5 Reasons To Love Again

Chapter 14

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Finding different websites for apartment listings, I chose the first one and started looking. There were a handful that looked promising. I knew that pictures could be deceiving though, so I decided to ask Brady his opinion.

"Hey Brady?"

He looked over at me questioningly.

"Can you tell me if these places are in good neighborhoods?"

I scooted closer to him so that I could show him the screen. His arm went up on the back of the couch behind me. I showed him the screen and he looked at it.

"Hmm.. apartment hunting already?" he asked me.

"Yeah, We can't stay here forever." I said with a smile.

Brady frowned a little and looked thoughtful.

"You know, I think that we should ask Preston for his opinion. After all, Real Estate is what he knows."

"Oh, I didn't even think about that. Maybe after dinner tonight I will ask him."

"Sure, ask him then." he said and smiled warmly at me. I smiled back and started to move away back to where I had been sitting. Brady's arm dropped down around my shoulders keeping me next to him. 

"You're fine right here."

My heart fluttered and I felt butterflies in my stomach. I pretended that it was no big deal even though I was very aware of his arm around me. Picking up the iPad again I decided to act casual and read a book. I got lost in the story and without thinking about it, I slipped off my shoes and curled up my legs. After a while I woke up from my zoned out trance and realized my knees were resting on Brady's legs and I was leaning against his side.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" I said while attempting to put a little space between us.

"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong."

"I was invading your personal space!"

"Feel free to invade it anytime."

He grinned at me. Oh, those dimples of his are going to be my undoing! I wanted to throw myself at him. I was saved from doing something stupid by my daughter waking up. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and then crawled over to us and parked her little behind on Brady's lap. He looked happy.

"This is the life. Football on TV and a couple of cuties with me." he declared.

"Quit hogging them!"  Wyatt walked into the room with a grin. "Hi girls! Miss me?" He plopped himself down on the other side of me and grabbed my hand and tugged me closer to him. Brady tightened his arm around me and tugged back. They started a tug of war with me and I started to laugh. Lexine was giggling so hard she almost fell off of Brady's lap. She decided to join the game and helped tug me to Brady's side.

"No fair! Two against one!" Wyatt protested. "I need to get Lexine on my side and I think that I know how. Hold on, I'll be right back."

He let go of me and left the room. After a few seconds, he came back with a huge stuffed dog that had to be at least three feet tall! Setting it down he asked, "Are you open to bribes sweetie?" Lexine's eyes were wide and her mouth popped open. That stuffed dog was bigger than her!

"It's yours if you want it." Wyatt shook the dog's head.

She scrambled down off of Brady's lap and tackled the dog. It was clear that she liked it. 

"Where on earth did you find that?" I asked Wyatt. "It's massive!"

"Oh, I have my ways. I know a guy...." he said with a wink.

Brady chuckled and said," That's how you want to play huh? Well, Game on bro, game on."

"As much fun as this is, I need to get dinner ready if we want to eat dinner on time tonight. " I told the guys and got up from the couch. "Thank you for the enormous toy Wyatt."

"Leave Lexine in here to play with it, while you cook." Brady said to me and Jake agreed.

"Don't forget the apron! I heard you found a nice one." Wyatt called out as I was leaving. My face flamed and I didn't turn around, and just waved my hand dismissively. 

"Are you talking about the stupid apron Jake got for me?" I could hear Brady's question as I made my way into the kitchen. I didn't hear Wyatt's reply but I did hear masculine laughter after a minute.

I got to boiling noodles and putting the lasagna together. After it was bubbling in the oven, I made the spread for the garlic bread and got the things for the salad ready. It was starting to smell really good in here.

"I can't wait to eat. With a house full of bachelors, we don't have home cooked meals that often."

I turned around to find Chase there.

"Hi." I said and felt a little awkward. He seemed to sense that and tried to put me at ease.

"Is there anything I can help with?"

"Um.. the food is almost done but the table needs setting."

"I'm on it!"

By the time 6:00 arrived, dinner was ready to be served. Everyone except for Preston came into the dining room. I was unsure if we should start without him. My internal dilemma was solved by the sound of the front door opening and shutting and footsteps headed our way. I relaxed and waited for him.

"I made it!" Preston appeared in the doorway and his hair was a little mussed which made him look a little younger. "It took a little longer than I thought but I drove like a bat out of h.." he glanced at Lexine and continued," a cave to get here on time." I smiled at him and he smiled back.

Everybody got seated and started passing the food around and filling plates. As we started to eat the guys were moaning about how good everything was.  All the compliments made my cheeks turn pink with pleasure.

"So Delphine, what else can you cook?" asked Chase.

The other guys elbowed each other with grins. I understood that meant nobody had told him about the Korean food yet.

"I can make different Asian dishes." I said. "Chinese, Japanese and Korean..."

"Korean food?" his head snapped up and his eyes locked on me.

"Yeah, I'm half."

"And you guys were waiting to tell me this when?" he looked accusingly at the others. They were busy laughing.

"Just for that, I'm not bringing any of you with me when I take Delphine to my favorite Korean place!"

Lexine stopped eating to look at him. Chase noticed and pointed to her saying," Except for you. You can come too." She nodded and went back to eating.

"I can also make a pretty good chili..." I told them. "I learned how in Texas."

"You lived in Texas?" asked Brady. "Was that after you left California?"

"Yes, we lived there for about 8 months. I worked for a older gentleman, helping him take care of things. Kinda like a personal assistant/cook. It was a good job and he allowed me to bring Lexine along. It was great while it lasted."

"So why did the job end?" Jake questioned.

"He started showing signs of senile dementia so his daughter moved him into a retirement home. Then there wasn't a job anymore so I moved on and ended up here."

"It was fate that brought the both of you here." Wyatt said. The other men seemed to agree.