.  I'll be out of your hair in a week."

"That actually went really fast," I said.  "You've been an excellent guest."  Brody agreed.

He chuckled.  "Well I'm glad to hear it.  I've tried.  I didn't want to piss you guys off right when you decided to maybe give me a chance.  I really appreciate you both letting me stay here this month."

After we finished eating, Brody and Ken cleaned up, and I happily let them.  I filled Brody in on the appointments I'd made for next Friday, and he told me he'd take the afternoon off so we could go together.  It made it a little easier to not get as frustrated when I asked for his opinion on some of the ideas that Leigh had sent me.  "Whatever you want," he said, shrugging.

"But I want to know what you want," I insisted.

"I don't really care that much," he admitted.

"There are a few things that I'm having a hard time deciding, will you at least look at those?" I negotiated.  He agreed, but still wasn't very helpful.  I reminded myself that he had been pretty great so far and was taking off work next Friday to do wedding stuff, and I decided to ask Lauren for her opinion on Monday instead of trying to get Brody to decide.

The rest of the weekend was fairly low-key.  Brody worked all day Saturday, and I went out for a girl's night with Lauren, Kinsley, and Kendra.  We hadn't done that in ages, and it was nice to get out without our guys for awhile.  Brody was nervous about me going out after my recent run-ins with Jordan and we almost got into a fight about it minutes before I walked out the door.  It was only when I pointed out that his protectiveness was bordering on controlling that he realized how unreasonable he was being.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, rubbing his forehead.  "I just want you to be safe."

"I am going to be safe," I said.  "At this point, I'm reasonably certain that the only thing he wants to do is scare me and push your buttons.  And the chances of us running into him tonight are small.  It's going to be fine.  You're worrying too much."  

I considered spending the night with Lauren or Kinsley so we could take a cab and all drink, but decided I'd rather sleep at home, so I drove.  I sent Brody a text a couple hours in because I knew he'd be worried, but other than that I didn't think too much about our argument and just enjoyed myself.  I was home by 1 am, because apparently we're all getting too old to drink and dance like we used to.

The next week went by quickly and on Friday Brody came home from work around 1:30, and we headed down to Colorado Springs to meet with the two officiants I had scheduled.  Brody had worked long days the rest of the week to make up for being gone most of last week and leaving early today.  I'd told him that we could try to reschedule the appointments or that I'd go without him but he wanted to go and made it work.  I was grateful for that.

Luckily, we really liked the second officiant that we met with, and we booked her on the spot.  I was so relieved to have all the major things booked and out of the way finally...with just a little over a month to spare!

We were meeting Brody's mom and her mysterious (or not-so-mysterious, if my theory was correct) boyfriend for dinner, but we had over an hour to kill so we wandered around downtown, going in and out of shops and just meandering around the streets.  While we were wandering, my phone rang.  It was Nadine, my biological father's mom.  Brody and I found a bench to sit down on while I answered.

"We are just so excited for your wedding," she said, after we'd exchanged greetings.  "Our RSVP is in the mail!"

"That's great," I said.  "Thank you!  We're pretty excited too.  In fact, we just booked our officiant, so now we can actually get married at our wedding."

She laughed.  "Well, I know the timing is probably bad," she said, "but we're going to be in town to visit the kids' mother in two weeks.  We'd love to see you if you're not too crazy preparing.  I know it's just a few weeks until the wedding."

"I would love to see you guys," I said.  "I feel kind of terrible because I told Sarah that we'd try to plan a weekend for her to come visit before she went back to school, but things got so crazy in August.  Maybe she could come when she has a break from school or something."

"She would love that, I'm sure," Nadine replied.  "She had asked if she could spend one of the nights we're in town with you, but I told her you would probably be running around like crazy."

I considered this.  "Actually, I have most of the bigger stuff done and won't have a ton more to do until probably the week prior.  If she wants to stay one night that weekend, and you're okay with it, that would probably be fine.  I'd love to have her.  I'll just need to talk to Brody first."  Next to me, Brody tapped my arm and nodded, mouthing that it was fine.  "Never mind, he just said he's okay with it!"

"She'll be excited," Nadine said cheerfully.  "Is Saturday night okay?  I'm pulling them out of school at lunch on Friday, but we'll still probably not get there until after dinner time.  They'll be with their mom until about dinner time on Saturday.  Maybe we could all meet for dinner and you could bring her back with you?  Then we can pick her up Sunday on our way out of town?"

"That sounds perfect," I replied.

"Okay, we'll get in touch a little closer to make solid plans for dinner.  I hope you'll bring your fiancé as well.  We'd love to get to know him."  They'd only briefly met Brody the day they picked Sarah up when she had hopped a Greyhound into Denver without telling Nadine and Jon.

"Sure, I'll invite him," I answered.

We said goodbye and hung up and it was time to make our way to the restaurant where we were meeting Thalia and her mystery man.  "Should we take bets on whether or not it's Don?" Brody asked.

"No, because I'm confident that it is," I replied.  "You don't want to bet against that, do you?"

He laughed.  "Not really.  Though I do question it a little, because if it is Don, I'm surprised my mom didn't just tell me that.  At least before we met, because it's not like her to spring something like that on me."

I shrugged and considered this.  "You might be right," I said.  "I guess we'll find out soon."

As it turned out, Thalia was not dating Don.  The man she was standing just outside the restaurant with as we walked up looked considerably younger than Don.  I cringed a little internally, because he also looked much younger than Thalia.  Though Thalia looks quite a bit younger than she is and they didn't make a mismatched couple, I wondered how Brody was going to react.

"I know him," Brody muttered to me as we approached.  "But I can't place him..."  His brow was furrowed and he barely fixed his face in time for his mom to turn around and catch sight of us.  She waved, and we waved back as we closed the space between us and them.  The man looked vaguely familiar to me too, which was surprising.

"Hi," Thalia said with a smile as we approached.  "Brody, do you remember--"

"Tim!" Brody interrupted, suddenly realizing who it was.  I looked at him, still confused.  I had no idea who Tim was.

"Yes," Thalia said, chuckling.  "Tim."  Tim stuck his hand out to shake Brody's hand.  Then he turned towards me expectantly, but before I could introduce myself, Thalia took over.  "Tim, this is Brody's lovely fiancée, Olivia.  Olivia, this is Tim."  I shook his hand and greeted him, still trying to figure out why he looked familiar.  I didn't have to wrack my brain too much longer, because she continued, "You know Don, of course.  Tim is Don's youngest brother."  Ah!  That explains it.  He did look a bit like Don, which must have been where the familiarity came in.

