You love him, so what if he’s annoying the crap out of you because he won’t settle on a house.

“Okay, what about the light blue house on Federal Drive didn’t work for you?”

In the beginning, when Spencer could not find a house he liked I thought it was cute. I decided it was because he isn’t the type to settle and took that as a compliment since he fell in love with me. Now that it’s been two months since we decided to move in together and he still won’t agree on a house, it’s less cute.

It doesn’t help that Sam and Brent have been putting offers in on places around town. They got outbid on their first one, the homeowner wouldn’t agree to an inspection on the second, and the homeowner on the third changed their mind. They have somehow managed to agree on three different houses and I can’t manage to get Spencer to agree to one. Finley and Noah’s wedding was two and a half months ago. While we danced on the platform Noah and Asher built themselves, I assumed we’d be already living together for a month by now.

“The carpet would need to be replaced.”

I feel my eyes bugging so I take a deep breath and focus on schooling my features. “Honey, when we talked about it, I thought we decided some light work would be okay?”

Sheesh, it’s not like I’m asking him to undertake a crazy remodel like the one Finley and Noah did. Still, I assumed we’d find a place not long after their wedding. The way things are going now, it might be closer to after Asher and Paige’s wedding.

“We did,” He agrees.

“And, we’d pull up any carpet because we both prefer hardwood floors anyway. Knowing that, what the carpet looks like shouldn’t matter.”

He hauls me into his lap and presses his lips to my temple. As annoyed as I am, the effect of his touch is instant. I lean against him.

“Did you love the light blue house?”

My brows come together. “Love would be a stretch.”

His hand strokes up and down my back. “Why do you want to put an offer on it?”

Tucking my face into his neck, I sigh. “I’m sick of living apart. The light blue house isn’t perfect, but it isn’t that bad.”

“We’ve waited this long. We can wait a little bit longer for the right place.”

He’s right. I hate it and all of the not right houses we’ve looked at.

“This might sound dumb, but I imagined having a housewarming slash birthday party in our new house.”

“You never sound dumb and with an event planner and all of these weddings, I’m not surprised you want to plan something of your own.”

I lift my head to stare at him. “I never thought of it that way.”

His lips find mine and I forget how annoyed I was.

When he breaks our kiss, he lifts his head. “You mentioned you have plans tonight. Any chance I’ll get to see you after?”

My fingers trace his jaw. “Nadine and I are meeting for drinks. If Sam is sleeping at Brent’s do you want to wait for me at my place? I’ll probably be tipsy.”

His arms tighten around me. “You know I’d sleep there every night if you were comfortable with it.”

I shake my head and he drops his chin to rest on my shoulder. Sam doesn’t charge me rent. All I pay for is food and some of the electric bill. I already feel like I’m taking advantage of her enough even though it was her idea. There’s no way I’d feel comfortable with Spencer sleeping over there every night, even though I miss him when he’s at his parent’s.

What sucks is I know Sam doesn’t care if he stays over. Maybe if we had found the place and moved into it together it would feel like our place and not like I’m still crashing at hers.

“Someday we’ll find a place.”

“We will. Now, I have to ask since you’re having drinks with my boss, any chance you can find out how I did in my review?”

I swat at his gut, making him grab my arms and pin them. “We never talk about you.”

Now that my arms are behind my back, his face is directly in front of mine.

He pouts, his lower lip brushing against mine. “How quickly I’m replaced.”

My tongue darts out, taking a swipe across that lower lip. A grin flashes across his face before he kisses me.

A couple of months ago, I’d have never guessed we’d be joking about how Nadine used to have a thing for him. If I hadn’t have reached out to her and offered her myself as an ally instead of a rival, who knows where we’d be right now. She accepted my offer to serve as wing woman and we’ve become fast friends. Even though she no longer needs help from me to meet guys who check all of her boxes, we meet up now for the fun of it.

“She’ll probably tell me all about her new boyfriend.”

He lets go of my wrists and rubs the tip of his nose along mine. “Is he one of the men you introduced her to?”

I give him a half smile. “Yes, and no. I introduced her to his brother. When he took her to a family party, she hit it off with Diego.”

Spencer frowns. “That couldn’t have gone over well with the first brother.”

I shake my head. “No, it wasn’t a big deal. Both of them were only getting the friend vibe from each other so when sparks flew when she met Diego, Angelo encouraged them to go out together.”

“That’s lucky.”

I nod. “It is, and from what she told me the last time we talked, things are going great with Diego.”

“She is definitely happier at work.”

I wrap my arms around his neck. “I’m not shocked. I expect people say the same thing about me at work. When you’re deliriously happy off the clock, it has to filter into your work hours as well.”

His lips tip up. “Deliriously happy?”

