Page 133 of Imperfect Arrangement

I have a sudden urge to strangle him right now as he saunters over to his closet, where sure enough, I spot my luggage sitting neatly in the corner.

“Did you move my stuff here?” Shock laces my voice.

“Only the things from Violet’s place. Rest of it from your old apartment will arrive this evening. Your mom volunteered to move your personal things, and the movers will handle the rest.”

“You talked to my mom?”

“I talked to a lot of people.”

I’m still processing just how much scheming this man has been up to as he grabs a towel and heads toward the bathroom.

I cross my arms. “Do I accompany you there too?”

He turns, his smirk turning downright sinful. “Your mom has a dirty brain, Bug.”

Quill giggles.

“Ray—”

“Shh.” He lifts a finger and pulls out a tiny key and removes his own cuff. Then, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he loops the chain around the bathroom door handle and snaps it shut.

My jaw drops.

“I told you,” he says, leaning against the doorway, his gaze sweeping over me with a hunger that shouldn’t be legal this early in the morning. “I’m keeping you tied to me until I permanently tie you to me, Willow. This is nonnegotiable.”

With that, he steps into the bathroom and shuts the door behind him, leaving me, still handcuffed, still speechless, and very, very in love with the lunatic I agreed to marry.

A HAPPY FOREVER ENDING

QUILL

Today is the best day ever. The kind of day when I eat too many sunflower cupcakes or when Daddy throws me into the air and catches me right back.

Today, my dad is marrying my second-favorite person in the whole world, Willow, and that means I finally get to call herMom. For real. I already call her that sometimes, but she says now it’s official.

Aunt Chloe and her friends made dresses for us. They’re white with sunflowers stitched all over them because sunflowers are what brought us all together. Me, Daddy, and Willow.

“Are you sure you don’t want your dad or Willow to come with you, Bug?” Grandpa Will asks as we sit in the back of Daddy’s car.

I shake my head and sign, “No. Dad and Willow are busy, and this is something I need to do by myself.”

“Is this where you and your dad went every morning when Willow left?”

I nod. “You remember we have to get coffee and a cupcake for Grandpa DJ?”

“Yes, Bug. We’ll stop at Hawthorne Bakery before we go to the Ferris wheel.”

The sky is bright and warm when we get there. Grandpa DJ and Grandpa Will talk about grown-up stuff—something about fer-ti-li-zers—until it’s time.

“This cabin stops at the top,” I sign to Grandpa Will as we climb inside. “But don’t worry, it’s safe.”

He nods, but I can tell he’s thinking about something. “I still remember the day your dad ran through the crowd and yelled at DJ to stop the ride,” he says, shaking his head. “You really changed his life that day, kiddo.”

I tilt my head.

“Maybe not as much as you changed his life the day you arrived at his home, though.”

I bite my lip before signing, “Did I change it in a good way?”