Bully Next Door

“Because that would have been sexy?” he asked.

“It’s not about being sexy, Hector. You … ugh, you’re so infuriating.”

“You would have treated me differently, Verity, and this thing, the doctor said that it might not be so serious.”

“You’re in the hospital for the second time, and you’re looking at leaflets for it. It’s serious.”

He held them up then dropped them back down. “I can take care of myself. What I want to know, Verity, is if you love me,” he said.

“Don’t ask me that.”

“Why not?”

“You’re in the hospital, and I don’t have a good track record with these things.”

“I know you’ve got an issue about the whole cursed-houses thing, and I get that, I do. I really do. It fucking sucks to think that our life is dictated to because of some cursed-houses thing—”

Verity pressed a finger to his lips. “Shut up.”

“I wasn’t finished.”

“I know. You have a whole lot to say and I get it, I do, but not right now. Not about this.” She leaned in close and brushed her lips against his. “Yes, Hector Carter, I am in love with you. This past month, not being near you, it has been a horrible nightmare. I don’t want to ever experience it again.” She cupped his face as tears filled her eyes. “And you are not returning to work, not until you can learn to handle stress a lot better.”

He had already dropped the leaflets onto the bed, and his hands were on her arms. One of them slowly slid up, sinking into her hair and pulling her close. “I can handle a whole lot of stress.”

“You’re going to have to prove it.”

He pulled her in close, and his lips captured hers.

Verity wasn’t lying. She had been wanting to go around to Hector’s place to be able to tell him exactly how she felt, how he made her feel, but each time she tried to, she was frozen in place.

Today, opening the door to him, hearing his words, and feeling him collapse against her, it was like she was being sent a warning. She didn’t believe in signals or anything like that, but at that moment, she had this overwhelming feeling of loss. Like she had missed an opportunity of a lifetime to be happy.

“Marry me,” Hector said.

Verity jerked back. “What?”

“You heard me. I want you to marry me. I want it all with you, Verity. Kids. A family. A future. To go on book tours with you.”

Tears filled her eyes, but these were not ones of sadness. They were happy.

“Say yes. I love you, Verity, and today, I met a crazy lady. Actually, I didn’t meet her today, I met her a few weeks ago. She’s the one who told me about the crazy house. She said some things that made a whole lot of sense. Some that didn’t. I’m not going to lie, but she did know what she was talking about. Life is too short. You know that. I don’t want to miss another moment of our lives together. I love you so damn much.”

“I love you too.”

“Say it again.”

She chuckled. “I love you too. I love you so damn much that it scares me.”

“I’m going to want you to keep on saying that.”

“You are?”

“Yeah, for the rest of our lives.”

“That’s going to be a long time,” she said.

“I know.” He pulled her close and kissed her hard.

Verity wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face into his neck and breathing him in. She had missed him so much. Their time apart had only taught her one thing—she couldn’t live without him.

“Cutie has missed you.”

“And I’ve missed her too. You feel so damn good.”

She smiled.

He felt so damn good as well.

Epilogue

One year later

“I’m not sure about this,” Verity said.

Hector looked up at their two houses. They had moved out of their places a month ago. For the last ten months, this was where they had lived. Between the two houses, Verity worked on her cookbook, and well, he worked on his health. He refused medication, and instead, offered to go to regular checkups. When his doctor asked him to start taking on light work from home, he had done so.

So far, he’d returned to part-time work, and his health seemed to be in check. It helped that Verity was a fusser, and he loved her for that. Of course, she had worked harder than anyone he knew. Not only had she been able to produce a cookbook, it was close to release day, and she was nervous.

Holding Verity’s hand, he ran his finger across the wedding band. They had gotten married, and then he pulled her into his arms, resting his hand on her slightly swollen stomach. They were also pregnant with their first child.

Their homes were no longer needed. They’d moved out one month ago, and only put them on the market then, and the new owners were moving in today. In his home was a mom with a teenage daughter. The girl was in her senior year, and he didn’t know the full details of what was going on, but he believed the mother was married, and the father was working abroad, and this was the place they were staying until their daughter picked a college, or something like that.