"Of course," I replied, smiling.  I looked at Brody, whose face was neutral.  I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but he smiled back at me.  "Shall we go in?" I asked, nodding towards the door of the restaurant.  Thalia and Tim led the way and I looked at Brody again.  He just smiled back at me and put his arm around my shoulders as we followed them in.

By the end of dinner, Tim had won me over.  He was funny and cheerful and seemed kind.  He and Brody fought good-naturedly over who was going to pay, and Tim won only because the waitress set the bill down closer to him and he managed to snatch it out of Brody's reach.  Thalia smiled.  "I haven't had two handsome men fighting over me in ages," she said.  Brody scowled at her, which just made her laugh.

The service at the restaurant had been incredibly slow, and it was getting late by the time we walked out.  "If you'd like to stay with me, you're welcome to," Thalia said, raising her eyebrows at Brody in question.

"I'm helping Ken move tomorrow," he said.  "But I really don't feel like driving back tonight."

"If you want to head back, I can drive," I offered.  "But I don't mind staying either."

Brody debated silently for several more seconds, then decided we should stay and just get up and going right away in the morning.  We drove out to Thalia's house.  Tim joined us and we opened a bottle of wine and played cards until Brody and I were both yawning.  Tim stood up and said, "I guess I should get going."

"Mom, if your boyfriend wants to stay, it doesn't bother me," Brody said with a smirk, looking at Thalia.

Thalia regarded him coolly and said, "Thanks for your permission, though I don't much care if you're bothered by it or not."  I laughed at the look on Brody's face, and Thalia cracked a smile.  "He needs to be up early though," she continued, "And I'd rather not be.  So no, he can't stay."

"I'm right here," Tim joked.

We said goodbye to him and Thalia walked to him to the door.   When she returned to where Brody and I were picking up the cards and wine glasses, she stopped and said, "Well?"

Brody was silent for several seconds, then asked, "Are you happy?"

"I am," she said, nodding.  "Very happy."

"That's good enough for me, then," he replied.  He smiled and hugged her, and the relief on her face was clear.

"He, um, has a son," she said, after they'd parted.  "He's 12.  That's why he's getting up early tomorrow.  He's taking him fishing."

"Oh," Brody said.  His face was unreadable, but I saw a muscle in his jaw twitch.  "Well, that's good I guess."

She nodded.  "He's an excellent father, it seems like."  The muscle in Brody's jaw twitched again, but he just nodded in response.  Thalia recognized that she had pushed things far enough and shooed us off to bed.

Brody found us both toothbrushes in a drawer in the bathroom next to the bedroom we'd stayed in at Thanksgiving.  We both brushed our teeth silently, next to each other at the sink.  When Brody was done, he walked out of the bathroom, leaving me to wash my face.  When I got into the bedroom, he was already in bed, and I quickly stripped down to my tank top and underwear and got in bed next to him.  He pulled me towards him and settled next to him with my head on his chest, then reached up and pushed my fingers into hair, massaging his scalp.  "Are you okay?" I asked softly.

"Like I said, as long as she's happy, that's enough for me."  His tone was flat and a little cold.  I tried to push myself up on elbow to look at him, but he put gentle pressure on my shoulder, silently asking me to stay put.  I shifted and stayed where I was, respecting his silent request.  "I could have done without knowing about his son and that he's an 'excellent father', though.  I can wrap my head around my mom dating a guy that's probably at least 15 years younger than her.  I'm having a harder time with her being so flippantly cheerful about his parenting skills."

I didn't say anything, and he continued.  "I mean, I guess it's great that she chose someone better than my dad, right?  Because now she can be happy.  And I'm glad for his son's sake that he doesn't suck at being a dad.  Because it sucks to have a dad that does a shitty job of being a dad."  He stopped abruptly and took a deep breath, and I remained silent.  "He does seem like a decent guy, though," Brody admitted.  "And she did look happy."

"She did," I agreed quietly.

"Shit," Brody said, sighing.  "I don't know why I'm so worked up over this guy's kid.  I'm glad she picked a man that isn't anything like my dad.  It just wasn't something I was expecting to hear."

"Well, I imagine it's also hard to know that maybe your mom picked better this time around, because her first choice made aspects of your life really hard," I offered tentatively.

"Yeah," he agreed.  "Something like that."  He laughed drily.  "I'm almost 31 years old and I'm pissed because my mom is dating.  Aren't you impressed by me?"

"You're not pissed because your mom is dating," I said.  "She's been on her own for so long.  This is a big change, and it also happened to trigger some other stuff for you.  You acted perfectly appropriate all night.  It's not like you're throwing a 10 year old's tantrum over having to share your mom with a new guy."

Brody was silent for long enough that I thought maybe he was asleep.  Suddenly, he kissed my forehead and said, "I love you."

"I love you too," I replied.

"You make me feel normal when I'm convinced that I'm crazy.  It's an impressive talent that you have.  You did it for me when my dad died too."

"Normally I charge people to access that particular talent of mine.  For you, it's free."  I pushed myself up again, and this time he didn't try to stop me.  I kissed him, and his grip on my hip tightened slightly.

"What else can I get for free?" he asked, and even though I couldn't see his face well in the dark, I knew he was smirking at me.

I laughed.  "Ask nicely enough, and you can have just about anything you want."

Anything I Want

I was excited--but also nervous--to spend the afternoon with Brody's mom.  I got to the restaurant we were meeting at for lunch a little early, and I fiddled with my phone in my car for a few minutes before I went inside.  She wasn't there yet, but she arrived shortly after I did and greeted me warmly.  Once we were seated, she eagerly asked for a wedding planning update.  I showed her the dress that Lauren and Lynn had picked out and talked about the food options Brody and I had been discussing in passing.

"He doesn't really want a wedding cake, which is fine by me," I told her.  "I think we're just going to do a bunch of different desserts instead."  She shared that she had gotten her invitation and had just put her RSVP in the mail on her way here.  "I can't wait to start getting them in the mail," I confessed.  "It's kind of exciting."

Then I noticed she was wearing a pair of gorgeous diamond earrings and commented on them.  "Oh, these?" she asked, and I noticed her cheeks flush a little.  "Yes, thank you.  They're lovely, aren't they?"  That's all she said, and I wondered if they were from the man she was seeing.

After lunch we went straight to our florist appointment.  Thalia was more helpful than I could have imagined, asking all the right questions and helping me pick out what I wanted based on a few pictures I showed them.

"How about centerpieces?" the florist asked.  "Are you going to want any sort of floral arrangements for those?"

