Chapter 14: The Wager

Emmett

December 14, 2023

Seattle, Washington

Does it come as a surprise to anyone that the idea of buying a house has taken over my life?

No.

Does it come as a surprise that the holiday season has done nothing to stop me from searching and browsing houses from sunup to sunset?

Also no.

It's a good thing I start shopping in January for gifts. Besides the last minute shopping for odds and ends and wrapping late into the night, the past few days have been filled with a combination of living vicariously through Edward's tales of finding that fucking van and whatever other minutes I have left in my free time looking for houses. Whether on all the apps or through listings sent from my mother, I find myself looking at all of them in earnest, sending the ones that stand out to Rose for her to look over. We've been too busy to see any in person or to swing by a random Open House, but the thought of it makes me giddy.

It's lunch, and the crunch for deadlines at the office is real. It's been easier these days to actually go into the office than work from home, and I contemplate that fact as I hang up the phone in the few minutes I have before I'm forced to make another call. I'm very fortunate that I have the luxury of working from home more often than not, but on days like these, when the pressure is on and the weekly sales objectives go up, having more at my fingertips in the office is incredibly helpful.

I'm wondering how that factors into our house hunting process.

Will I be able to find a house and move further away from the office? Would that mean I would have to split my time between days when I have no choice but to work in person as opposed to staying at home?

What does that mean for Rose? Is she willing to relocate knowing she may have to give up yet another job? Would she have to?

Rose has always been amazing at what she does, but I wouldn't say it's her passion or life's work. She knows what she's doing, and her employers can spot her intensity a mile away; she could easily leave her job and find another one closer to home almost immediately.

But should she have to? Will there be a house somewhere in between Seattle and Forks, right smack dab in the middle, that would meet our needs both personally and professionally?

"You lookin' for The Boat, too?"

I barely look up at Edward as he sinks down into the chair on the other side of my desk. Instead I continue to thumb through another house on one of my apps. "Hmm?"

"That look on your face. It's the face I make when I walk into another roadblock on the way to finding my van."

The thought of Edward's van with its own zip code makes me chuckle. "No luck, huh?"

"Nope. I'm not going down without a fight."

"It may be time, bro."

"I'll give up my search when you give up yours,"

"It's not the same thing at all," I laugh. "The odds of me finding a house are better than you finding your Where's Waldo of a van."

"Does that?" Edward pauses, leaning forward with his fingers cupped around his ear. "Does that sound like a bet?"

I nod, suddenly serious. Edward and I always take our bets seriously and it's been awhile since we've had the need to make one. "Wager?"

Edward leans back in his seat, his lips pursed as he thinks it over. A loud rumbling from his stomach foreshadows his offer will have something to do with food. "If I find the van, you have to buy me a large pepperoni pizza whenever the fuck I want."

"And if I find my house before that?"

"Same?"

I shake my head. I take my pizza seriously, thank you very much. "I want a pizza delivered from my favorite pizza place in New York. I used to go there for lunch almost every day when I worked in the city."

"That's…not the same at all," Edward laughs loudly in disbelief. "You can pick up the phone and my pizza will be here in a half hour. Yours will take seven to ten business days and that's not including shipping costs."

"And?"

I don't see his point.

Edward crosses his arms across his chest before telling me his final offer. "Add on you having to deliver my pizza wearing a costume of my choice and we're even."

"Deal," I agree, putting my hand out for him to shake it. Game on. "You know I love to put on a good show. Now get the fuck outta here, I have a house to find."

"There was a rental place in Nevada that may have my van," Edward says casually, but he's on the phone before he leaves my office. "Better go follow up!"

I can't wait for some New York pizza.

When I open another app, broadening my search range, I'm suddenly starving.

…

By the time I'm home from work, Noelle is already out of her bath and sitting on the couch with her sippy cup of milk before bed. Her eyes are heavy, her head leaning on Rose's shoulder as they read a bedtime book. On nights like these, when work has literally drained the daylight out of me and made me miss my time at home with my girls, it doesn't matter what kind of house we live in.

Home is where they are, wherever that may be.

Because these moments are also my favorite.

When they're covered in Christmas lights and fuzzy Christmas blankets. When I can hear Rose reading to Noelle, and I can see Noelle's little finger pointing to all her favorite parts on the page.

And I don't want to miss a single second of it.

Even if that means moving farther from the office and working from home, or staying close by but at least out of the city.

"Sugar plum for your thoughts?" I whisper against the top of Rose's head once Noelle is fast asleep between us. I'm blessed with a wife who knows I need these moments with both her and our daughter to function, to make me feel grounded and whole again, so sometimes she'll let Noelle fall asleep like this instead of in her crib. Luckily for us, Noelle transfers well, so I can sit here for hours without a worry in the world.

But I can tell Rose is anxious about something, just by the way she sighs before answering me. I run my fingers through her hair to try to relax her the way she does to me. "I'm worried about Alice."

"Why's that?"

"It's Christmas," Rose says. "She's normally texting us hourly about some type of holiday cheer and this year? Nothing."

"Hmm," I reply, my eyes closed as the day gets the better of me but thinking back, I can see what Rose is talking about. "Did you call her?"

"I tried," she sighs. "Went right to voicemail. I'm going to try again tomorrow. Just to make sure she's okay."

"I'm sure she'd love that," I whisper. "Maybe you two and Bella can meet up this weekend. Noelle and I can continue the super secret things we do when Mommy is away."

"Will you ever tell me what you two get up to when I leave?"

"Never," I say in all seriousness; Noelle and I took an oath.

"Make sure the house we find has extra space for all your 'super secret things'," Rose laughs.

"Close your eyes," I say. I wait for her eyes to flutter closed before continuing. "Where is our house?"

"I don't see a specific place. I just see you and Noelle, " Rose says quietly. "I don't care where we go as long as we're together."

Edward may lose that bet after all.