I wake up right around sunrise, needing to use the bathroom. Lucas is asleep, looking dead since his chest doesn’t rise and fall and he’s lying perfectly still. The fire is just smoldering ash now and my familiars and Scarlet are all on the couch together.
Slowly, I move off the mattress so I don’t wake Lucas, and go upstairs to pee. I wash my face and get dressed, putting on black leggings and a long-sleeved black dress with a scoop neckline that shows off my cleavage. I add the stars-and-moon necklace Lucas got for me, and the simple silver bracelet that once belonged to my mother. I magically curl my hair in just seconds, and run my fingers through the curls to loosen them.
“Morning,” I say, seeing Lucas sit up as I pass the living room.
“Good morning, my love.” He speeds over and kisses me. “Have you been up long?”
“No, only five minutes or so. I had to pee. And now I’m hungry.”
“What do you want for breakfast?”
“The rest of my leftovers from last night.”
“Human food is unappetizing enough,” Lucas starts. “But leftovers in a Styrofoam container are plain disgusting.”
“I recently learned some countries don’t even let you take leftovers home because it could make you sick if you don’t store it properly.”
“Gross.”
“I’ll take my chances.” We go into the kitchen together and I plug in the coffee pot, knowing I’m gonna need a caffeine pick-me-up later.
“The head of the vampire contractors called last night after you were asleep,” Lucas says, sitting next to me at the small island counter. “They completed the last of the upstairs bathroom renovations, and it is possible to route pipes to the third story if you want a small half-bathroom up there.”
“Where would it go again?”
“There’s a closet to the left when you walk up the stairs,” Lucas reminds me. “It would go there. You’re the one who will use it.”
“It might be handy to have a bathroom up there. How long will it take to put it in?”
“About a week. Faster if we don’t have to special order any material.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want to order anything fancy. I’m good with whatever we can get locally. And a week isn’t bad.”
“No,” he agrees. “It’s not. And we can start moving some of our possessions over now. I’ve already contacted a moving company to come this afternoon and load up a truck full of your storage bins. They’ll take them into the basement of the new house for us.”
“A moving company?” I raise my eyebrows. “To go a mile down the road?”
“They’ll be able to load up the truck in the daylight,” Lucas says, and I feel a twinge of guilt. Things feel almost normal while we’re in the house together, sitting in the light of day at the kitchen island.
It’s easy to forget we’re far from normal, and Lucas is housebound during the day. For now. I’m still not ready to accept the fact that I can’t figure out a way to let him day walk.
“I will bring the bins up into the foyer. The movers will be here at two PM to put everything into the truck. I will have them take my stuff from the guest room as well. Would you like to meet with the interior designer tomorrow? She’s free.”
I take another bite of pasta and nod enthusiastically. It’s exciting to move forward with the new house and go all out shopping and decorating. It’s our house, and everything for it has been done together. We live together, but this house very much feels like mine. Yet it’s a little bittersweet to leave.
Not selling helps, and Betty will be over the moon when I tell her she’ll be able to move in by the end of the month. I’m leaving most of the furniture here—assuming she wants it, which reminds me that I should text her and go over things so I can make arrangements to have a charity company come and pick up what Betty doesn’t want.
Lucas and I spend the rest of the day packing and sorting, and I never realized how much stuff I own until it came time to box it all up and carry it into the foyer. We go to the new house after sunset, double-checking things were moved where they were supposed to. Some of our new furniture we ordered a while ago will be arriving this week, and I’m stupid excited for the white barstools for the large kitchen island.
They were crazy expensive, something I’d never even give a second look to before. I’m going to put a towel down on the seat before I go to eat out of fear of staining them.
“You’re good with me putting up Christmas decorations like as soon as we’re in, right?” I ask Lucas, stopping at the top of the stairs overlooking the foyer. It’s two stories tall and is perfect for a fifteen-foot Christmas tree.