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“Then let’s do it,” he proclaims, standing and holding his hand out to me.
Seven
Jared
She giggles when I input the code for the door then says, “Our graduation year, good one!”
“Well, the construction crew has a code and once I’m notified by the app that they’ve left for the day, I’m able to set the alarm,” I advise as I open the door and motion for her to proceed me.
“Not a bad idea, will you remove them once all the work is finished?” she asks.
“Yeah, after I do the final walk-through and they fix anything on the punch sheet, I’ll delete their code from the system.”
“Will I have a different code?” she questions as she looks around the foyer.
Part of the house is an open-floor concept, but in deference to all the things she always said she wanted, I adjusted the original blueprints. Right now, I’m grateful that money was no object because what she doesn’t know yet is we aren’t going to have a mortgage, and there’s money set aside for several years’ worth of property taxes.
“We have a library!” she exclaims walking into the room. “And a chaise lounge too?”
“Yeah, Cass. Like I told you, I remember everything.”
If not for the pure excitement on her face, I’d probably be embarrassed about sounding like such a sap, except I watch her lovingly touch various things throughout the room, which was one I had finished and furnished as soon as possible. Mark, the construction foreman, thought I was insane, but he blocked off the room while the rest of the hallway was being finished so nothing got ruined.
“Yeah, you did,” she softly replies, smiling at me.
Room after room, she explores, noticing every little detail I put into this place.
For her.
After she checks out the primary suite, which I adjusted to put on the ground floor, along with a smaller room that can be used for a nursery, I take her by the hand once again and walk her to the French doors and out onto the back deck.
“I remember you were worried about your parents getting older,” I say, as I direct her to the back corner of the property. “Now that it’s just your mom, I thought maybe a tiny house would be the way to go.”
“Jared, she’s going to love it,” Cassidy replies. “Can we go look at it?”
“Absolutely. What do you think about the deck?” I ask.
“This is like a small oasis, Jared. Our own paradise, no less. And I love that you thought of my mom in all this.”
“It was more of a hope, Cass,” I murmur, my nerves showing in my tone. “Up until I saw you at the office, all of this was a wishful dream. I wasn’t even sure you’d speak to me again after…”
She interrupts me, placing her finger over my lips while shaking her head. “Nope, not bringing that man into our space,” she decrees, grinning up at me. “I realize he’ll be around and of course, part of our lives, but in reality, we can keep that exposure to a minimum as far as I’m concerned, don’t you think?”
I burst out laughing while drawing her closer to me. “You make an excellent point, honey.”
Before she can say anything else, I kiss her, pouring everything I’m feeling into the act, since I know it’s far too soon to show my hand.
But soon. Soon, I’ll tell her that she’s always been the one and she’ll always be the one.
Cassidy
We walk along a covered pathway toward a tiny home that I can see my mom living in, especially since it has everything she could need to be independent yet close enough should an emergency arise.
“These steps are kind of different, aren’t they?” I ask.
They’re wide and somewhat shallow as far as stepping up goes, which may not be the easiest thing to explain to someone who hasn’t seen them, but it’s almost as though… “Wait, they’re like this in case Mom ever has any kind of mobility issues, right?”
In fact, looking at the ‘tiny home’ which is about the size of the trailer we currently live in, I note the doors are wider and there’s not a normal lip that I associate with stepping into or out of a doorway.
