“As you can imagine, I’ve been a mentor to him through the years. He’s always been there for me, so our friendship is one of my top priorities... And I think Cristina’s morally questionable coworker just walked in, so it was nice talking to you both. Farewell.”
Beau is out of his chair and is crossing the room before I can even say goodbye.
“Well,” I say to Ryan. “He seems like a handful.”
“Yeah, he’s pretty much nuts. He has severe shiny ball syndrome but he’s a good guy.”
“I liked him. It’s nice seeing you annoy someone other than me for a change.”
“All he had to do was play the playlist.”
I stifle a groan and roll my eyes. “Hey, I forgot to ask you, what are you going to do about Duke tomorrow while we’re on wedding duty?”
“All taken care of. I booked a dog-walker for him four months ago. The guy is really sought-after so I had to get him early. We’ve already FaceTimed a bunch of times so Duke could get used to the sound of his voice.”
“A sought-after dog-walker?”
“I found him through a highly vetted dog-walking company. He’s going to visit with Duke, walk him twice, play with him, feed him—essentially, he’s going to offer complete physical and emotional support.”
“Lovely, and this is all happening inside my apartment?”
“That is correct.” He pauses as I give him a pointed look. “So, I’m just now thinking that I probably should have run this by you.”
“Probably,” I say.
“That makes sense. I’ll tell you what, if anything is damaged or stolen, I will apologize profusely and pay half the value.”
“You wish.”
“You drive a hard bargain. Hopefully you’ll mellow out a bit when me and Duke move to New York.”
I freeze, feeling like my chair has suddenly fallen out from under me. Ryan looks as shocked as I do, if not more so. I don’t think he meant to say those words out loud, but they’re out there now. “What was that?” I ask as calmly as possible.
He doesn’t move a muscle. He looks like he’s entirely afraid but is trying not to show it. Seconds tick by until he turns to me, seeming to make a mental decision. “I said, when I move to New York, I hope you adopt a more relaxed lifestyle. A stressful environment is very detrimental to Duke’s personal growth.”
My heartbeat drums faster and faster. It takes real effort to keep my voice level. “Just so we’re clear about what’s going on right now, are you asking to move in with me?”
“I mean, I think that’s the goal, eventually, but I figured I would get my own place with Duke at first.” I stay quiet. He keeps going. “I could sign a year-long lease or maybe I could sublet for a few months. I’d have to find a job here first anyways. That could take a while. I know Duke and I are a lot and obviously this is all happening quickly, but I don’t want us to do long distance again. I feel like we should give this a real shot and if moving to New York is what that means, then that’s what I’ll do, if you want me to.”
He’s rambling. He’s hard-core rambling and I have to smile as I try to wrap my head around the situation.
Ryan swallows, a look of adorable anxiety crossing his face. “Is that smile from thinking about how maybe you could potentially want the same thing, or was it more of an all-right-I-now-need-to-change-my-name-and-number-and-start-a-new-life-in-a-foreign-land kind of smile?”
My entire body fills with so much petrified excitement that I think it might spill out of my ears. “It was the wanting-the-same thing bit.”
“That’s good to hear.” Ryan’s hand slips into mine under the table. His eyes are bright and his ears are red and I suddenly get Maggie’s penchant for bursting into song. “I guess second time’s the charm.”
“That’s not a thing.”
“It is now.” He picks up a champagne flute from off the table and gestures at me to do the same. “Cheers, Sullivan.”
I tap my glass to his with a reckless smirk, delirious in my own happiness and giving zero thought to anything else outside this moment. “Here we go again.”
Having been home from the rehearsal dinner for a half hour, I’ve come down from my Ryan-wants-to-move-to-New-York high long enough to realize that I have to tell him about Italy. As in now. I’m a pile of nerves and I have no clue how he’s going to react.
I get up from the couch when he walks into the apartment with a none-too-happy Duke huffing and puffing behind him from their before-bed walk.
“Hey,” I call out, holding my hands behind my back as Ryan unclasps the leash.
“Hey. You look comfy.”
I look down at my soft gray pajama pants and my emerald T-shirt.
“Yeah, whenever I have to get all dressed up for something I morph back into my true form in a matter of seconds once I get home. It’s my superpower.”
“I like it,” he says, seeming distracted. He’s breathing heavily but quickly as he crosses the room to me, so much so that I grab his hand.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I know he’s not. I sit back down on the couch and pull him down beside me, watching as he rubs sweaty palms against the front of his pant legs.
“You look on edge,” I say.
“I know, I’m sorry.” I try to smile and twist my hands together in my lap. Ryan notices. “You seem a little on edge yourself.”
I tug him closer. My grip is tight and my eyes are worried. “Honestly, I kind of am.”
“I am, too,” he admits. “I know I said at the rehearsal dinner that we’d talk about everything when we got home, so now is as good a time as any. Let me start by saying I—”
“Can I talk first?” I ask, interrupting. “I