"Ummmm..." I said, looking at Thalia and shrugging.  "I hadn't really thought about it."

"I have some ideas, if you'd like to hear them," Thalia said.  I nodded and she started talking about bouquets and submerged flowers and succulents and all sorts of things.  The florist showed me some pictures and we ended up picking some things out for centerpieces in the end.

As we walked out, Thalia asked, "Were there any other wedding things you wanted to do today?"

"Well, Brody suggested I stop at the jeweler and look at wedding rings again," I said.  I looked at my watch.  "I have time, so I think I'm going to.  You're welcome to join me if you want, but if you don't want to watch me try every ring in the store on, don't feel obligated!"

"I'd love to join you," she said.

I'd forgotten that she knew Don as well, and was surprised at first when he greeted her warmly.  I noticed her cheeks flush again a little.  He quickly turned his attention to me, asking if I wanted to look at wedding bands again.  I said that I did.  As he led us to the right section, he said, "Brody called earlier with his credit card number and strict orders to take care of anything you wanted with that and not let you pay for anything."

"Of course he did," I said, laughing.  "He must have forgotten that I have one of his cards already."  Awhile back, Brody had insisted on putting my name on one of his cards as an authorized user and giving it to me.  I had yet to use it, and planned only to do so in an absolute emergency.

"I don't think he forgot," Don said, smiling.  Nope, he just knew I wouldn't use it.

But even after trying on literally every women's wedding band in the entire store, I didn't find anything that quite worked.  The best was a plain white gold band that didn't quite follow the band of my engagement ring.  "This one will work," I said, finally.

"You don't love it," Don replied, shaking his head.  "We can make you something."  He pulled a ring out that I had really liked, but it didn't fit with my engagement ring.  He pulled a pad of paper out of his pocket and started sketching, then showed me his idea of combining the designs of the one that fit best with the one I liked best, then making it fit to my ring.  He even added a couple details that I loved as well.  "What do you think?" he asked.

Even though I loved the idea, I tried to keep my face neutral, because it seemed like a lot of hoops to jump through for a piece of jewelry.  "It sounds like it would be beautiful," I admitted.  "I should talk to Brody first."

"He said anything you wanted," Don pointed out.

"I'm sure he meant anything I wanted that already existed," I countered with a laugh, even though I knew that Brody wouldn't bat an eye at me coming home and telling him I wanted a custom ring.  In fact, he'd probably be happy that Don could make what I wanted.  "You know what?  I do think I just want the plain white gold band," I decided.  As intriguing as the sketch that Don made was, I felt weird asking Brody to spend even more on a ring when I already had my amazing engagement ring.  The ring didn't matter to me nearly as much as marrying him did, and the plain band would work just fine.

"Are you sure?" Don asked.

"Yes.  Brody said anything I wanted, right?"

Don chuckled.  "He sure did.  Okay then, let's get it taken care of."

10 minutes later, Thalia and were walking out.  "Whoops, I left my purse," she said, laughing.  "How careless.  I'll be back in a second, you don't have to come back in with me."  So I waited outside for her, for almost 2 minutes--much longer than it should have taken to go grab her purse.

On my way home, I got a text from Brody saying that he would be home around dinnertime and that he'd pick food up.  I gratefully took him up on it.  I did stop at the grocery store on my way home though, to get groceries for the next week.  I arrived home around 7, and Brody and Ken were both home.  I found them sitting on the deck with beers in hand.  Brody stood to greet me with a kiss and told me he'd picked up a bottle of wine for me.  He suggested I join them while he went and got the food and a glass of wine for me, but Ken waved off his invitation to join us for dinner and said he'd grab something later, then disappeared inside.

Brody followed him, then came back a couple minutes later balancing two plates of food, a glass of wine, and another beer for himself.

"Did you have a better day?" I asked hopefully.  He certainly seemed to be in a better mood than the night before.

"It was fine," he said, shrugging.  "I did what I could, and I don't have any control over anything else.  I feel good about what I was able to fix, at least."

"That's good," I said, smiling.  He asked about my day, and I filled him in, telling him about my ring conundrum and my decision to go with the plain band.

"You could have gotten the custom one," he said.  "You still could, if you want it."

I shook my head.  "I like the plain one."  Then, smirking, I said, "I think your mom is dating Don."

Brody almost spit out his beer and quickly set the bottle down.  "Why do you think that?" he asked, once he recovered.  So I told him about the earrings, his mom blushing when I complimented them, her and Don's weird greeting, and her slipping back into the store without me for way too long to just be getting her purse.  "Wow," Brody said.  "It sure sounds like she's dating him.  That's weird."

"What's weird about it?" I asked curiously.

"I've known the guy forever," he replied, shrugging.  "He and my mom have always been friends, but it's so hard to picture them together, you know?"

"It's probably hard to picture your mom with anyone," I suggested.  He nodded and agreed.

"But," he conceded, "It's definitely better than her dating a 20 year old!"  He changed the subject and said, "I'm really sorry I haven't been around much this week, with Ken here now.  Has everything been okay?"

I hesitated.  I felt like I had to tread carefully.  I didn't want to make a big deal out of something that really wasn't, but I also really wanted to try to build a relationship with Ken if Brody wanted to give their relationship another shot.  He noticed my hesitation and said, "Tell me what's going on, Liv.  Please."

"Nothing bad," I assured him quickly.  "I just feel really awkward around him, and he clearly feels the same.  It seems like he's avoiding me, and I feel weird if I come downstairs and he's in the kitchen or something, because he usually hurries out then.  If you have any ideas how I can make him feel more welcome, I'd love to hear them."

He frowned.  "I think you're going above and beyond trying, Liv.  I hate that you feel uncomfortable in your own home, though."

"It's just weird, because I don't want him to feel like he has to avoid the main floor of the house just because I'm here." I shrugged.

"Do you want me to talk to him?" Brody asked.

I shook my head and quickly answered, "No, I don't want him to feel even more uncomfortable.  Just if you have any ideas..."

"I do have an idea," he replied.  "But it's not quite what you're looking for."  I gave him a weird look and he grinned and continued.  "Let's get out of here next weekend.  We could go to the cabin, or anywhere you want.  We can have some space, he can have some space, and I can have a break from work, which I need after this week."

"That is the best idea you've ever had," I said.  "I'm in.  Oh, and speaking of getting away, I did a little interest gauging for a camping trip at happy hour yesterday, and it sounds like everyone would be in.  We should see if we can still get a group site somewhere at this point."

