Fix My Fall

by Carey Heywood

  “She’ll probably tell me all about her new boyfriend.”

  He lets go of my wrists and rubs the tip of his nose along mine. “Is he one of the men you introduced her to?”

  I give him a half smile. “Yes, and no. I introduced her to his brother. When he took her to a family party, she hit it off with Diego.”

  Spencer frowns. “That couldn’t have gone over well with the first brother.”

  I shake my head. “No, it wasn’t a big deal. Both of them were only getting the friend vibe from each other so when sparks flew when she met Diego, Angelo encouraged them to go out together.”

  “That’s lucky.”

  I nod. “It is, and from what she told me the last time we talked, things are going great with Diego.”

  “She is definitely happier at work.”

  I wrap my arms around his neck. “I’m not shocked. I expect people say the same thing about me at work. When you’re deliriously happy off the clock, it has to filter into your work hours as well.”

  His lips tip up. “Deliriously happy?”

  I press my lips to his. “You know it.”

  His phone buzzes and he has to shift me on his lap to reach for it. It’s impossible not to see it given my location. It’s a text from Brent that says, all set.

  “Are you meeting up with Brent tonight?”

  Through Sam, they’ve developed somewhat of a bromance. In fact, his closest friends are my friends, too, since he hangs out with Gideon quite a bit.

  He types out a thanks man and sets his phone down. “Not tonight.”

  My curiosity is piqued especially since it’s almost my birthday. “What are you thanking him for?”

  His smile is pure mischief as he taps my nose. “It’s a surprise.”

  I squirm on his lap, my hands fisting the fabric of his shirt. “Oh come on. Tell me.”

  Standing, he takes both of us up with him and sets me on my feet. “No can do. It will ruin the surprise. And, I need to take off and you need to get ready if you’re going out tonight.”

  I glance down at my sweats. “I could go out like this.”

  He kisses my forehead. “You could and you’d still be the most beautiful woman in the room.”

  Drat him.

  He kisses me one more time before he leaves and I get ready to meet up with Nadine. It may be August, but in New Hampshire it still cools off a lot once the sun sets. We’re meeting for dinner, but in case we end up staying out later, I put a cardigan on over my dress.

  Nadine, as usual, beat me to the restaurant and is waiting for me outside.

  The moment she sees me, she heads my way. “There’s a forty-five-minute wait to be seated. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to wait that long.”

  “Ugh, same here. Where do you want to go instead?”

  She pulls out her phone. “I swear Diego mentioned a restaurant that is supposed to be amazing near Mid Town. It’s a family style Italian place and since he’s spent so much time in Italy, it’s got to be good if he’s raving about it.”

  My stomach rumbles at the thought. “I’m game.”

  Mid Town was near my old neighborhood, bummer this Italian place wasn’t around when I lived there.

  She lifts her phone straight up in celebration. “I’ve got the address. I can drive if you want to ride together.”

  “Sounds good,” I reply, and follow her to where her Tesla is parked.

  Once we’re on the road, I ask about Diego. “How are things going with you two?”

  She quickly beams in my direction before looking back at the road. “He’s taking me to Italy in the fall. He bought the tickets and everything. We’re going to stay with friends of his in Tuscany and then spend a week in Rome.”

  Shifting in my seat, I clap my hands. “That sounds amazing.”

  Even though she’s looking straight ahead, she has not stopped smiling. “I’ve been to Europe before but for school. With my course load, I never had a chance to explore and I always regretted that. I’m so excited about this trip. I even set up a countdown clock on my phone for it.”

  I reach over to rub her arm. “I’m so happy for you.”

  She swallows, loud enough for me to hear. “I wouldn’t have met him if it weren’t for you—”

  I cut her off. “Don’t say that, you never know.”

  She shakes her head. “No, I do know and I can’t thank you enough for your friendship even when I was being so rude to you. I used to think you were lucky to be with Spencer, now I know he’s the lucky one to have someone as kind and generous as you are.”

