Maintenance Required: A small town romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 1)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “A tea table.”

  “No. No, I draw the line at tea tables. If you tell me you’re setting tea pots out in my living room, I’m going to lose my shit.”

  “They’re beautiful. And I won’t be setting tea pots all over the living room. Just on this table. It can go next to that window,” I pointed to the far window. “We’ll have to take down the baseball bat on the wall. It doesn’t match at all, and I can’t risk the bat falling on my tea set.”

  He looked over there and frowned. “But that’s where my bat has always been. It’s signed by Ryne Sandberg.”

  “I get it. That’s a big deal, but my tea set needs to go there.”

  I watched as he clenched his fists and his jaw tightened. Will leaned over and whispered, “Remember the plan.”

  “What plan?”

  Eric’s eyes shot up to mine and he cleared his throat. “Uh…the plan to convince Ma that you live here.”

  “He’s right. How is your Mom going to believe that I live here if I don’t add my own personal touches?”

  He gritted his teeth. “Fine.” He walked over to the wall and ever so gently took down the baseball bat. “I’ll just take this up to my room.”

  “Our room,” I corrected. He glared at me. “We can’t have your parents hearing you say that. They’ll never believe us.”

  “You know, if you want the tea set here, that’s fine, but doesn’t it belong in the kitchen?”

  My brows furrowed. “Why would it be in the kitchen?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, because that’s where you make tea,” he snapped.

  My eyes widened in surprise. “Eric, that tea set is an antique. You don’t actually use it for drinking tea.”

  “Then why the fuck would you have it?”

  “For decoration!”

  “For-“ He chuckled low in his throat and twisted the bat in his hands like he was getting ready to swing. “Fine, we’ll keep it out for decoration, but tell me, how much more shit are you bringing over that’s just for decoration.”

  “Well, there’s my buddha and the metal spider in the spider web that goes in the corner, the coo coo clock-“

  “Wait, you have a metal spider?”

  “Yes. Herman.”

  He rolled his eyes and threw his hands in the air, almost losing his bat. “Of course, he has a fucking name.”

  “Stop swearing. It’s not like you.”

  “Nothing’s like me! You’re bringing elephants and tea sets and metal spiders into my house that all have names!”

  “That’s not true. My tea set doesn’t have a name.”

  “Un-fucking-believable!”

  Will stepped in front of him, holding up his hands to calm him down. “Just relax, man. Keep your eyes on the prize.”

  Eric was breathing hard, like he was about to really lose his shit. But if he wanted to convince his mom that we were together, my stuff had to be here too. No woman would live in a man’s house with his sparse furniture and lack of decoration. I mean, I liked sports as much as the next guy, but I didn’t want team banners on the wall.

  “Fine,” he repeated again. “I’ll just be up in our room, putting away my bat.”

  “Thanks, babe,” I said sweetly. “Oh, and I’m going to have to move your recliner so I can fit my chair in here.”

  He slowly turned with murder in his eyes. “You’re what?”

  “My chair.”

  “Yeah, I heard that part. My recliner doesn’t go anywhere.”

  “But it doesn’t-“

  “No,” he said, steel slicing through the air. “Your chair can go by your tea set.”

  “But it won’t fit over there.”

  “Then put it in the garbage. I’ll give you the spider and the elephants and the damn tea set, but nobody touches my recliner. Understand?”

  He looked so damn pissed…and it was so sexy. I grinned at him and nodded. “Of course.” He nodded once and turned for the stairs.

  “You know, you’re just pissing him off.”

  I raised an eyebrow at Will. “You mean, by turning the tables on him?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  I smirked at him. “Do you really think I don’t know what’s going on here? Keep your eyes on the prize. Remember the plan.” His eyes widened slightly. I stepped forward and lowered my voice. “I know exactly what he’s doing, what you all planned for me. Trust me, I’m not going to make this as painless as he hoped.”

  I walked past Will with a grin, knowing that I had them all. I didn’t recognize it at first, but after our shower last night, I realized that Eric just wasn’t being himself. And then it hit me, he was playing me. He knew that if he pushed moving in together, I would never go for it. He was trying to make me be the one that came to the conclusion that we should live together. It was true, I didn’t want his parents to think poorly of me, but I also wouldn’t be tricked by any man. So, if he wanted to play hardball, I would gladly play along.

  I was nervous as hell. I took the day off of work so that I could be here when his parents arrived. I couldn’t spend the whole week with them, but they understood that. Still, I wanted to make a good first impression. I walked around the room, checking to make sure that everything was clean and in order. This had been their house, after all. I wanted to make sure that it lived up to their standards.

  “Will you stop checking everything?” Eric asked. “They’re not here to judge what kind of housekeeper you are.”

  “I’m not a housekeeper,” I snapped.

  “Exactly, and they know that. They know you have a hard job and that you’re tired when you get home. Hell, you’re pregnant. They don’t expect you to keep everything clean all the time. Ma will probably take over when she gets here, because she wants to help out.”

  “But, she’s our guest.”

