Our Favorite Days (My Favorite Mistake #3) (20 page)

Renee just broke down and threw herself at him.

“Of course you can,” she said as he leaned down to hug her.

“Thanks,” he said with the saddest smile I’d ever seen.

“Do they know what started it?” Paul asked, taking the still-crying Renee under his arm.

Dusty shook his head.

“They have to investigate, but it doesn’t look like it was intentional. Probably faulty wiring or some shit like that. It doesn’t really matter. Everything is gone.” Jos shook her head and put her hand under his chin to force him to look at her.

“You are alive. You are alive and Napoleon is alive and you are coming home with me. Understand? All of that stuff doesn’t matter. You matter.” She gave him a fierce kiss and he hugged her and they cried together.

We all cried, huddled together until the sun started peaking over the horizon. Dusty had to talk to the fire investigator, so we waited with him. It was all we could do. When he was finally done, we headed back to Yellowfield house and pulled together breakfast and massive amounts of coffee.

“Okay, so let’s make a list of what you need, then we can all go out and get it today. I mean, we can’t get everything, but we can have enough to get you started,” Darah said, tearing out some sheets of notebook paper and laying them out on the dining table.

“You don’t have to do that,” Dusty tried to say, but Darah just glared at him. I didn’t even know she was capable of that kind of look.

“Okay, okay. Jesus.” He put his hands up in surrender and it was the first moment of levity we’d had all night.

It was fortunate that Dusty stayed here so often. He had tons of clothes and most of his other personal items, like his laptop and textbooks, here.

He still needed extra winter clothes and boots and shoes plus supplies for Napoleon. Darah delegated and we all got dressed and headed out. Hunter and I were in charge of the pet supplies so we drove to the Bangor Mall.

“It’s going to be fun to have a cat,” I said. “I mean, a full-time cat. Napoleon was already over a lot anyway. Maybe we could get him a little buddy so he’s not lonely.” Hunter gave me a look as if I’d suggested we buy an elephant and house it in the basement.

“What?”

“I don’t think a kitten is what we need right now, Missy. Seeing as how we’re going to have our own human kitten.” I snorted and grabbed a bag of little cat toys shaped like mice. Napoleon loved to play fetch with things like this. He was going to go nuts when he saw them.

“But that’s a ways off. And we already have one cat. What’s another?” We moved through the food aisle and Hunter added a big bag of dry food to our cart.

Hunter grumbled under his breath but then we turned the corner and they just happened to have a cage full of kittens up for adoption.

“It’s meant to be,” I said, rubbing Hunter’s arm where he had the seven tattooed.

“Renee is going to kill us,” he said as we headed toward the cage of mewling kittens. They were so damn cute I wanted to cry. I actually did cry, but I was going to blame that on Spawn.

“Can I help you?” one of the polo-shirted employees asked as we talked and cooed at the kittens.

“Yeah, we want to adopt one,” I said and the employee, Sarah, got us some paperwork. I let Hunter fill that out as I looked at each of the kittens, trying to figure out which one we should get. I was just staring at two sleeping on top of each other one when a little gray kitten with white socks came over. It put its paws on the cage and meowed right in my face.

“Hello,” I said and the kitten answered. It had a little spot of white on one ear and pretty blue eyes.

“What about this one?” I asked, pointing. Sarah came over and took the kitten out.

“This is a little girl. She hasn’t been fixed yet, but she’s a real sweetheart.” The kitten was plopped in my arms and she immediately licked my hand and started purring.

“Oh, Hunter,” I said, turning. He reached for the kitten.

“Hello, sweet girl,” he said, cradling the kitten to his chest. I started crying again, and tried to wipe my eyes so that no one noticed.

“And it’s a little ironic that she’s the color of smoke,” Hunter said, scratching her under her chin as she closed her eyes happily.

“Yeah, we should call her that. Smoky.” Hunter agreed and before we knew it, I was sitting in the passenger side of my car and holding a snoozing kitten.

“What have we gotten ourselves into?” Hunter asked.

Good question.

T
he next day we helped Dusty officially move in, which included adding him to the chore chart.

“This is very official,” he said, giving Jos a kiss on the cheek. He was doing really well, considering. By some miracle, he’d brought all the pictures of his brother over here so that Jos could also see them, so he hadn’t lost any. He only had his part-time job at Bull Moose, so the rest of us were chipping in to help him get back on his feet. He tried to refuse, but none of us were having it.

“You’re stuck with us now,” Jos said, smiling up at him. Renee probably still wasn’t thrilled about him moving in, but she couldn’t throw the guy out after his house had burned down.

“Thank you all, really. I don’t…” he got a little choked up and took a breath. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.” He reminded me a lot of myself. Getting taken in by a family that welcomed you with open arms. No questions asked. Dusty was a Yellowfield House resident now and I was happy to have him.

I got a call back from one of the contractors about the new addition and we set up a meeting during the first week of December. I was thrilled to get started on the plans, but it was almost Thanksgiving and we were all cramming for exams and writing papers and doing projects like crazy.

Taylor would also have her first doctor’s appointment soon and I was counting down the days. I just wanted to make sure everything was on track and that we didn’t have anything to worry about. She hadn’t started to show yet, but I’d already looked up some sites that sold maternity clothes (cute ones that she would wear) and bookmarked them for when she’d need them.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how fucking happy I was about the baby. I’d see one on campus, or in a commercial, and it would remind me that in less than a year, I was going to have one of my own. I was going to be a father.

I told my counselor about the baby and she asked me how I felt.

