Page 53 of Earned Husband

She’d also included the names and some information on about a dozen notable aunts and uncles. All of which I would be memorizing over the next day or so. I had to. By the time I landed, I fully expected myself to know as much as I could about every person in her life she’d deemed important enough to write about.

Tonight, however, was the night. In just a few hours, I would flying to Egypt, and while it still felt a little surreal, I knew I’d be spending the flight studying that letter in a lot more detail. I had an MBA. Surely, I could figure out just how the hell so many people belonged on one branch of the family tree. If I could learn all the Westwood names, the Saads should be no problem.

Aside from that, near the end of the letter, she’d finally stopped talking about everyone else, focusing on us instead. She still hadn’t actually written the wordyes, but she also hadn’t saidno. Instead, after an entire page of describing the preparations happening at home, she’d ended with one simple sentence.

I really can’t wait to see you again.

It wasn’t the answer I’d wanted, but it felt like I’d at least gotten one now. If I was being honest, our month apart had been achingly long for me.

Weirdly so considering I’d only had a couple weeks with her before the separation.

As I zipped up one of my suitcases, the front doorbell rang right on schedule. I straightened up and headed downstairs, opening the door for Isaac. He grinned as he stepped inside. “Are you all packed?”

“Mostly,” I said, shutting the door behind him once he’d brushed past me into the house. “It feels like I’m packing for an entire year. I’m honestly not even sure what I’m taking anymore.”

He chuckled, rocking back on his heels as he slid his fingers into the pockets of his jeans. “So, is it starting to feel real?”

I shook my head. “Maybe a little, but not really. I don’t know, man. I just still don’t really know what to expect.”

“Well, you’ll find out soon enough.” He turned away from me, looking around as if he was mentally cataloging the place. “I’ve got a box in the car for the plants I need to take home with me, but before we get to that, are you going to show me this supposedly impossible home security system?”

I took the few steps down into the living room and led him through to my home office. “It isn’t impossible. It’s just, uh, surprisingly frustrating.”

“If it genuinely needs the four-page instruction manual you sent me, it’s impossible.”

“I was just being thorough,” I said. “What am I supposed to do if I’m halfway across the world and you accidentally set it off?”

“I won’t,” he said confidently, but I wasn’t so sure.

Isaac lived nearly an hour outside the city in an old Victorian house he’d been restoring, claiming that modern homes lacked character. Personally, I enjoyed walls that weren’t one strong breeze away from becoming an insurance claim and I liked to keep the place locked up tight when I wasn’t here.

He generally didn’t bother even closing his windows before he left and I highly doubted he’d even had a security systeminstalled, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. He’d agreed to keep an eye on my place while I was gone, collecting the mail and making sure nothing flooded or exploded before I got back.

Assuming, of course, I ever came back at all. I still didn’t know how long this trip was actually going to end up being.

I walked him through how to operate my security system, then packed up my laptop while he went to grab the box for my plants. He wouldn’t be taking all of them, only those that would die if he skipped watering them for more than a couple days at a time.

Once we were both back in the kitchen, him with a box of plants and me with half the suit bags, chargers, and suitcases I’d ever owned, he leaned against the counter and gave me a slow onceover. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just need to be sure I’ve got everything.” I would be working remotely most of the time while I was there, staying in the loop even though our younger brother would be taking the reins of the finance section while I was gone. “Thank God, Ryan is finally back in Chicago. This merger is going to be complicated enough as it is. I’m not sure how we would’ve coped if he didn’t agree to step up.”

Isaac chuckled. “We would’ve found a way, but you’re not wrong. It’s going to be an interesting few years while we’re working out all the details of merging two entirely different company cultures.”

“Interesting?” I snorted, double-checking for the fourth time that I had my spare laptop charger. “Try tumultuous. It’s not just the company cultures. It’s everything. International compliance, different accounting standards, environmental?—”

“I know, Colin,” he cut in. “I didn’t ask if the company was going to be okay, though. I also wasn’t asking about the merger. I’m asking aboutyou. Are you ready for this? Because you’vechecked that charger too many times for it to qualify as normal pre-flight jitters.”

“I have to be ready.” That was the honest truth. “When that plane takes off, I have to be on it and I’d rather have my own chargers than to come across like the imbecile who needs to stop at an electronics store first thing when I arrive.”

Isaac was quiet for a long beat, watching me rummage through my things as I ticked items off my mental checklist. “What about Deja?”

“What about her?” I asked, glancing up at him after verifying that my spare phone charging pad was also where it was supposed to be. “Look, all I want right now is to get there.”

That was the most important thing to me, getting there and seeing her again. I had a feeling that once I did, all this angst and uncertainty would vanish. “I’ve been overthinking the traditions, and the events, and meeting potentially hundreds of their relatives. I’ll feel a lot better when I’m finally actually there.”

“You?” Isaac said, feigning shock. “Overthinking? Well, I never.”

“I’d appreciate less sarcasm.”