“I have a great labeling system,” he said. “Blue for clothing, red for essentials like kitchen stuff, and green for hobbies.” He pulled three markers out of his back pocket.

“I bet you alphabetize your books on your shelves.”

“No, I arrange them by color,” he said without skipping a beat. “What’s in here?”

“Stuff,” she hedged, too stressed to argue with him. “I—I’ll sort it out later.”

He hovered his marker over the box, eager to establish order with a few color-coded slashes. “May I?” he asked, wanting to see what was in the box.

“Go for it.”

He riffled through the box. “Let’s see. Hmm, not just cookbooks.”

“Are you surprised that I actually read other kinds of books?”

He looked too interested in what he was finding to answer. “Hamilton by Chernow,” he said, looking over the back cover.

“Did you read it?” she asked.

He flashed a grin. “I saw the musical. Does that count?” He picked up another book. “The Godfather?”

“I’m studying Italian families.”

He laughed out loud at that. “Well, I’ve studied some French works in my time.”

“Oh yeah? Which ones?”

“The Hunchback of Notre-Dame,” he said with a mischievous look that told her not to believe him for a minute.

“You’ve actually read Victor Hugo?”

“Actually, I saw the movie. Does that count?”

She shook her head. “I really can’t agree to live with you if you’re one of those people who thinks the movie’s always better than the book.”

“I don’t think that, but I’m an overachiever. I always try to read and watch.”

She crossed her arms. “You say overachiever, I say a good BS-er.”

“Ha! Good one.” He was chuckling—and giving her credit for winning that round.

Their gazes locked. It occurred to Tessa that he might actually be distracting her on purpose. Nah, that would be too nice. “I’ve got to get back in there.”

“I’m going to stop and make sure we have plenty of cleaning supplies. And I bought us a new vacuum. Consider it a wedding present,” he added with a smirk.

“Yay,” she said, deadpan, clapping a little.

“Oh, and I took care of the rings. For the ceremony. Unless you want a say?”

Rings and a vacuum, both in practically the same sentence. That was scary.

But not as scary as their impending wedding, just days away. Merely the thought made her nauseous. “Thanks. I’m sure anything you picked is fine.”

“All right then,” he said with a definitive nod. “Good luck in there. I’ll be back later with Jack’s truck. And hopefully Jack, too.”

She walked back into her apartment to find her friends gathered at the window, where they’d clearly been watching her.

“You weren’t kidding, were you?” Juliet still sounded like she was in shock.