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“That’s not such a long time ago. Certainly not enough to get married,” Bob said sternly.
“Not really any of your business,” Nick said.
Ha! I loved that he was using that bossy tone.
Both looked as if Nick had slapped them.
“So when is this... this marriage going to happen?” Sophie said, and I cringed. We should have discussed this more.
“We’ll see,” Nick replied. “Depends on when city hall has time.”
“Well, we definitely want to be there,” she continued, and I narrowed my eyes.
“It’s going to be close friends and family, Sophie.” Then I rolled my shoulders back. “I’m sorry to say, but you and Bob are neither of that to me.”
“We are the twins’ family,” Bob said through gritted teeth.
Yeah, and there was no way past that. In case they won custody, which would totally destroy me, I wanted to be able to visit the little ones. I couldn’t just throw Bob and Sophie out without thinking about the repercussions even though I truly wanted to.
“We’ll let you know when we have more details,” I assured them.
“And where will you two live?” Sophie went on.
“I’ll move in here with Allison and the kids.”
“In this tiny house?”
“It’s in a fantastic neighborhood,” I said. “And it’s a decent size.”
“The twins don’t even have their own bedrooms,” Sophie retorted.
Nick chuckled. “Sophie, I bunked with my brothers until we were much older. It’s going to be a while before they need their own rooms. If we need more space, I have a six-bedroom penthouse in Back Bay.”
He said that nonchalantly, but Bob’s eyes bulged. They might not be from Boston, but they knew property prices around here.
“We don’t want to relocate them again because they’re comfortable here and they’ve already been through a lot,” I informed them.
“So, you’re going to live in two separate places?” Sophie asked. Boy, she was sly.
“No, Sophie. As I just said, I’ll move in with Allison. I am, however, looking at renting out my home in the interim until we decide whether we want to sell it or move into something bigger. It’s not that big of a deal to me. Home is where my wife and kids are.”
And I swooned. This was exactly what I would want in a husband. Nick would definitely make his real wife very happy one day.
“You could have just moved into the mansion with the kids,” Sophie said.
I cringed. “There is no way I could have covered that mortgage.”
Bob smiled triumphantly.
I glanced over at Sophie, who looked like she had shit under her nose and couldn’t stand the smell anymore. Neither of them was bringing up the custody issue, but I wasn’t going to force it. What could we talk about anyway? I was afraid that if the subject did come up, I’d lose my cool.
Nick had one hand on my waist and started stroking my arm with the other one. The gesture seemed almost absentminded, a reflex. And I loved it.
“Sophie, I think it’s time for us to go,” Bob finally suggested.
Relief flooded me. This hadn’t been as bad as I’d thought. I’d imagined that they’d stay here for hours and confront me about taking the kids. But I should have known better. Nora always said that Bob and Sophie rarely communicated face-to-face. They liked to hit you over the head with “advice” via phone calls and text messages once they were back home.
As the two rose to their feet, Nick moved me around on his knees so I was sitting sideways.