“Well, it’s what I’ve always wanted. I mean, I didn’t
know
that it was what I wanted, until I met Taylor. She changed everything and I can’t wait.” I smiled and my stomach got all fluttery and shit.

“Are you worried about anything?” Isobel asked me. I shook my head.

“Not really. I mean, other than just the usual concerns. Will the baby be healthy, will I know what to do, will Taylor be okay, those kinds of things. But nothing major.” I was actually a little surprised that I wasn’t more apprehensive, but I was feeling really good about everything.

“And what does Taylor think?” I hesitated before I answered.

“She wasn’t as happy about it at first. I think she was just in shock, really, but she’s totally on board with everything now. She’s excited. I saw her looking at baby stuff at the store the other day. And her mom and sister are excited too.” Isobel nodded and made some notes.

My nightmares still popped up now and then, especially when I was tired. I didn’t think they were gone for good, but thinking about the baby helped bring me back from the darkness.

“I just want to caution you that this baby isn’t going to be the cure for everything. It’s great that you’re excited, but just be realistic about it, okay?” I nodded. I wasn’t delusional that this baby was going to completely fix everything that had happened before. But this was life and I was going with it. Full speed ahead.

T
hanksgiving came and Taylor’s family agreed to come to Bar Harbor so we could all be together. Her mom and Tawny got along really well with Hope and John, so it worked out great.

Seven continued her reign as the sweetest human ever by showing us a card she had made for the baby. That had everyone gushing, and she beamed and did a little twirl in her chair.

After dinner we all moved to the lounge for pie. I’d brought my guitar so Seven, Darah, Mase and I had a jam session while Hope and John talked to Taylor and her mom and sister.

Taylor fell asleep on the way home and I carried her into the empty house. Everyone else was staying the weekend with their respective families so it was just us.

We crashed on the couch and I watched a couple of movies under a blanket, still totally stuffed. Hope had also sent us home with multiple containers of leftovers along with four pies.

When she finally woke up I caught Taylor rubbing her belly absently. I seized my moment.

“Can I ask you something?” I said and she turned her head.

“You don’t need my permission, but go ahead.” She yawned.

“I was thinking about us getting married. You know. Since we’re going to be having a baby. I’m not saying that we have to, but it’s something to think about.” I put my hand on top of hers on her stomach.

Her lips thinned.

“I had the feeling you were going to bring that up. I’m surprised you held off for this long. I’d thought the second I told you about the baby, you’d be marching me straight down the aisle whether I wanted to or not.”

“I don’t want you to feel obligated to marry me, Taylor. Especially now. No one should get married just because of having a baby because that’s not a good enough reason.” Taylor snorted.

“Obviously, or there probably wouldn’t be so many divorces. I can’t explain why I’m so reluctant. I know I’m being crazy and I know that it’s extra weird now that we’re having a kid, but I just… would it be possible for us to not do a wedding? Just go down to the courthouse in the middle of the week, not tell anyone and just do it? I don’t want to sit down and plan this whole big thing and then have to worry about who to invite and who is going to be offended and how much it’s going to cost. Thinking about any of that makes me want to throw up, and not just because of Spawn.” I smiled a little at her chosen nickname for our future child.

“Taylor—” I started to say, but she cut me off.

“No, listen. I need to say this to you. I just… I can’t do the wedding thing. Maybe sometime down the road, but I can’t do it now, okay? I can’t.” Tears poured down her cheeks and I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. Fuck, I wished she would have told me all this sooner. I wouldn’t have pushed if I knew this was why she was being so reluctant. It wasn’t the
marriage
it was the
wedding
that she objected to. That was a very important distinction

“Okay, so we don’t have a wedding. We can get in the car and head to the airport and go to Vegas right now, baby,” I said and she laughed.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” she said, but I stood up.

“Come on. We can take the red eye.” I was completely and totally serious.

“No way.” She still didn’t believe me so I ran upstairs, grabbed a suitcase from our closet and started throwing shit in it. Taylor came up just as I was putting our toothbrushes in bags.

“You have got to be kidding me.” She shook her head at me.

“Why not? Why not now?” It made all the sense in the world to me. Sure, our families might be pissed after the fact, but at least they wouldn’t have to pay for an elaborate wedding and we could always have a party later on.

Taylor stared at me and then she started laughing.

“You are out of your mind, but fortunately I am too.” She yanked open the drawer of our dresser and started cramming socks and bras and underwear in the suitcase. One of us started laughing and then we were both laughing and shoving whatever stuff we could get our hands on in the suitcase regardless of whether we needed it or not. I zipped it shut and hauled it down the stairs, a giggling Taylor on my heels.

It was just so completely over the top insane that I knew it was exactly what we were supposed to do. I consulted my inner compass and it pointed toward Vegas and Hunter.

“Hurry!” I yelled as we threw the suitcase in Sassy’s trunk and got in.

“Why do we have to hurry?” Hunter asked, turning the car on.

“I don’t know, we just do!” He laughed and peeled away from the house, heading toward the airport.

W
e had to stop for gas so we grabbed snacks to fuel up on as well. I didn’t really need them, though. I was buzzing on pure happiness.

“Your parents are getting married, Spawn,” I said, tilting my chin down so I could sort of talk to the baby.

“I really wish you would come up with a better nickname, Missy. Spawn just makes me think of aliens or something,” Hunter said, cracking open a Red Bull. We were only a few minutes away from the airport and I was getting more antsy by the second. I wasn’t scared about flying this time. All I wanted to do was get to Vegas and get married. I didn’t care about anything else.