"Good thinking," Brody said.  We finished our dinner and lingered on the deck with our drinks for awhile longer, enjoying the summer evening.  While we were sitting there, Ken came out to let us know he was going out for the night and may or may not be back.

"Hey," Brody said as we picked up our dishes to bring inside.  I looked up at him.  "Thanks for including my mom today.  She was really excited to go with you.  It means a lot to me that you're doing so much to include my family into your life, and into our life together.  I wish your parents were closer so we could include them more--but anytime you want to visit, just say the word.  Or if you want them to visit.  They're welcome anytime, and I'm happy to fly them out here."

I smiled.  "Thank you," I replied.  "I was happy to include your mom.  She was actually incredibly helpful.  I would have left the florist really overwhelmed and probably without what I wanted if she hadn't been there to help.  I'm grateful she wanted to come!"

We quickly got our dinner mess cleaned up and settled on the couch with more drinks to look for a campsite for Labor Day weekend.  Surprisingly, we found an open group campsite at a state park not too far away.  It was in the foothills and had a lake with a beach and other water sport options, plus lots of hiking trails.  Brody went ahead and booked it while I sent an email out to our friends.

Within minutes I had an enthusiastic response from Alex with a sidenote that Lauren was also in, but was not as excited.  "I can't really picture Lauren camping at all," Brody admitted, laughing as he read the email.

"She has before," I assured him.  "I used to drag her out with my family sometimes so I had someone my age to hang out with.  My parents wouldn't let me go anywhere alone, even for a walk around the campground--"

"Shocking!" Brody interrupted.

"I know," I replied, laughing.  "So when Lauren came, we got to wander around and even sometimes go swimming on our own.  So I dragged her along as often as I could convince her."

"Poor Lauren," Brody joked.  "Forced to go camping against her will just so you could have a little freedom."

"It wasn't like that!" I said indignantly.  He cocked an eyebrow skeptically.  "Okay, well maybe it was a little like that.  But she always had fun.  That girl can put away some serious s'mores."

"Now that doesn't surprise me," Brody replied.

We put a movie on, and I grabbed a blanket because Brody loved keeping the air conditioning set at a temperature unsuitable for most humans.  When I'd protested the frigid temp, we'd compromised.  He bumped the thermostat up a couple degrees, and I strategically placed blankets around the house.  When he was traveling, I turned it up a little more and enjoyed being blanket-free in the summer, as nature intended.

Brody grabbed the edge of the blanket and pulled over his lap too, then pulled me closer.  I got comfortable and settled against him, and I had to admit that the benefit of too much a/c was that it made it perfectly reasonable to cuddle even when it was 90 degrees out.  About 15 minutes into the movie, Brody's fingers found my leg and began to lightly stroke my inner thigh just above my knee.  After a few minutes, the stroking turned to gentle massaging.  I sighed and leaned my head back onto his shoulder, still watching the movie.

Every couple minutes he'd slide his fingers just a little higher and resume his gentle massage.  It took him over 15 minutes to get to the hem of my shorts, and by then I had given up on watching the movie.  I closed my eyes and moved my legs apart, but he started traveling back down towards my knee.  When I groaned in frustration, he innocently said, "You've banished us to the bedroom only, remember?"

"He's gone for the night," I replied, grabbing his hand and sliding it higher.  "He just left.  I think we're okay."

"Alright," he said, his fingers dancing along the hem of my shorts, "if you insist."   He slipped the tips of his fingers beneath the edge of my shorts, teasing me as he pushed them as high as my shorts would allow.  He continued gently massaging my leg, watching the movie as if he wasn't sitting here driving me crazy.

Finally, he moved his hand to the button and zipper of my shorts, and with impressive dexterity he undid the button and unzipped them, then slid his hand inside them, between my underwear and the denim.  He continued his languid torture, lightly pressing his fingers everywhere but where I wanted them.  When I tried to move my hips to get contact with him, he pulled them further away.  "You're a horrible tease," I groaned, adjusting to get more comfortable.

"I'm enjoying myself quite a bit," he replied.  "This is a great movie."  But he appeased me by sliding his fingers lower and gently rubbing me through my underwear.  I moaned softly and squirmed, pressing my head back against his shoulder harder.  Despite my protests, I loved the teasing, because it made everything better in the end.  When he finally slipped his hand beneath my underwear and stroked my bare flesh, I gasped and gripped his forearm.  It took all of 10 seconds before I came, arching my back and pressing myself against his hand.  He kept his hand still against me until I stopped shaking, then slid it up and resumed gently massaging everywhere else.  He dropped his head down and nibbled lightly on the edge of my ear, then said softly, "I think we should turn this movie off and go upstairs."

He didn't have to ask me twice.

Three's Company

Plan for the week:  Today's post, below.  Kinsley's final post tomorrow.  I'm going camping in the middle of nowhere on Thursday, so I promise one more post.  If I get both Lauren's first post and the next main storyline post written before I leave, you'll have main storyline on Wednesday and Lauren on Friday.  If I only get Lauren's written, you'll have Lauren's on Wednesday and then nothing until Sunday, unfortunately.  I'll do my best, but you'll at least have three posts this week with the Kinsley bonus!
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When I got home, an unfamiliar car with Washington plates was parked in the middle of the driveway, so I parked in the street.  I grabbed the box containing our invitations and stopped at the mailbox to grab the mail.  Between the box, the mail, my purse, and my workbag, I was out of hands to get my keys to unlock the front door, so I rang the doorbell with my elbow.

Brody pulled open the door and grabbed the box from me, giving me a weird look.  Then he grimaced.  "He's still in the middle of the driveway, isn't he?  I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I said, smiling.  I was doing my best to put my bad attitude aside because I didn't want this to start on the wrong foot.  If it ended up being awful, it wasn't going to be because of me.

"What's in here?" Brody asked, looking curiously at the box.

"Our invitations," I said.  "I forgot all about them, but they turned out great!"

Brody opened the box and took one of the extra ones out and pulled it out of its envelope.  "They did," he agreed, looking at it.  He slipped it back into the envelope and put it back in the box, then smiled at me.  "Hi, beautiful," he said, kissing me lightly.  "How was lunch?"

"It was good," I said, sorting through the mail.  "Lauren was acting really normal, and her sister came too.  I haven't seen Amanda in ages."

I turned as I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.  "Oh, hi Olivia," Ken said.  "I was just coming up to move my car.  I'm sorry if it was in your way."

"That's okay," I said.  "How was the drive here?"

