Moonlight House (Book 2, Lonstino & Greenwood Series)

Chapter 36 - Presents

ERIN

As we park in front of Noah's house, I wonder how I'm going to put on a happy face. Matt puts his head on the steering wheel and lets out a deep sigh.

"Are you really not going to talk to me?" He asks, but I don't feel like answering. "Erin, I won't say sorry because I still believe that I'm right about this. Your brother's relationship is none of your business. Just because we are getting married, and you found out your friends will too, doesn't mean you can bully him into doing it as well."

"I only want to hear his intentions with Claire. I won't bully him into getting married. You can't forbid me to talk to my brother about this. No one forbids me to do ANYTHING!"

"Okay, I admit that I used the wrong words last night to express myself. For that I'm very sorry. But you were so damned determined to talk with him right then that I had to stop you somehow."

"You were not there when it all happened. Matt, you should have seen her face. Claire is tough, you know that, and the world crumbled for her at that moment. She told Sam a while ago that Adam doesn't trust her and they have trouble communicating. I didn't move a finger then, because I thought it was only a matter of time for them to adapt to their situation. No one knows Adam like I do. He can be a selfish dick at times and someone needs to open his eyes for him to see that he's hurting a good woman who could make him very happy. I love my brother and will do until the day I die, but he needs to realize that there's another person in the relationship with wants or needs. The right thing to do is to at least be open with her if he doesn't see a future together."

"Erin, I completely understand how you feel, and yes, it makes me want to give him a good wake up shake because she's a good and caring woman. My issue with this is that I believe that confronting Adam will work in an adverse way. The last days at the club I've seen him struggling to the point of going to the basement to lay on the couch to rest. If you talk with him right now it will be additional stress that I'm not sure he can cope with."

I noticed that Adam would get fatigued quickly in the last days. The New Year's Eve party is our biggest event together with Halloween and we've been running around making arrangements and dealing with the endless requests of clubbers trying to get tickets for the evening. He's been following the doctor's instructions, lost plenty of weight, but runs out of energy quite fast.

"Maybe when he finds out, if he hasn't already, that everyone has been bitten by the marriage bug, he will figure where he wants things to go with Claire. Especially Noah's engagement should make him feel something."

The marriage discussion at the club made Noah take action. The next morning he appeared at Gianna's house with a big bouquet of roses, a ring and went down on one knee on her porch. She accepted before he could say anything.

"I'm sorry I got upset with you," I say. "I went blind, trying to solve the situation and didn't think it through."

Matt cups my chin to make me look at him. "Erin, we won't agree with the other all the time. I'm glad we can argue in a civil way. I love you, even when you are mad at me," he kisses my lips softly.

"I'm also sorry that I gave you a bad night of sleep. You talked a lot last night."

"Did I say anything odd?"

"You kept mentioning your parents among other things."

"I thought I was fine after the argument I had with them. Seems I'm not over it," he says thoughtfully. "Let's forget about it all and enjoy ourselves."

We get out of the car and I hope no one saw that we took our time to get out since we parked. Jordan opens the door for us. "Merry Christmas! Come in."