  “Well, technically, she’s my guest. Since you’re only staying for the week.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. He knew exactly what he was doing. Well, I wasn’t going to let him get away with that shit.

  “But while I’m here, it has to look like I’m the lady of the house, which means you have to do what I say.”

  “Really?” He stood and slowly walked over to me. “And what would that entail?”

  “Listening to me, treating me like I already live here…”

  “So, basically I’m your bitch.”

  “You asked me to move in with you. Let’s just say that I’ll give you a taste of what that would look like.”

  He smirked slightly, slipping his hand around my waist and pulling me in closer. “I already have an idea. I took my bat down for you, didn’t I?”

  I leaned in to kiss him, but pulled back when I heard tires on the gravel outside. “Oh god, they’re here.”

  “You’ll be fine. They’ll love you,” he whispered in my ear. With his hand wrapped around my waist, he led me over to the door and we stepped outside. I plastered a smile on my face that was way too big and way too fake to be believable. I felt a pinch in my side.

  “Ow! What was that for?”

  “You look like a demented ex-girlfriend with that smile.”

  “I’m nervous, okay?”

  He turned me in his arms and stared down at me, brushing his knuckles across my cheeks. “They’re going to love you as much as I do. So, relax, okay?”

  His lips brushed across mine for just a moment, calming me instantly. When I looked up, his mom was standing in front of us, looking like she was ready to start gushing.

  “Ma, it’s good to see you.” Eric stepped forward and wrapped her in a hug, then moved to shake his dad’s hand.

  “Mrs. Cortell-“

  “Please, I told you to call me Ma,” she said, brushing away my hand and pulling me in for a hug. “You look amazing. Look at that bump. Do you mind if I touch it?”

  “Uh…sure.”

  Her hand moved to my belly and rested there for a moment. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a grandma. I didn’t think this woul
d ever happen with my boys. Well, I figured it would happen with Eric eventually, but he has such high expectations that I never thought he would settle down.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  She looked up at me and winked. “Trust me, I know exactly what you’re going through. Eric is just like his father.” She took me by the arm and led me inside away from Eric and his father. “I bet he tried to move you in with him immediately and asked you to marry him.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. “How did you know?”

  She raised an eyebrow at me. “Because his father did the same thing when I got pregnant with Eric.”

  My mouth dropped open in shock. “You were…”

  “Oh, honey, it was another time, and of course I accepted. Things were different back then. Just don’t tell Eric. He still thinks that his parents were saints.”

  “So, he doesn’t know…”

  “He would if he ever did the math.”

  “Did you love him?”

  She tilted her head to the side. “We didn’t know each other well enough to be in love. I was young and rebelling against my parents. My father was a minister, so I went through this stage of acting out. Turns out, I got in way more trouble than I bargained for,” she laughed. “I’ll never forget the look on my father’s face when I told him I was getting married. Of course, it wasn’t funny at the time. I was terrified, but Matthew was my rock through it all. He took full responsibility for me getting pregnant, even though it was just as much my fault. He told my father that he would do right by me and give me a good life, and he has. I never once regretted my decision to marry him.”

  Now that she was telling me all this, I felt bad. I was being deceitful when she was opening up to me.

  “Mrs. Cortell-“

  “Ma, or you can call me Elizabeth.”

  “Elizabeth,” I smiled, glancing back at the door to check and make sure they were still outside. “I haven’t been totally honest with you. Eric and I weren’t dating when I got pregnant. It was just a fun night together.”

  Her face dawned in understanding. “Well, I can understand why you didn’t want to accept his offer to run out and get married.”

  I smirked a little, thinking of his plan to get me to move in. “Of course, when he found out you were coming to visit, he played me, trying to get me to move in here so that you never knew we weren’t together.”

  “So, you just moved in?”

  “Yes, but I told him it was temporary. He’s hoping I’ll stay.”

  She looked at me with an expression I could only describe as twisted and calculating. “Dear, if you’re not living together, but he planned on marrying you from the start, what exactly is your relationship?”

  “We’re taking it slow. He wants to do this right and make sure that we don’t screw it up for our child.”

  “And you agree with this?”

  “Yes, well, until I realized that he was trying to trick me into moving in with him.”

  “Did you know that Will called us and asked us to come?”

  “When was this?”

  “Last week on Sunday.”

  Hmm. That was interesting. “The same day that he told me you were coming, and then pretended that we should just tell you that we had been dating when I got pregnant.”

  “Yes, it seems they planned out this whole thing. Well,” she grinned. “Why don’t we have a little fun then.”

  “What do you have in mind?” I asked with an evil smile.

  Eric

  “Katherine, I just love what you’ve done with the place,” Ma said as we sat down to dinner. All my brothers were here, aside from Derek and Josh. I thought it was a little much to have everyone over for dinner tonight, but Katherine insisted. She said she wanted us to have a family dinner.

  “Thank you.”

  “And I love that tea set out there.”

  Kat turned to me with a grin. “It was my grandmother’s.”

  “And those elephants…so exotic.”

  “Eric doesn’t really agree with my sense of style, but I convinced him that he couldn’t just have sports memorabilia on the wall now that he’s an adult.”