"Long, of course, but other than that it was good," he said.  "Look, thanks for being okay with me staying with you guys.  I'll be out of here as soon as I can, and I'll try not to get in your way.  Can I take you guys out to dinner tonight?"

Brody looked at me and I nodded.  "Works for us," Brody agreed.  Ken grinned and went outside to move his car.  Brody looked back at me.  "Keys?  I'll go put your car in the garage."  I pulled my keys out of my purse and handed them to him, and he started to walk out but then turned back, fishing in his pocket.  "That reminds me.  Here."  He handed me a key.

"What's this?" I asked.

"I put a lock on your library door.  I know how you feel about your space and I thought you might feel at least a little better about everything if your space was secure."

"I love you," I said.  "Thank you.  I do appreciate knowing my space is safe.  I really am okay with this though--he's family.  I just wish we would have had a little more notice.  That's what threw me off.  I was just really caught off guard."

"I know, me too," he agreed.  "And I love you too."  He kissed me and went to move my car, while I took my work bag and shoved it in the entry closet.  It was hard to believe that I was done with working Saturdays (and Fridays too, for that matter) for now.  I briefly wondered what I'd do with all my time, then rolled my eyes at myself.  Plan a wedding, of course.

I moved the box of invitations to the table.  They needed stamps and to be mailed this week.  And I needed to find a florist to go meet with.  Soon, preferably.

Brody and Ken walked back inside, laughing about something.  Ken said, "I'm going to go finish unpacking the things I brought and get settled.  What time should we leave?"  We debated a dinner time for a little while and once it was settled, Ken headed downstairs.

"What are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?" Brody asked me, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"Changing out of my work clothes and then doing wedding stuff," I said, starting up the stairs.  He trailed after me, but I quickly shut him down.  "We can't have sex right now," I protested.  "What if Ken needs something and comes looking for you?"

"The bedroom door locks," he said, with a shrug.

"Later, please?" I asked.  He agreed, but he still tortured himself by laying on the bed and watching me change.

"Come here," he said, motioning to me once I was done.  I flopped on the bed next to him and let him pull me closer to him.  "What wedding stuff are you going to work on?" he asked, sliding his fingers up and down my arm.

"I need to find a florist, and we need to get stamps on the invitations so we can send them out," I told him.

"Sounds like fun," Brody said.

I laughed.  "I think I heard a little bit of sarcasm there.  Will you help me do the stamps?  There aren't that many invitations."

He agreed immediately to help, and we made our way downstairs and he sat on the couch with me, putting stamps on invitations while I looked for a florist.  With just 36 total invitations to send out, it only took him about 10 minutes.  He carefully stacked them back in the box, then said, "I'm going to go get some work done, unless you need me for more wedding stuff."

"Nope, I'm good," I said.  "Unless you've changed your mind about caring about the florist."  I smirked at him and he shook his head.

"No, not at all," he replied.  "That's all you."  He stood, kissed the top of my head, and wandered into the kitchen, then to his office.  I finished poring over reviews and picked the florist I wanted to meet with.  They were--miraculously--still open, and I called and made an appointment for Friday afternoon.  Then I called Brody's mom and invited her along.  She excitedly agreed to come and we ended up chatting for a few minutes as well.  We planned to meet for lunch first, then go to the florist.  I would never have wanted to spend an afternoon alone with John's mom, and she was a perfectly normal, nice woman, but I was excited to spend time with Thalia.  I had hit the future-mother-in-law jackpot, and I was grateful that she was so amazing.

I headed upstairs to get ready for dinner, and Brody came up to shower while I was running my flat iron through my hair.  "Ken is always late," he warned me, turning on the shower and pulling his shirt off.  "I don't know if living in the same house will change that, but I wouldn't plan on him being ready to go on time."

"Good to know," I said, my eyes on his chest.  They traveled lower as he pushed his shorts off and stepped out of them.

He smirked, watching my gaze.  "You had your chance," he said, stepping into the shower.  "Now you have to wait."

I finished getting ready and went back downstairs to do a little more random wedding-related research while I waited for the guys. Brody wandered down a few minutes later, and I showed him what I was doing.  I was surprised at how easy it was to get him involved in wedding planning stuff.  I only had Kendra's gripes about Christian's lack of interest, plus my brain full of stereotypes to go by, but I had expected it to be much harder to get him interested.

True to Brody's prediction, Ken didn't even appear upstairs until about 20 minutes after we were supposed to leave.  I wasn't worried, because I wasn't in a hurry at all.  He let us know he was going to be driving separately because he was meeting up with some old friends in town after we ate.  I'd almost forgotten that they'd lived here when they were younger, and hadn't realized that he'd probably still know a handful of people in the area.

Dinner was nice, and Ken insisted on paying, which was totally unnecessary but sweet.  I found out a little more about him and his job.  He was an IT project manager for a company with several locations, and had taken a promotion that had resulted in his transfer to the Boulder office.  He'd be doing some traveling to their other offices as part of this position as well.  Ken had the same dry sense of humor as Brody and the two of them had me laughing through most of the meal, as Ken told me stories about young Brody and Brody defended himself.

"I am so glad I don't have siblings to tell you embarrassing stories about my childhood," I commented to Brody as we walked out.

"Yeah, well, he should remember that he's still not firmly back in my favor," Brody said good-naturedly.

"I heard that," Ken called, a few steps behind us.

"I wasn't whispering!" Brody replied, laughing to himself.  I just shook my head.

Brody and I ended up headed somewhere else to meet up with Kendra, Christian, and Alex and have a drink.  I offered to drive, since Brody almost always did, and he actually took me up on it.  Brody went up to the bar to get a drink for himself and a soda for me, and I leaned over towards Kendra.  "I assume Lauren is hanging out with her family?"

Kendra nodded, then lowered her voice and said, "I'm not sure why Alex is here though.  He'd originally said he probably wouldn't be, but then he ended up texting Christian last minute and saying he wanted to come."  I gave her a weird look, and she shrugged.  I looked over at Alex.  He looked fine.  He was giving Christian a hard time about something and they were both laughing.

"Oh, before I forget!" Kendra said, changing the subject abruptly.  "Christian and I want to book our room for your wedding soon, do you guys have rooms blocked anywhere?"  When I grimaced, she laughed.

"I guess I should probably do that this week, huh?" I asked.  I pulled out my phone and added it to my list of wedding related tasks I needed to do sooner rather than later.

"Do what this week?" Brody asked, reappearing with drinks.

"Hotel blocks," I replied.  Brody looked at me blankly.  I explained it to him, and said, "We don't have a ton of people coming, but it still probably isn't a bad idea."