I press my lips to his. “You know it.”

His phone buzzes and he has to shift me on his lap to reach for it. It’s impossible not to see it given my location. It’s a text from Brent that says, all set.

“Are you meeting up with Brent tonight?”

Through Sam, they’ve developed somewhat of a bromance. In fact, his closest friends are my friends, too, since he hangs out with Gideon quite a bit.

He types out a thanks man and sets his phone down. “Not tonight.”

My curiosity is piqued especially since it’s almost my birthday. “What are you thanking him for?”

His smile is pure mischief as he taps my nose. “It’s a surprise.”

I squirm on his lap, my hands fisting the fabric of his shirt. “Oh come on. Tell me.”

Standing, he takes both of us up with him and sets me on my feet. “No can do. It will ruin the surprise. And, I need to take off and you need to get ready if you’re going out tonight.”

I glance down at my sweats. “I could go out like this.”

He kisses my forehead. “You could and you’d still be the most beautiful woman in the room.”

Drat him.

He kisses me one more time before he leaves and I get ready to meet up with Nadine. It may be August, but in New Hampshire it still cools off a lot once the sun sets. We’re meeting for dinner, but in case we end up staying out later, I put a cardigan on over my dress.

Nadine, as usual, beat me to the restaurant and is waiting for me outside.

The moment she sees me, she heads my way. “There’s a forty-five-minute wait to be seated. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to wait that long.”

“Ugh, same here. Where do you want to go instead?”

She pulls out her phone. “I swear Diego mentioned a restaurant that is supposed to be amazing near Mid Town. It’s a family style Italian place and since he’s spent so much time in Italy, it’s got to be good if he’s raving about it.”

My stomach rumbles at the thought. “I’m game.”

Mid Town was near my old neighborhood, bummer this Italian place wasn’t around when I lived there.

She lifts her phone straight up in celebration. “I’ve got the address. I can drive if you want to ride together.”

“Sounds good,” I reply, and follow her to where her Tesla is parked.

Once we’re on the road, I ask about Diego. “How are things going with you two?”

She quickly beams in my direction before looking back at the road. “He’s taking me to Italy in the fall. He bought the tickets and everything. We’re going to stay with friends of his in Tuscany and then spend a week in Rome.”

Shifting in my seat, I clap my hands. “That sounds amazing.”

Even though she’s looking straight ahead, she has not stopped smiling. “I’ve been to Europe before but for school. With my course load, I never had a chance to explore and I always regretted that. I’m so excited about this trip. I even set up a countdown clock on my phone for it.”

I reach over to rub her arm. “I’m so happy for you.”

She swallows, loud enough for me to hear. “I wouldn’t have met him if it weren’t for you—”

I cut her off. “Don’t say that, you never know.”

She shakes her head. “No, I do know and I can’t thank you enough for your friendship even when I was being so rude to you. I used to think you were lucky to be with Spencer, now I know he’s the lucky one to have someone as kind and generous as you are.”

I wipe at the corners of my eyes. “Stop before you make me cry.”

She delicately sniffs. “It’s the truth.”

“Tell me more about this trip. I want to know everything.”

Her smile returns. “He’s teaching me Italian.”

While I’ve only met him twice, Diego is smoking hot. The idea of him teaching his girlfriend Italian before he takes her on a trip to Italy is off the charts hot.

“I might need you to turn on the AC, I’m about to overheat.”

She laughs and turns left onto a street I recognize.

My brows come together as I place where we are. Unless there’s some random shortcut I’m familiar with, we’re heading away from where all the restaurants are. This road leads to a neighborhood, a really nice one.

“Are you sure we’re heading the right way?”

With a frown, she glances over at me. “I’ve never been there. I just plugged the address into my GPS.”

Having lived in New Hampshire my entire life, I’ve witnessed more than one GPS take the goofiest route to get somewhere. If only there was an avoid back roads option.

If it turns out the address is bad, we’ll just reenter it. “When does it say we’ll reach our destination?

From where I sit, I can’t see the display on her phone.

Her eyes move to it. “Not long at all, maybe five minutes.”

My gaze moves to the passenger window. “Yeah, I have a feeling we’re headed the wrong way. All of the restaurants are back that way.

“Should I pull over here and turn around?”

I shake my head. “We might as well see where these directions take us since we’re almost there.”

They are few and far between, but I have seen a couple of places zoned for retail in unexpected residential neighborhoods. Maybe this place is one of them.

As she turns onto a new street, one house immediately stands out from the rest. It’s lit with white fairy style Christmas lights on each of its three stories, most of them around the front porch. Since Christmas lights in August isn’t that common, maybe this is the place. Still, I don’t see a sign anywhere or a parking lot.

