Chapter Sixteen

It was a logical thing to do, moving in together. The real question was why it took us so long. We had been spending every night together in one place or the other for months, bringing Cat-terine with us each night, and while it wasn't a big hassle, it was a little inconvenient. We'd end up at one house while the fixings for that night's dinner were at the other, or the shirt Lane wanted for work was in my closet and we were at his place. Things like that. But none of those were reason to move in together. Not really.

The best reason was we'd grown together into a couple of people who loved each other but also liked one another and never willingly were apart. The people at the club joked we were chained at the hip, and I didn't hate the idea. It was time, and there was no question which unit we would live in. Gramps' old space, my current one, had three bedrooms. The owner's unit was more like a house than an apartment, right at the front of the building with a big front window Cat-terine loved for its patch of afternoon sunlight. She even had her own towel there.

We woke up on the morning of moving day very early because Lane's place was already rented out, and the new tenant would be moving in very soon. We wouldn't have much to do because he had kept it nice, but we did need to get his things out soon enough for the new cleaning service to do their thing. He protested that he'd do it himself, but I had these ladies for a reason. Unlike the last service, they had eagle eyes and left everything immaculate. They were in and out in a few hours in most cases, too.

"Good morning, love." I rolled over ready to wake Lane in a fun way, but all I found was Cat-terine curled up beside me. "Where is Lane?" I stroked her furry head. "Is he in the bathroom?"

"I'm packing up the kitchen." He bustled into the bedroom with an empty box. "Since you mentioned the bathroom, want to be in charge of that?"

"We haven't even had coffee yet." I sat up, but I wasn't really awake. "Don't you want to come back to bed for a few minutes? Maybe we can…"

"Not right now, we can't, Mr. Landlord. If we're going to have this place emptied in time for Maria and Jolene to clean at three. The new tenants will be here tomorrow. We have no time to waste." We'd actually planned to get more done earlier in the week, but between some plumbing problems that came up for me and an extra busy week at work for Lane, we hadn't been able to. "Come on! I have the coffee brewing. Bathroom packing, please."

I was awake enough now to be excited about what this day meant. From now on, we'd have the same exact address, down to the unit number. We'd have all our things in one place and would live together for real. Officially. I bounced out of bed and grabbed the box, planted a kiss on Lane's cheek, and raced into the bathroom to take care of business and pack the things that lived in there.

When he moved in, when I helped him unload, it hadn't seemed like nearly so much stuff, but it had all been neatly packed in boxes intended to be carted a long distance. Now, we figured we'd pack a few boxes, unpack, and come back for more.

That was a better idea on paper than in reality. We were starting to pile things in my place, our new place, because time was bearing down on us. Lane was starting to get a wild look in his eye and Cat-terine, well, she didn't have a clue what was going on except that she didn't like it and was sitting in a corner glowering at us. By noon, I knew I had to step in and make some decisions. My little and our pet needed me.

First things first. I picked up the phone and called the cleaners. "Hi, Maria. I know we said three o'clock, but can you possibly change and come very early tomorrow morning? Like six o'clock?"

She laughed. "Six? Really?"

"It's a lot to ask, I know. But I'll make it worth your while."

"Sounds like someone had some planning issues." Maria and her partner in crime were incredibly organized and would never have anything like this happen. "Can I make another suggestion?"

"All right…" If they couldn't come tomorrow morning, we'd be in deep trouble because we were not going to get done today at the rate we were going. Not with any level of sanity. "What did you have in mind?"

"We can come now and help. Clean behind you as you go, even pack and move things. We're very good at that."

"Are you kidding?" I covered the phone. "Lane, do you have any objections to the ladies helping with moving?"

"Objections?" He picked up Cat-terine and spun around. "No objections."

I uncovered the phone. "Maria? If you're serious, we'll give you time and a half for the whole thing."

"See you in a half hour." She hung up, and Lane and I danced in a circle.

"They will probably just send us out because we're in the way," he exulted. "Where shall we go?"

They did not send us away, but they did take the project to a whole new and organized level where we were done with moving things out of the apartment by the original three o'clock time, and they could move forward with the cleaning. They were incredible, and the old service had done us a favor by being incompetent.

Once Maria and Jolene were in Lane's old place with their cleaning products and vacuum and brooms, Lane and I sank onto the sofa. Not only had they helped us pack and carry, they'd supervised us unpacking, and we were sitting in a neat and tidy space that I suspected they'd actually done some cleaning in as well.

My eyes were closing when Lane rested his head on my shoulder. "Good job, Daddy."

"What?" I turned to face him. "I nearly had us going under for the third time." Not very Daddy in my books.

"You recognized a situation and took steps to resolve it. You saw that I was starting to panic and Cat-terine was freaking out and you brought in help. Look around. There's no way we could have made this work without that help, not in our tight schedule. And now, we are moved in and settled and the only thing left to do is…"

We beamed at one another. "Back to bed?" I suggested.

"That sounds good."

"Maybe a tubby?"

He visibly relaxed. "Yes, please, Daddy."

"Okay, you go get your basket of toys for the tubby and bring it in while I start the water running. Want bubbles?"

"I love you this much, Daddy." His arms could not spread wider when he spread them to show me how much.

With Cat-terine once again in her pool of sunlight, all was right with the world, and I went in to run a bath for a certain little who needed to relax and play with toys. It was as settling for me as it was for him, and when he came in with the basket, I showed him where we would keep them on a shelf for convenience. "Now, let Daddy undress you and you can play for a few minutes before it will be time to suds you up and get you ready for bed. A certain good boy has had a long day."

I took off his clothes and helped him to step into the tub. He sank into the bubbles and rested his head against the back. "I'm tired." His voice was just a little sigh.

I put a couple of boats in the tub and soaped up a washcloth. "Wash up time."

He never even protested that he wanted to play. And after I got him all scrubbed up and cleaned, I rubbed shampoo into his hair, worked up a lather, and rinsed it away. Then I went into the bedroom and came back with a set of footie pajamas. "Time to get out, Lane. Daddy is going to tuck you in bed and read you a story."