"Makes sense to me," he agreed.

We stayed out for a couple hours, then headed home.  I was pretty sure Brody was solidly buzzed, and he confirmed it when he grabbed my ass as we walked out of the bar.  "Try to keep it in your pants until we get home," I said, laughing and pulling his hand up to a more reasonable spot on my hip.

"Well that's no fun," he grumbled.

He barely managed, and spent most of the drive distracting me with his wandering hands.  He was out of the car before I'd even turned it off, and he pulled my door open for me, then grabbed the keys out of my hands and unlocked the door.  As soon as the door closed behind me, he had me up against the wall, kissing me hard.  I groaned as he nipped at my bottom lip and slid his hands roughly up my skirt.  "I love dresses," he said softly, grinning at me.  "Makes everything so easy."  I started to respond but lost my train of thought when his fingers pressed against me through my underwear.  I sucked in a sharp breath and leaned my head back against the wall, completely forgetting about everything except his fingers against me.

Brody's lips found mine as he moved my underwear aside and stroked me gently.  I moaned into our kiss and pressed my hips against his hand as he eased first one, then two fingers inside me, keeping his thumb pressed firmly against me.  He pushed the fingers of other hand through my hair, then moved it to wrap his arm around my waist when my legs started to shake.  I gripped his back, digging my fingers in desperately as I came.

I was--quite literally--mid-orgasm when the front door opened (which is in plain view of the garage door) and Ken walked in.  Brody and I both froze, my legs clamping shut against his hand, which did nothing helpful, as it just pushed it tighter against me.  Ken took one look at us and quickly looked away, saying, "I'm just going to go downstairs," as he disappeared

I pressed my face against Brody's chest as my cheeks burned.  "At least we're both fully clothed?" he said, sliding his hand out from under my dress and wrapping both arms around me.

"Damn you for making me forget that we have a roommate now," I mumbled, my voice muffled against his shirt.  Brody laughed gently, stroking my back.

"Yeah, that's not a show I want to put on again," he agreed.  "I've just confirmed that exhibitionism isn't my thing at all."  Despite my mortification, I laughed at that.    "Should we go upstairs?" he asked, nudging me gently away from his chest.

I nodded.  "Yes.  Upstairs...with the door locked!" Brody laughed and we headed upstairs, to the only safe place to have sex for the next month.

Pass it Down

Happy Sunday, readers!  As promised on Friday (if you didn't check back on Friday to see my Kinsley bonus, make sure you don't miss it!), I've got some Kinsley bonuses up my sleeve so that we can wrap this part of her story up and hear from Lauren.  I had a request for a post from Damien's perspective, so I'm working on that too!  I love when you guys give me an awesome, challenging request.  Those end up being some of my favorite posts to write.  

The plan for this week is: Today's post, below.  Tomorrow (Monday), a Kinsley post.  Wednesday and Friday will be a Kinsley post and a main storyline post--not sure yet which will be which.  Ideally, I'd like Wednesday to be main storyline and Friday to be Kinsley, but the Kinsley post is written and the next main storyline post is not, so that might mean that Kinsley happens on Wednesday and main storyline on Friday.  Either way, there will be posts today, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  

One last thing:  I'm loving all the discussion on the Kinsley storyline, and I'm glad that you're all enjoying her posts so much.  Kinsley has a special place in my heart, so I love that you all love her too.
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Lauren skipped out on Thursday's happy hour, and Brody was stuck at work late, so it ended up being me, Alex, Kendra, and Christian.  According to Alex, Lauren had claimed that she wasn't feeling well.  It was sort of a weird evening, and ended up being mostly Kendra and I talking wedding while Alex and Christian talked about...whatever they talked about.

I left after a little over an hour and stopped to drop off some food to Brody.  Arlene was still parked at the desk and barely looked at me as she waved me back.  I knocked lightly on Brody's office door, which was ajar.  "Yeah?" he said.  He looked up as I pushed the door open a little more and slipped in.  "Oh! Hi, baby," he said, smiling.  "Sorry, I thought you were Pete."

"Nope, definitely not!" I replied.

"You're a lot prettier than Pete," Brody said, laughing.  He stood and kissed me.  "And you brought food.  You're far superior to Pete in every way."

"That was in order of importance, right?" I joked.

"Absolutely," he said with a grin.  Then he yawned.  I looked at the clock and saw it was a little after 8.  Judging by what time his alarm went off this morning, I estimated he'd already been at work for 14 hours today.

"Do you have much left?" I asked sympathetically, reaching up to rub his neck.

He frowned.  "Unfortunately, yes.  I'll probably be here a couple more hours.  I'd like to finish tonight so I can sleep in and come in a little later tomorrow morning and still be done by a reasonable time."

"Okay, I'll go so you can get back to work then," I said.

"I'll give you an update when there's an end in sight," he promised, kissing me.  I turned to go, and he caught my hand and pulled me back.  "One more kiss," he said, tugging me close to him.  I laughed and kissed him, gripping his arms and then sliding my hands up to his face.  "Mmm," he said, finally pulling away.  "Maybe that will motivate me to get shit done so I can get home."

"If that's the case, then how about one more?" I asked, smirking and standing on my toes to kiss him again.  He wrapped his arm around my lower back and pulled me against him, then buried his other hand in my hair, gently gripping a handful.

"Ummm," a male voice said, clearing his throat.  "Sorry, I'll...come back."

Brody and I broke apart sheepishly, and Brody called, "No, Pete, it's okay.  Sorry."

Pete turned and came back in, looking embarrassed.  "I knocked..." he said, shrugging.  "The door was open.  I can wait though..."

"No, I was just leaving," I said hastily, my face hot.  Brody offered to walk me out but I waved him off and left, hurrying past Pete without making eye contact.  I wasn't sure if it was for his benefit or mine.

When I got to my car, before I set off for home, I sent a quick text to Lauren that said, "Hope you feel better.  I miss you.  Call me when you get a chance."  I was a little frustrated with the whole situation and hoped that Lauren would actually call me.  At this point, I didn't even know if we were on for Monday.

When I got home I washed the couple of dishes that were in the sink, wiped down the counters, and then decided to soak in the bath for awhile.  I dumped some lavender bath salt in while the tub filled up and grabbed a glass of wine and my Kindle.  I laid in the tub reading for almost an hour before I got out.  I dried off and got dressed and grabbed my phone--I had a text from Brody saying, "Don't wait up.  Midnight maybe?  Sorry :("   I decided to just head to bed, and I was glad I didn't have to work the next day.