  I gritted my teeth. “It’s a Ryne Sandberg baseball bat.”

  “Well, your sense of style is perfect,” Ma beamed.

  “Bullshit,” Will coughed.

  “William, nobody asked you,” Ma scolded. She turned to Kat and smiled again. “So, have you picked out any dates for the wedding?”

  I choked on my beer, almost spitting it out. Robert slapped me on the back, laughing under his breath. “Wedding?” I asked. We hadn’t talked about getting married, and not that I was averse to the idea, but she made it pretty damn clear that we weren’t there yet.

  “I was thinking in the next month,” Kat said, making my eyes bug out.

  “The next month?”

  “Well, I’m already showing,” Kat said, turning to me with puppy dog eyes. “I don’t want to be huge in my wedding dress.”

  I glanced at Robert and he shrugged. Maybe she was just putting on a show for my parents, wanting to play up our story to them. But then she stood up and walked out of the room, returning with a catalogue.

  “I saw this dress the other day and thought maybe we could go check it out.”

  “I would love that, dear. You would look beautiful in that dress.”

  “What dress?” I asked curiously. Kat turned the book toward me and I grimaced. It looked like something out of the eighties with puffy sleeves and big bows. “That’s…” Robert kicked me under the table. “Beautiful.”

  “I’m not sure it’s exactly what I want, but I thought it would be worth checking out. Besides, we only have a short timeframe. Oh, and I need you to call Pastor Dave and see if we can book the church.”

  “The what?” I asked, growing more confused by the minute. Was she really going to take Ma dress shopping? And now she wanted me to book the church? I thought we were taking this slow and making sure this was going to work between us. Now she was involving my mother in this?

  “The church, sweetie,” she said with a smile. She smiled playfully. “I know it’s asking a lot, but with our busy schedules, I really need help planning this all out.”

  “Oh, I can stay and help with the planning. If we’re talking about this month, I could just stay the whole month!”

  My eyes bugged out and I looked to Dad for help. “Isn’t that going to be hard on you? I mean, to be gone that long?”

  “Oh, your father can go home without me and return for the wedding. I can have my neighbor, Sue, look in on him.”

  “But…” I swallowed hard, unsure what to say. Was this really happening? And did I want it to happen? I mean, yeah, I wanted her to move in with me, but this was all moving a little fast. And if she was just trying to appease my parents, she just got a whole lot more than she bargained for. “Kat, maybe we should discuss the details privately, you know, before Ma moves here for the month.”

  “Oh, I think we’ve already talked enough about it. I’m sure I can get this planned in time with Elizabeth’s help.”

  “But what about our plans?”

  She tilted her head and smiled at me. “Oh, I can assure you, our plans are working out perfectly.”

  I watched the twinkle in her eyes and then it hit me. She was fucking with me. She knew my plans for her. That was what all this shit was about. The tea table, moving the bat, her metal spider. She was screwing with me because I tried to manipulate her. And now, somehow, she got Ma to go in on the whole thing with her.

  I glanced at my brothers, seeing them all holding back their laughter. Dad was pretty much oblivious to the whole thing, too engrossed in his dinner to care.

  “You’re fucking with me.”

  Her mouth dropped open in shock. “Baby, why would I do that?”

  Will snorted in laughter and Robert burst out laughing.

  “How did you get Ma to go along with it?” I asked, leaning on the table.

&
nbsp; “Eric, there’s something you should know about your mother. She’s the master manipulator. I’m just taking lessons,” Kat said with a grin.

  “So, you’re not planning a wedding.”

  “That depends, are you still trying to manipulate me into living with you?”

  “Ooh, busted,” Joe muttered under his breath.

  “How did you know?”

  “Because the last thing you want is for your parents to know what really happened between us, which they do, by the way. But you went out of your way to tell me that it was no big deal if they knew about us. You had me fooled for a few hours, but once I thought about it, I realized that you were just trying to get your own way. And then your mother told me that Will called and invited them. The real question is, why did you think it would be so easy to trick me?”

  I tossed my napkin on the table in irritation. “Well, I don’t now.”

  She smiled triumphantly, laughing with Ma as she started eating again. My brothers were no help, laughing along as if it was the funniest thing in the world.

  “So,” my dad said, finally looking up from his plate. “When’s the wedding?”

  I slid my arms around her, placing my hands over her stomach as she took out her earrings and placed them on the dresser. My parents left this morning and after a long day of work, we were both tired and ready for bed. I kissed her neck and ground my body against hers. I was still healing and wasn’t supposed to have sex yet, but damn, I really wanted her.

  “So, now that my parents are gone, are you leaving?”

  “That depends.”

  “On what?”

  “On how much you want to haul all my stuff back to my townhouse.”

  I stopped kissing her neck and turned her around in my arms. “Are you serious?”

  She quirked her head to the side and smiled. “Well, we did just move everything over here, and it would be a huge pain in the ass to move it all back.”

  “It would be.”

  “And it’s nice to not have to decide whose house we’re staying at for the night.”

  “That would make things easier,” I agreed.

  “And it would help stop the gossip in town.”