  I wipe at the corners of my eyes. “Stop before you make me cry.”

  She delicately sniffs. “It’s the truth.”

  “Tell me more about this trip. I want to know everything.”

  Her smile returns. “He’s teaching me Italian.”

  While I’ve only met him twice, Diego is smoking hot. The idea of him teaching his girlfriend Italian before he takes her on a trip to Italy is off the charts hot.

  “I might need you to turn on the AC, I’m about to overheat.”

  She laughs and turns left onto a street I recognize.

  My brows come together as I place where we are. Unless there’s some random shortcut I’m familiar with, we’re heading away from where all the restaurants are. This road leads to a neighborhood, a really nice one.

  “Are you sure we’re heading the right way?”

  With a frown, she glances over at me. “I’ve never been there. I just plugged the address into my GPS.”

  Having lived in New Hampshire my entire life, I’ve witnessed more than one GPS take the goofiest route to get somewhere. If only there was an avoid back roads option.

  If it turns out the address is bad, we’ll just reenter it. “When does it say we’ll reach our destination?

  From where I sit, I can’t see the display on her phone.

  Her eyes move to it. “Not long at all, maybe five minutes.”

  My gaze moves to the passenger window. “Yeah, I have a feeling we’re headed the wrong way. All of the restaurants are back that way.

  “Should I pull over here and turn around?”

  I shake my head. “We might as well see where these directions take us since we’re almost there.”

  They are few and far between, but I have seen a couple of places zoned for retail in unexpected residential neighborhoods. Maybe this place is one of them.

  As she turns onto a new street, one house immediately stands out from the rest. It’s lit with white fairy style Christmas lights on each of its three stories, most of them around the front porch. Since Christmas lights in August isn’t that common, maybe this is the place. Still, I don’t see a sign anywhere or a parking lot.

  When I notice who’s standing on the front porch, my mouth falls open. Covering it with my hands, I turn to look at Nadine.

  “What’s happening?”

  She shrugs, her brows going up in a look of innocence as she parks behind his car.

  My eyes dart back to Spencer. He’s wearing a suit and grinning at me.

  I push open my door and cross the yard of the most beautiful pale yellow Victorian house I’ve ever seen.

  As I approach, he gets down on one knee.

  Holy shit. Is he about to ask me to marry him? I mean, I love him but we haven’t even lived together yet.

  I rock to a halt. “Spencer.”

  He must hear the concern in my voice because he opens the box. There, plain as day is a key.

  “Abby Thompson, would you do the honor of owning this house with me?”

  My mouth drops open for the second time in as many minutes. “What?”

  “Will you move into this house with me and live happily ever after?”

  Since he looks so nervous and potentially freaked that I haven’t come closer yet, I decide to put him out of his misery.

  Kicking off my heels, I run to him, throwing myself into his arms. “Yes.”

  His arms circle m
e as he kisses me. “I love you so much.”

  Mine circle his neck as he stands, hauling me up with him. “I love you too.”

  When people start shouting and clapping, I jump and turn my head. My entire family is on the front lawn, his parents as well. Sam and Brent are standing by Nadine, Sam recording everything with her phone.

  “OhMyGod!” I gasp.

  Turning my face back to Spencer’s, I cup his cheek. “How?”

  He wets his lips as he smiles sweetly up at me. “Months ago, I gave Brent a description of your dream house and told him to find it for us.”

  My eyes widen. “Is that the reason you said no to every place we looked at?”

  He nods and I don’t know whether to kiss him again or punch him for driving me as crazy as he did.

  “Are you going to put her down so she can look at the place?” My dad asks.

  Spencer looks his way before grudgingly setting me down. “Want to see our home?”

  I grin up at him. “Yes.”

  “Hang on, let us hug her first,” Sam shouts as she puts her phone away.