I tossed and turned for awhile before settling into a restless sleep.  I never slept well here when Brody was gone.  Finally, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.  Brody came in, headed for the bathroom, and emerged a few minutes later.  I rolled over as he climbed into bed.  "Hi," I said sleepily.

"Hi," he replied, settling next to me and wrapping his arm around me.  "Sorry I woke you."

"You didn't, really," I said, finding his hand and weaving my fingers between his.  "I'm sorry your day sucked."

"It's better now," he said, pressing his face against my neck.  "I'm going to work from home tomorrow, I think.  It's been a long week."

"I like that idea," I said.  There was no chance of him getting stuck late in town if he didn't leave the house.

I finally fell asleep, not waking until Brody's alarm went off in the morning.  Next to me, he groaned and I felt his arm lift off my body as he rolled over to silence his phone.  He grumbled something unintelligible as he rolled back towards me, wrapping his arm back around me and nestling his face between my neck and shoulder.

I had just drifted back to sleep when his alarm went off again.  Once again he groaned, rolled over, silenced it, and rolled back towards me.  Figuring he must have actually shut it off this time, I shut my eyes again.  When the alarm went off a third time, I rolled away from him and said, "If you don't either shut that fucking thing off or get up, you can go sleep in the other room and listen to it repeatedly by yourself."

"It's off," he said chuckling.  "Come back, please?"    Grumbling to myself, I rolled back over onto my side and let him snuggle up against my back again.  But now I couldn't get comfortable enough to fall back asleep.  "Sorry," Brody said, his breath tickling my neck.  "I can try to help you fall back asleep if you want..."  When I didn't grumble at him, he pressed his lips against the back of my neck.  Getting no negative response, he moved them a little and sucked gently.  Despite my grumpiness at having been woken up three times, I couldn't help but sigh contentedly and press my hips back against his.

He kept kissing and sucking on the back of my neck while one hand slipped up my tank top and brushed lightly across my breasts.  Then he pushed my shorts down over my hips and I wiggled out of them, kicking them off.  His hand found its way between my legs and began moving gently against me until I was moaning and pressing my hips against his hand.  Then he eased himself into me and rocked his hips slowly against mine, keeping his fingers pressed against my skin.

He got me close, then paused the movement of his fingers and his hips, nipping gently at my shoulder as I moved my hips desperately against his.  Then he resumed, and this time he didn't stop.  I cried out and gripped his forearm tightly as I came, locking my leg around his.  His fingers continued moving against me as he thrust harder and I soon had a second orgasm.  He finished shortly after and we stayed pressed together, breathless.

We shifted around so Brody was laying on his back and I had my head on his chest.  Brody pushed my hair behind my ear, then dragged his fingers lightly down my jaw.  Up, around my ear, down my jaw, over and over.  I yawned and my eyelids drooped shut, and I soon fell back asleep.

I woke again about an hour later, and I could tell from the slow, steady rise and fall of Brody's chest that he was still sleeping.  I carefully slipped out of bed without waking him, found my shorts, and crept downstairs.   By the time Brody came downstairs, I was almost finished making eggs, pancakes, and sausage.

"You're making me breakfast?  That's new!" Brody teased me as he came into the kitchen, pushing his hand through his already tousled hair.

"Weird, huh?" I replied, laughing.  "Don't get used to it."  We sat and ate together, then cleaned up together.  After that, Brody disappeared into his office to work.  I spent my Friday going to the gym, getting groceries and running a couple errands, doing some laundry, and doing some more wedding stuff.  We had gotten just about all the addresses we needed (having a short guest list helped!) and I needed to compile them into one list to send to Lauren's mom.  Then I made lists of questions to ask the people we were meeting with tomorrow (a couple photographers, a couple DJs, and an officiant), and started looking for florists in Colorado Springs.

I was still Googling when Brody wandered in.  I showed him a few things I was looking at, then gladly shut the laptop so we could make dinner together.  We ate out on the deck and spent a good portion of the evening out there, splitting a bottle of wine and talking.

We went to bed early, and we were up early on Saturday to head down to Colorado Springs.  We played bad 90s and early 2000s music the whole ride down, singing along to boy bands and Britney Spears.  It was a long day of running around and asking questions and taking notes and being inundated with information, and by the end of our appointments we were both a little crabby.  I really, really wanted to just go home, but we were having dinner with Brody's mom.

"We have some time, do you mind if we make one more stop?" Brody asked.

I frowned.  "Can that stop be preceded by one more for some caffeine?"

Brody chuckled.  "Absolutely.  There's actually a great coffee shop not to far away from where I want to go, will that work?"  I nodded, and a few minutes later Brody parked.  We walked into a coffee shop and I got a large iced mocha.  I might not sleep tonight, but at least I'd be awake for dinner.  "Up for a 5 minute walk?" Brody asked.  I agreed and he guided us down the sidewalk.

We stopped in front of a jewelry store.  "This is where I got your necklace and your ring," he explained.  "My mom has known the owner for a long time.  I thought you could meet him, and we could look at wedding bands if you want."  Looking at diamonds was always something I was okay with, so I happily followed him into the store.

We were greeted by an attractive woman who looked like she was in her mid-30s.  "Is Don here?" Brody asked her.  She nodded and said he was in the back, then excused herself to go get him.  I wandered around, looking at all the pretty things in the cases.

"Brody!" boomed an unfamiliar male voice.  I looked up and saw a tall, heavyset man approaching us.  "Hello, son!"  He shook Brody's hand vigorously, then his sparkling eyes turned to me.  "And you must be Olivia," he said, holding out his hand to me.

"Yes, that would be me," I said, smiling and shaking his outstretched hand.

"Let's see that beautiful ring on your hand there, dear," Don said, motioning to my left hand.  I held it out to him and he gently took my fingers and tilted the ring this way and that way, so the diamond caught the light and glittered.  "Perfect," he said.  "It looks even better on your hand than it did in my display case.  If you can part with it for a minute or two, Kathryn will clean it for you."  Perking up at the mention of her name, Kathryn scurried over, carefully taking the ring from me and walking towards the back of the store.  My hand felt weird without the ring.  "The necklace is stunning on you as well," he said.  Then he turned back to Brody.  "You did good, kid."

Brody grinned, then asked if we could look at wedding bands.  Don led us to a different section of the store as Kathryn returned with my ring.  I tried on several bands, but nothing was quite what I wanted.  The band I liked didn't fit right with my ring.  "We might just have customize something for you, my dear," Don said, after I'd tried on half the store.

