Gray felt like he had been caught in his underwear. Completely exposed. He didn’t even use his real voice around Aaron but had done it in front of his daughter without thinking. Violet would surely report back to him about this and his image would be ruined.

Once the employee told them everything they needed to know about bubble eye goldfish, they leisurely perused the other tanks for the recommended tank mates for them. Gray turned to Mandy slightly accusingly as she examined some black moors.

“What on earth was that back there?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, my little show? That was fun. I didn’t realize she knew you were related since you said Aaron doesn’t like having you near his kids.”

“I’m still trying to figure that one out myself,” he admitted. “But that isn’t what I meant. What’s with this future aunt business?”

Mandy snickered. “Imagine how much Aaron will freak out when he hears. I’m willing to bet he’ll approach you first for once wanting all the juicy details. I did you a favor.”

Gray frowned. While that was almost certainly true, he didn’t want to lie to his brother about something like this. Aaron would expect a wedding invitation at some point in the near future for a wedding that wasn’t going to happen.

She couldn’t go around casually tossing her words like that either. She had nearly given him a heart attack! That kind of false hope wasn’t fair.

“Don’t say things you don’t mean,” he said sharply.

Mandy turned away from the fish tank to face him. “Who said I didn’t mean it? You’re the one who said you were mine so your things were mine and brought me to your house. How else was I supposed to take that but as a declaration that you plan to marry me at some point?”

His jaw dropped. He honestly didn’t have a response for that. Yes, he had meant he wanted her to stay but didn’t think she would immediately jump to marriage. This was all happening so fast it was making his head spin.

“I’m going to stay with you anyway,” she continued as if it were obvious. “Why not make it official sooner than later and freak your brother out? I think it would be fun.”

Gray hadn’t realized what a mischievous little imp this grown woman with a grown daughter was. He remembered her as being such a quiet, complacent child. But people changed. Goodness knows he had.

But it actually did sound slightly fun to mess with Aaron since he was usually so unflappable. He wanted to show off how he had managed to find the perfect woman for him so quickly. A sort of ‘so there, you aren’t the only one who can be happy’ to his brother who had such an idyllic life.

A thought occurred to him that wasn’t the sort of thing he would normally care about. Normally he was much more selfish when it came to getting what he wanted.

“What about your daughter? Won’t this freak her out too?”

Mandy brushed it off. “Nah, she’ll be happy to get me out of her hair. I know she worries about me between my apartment and my job. I’ll tell her we’re old friends who met up again and realized we still loved each other and she’ll buy it.”

Gray raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t quite the truth. “I didn’t love you though. You were six. And a pest. I tolerated you.”

She shrugged. “Tomayto, tomahto. And that’s not a very nice thing to say to your future wife, you know. I’m wounded, Mikey.”

“Must you call me Mikey in public?” he asked with a sigh. It was embarrassing. He was supposed to be more dignified than this. 

“Would you prefer Mike? You looked weirded out when I suggested that before.”

“Mike is infinitely better than Mikey,” Gray said fervently. Mikey was the name of a small child, not a fifty-five-year-old man.

Mandy sighed. “You’re no fun. I’ll save it for when we’re at home if it bothers you that much. You can be Michael in public, Mr. I-Care-Too-Much-About-My-Dignity.”

He thanked her and they returned to browsing for fish. Twenty minutes later, they walked out as the proud owners of a gigantic fish tank on a wooden stand and a ton of fish. The tank wouldn’t fit in the car so they had to get someone from the store to deliver it to the apartment.

They made sure to get the fish nice and situated in their new home before going to the grocery store. Mandy picked out a bunch of basic items such as sugar and flour in addition to eggs, milk, bread, and various spices.

She declared that when they got back, she would make the pancakes she had intended to make in the morning but didn’t have ingredients for. Gray hadn’t eaten homemade pancakes in more than forty years.

He ate out at gourmet restaurants fairly often but found himself looking forward to her home cooking with great anticipation, hoping she was half as decent in the kitchen as Keeley was. She was the only person whose food he had eaten outside of restaurants in decades.

There was no need for him to worry. Mandy was just as talented, if not more so.

Gray thanked her, noting how delicious the food was, and she smiled and kissed him. This all felt far too good to be true. But it wasn’t. He really had a woman here taking care of him who was willing to marry him. Eager, even.

He pinched himself under the table to be sure he wasn’t dreaming. Mandy came into his life like a whirlwind and made herself comfortable there as if it was the natural thing to do.

Once the pancakes were consumed, Gray insisted they go out again. She was confused why until he brought her to a jewelry store. If she really was going to follow through on her idea of marrying him quickly, she would need a ring.

Her eyes lit up in delight. “I’ve never seen such pretty sparkly rings before. The one my ex-husband got me was a dud.”

“Price isn’t a problem,” he assured her. “Choose whichever one you want.”

And she did. Mandy liked a simple solitaire diamond on a platinum band for herself and found a matching platinum band for Gray. She admired how her new ring sparkled in the light as they walked out of the store.

“Let’s go home for good now,” she said with a slight chuckle. “I’m tired from going in and out all day. We could watch a movie or maybe stare at our ridiculous fish.”

Anything sounded wonderful to Gray as long as she was there with him. Nobody had told him ‘let’s go home’ since he was very young. Having someone to go home with properly was all Aaron made it out to be and more.

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