  I spin on my new front porch and open my arms wide. Connie reaches me first, her little arms wrapping around my waist. Seconds later more arms wrap around me as I’m engulfed in a Thompson family group hug. Spencer was standing so close to me so he ended up getting swept into it as well. Tears sting my eyes at the love all around me.

  “Alright, alright. Stop hugging me so I can see my house,” I laugh after a couple minutes.

  Reluctantly, Spencer and I are released.

  He pulls open the front door. “Welcome home baby.”

  The vision that greets me is like everything I’ve ever wished for. The space is bare, but with each step I take, I’m furnishing and decorating it as I go. This Christmas, I’m going to wrap garland around the banister of the sweeping circular staircase, and I’m going to hang icicle ornaments from the entryway chandelier. Our tree has to go in front of the windows of the turret. More garland and nutcrackers are going to go across the fireplace mantle, and I’m going to hang a wreath on every door on the main level.

  He leads me to a bright and open dream kitchen and I realize I’ve never been this far into a house without wanting to change something by now. “How did you know?”

  His hand squeezes mine. “I kept a list of everything you liked about every house we’ve looked at together and waited until I found the perfect one for you.”

  My throat tightens with emotion. “I love you Spencer Hill.”

  “I love you,” he says, and if he hadn’t said it, I would have known by the look in his eyes.

  Our tour continues, as we make our way upstairs. “There are two bedrooms and the master on this floor, and another bedroom and a giant walk-up attic space on the third.”

  The spare bedrooms are empty, but not the master. A king size bed fully made with white sheets and a dove gray duvet, are the only things in the room.

  Spencer glances around. “Want to sleep here tonight?”

  My head bobs as I practically shout, “Yes.”

  He pulls me into his arms. “I didn’t want to buy any furniture without you but I figure if you hate the mattress I got we can put it in one of the spare bedrooms.”

  “I’m going to love it.”

  He smiles down at me. “You don’t know that.”

  My brows come up. “Did you spend a week reading every review on it before you bought it?”

  He shrugs which means he absolutely did.

  “I’ll love it.”

  “I asked Sam to pack some things for you, for tonight.”

  “Did you think of everything?” I ask.

  He presses his lips to my forehead. “This might be your dream home, but getting to live here with you is my dream.”

  “Spence… I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything. Seeing you this happy is all I’ve ever wanted.”

  “Want to know what makes me so much happier than this house?”

  He inclines his head and I wrap my arms around his neck. “Being with you.”

  He smiles and kisses me before we rejoin our families downstairs. Finley and Noah begin unloading casseroles from the oven and Asher and Paige cut and plate servings. The lack of a table and chairs doesn’t seem to bother anyone once Gideon starts pouring drinks.

  It was almost a year ago, last Thanksgiving that I was cursing my singular existence. Back then I had no idea the roller coaster this year would have in store for me. Losing my house the way I did was something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Still, my journey brought me to Spencer and because of that, I would not change one thing.

  Epilogue

  Three Months Later

  Abby

  “Trick or treat!”

  I take in the adorable Mario Brothers in front of me. “I love your costumes.”

  They’re less interested in my compliments and more concerned with the full-size candy bar I place in each of their plastic pumpkins.

  “Wow. Thanks,” Mario says.

  “Yeah, thank you.” Luigi adds.

  Before they step off my porch, Mario turns and asks. “What are you?”

  I set down our treat dish and turn so he can see all of my tails. “I’m a nine-tail fox.”

  He blinks.

  Luigi squints at me. “Do you have nine tails because of pollution? We once saw a fish with two heads.”

  Mario nods, my multitude of tails now making sense.

  “No, I’m a character from anime—”

  Not that they cared, they were already walking to our neighbor’s house. With a pout, I close the door.

  “No respect for your awesome fox costume?” My extremely sexy Kakashi asks.

  “They didn’t deserve full-size candy bars.”