I frowned.  "I'm sure I'll find something," I replied.  Brody tried on a few rings and found a couple that he liked.  We had to leave, but we assured Don that we'd be back, probably in a few weeks.  We said goodbye, and headed back towards the car, walking hand in hand.

Brody drove us to the restaurant we were meeting Thalia at, and we were a few minutes early.  We sat in the car and went over our notes from all of our meetings.  We had ended up really liking one of the photographers and signed a contract and put a deposit down.  Both the DJs were fine and we would have been okay with either one, but Brody really wanted to look at some live music options first.  The officiant wasn't our style at all, and that stressed me out the most, because if we didn't have someone to marry us, we wouldn't be able to have a wedding.  Brody assured me that it would be okay and we'd find someone, but his laid-back attitude just added to my stress. I wanted him to feel the same sense of urgency that I did, even though I logically knew that wouldn't happen.

I shoved my notes into the backseat and grabbed my purse and we headed to inside to meet his mom.  We waited for her inside, and she walked in just a couple minutes after we had.  She greeted us both cheerfully with a hug.  Once we were seated, she asked how the day of wedding planning had gone.  Brody smiled and said, "I think it went great," at the same time that I shrugged and said, "It was okay, I guess."  We looked at each other and laughed, then I clarified, "I think I'm feeling the time crunch a little bit more than he is."

"Brody's never been troubled by timelines," Thalia agreed, smiling.   "But please, let me know if you need any help.  I'd be happy to do whatever I can."

"Thank you," I said sincerely.  "I might take you up on that!"  I thought for a second and then said, "Actually, if you don't mind, I could really use someone to go meet with a florist with me when I pick one out.  I don't really know much about flowers, and Brody doesn't care.  It would be nice to have someone there that was a little more knowledgeable."  I knew that Thalia loved flowers and gardening, and Brody had given me a "do I have to?" look when I asked him about meeting with florists.

"I'd love to!" she said happily.  After a little discussion, we agreed that I'd try to set something up on one of the Fridays I was off.  Brody looked relieved that he wouldn't have to do anything flower-related with me.

"So, Mom," Brody started, once we were almost finished eating.  "Are we going to get to meet this man in your life before the wedding?"

Thalia looked surprised, as if it hadn't occurred to her that Brody would want to meet him.  Or maybe that we'd invite him to the wedding (which we were, of course).  "Well, I guess, if you want to," she said, stuttering a little.

"I do," he confirmed.  I nodded.

She shrugged.  "Okay, well we can set something up for another time that you guys are down here doing wedding stuff, if you'd like.  Just let me know."  We promised to let her know the next time we'd be down.

Our server appeared at that moment, saving Thalia from any further discussion of her love life.  We debated if we wanted to get dessert, and finally selected something to share.  Once our server disappeared, Thalia turned to me.  Her eyes sparkled as she said, "Olivia, dear, I have something for you."

"For me?" I asked, surprised.  I looked at Brody, who looked just as surprised as I did.  I looked back at Thalia and she smiled as she reached into her purse and drew out a large velvet jewelry box.  I cocked my head and took it tentatively when she held it out to me.

"This was my grandmother's, then my mother's, then mine, and now I want it to be yours," she said.  "Consider it an engagement gift, but please don't feel pressure to wear it for your wedding if it doesn't go with your dress or if you have something else already.  I just want you to have it."

I glanced at Brody again before I opened it, and he just smiled at me.  I opened the box and gasped.  "Oh my god, Thalia, this is gorgeous," I breathed, looking down at an amazing diamond and pearl necklace with matching earrings.  "I can't possibly--"

"You can, and you will," she said simply and firmly.  "You don't have to wear it if you don't like it; all I ask is that if you and my son have children, you'll continue to pass it down."

"No, I love it," I said sincerely.  "And I will!  It's beautiful.  I...don't know what to say."  I looked up at her, blinking furiously because I felt tears welling up at the gesture.  "Thank you."  Brody slipped an arm around my shoulders and quickly kissed my cheek, then smiled at me.

"You're welcome, dear.  Welcome to our family."

That was enough to send me over the edge, and the tears I'd been trying to hold back spilled out.  Our server stopped by with our dessert, saw me crying, and hurriedly set the plate down and backed away.  "Hey," Brody said, laughing gently.  "Don't do that."  He tightened his arm around me and stroked my shoulder with his thumb.  Thalia reached across the table and patted my hand gently, and I laced my fingers with hers and squeezed them.  She squeezed back, and I stood and excused myself.

I hurried to the bathroom, where I managed to get a hold of myself.  I cursed myself for my tendency to cry at the drop of a hat, and quickly cleaned up my smudged eye makeup and took several deep breaths.  When I came out of the bathroom, I found Brody leaning against the wall.  He pulled me into a hug.  "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine.  I just got a little overwhelmed by the gesture and the thought behind it," I said, smiling at him.  "Thanks for coming to check on me."

He kissed my forehead, then brushed his lips gently against mine.  "Alright, I'm going to the bathroom then, I'll be back shortly."  I nodded and turned to head back to the table.

I felt my face get warm as I sat back down, and I smiled shyly at Thalia.  "Sorry," I said.  "Thank you, it means so much to me that you'd give me this beautiful heirloom.  And actually, if you don't mind, I'd love to wear it on our wedding day.  It will go perfectly with my dress."

Thalia's face lit up.  "Of course!" she said.  "It's yours, you can wear it when you want.  That means you've purchased a dress?"

"Yes, want to see it?" I asked.  She nodded excitedly.  I checked to make sure Brody wasn't coming back yet, and pulled my phone out.  I scrolled through my pictures until I found the one of me in the dress that Amy had taken and sent to me.  I handed her my phone, and her eyes got wide.

"Oh, Olivia, it's beautiful," she said.  "You look wonderful, and so happy.  And you're right, that jewelry will be perfect with it."  She smiled at me and handed the phone back, motioning with her head to the right.  I saw Brody coming, so I quickly clicked my screen off and shoved my phone back in my purse.  I had originally wanted to go dress shopping with him, but when I had found the perfect dress without him, I decided I wanted to keep it a surprise.

We ate our dessert and stayed for a bit longer.  I was so grateful to be marrying into Brody's family, even with the family-related bumps we'd had along the way.  Brody's mom and sister were wonderful enough to make up for the rocky start, and I was hopeful that our relationship with Ken would end up being neutral at worst.

Finally, we stood, freeing up our table for the next guests.  Outside the restaurant we both hugged Thalia, promising to let her know when we'd be down again.  We parted, and Brody and I walked to our car with my first family heirloom tucked safely into my purse.