The Boy Next Door

by Heather D'Agostino

  “Cool, where are you meeting him?” Hannah smiled.

  “At the new place. It’s right down the street,” Katie pointed.

  Suddenly Katie’s phone chimed, alerting her of a text from Patrick…

  Plans changed. We lost the apartment. They rented it to someone else. I have a backup plan. Stop chewing your lip, I know you are. Meet me at First Bank of Boston in fifteen min. Love you!!!

  Katie had a panicked look on her face as she showed the text to Hannah.

  Hannah shrugged and nodded toward the car, “We better head that way. He said not to worry.”

  “I know, but we only have three more days until the wedding. We have to move our stuff in,” Katie began rambling off all the reasons why not getting the apartment was so bad.

  “Trust him,” Hannah touched her on the arm.

  “Why are you so calm? You know something that I don’t?” Katie demanded.

  “No I don’t!” Hannah shook her head vehemently.

  “Yes, you do! I know you! What does he have planned?” Katie tapped her foot on the sidewalk.

  “Just come on,” Hannah grabbed her by the elbow and drug her toward the car.

  ***

  Once they got into the car, Hannah drove them in the direction of the bank. When they got there, Patrick was standing on the steps out front. He smiled and walked around to the passenger side of the car, opening Katie’s door. Hannah stayed in the driver’s side and smiled as Katie got out.

  “I’ll see you at home,” Hannah smiled.

  “Wait, what?” Katie looked at her confused as Patrick closed the car door and Hannah took off.

  “I thought you were never going to get here,” Patrick enveloped her in a tight hug and pressed his lips to hers.

  “What’s going on?” Katie gasped as she broke the kiss.

  “Come with me,” Patrick grabbed her hand and pulled her toward his black Audi. “I have a surprise for you. Think of it as an early wedding present.”

  “But we need a place to live,” Katie whined.

  “I’ve got that taken care of. Just please come with me,” he begged as he held open the car door.

  Katie climbed in and Patrick bounded around to the driver’s side. When he pulled out of the bank parking lot and headed down the road, Katie began scanning her surroundings trying to figure out where they were headed.

  ***

  As they began heading toward a familiar end of town, Katie looked over at Patrick, “This is the Beacon Hill district. What are we doing down here?”

  “Well, you always told me how much you liked this area. How much you wished you lived closer to your aunt and grandma,” Patrick offered a sly grin as he turned into a driveway.

  Katie nodded her head agreeing with him, “Yes, but this area is too expensive.”

  She glanced out her window to see a “for sale” sign in the yard with a “sold” plastered over it.

  “Patrick, what are we doing here?” she cocked her head to the side.

  “Get out. I wanna show you something,” he shrugged.

  She climbed out of the car and stood staring at the two story Victorian. It wasn’t the biggest or the fanciest on the street, but it was beautiful. It had double bay windows on one side, a large porch that wrapped around one of the front corners, gingerbread details on the roof peaks, and was painted a soft blue.

  “It’s beautiful. Who lives here?” Katie looked over at Patrick with inquisitive eyes.

  “You do,” he grinned.

  “Huh?” she gasped.

  “We do,” he tried again. “I bought it for us,” he shrugged like it was no big deal.

  “You what?” she looked confused.

  “I bought it for us,” he walked closer to her. “I couldn’t fathom the idea of us living in a cramped apartment. I can afford this, you wanted to live in this area, so…I cashed in some of my trust fund and bought it. Do you like it?” he gave her a sideways glance.

  “I love it,” she raced over and threw her arms around his neck. “Can we go inside?”

  “Yep,” Patrick dangled the keys in front of her face.

  Katie grabbed them and raced up the stairs to the front door.

  ***

  When she finally got the front door open, she spun, and looked in all directions. A beautiful cherry open staircase led to the upstairs, a parlor was off to the right, which led to a spacious kitchen filled with the newest appliances, and a study was to the left with a music room in the back corner. The upstairs contained three bedrooms and a large master suite. Whoever had owned the house prior to them had fixed it up. They’d made updates with the newest and best upgrades, but managed to keep the house’s original charm. There were fourteen-foot ceilings and oak hardwood floors throughout with granite countertops in the kitchen, and large soaker tubs in the bathrooms.

  “It’s beautiful. I love it,” Katie squealed as she moved from room to room. “I can’t wait to move in,” she spun around again and hugged him tightly before kissing him with all the love that was currently coursing through her body.

  “I’m glad,” Patrick chuckled. “We can move your stuff from your parent’s garage in right now if you want.”

  “How?” Katie gave him a confused look.

  Patrick walked over and pointed out to the street just as Austin was pulling up with his truck.