  He laughs, his hand going up to his glasses to make sure his face mask doesn’t fall down.

  My costume isn’t as impressive as his. All I did was get a cute fox onesie and add eight tails since it’d be impossible to buy a nine-tail one. His costume is way cooler and I can’t lie, it’s kind of turning me on.

  Covering his hand with mine, I pull his mask down so I can give him a quick kiss.

  When I pull away, he asks, “Is it time to turn off the porch light?”

  Trying my best to look innocent, I shrug. Truth is, the Mario Brothers were the first trick or treaters we’ve had in thirty minutes. A couple hours ago we had a steady rush of neighborhood kids. At this point they’ve dwindled down to a trickle.

  When the doorbell rings, we both turn. I open the door while Spencer fixes his mask.

  “Trick or Treat!”

  Standing on my front porch are Finley, Noah, and Gideon.

  I push open the storm door. “Hey guys. Come on in.”

  Gideon covers his face and laughs when he sees our costumes. “I can’t believe she talked you into dressing up.”

  Finley shoots him a look. “I think they look great.”

  Spencer pulls down his mask. “Thank you.”

  Noah tugs on one of my ears. “You make a good fox.”

  Gideon rolls his eyes. “You guys have any grownup treats?”

  I wave him toward the kitchen. “There’s beer in the fridge.”

  He doesn’t need to be told twice.

  I flip off the porch light and pull off my hood. “Were you in the neighborhood?”

  “Downside of being the last house on a dead-end street, no trick or treaters,” Noah explains.

  “We meant to swing by earlier but Gideon asked us to wait for him.”

  I motion to the light switch. “Want me to put it back on? We might get a couple more while you’re here.”

  Finley shakes her head. “Now that I’m here I just want to see all the stuff you’ve done to the place.”

  We moved in right before my birthday in August. Since then, we’ve had a lot of fun making it our own. When I lost my house, I sold just about everything that wasn’t nailed down. And Spencer rent
ed a furnished place when he lived in California and didn’t buy any furniture when he moved back in with his parents.

  The only real piece of furniture we had was the king-sized bed he bought so we’d have a place to sleep when he surprised me with the house, and the few pieces that Asher made that I had in my room at Sam’s condo.

  We’ve spent the last two and a half months painting and decorating. So far, our bedroom, a spare bedroom, our living room, and our kitchen are the only rooms that are pretty much done.

  Emo’s claimed the third bedroom on the second floor for now. That, and the screened-in porch. With the temperature dropping, she’s pissed we’re not letting her out on it anymore.

  We still need to decide what to do with what will be the formal living room. I’m leaning toward making it a home office but can’t make up my mind. We’ve also held off on doing the dining room since we have a small table in the kitchen.

  Gideon wastes no time getting comfortable, a beer in his hand and his feet up on our coffee table. At least he was nice enough to grab a few beers.

  “Get your feet off my table.”

  When he doesn’t move right away, Noah knocks them off for me before he grabs one of the beers and then asks Finley, “Want me to grab you something babe?”

  I squint at her, surprised she didn’t want a beer.

  Spencer and I gravitate to our oversized armchair.

  Finley shakes her head, her cheeks getting pink and then asks, “Have any of you talked to Asher or Paige?”

  My brows come together and I nod. “Talked to Paige yesterday. She sounded jetlagged.”

  Finley settles herself on the couch beside Gideon. “I’ll bet she did. I think she said their flight was something like twenty hours.”

  Asher has always been a bit of a recluse. It’s no surprise they honeymooned on a secluded island in the South Pacific.

  “She’s supposed to stop by sometime this week to show me pictures from their trip.”

  “Call me when she’s on the way and I’ll come over too,” Finley replies.

  I grin. “Deal.”

  I’ve always been tight with my brothers, but I never expected to be just as close with their significant others. Finley and Paige have become two of my best friends. My eyes move to Noah and the sweet way he watches Finley.