Eruption

14

I was pulling my hair back in a ponytail when I came into the living room. "Hey guys. And we did hire movers for all the super heavy things. Like the couch, the bed, the..."

"Are you insinuating that I can't lift heavy things?" James asked with a smile.

I laughed and opened up the last box that he had carried up. It was filled with sheets.

"Well, that one wasn't heavy." He put his arm around me as I joined him in the foyer next to Bee and Mason.

"And it's really hot in here, don't you think?" Mason asked. "Do you even have the air conditioning on?" He was staring directly at me. It was pretty clear he knew what we had just been doing. Especially since James hadn't even bothered to put his shirt back on. I couldn't exactly say we had started a fire in the library, in more ways than one.

"I can turn it up if you want," I said instead. "I'm a little overheated too. We were doing hot yoga." Why the hell did I just say that? "Oh you brought pizza and champagne? I'm starving." I had never been very good at segues.

James laughed.

"Hot yoga?" Mason winked and slapped James on the back as he walked past us into the living room. "Gross, you're so f*****g sweaty." I looked over my shoulder to see him wiping his hand off on his jeans.

"I'm just going to pretend you two were actually doing hot yoga," Bee said and smiled at me. "Your new place looks amazing. Should we eat while the pizza's still hot and then go on the tour? Mason, don't go through their stuff!"

"What? I'm just trying to find the champagne flutes." He was holding an attachment to a vacuum cleaner. "Is this some weird s*x thing that I don't know about?" He held it farther away from himself as he inspected it.

Bee laughed. "Of course you wouldn't have any idea what that is."

"I honestly have no idea what that thing is either," James said.

"You two are hopeless, you know," I said to James and Mason. "What on earth would you do without me and Bee?"

"Do hot yoga alone and cry ourselves to sleep," Mason said and tossed the vacuum cleaner attachment back in its box.

Bee and I both laughed.

James kissed my temple and whispered, "I couldn't live without you."

I smiled up at him. I didn't have to say it back. He knew. Just like I knew how he was feeling by looking into his intoxicating brown eyes.

He kissed my temple again. "I think I know where the glasses are," he said and walked over toward Mason.

"And seriously, turn up the AC, or I'm going to take my shirt off next," Mason said.

Bee laughed. "I'm not going to complain about that.

A few minutes later we were sitting at the dining room table drinking champagne out of coffee mugs and eating pizza off of napkins.

"Are you two getting nervous?" Mason asked and grabbed another slice of pizza.

"About what?" I said.

"What do you mean about what? About marrying him." He pointed his pizza at James.

I put my chin in my hand and looked over at James, pretending to scrutinize him.

He raised his left eyebrow at me. He actually looked curious about my answer.

"I'm terrified."

James immediately frowned and Mason laughed.

"I'm just kidding." I put my hand on James' thigh and squeezed it. "I'm not nervous about our wedding at all. The only thing I'm nervous about is meeting his parents tomorrow. After that, I'm just going to be excited."

"You should be nervous about that," Mason said.

I reluctantly tore my eyes away from James to look at Mason. "Why do you say that?" Maybe it would be better if I knew exactly what to expect.

Mason shrugged. "They've avoided you like the plague ever since you moved to New York. Clearly they don't want to meet you."

James put his hand on top my mine. Mason was just saying what I already knew, but it was still hard to hear.

"It's like they're in denial," Mason continued when no one said anything. "They still want Isabella to be their daughter in law. I don't even know why you want to meet them. Besides, James basically grew up at my house. His parents are horrible. I'm sure you already know you're going to hate them. What's the point? There are so many better things that we could do tomorrow night."

"They're perfectly nice," Bee said. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Wait, you've met them?" I couldn't believe it. Bee had never mentioned meeting James' parents before.

Bee took a sip of champagne from her mug and then cleared her throat. "I mean, yeah. At their annual New Year's Eve party."

"You never told me that you had met them."

She took another sip of champagne to avoid answering me.

I looked over at James. "Annual New Year's Eve party?" James had never mentioned that party to me. We always went out to dinner on New Year's Eve and walked around Central Park before the clock struck twelve. Last year it had started to snow right before midnight and I could still picture the snow falling around us as we shared our first kiss of the new year. It was romantic and perfect. But had we only done it because his parents had told him I couldn't come to their exclusive party?

"It's not that big of a thing," James said.

I looked over at Mason and Bee. "How many people were there last year?"

Mason shrugged. "Not that many. And it's not even fun. I doubt Bee and I will even go next year. We only go because my parents go." Bee was busy pouring herself more champagne, still avoiding eye contact with me.

"Did they invite you?" I asked James.

"I haven't gone since I broke it off with Isabella."

I just stared at him. That didn't answer my question.