  “Is this why Hannah ditched me? She went to get my stuff?” she cocked her head and looked up at him.

  “Ok, so I didn’t have that planned very well. I wanted to make sure you weren’t going to flip out when you saw my text. Hannah was helping me out,” he shrugged. “I’m bringing my things over tomorrow, and then we’ll be all settled when we come back from our honeymoon,” he smiled and cringed a little hoping she wouldn’t be mad.

  “Well?” she walked toward the front door. “You going to help me?”

  “That’s what I’m here for,” he smiled.

  He followed her out to the truck and began unloading boxes.

  ***

  After spending the next several hours bringing her things into the new house, Austin and the rest of the family headed home. Katie had decided to stay awhile and bask in the happiness she was currently feeling. Patrick had promised to bring her home later that evening. They were currently sitting across from each other on the floor in the parlor, the room that would become the family room, sharing a pizza.

  “I can’t believe this is ours,” Katie scanned the room for what seemed like the hundredth time. “I can’t believe that you did all this without me knowing. Was going to look at apartments really just a way to get me off the idea of buying a house?”

  “Well, maybe,” Patrick grinned. “I’ve been looking at this one for a while. It’s been on the market for several months and I kept stopping by when I’d come home for breaks.”

  “You are too sneaky,” she giggled.

  “Oh come on, you know that you love that I can still surprise you after all these years,” he offered a cocky smile and stuffed a piece of pizza in his mouth. “I’ve got another surprise for you,” he reached in his back pocket and pulled out an envelope.

  “What’s that?” she glanced at his hand.

  “Honeymoon plans. I thought I’d fill you in on where we’re going so you could pack accordingly,” he shrugged and handed her the envelope. “Here.”

  She gently pulled the packet from his hand and opened it. Inside were plane tickets, room reservations, and details of excursions. She read the information aloud to herself Napa Valley Wine Tours. She glanced up at him, “A wine tour?”

  “Well, we’re going to stay at this vineyard and yes, go on one of their tours. Look at the view from the rooms. It looked really nice and I got us first class tickets on the flight out there. The only thing is we leave the day after the wedding, not that night. I figured we could spend our first night here,” he pointed to the area around them.

  Katie gave him an inquisitive look.

  “Well, not here exactly. More like up
there,” he pointed up the stairs.

  “Sounds nice,” she mumbled.

  “Is something wrong?” he looked at her concerned for her lack of enthusiasm. “You don’t look too excited about this trip. We can go somewhere else if you want.”

  “No, it’s not the trip,” she glanced at her hands. “It’s…nothing.”

  “It’s not nothing. Is it the house? The idea of staying here a night first?” he slid over next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

  She stiffened and looked away from him before mumbling, “Something like that.”

  “Like what?” he kissed her on the cheek. “Tell me.”

  “I can’t,” she sighed. “It’s nothing!”

  He leaned in and gently brushed his lips across hers in a soft kiss. She responded, and he turned his body more toward hers. She began to relax, and he deepened the kiss, darting his tongue in her mouth tentatively at first. Katie sighed and reached up to caress his cheeks as Patrick placed his hand behind her neck. He slowly lowered her down to the floor and slid his body next to hers. When she realized what had happened, she pushed against his chest and broke the kiss. Righting herself she began gasping for air.

  “What’s wrong?” Patrick panted as he tried to calm himself.

  “Nothing,” Katie stammered as she tried to convince herself.

  “Stop saying that. It’s not nothing. Please tell me. You have to trust me,” he brought his hand up to cup her cheek.

  “This,” she waved her hand at him and the position they were in.

  “We’ve been like this before,” he looked at her confused. “I don’t understand.”

  “Of course you don’t,” Katie groaned.

  “Well, help me,” he kissed her nose as he ran his thumb along her jaw.

  She took a deep breath and refused to make eye contact, “I’m worried about where this will lead. Once we’re married we won’t have to stop anymore. That scares me.”

  He kissed her softly on the lips, “I know. You know I would never do anything to hurt you or make you uncomfortable, right?”

  “Yes, it doesn’t help my nerves though,” she sighed.

  “If it makes you feel any better, I’m nervous too,” he blushed. “This is new for me too.”

  Katie glanced up at him with a confused look.

  “I’ve never made love before,” he confessed. “It’s always just been sex. It’s never meant what it will mean when I’m with you. That’s what scares me.”

  “Oh Patrick,” Katie sighed as she wiped at a tear that was threatening to fall.

  We’ll take it slow. One step at a time,” he whispered as he closed the space between them and kissed her softly.

  “One step at a time?” she glanced at him.

  “As slow as you need,” he nodded and kissed her again.