When I notice who’s standing on the front porch, my mouth falls open. Covering it with my hands, I turn to look at Nadine.

“What’s happening?”

She shrugs, her brows going up in a look of innocence as she parks behind his car.

My eyes dart back to Spencer. He’s wearing a suit and grinning at me.

I push open my door and cross the yard of the most beautiful pale yellow Victorian house I’ve ever seen.

As I approach, he gets down on one knee.

Holy shit. Is he about to ask me to marry him? I mean, I love him but we haven’t even lived together yet.

I rock to a halt. “Spencer.”

He must hear the concern in my voice because he opens the box. There, plain as day is a key.

“Abby Thompson, would you do the honor of owning this house with me?”

My mouth drops open for the second time in as many minutes. “What?”

“Will you move into this house with me and live happily ever after?”

Since he looks so nervous and potentially freaked that I haven’t come closer yet, I decide to put him out of his misery.

Kicking off my heels, I run to him, throwing myself into his arms. “Yes.”

His arms circle me as he kisses me. “I love you so much.”

Mine circle his neck as he stands, hauling me up with him. “I love you too.”

When people start shouting and clapping, I jump and turn my head. My entire family is on the front lawn, his parents as well. Sam and Brent are standing by Nadine, Sam recording everything with her phone.

“OhMyGod!” I gasp.

Turning my face back to Spencer’s, I cup his cheek. “How?”

He wets his lips as he smiles sweetly up at me. “Months ago, I gave Brent a description of your dream house and told him to find it for us.”

My eyes widen. “Is that the reason you said no to every place we looked at?”

He nods and I don’t know whether to kiss him again or punch him for driving me as crazy as he did.

“Are you going to put her down so she can look at the place?” My dad asks.

Spencer looks his way before grudgingly setting me down. “Want to see our home?”

I grin up at him. “Yes.”

“Hang on, let us hug her first,” Sam shouts as she puts her phone away.

I spin on my new front porch and open my arms wide. Connie reaches me first, her little arms wrapping around my waist. Seconds later more arms wrap around me as I’m engulfed in a Thompson family group hug. Spencer was standing so close to me so he ended up getting swept into it as well. Tears sting my eyes at the love all around me.

“Alright, alright. Stop hugging me so I can see my house,” I laugh after a couple minutes.

Reluctantly, Spencer and I are released.

He pulls open the front door. “Welcome home baby.”

The vision that greets me is like everything I’ve ever wished for. The space is bare, but with each step I take, I’m furnishing and decorating it as I go. This Christmas, I’m going to wrap garland around the banister of the sweeping circular staircase, and I’m going to hang icicle ornaments from the entryway chandelier. Our tree has to go in front of the windows of the turret. More garland and nutcrackers are going to go across the fireplace mantle, and I’m going to hang a wreath on every door on the main level.

He leads me to a bright and open dream kitchen and I realize I’ve never been this far into a house without wanting to change something by now. “How did you know?”

His hand squeezes mine. “I kept a list of everything you liked about every house we’ve looked at together and waited until I found the perfect one for you.”

My throat tightens with emotion. “I love you Spencer Hill.”

“I love you,” he says, and if he hadn’t said it, I would have known by the look in his eyes.

Our tour continues, as we make our way upstairs. “There are two bedrooms and the master on this floor, and another bedroom and a giant walk-up attic space on the third.”

The spare bedrooms are empty, but not the master. A king size bed fully made with white sheets and a dove gray duvet, are the only things in the room.

Spencer glances around. “Want to sleep here tonight?”

My head bobs as I practically shout, “Yes.”

He pulls me into his arms. “I didn’t want to buy any furniture without you but I figure if you hate the mattress I got we can put it in one of the spare bedrooms.”

“I’m going to love it.”

He smiles down at me. “You don’t know that.”

My brows come up. “Did you spend a week reading every review on it before you bought it?”

He shrugs which means he absolutely did.

“I’ll love it.”

“I asked Sam to pack some things for you, for tonight.”

“Did you think of everything?” I ask.

He presses his lips to my forehead. “This might be your dream home, but getting to live here with you is my dream.”

“Spence… I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. Seeing you this happy is all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Want to know what makes me so much happier than this house?”

He inclines his head and I wrap my arms around his neck. “Being with you.”

He smiles and kisses me before we rejoin our families downstairs. Finley and Noah begin unloading casseroles from the oven and Asher and Paige cut and plate servings. The lack of a table and chairs doesn’t seem to bother anyone once Gideon starts pouring drinks.

It was almost a year ago, last Thanksgiving that I was cursing my singular existence. Back then I had no idea the roller coaster this year would have in store for me. Losing my house the way I did was something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Still, my journey brought me to Spencer and because of that, I would not change one thing.