All's Fair in Love and Las Vegas

Chapter Ninety-Seven

        Two weeks later, as a housewarming party, Clay and Kylie invited Nina and I over for dinner. They'd moved into a new house, since Clay had recently changed his citizenship and they wanted a bigger place than Kylie's old house. So they'd gotten a cute three-bedroom place that was actually only a few minutes away from my house by car.

        Kylie was the one to answer the door, glowing as she hugged both of us. No, literally, glowing. She'd gotten a deep tan while in the Caribbean, and her hair looked blonder. Meanwhile, the rest of us were stuck in an eternal rain cloud in Virginia. 

        "Your house is so cute," Nina said, looking around.

        Kylie looked ready to burst. "Thank you," she gushed. "I know I've bought a house on my own before but this is entirely different."

        "Hey guys," Clay called from where he was stirring something in a pan at the stove.

        "Hi, Clay," we both said. 

        "Kylie, I took your potatoes out of the oven," he said, putting a pat of butter into whatever he was cooking.

        "Thank you," she said, pecking his cheek.

        "Can we help with anything?" Nina asked.

        Kylie aggressively pointed her spatula at the dining room table. "You and Jackie go sit down. We're cooking for you guys tonight, you're our guests."

        "I feel fancy," I whispered to Nina as we sat down.

        "Right?" she agreed. 

        We chatted as Clay and Kylie moved around the kitchen putting together a meal worthy of a cooking competition. "How was your honeymoon?" Nina asked. I elbowed her for asking such a foolish question.

        Sure enough, the happy couple exchanged smirks. "Really good. Nice to go on vacation," Kylie said, pouring glasses of wine. For me she poured water, which I was grateful for.

        I was suspicious, but definitely didn't ask for more details. Clay jumped in to provide some, saying, "It was great. It was nice to finally get a lot of time together instead of just a couple days here and there."

        "And how are you faring living in America?" Nina joked.

        He snorted. "I've been doing some research on what my new life will be like and let me tell you, it's awful down here. Your taxes are outrageous. And you don't have any legal paid paternity, maternity leave. I mean, how are you guys still alive?"

        "We're not," Nina grumbled. 

        "I'm lucky I'm not changing my citizenship," he said, shaking his head. While Clay could've easily chosen to join the land of the free, he'd instead kept his citizenship. They hadn't outright said it, but he and Kylie were thinking of moving to Canada. From what I gathered, it wouldn't be for at least a few years, but until then, he and Kylie would happily be almost-neighbors with me.

        "He loves me so much he's willing to stay in America," Kylie joked.

        "No, seriously, that's true," Clay said, setting down plates in front of us.

        I laughed, trying to hide how familiar the conversation was to me. "So Clay, what are you doing now that you've got a more permanent residence?"

        "Still booking gigs," he promised, taking off his apron and sitting down at the end of the table. "Thankfully there's a lot of venues in the area so I shouldn't have a problem setting up shows."