  “As slow as I need,” she mumbled to herself. “But what about you?”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll survive,” he chuckled. “If you’re not happy, then I won’t be either. Feel better now?”

  “Much,” she sighed as she began cleaning up the pizza box and their soda cans.

  “I better take you home. I need to start boxing up my stuff so I can bring it by before the rehearsal tomorrow,” he stood and took the trash from her hands.

  “I can’t believe it’s only two days away,” she smiled.

  “Yep, two more days and you’ll be Mrs. McKinley,” he reached for her hand to walk out to the waiting car.

  “Two more days…” she whispered to herself.

  Chapter 24

  May 2019 - Wedding Day

  The last several days had gone by in a whirlwind. Katie and Patrick had moved all of their things into the new house. She had sent in her response to Harvard, stating that she was planning to attend medical school with them, and she had asked to be assigned to Boston Memorial as her designated hospital of choice as she wanted to work with her mom.

  As the alarm began to sound in the background, she groaned and rolled over to slap it, fumbled around in the dawn light to silence the beeping, and then slowly rubbed her eyes. It was finally here. Her wedding day. She lay there for a minute just letting it all settle in her addled brain.

  The birds were chirping outside her window, and the sun was beginning to stream in an ethereal light through the sheer curtains. She rolled to the side and stretched out in the bed. This would be the last time she would sleep alone.

  As the thought rattled around in her brain, she grew nervous...what will tonight be like? Is Patrick really feeling as nervous as I am, or was he just telling me that so I would feel better? She pulled herself to a sitting position and slid backward until her back was to the headboard of the bed. She glanced over at the second pillow on the bed. There was no indent on it showing that a head had once occupied it. She lightly ran her hand across it and bit her lower lip. Sighing she turned and threw her feet over the edge of the bed. As soon as she began to rise, her cell phone began playing, “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not.” Hannah burst through the door and swiped it off Katie’s dresser before she could get up to answer it.

  “No you cannot talk to her this morning,” Hannah barked into the phone. “This is your wedding day and she needs to get ready.”

  “But I thought it was only bad luck to see the bride before the service. I just wanna say good morning.” Patrick tried again.

  “No, no, no,” Hannah rolled her eyes as she watched Katie’s mouth drop open. “You will have the rest of your lives to say good morning. Today is the last one I get. Now, off with you. We’ll see you at the church,” Hannah clicked the phone shut and placed it in her pocket.

  Katie glanced at her and flopped back on the bed, “You could have been nicer to your future brother-in-law, you know?”

  “He’s taking you away from me and forcing me to be nice to Matt today. I don’t have to be nice to him,” Hannah grumbled. “That’s your job.”

  “Can I have my phone back?” Katie quirked her head to the side.

  “No, I don’t trust him to not call back,” Hannah laughed.

  Just then the house phone began to ring. Melanie answered it and began walking down the hall with the receiver. When she passed Katie’s door, Hannah reached out, and grabbed it from Melanie. She smiled and shrugged when Hannah huffed and wrinkled her forehead.

  “I said no,” Hannah grumbled into the phone. “Now don’t call her again or I’m going to have to come over there and smack you!”

  She clicked the phone off and shook her head as Katie began to laugh.

  “You better be glad he doesn’t give up easily,” Hannah giggled. “This way you know fights between you two will be short lived. He can’t stand to not be able to talk to you.”

  Hannah walked over and pulled the blinds down on Katie’s windows and grabbed her hand, pulling her in the direction of the kitchen. Katie glanced at Hannah and a look of confusion crossed her face.

  “I figure his next attempt to see you will be coming to the window,” she shrugged. “I’ve seen him sneaking over here at night. I may not have said anything, but I’m not blind.”

  Katie rolled her eyes and laughed, “You’re obsessed.”

  “Come on,” Hannah tugged her again. “We need to eat something for breakfast before we head out to get ready.”

  “Ok, give me a minute to throw something on and I’ll meet you out there,” Katie began to push Hannah out of the room and shut the door.

  She pulled on some cotton shorts and a tank top, pulled a brush through her hair, and slid on the flip flops that had been cast aside last night before bed. Before Hannah could come back, she pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from her nightstand and scribbled a quick note.

  Good Morning to you, too. I can’t wait until later. I miss you and love you so much. Don’t let Hannah see you snooping around over here, she’s already on the lookout.

  Love you bunches, your future wife XXX

  Katie glanced over her shoulder to make sure the door was still c
losed, and then she raced over to the window and pulled back the blinds slightly. She raised the window and placed the note on the outer sill. After closing the window back, she smiled to herself and bounded out to the kitchen.

  ***