“We’ll be in touch,” Rand says, grasping my hand again.
“I’ll be back tomorrow to get some measurements,” Peter adds, handing me his business card.
They jump in the vehicle and head back down the road. I think they were here about fifteen minutes, but they have me excited to get started. I can’t wait to get in the hayloft and start cleaning. There’s no telling what’s up there.
“Let’s go, boy. We’ve got our work cut out for us tomorrow,” I say, walking up the steps to the house.
Reacher follows me through the door and flops down on the floor. He’s just tired from trying to suck up to the architect. Fair to say, he wants Harmony here as much as I do. I still have half a day’s work to do, though. I’m changing into my boots in the mudroom when my phone rings.
“I can’t believe it took me this long to find this sketch,” Harmony says. She doesn’t mince words. “You should have told me sooner.”
“Do you like it?”
“Do I like it? Do I like it?”
“Well?”
“I freaking love it!” she squeals. “It’s going on the wall of our bedroom.” I smile stupidly at the words rolling off her tongue. Our bedroom. “I’m going to see it every morning when I wake up and every evening before I fall asleep. I don’t know how you did it.”
“It’s just a sketch.”
“Pfft,” she snorts. “It’s beautiful. Thank you. Shit, I’ve got to go. Love you.”
“Love you too,” I say, but she’s already ended the call.
The smile stays in place as I finish pulling on my boots. It stays all the way to where Ross is working on repairing some fence. He doesn’t ask. I like this kid more all the time. He’s not one for idol chit chat either.
“What’d they say?” he finally asks.
“It’s doable,” I answer. “Measuring tomorrow.”
“Good deal.” He bends back over his work. “Oh, got a date tonight. Cool, if I head out a little early?”
“Yeah, go. I’ve got it.” He doesn’t even say goodbye as he heads off. Good and quiet. My kind of person.
There’s one exception, and she just yelled a curse word at me and hung up. I laugh. Thankfully, no one’s around to hear me. They’d think I’d gone nuts. Maybe I have. If so, it’s all because of a woman. One that likes to chatter my ear off. One I can’t wait to see again.
Now I’m starting to think that some landscaping wouldn’t be such a horrible idea. Some nice flowers around the house would be a welcome addition. Jesus! I’m completely whipped. Do I care? Not really. I return to the house and find the business card Austen gave me sitting on my desk.
“Go for Reed,” the man on the other end says when the call connects. I roll my eyes. I’ve always heard the Caraway sisters were kind of crazy, but apparently the men they chose are right up there with them. Except the sheriff, he seems like a good guy.
“I’m interested in getting a quote for some landscaping.”
“Groovy. I’ve got tomorrow afternoon open. I can come out then.” Groovy? Who says that anymore?
“That works.” I give him directions and end the call. Jesus, help me. What have I done?
twenty-two
BEAU
I’m officiallyin over my head.
Cleaning out the loft was hard enough. Travis showed up to help, so it didn’t take as long as I thought it would.
We employed the hoarder’s method of using three piles. One to keep, like Travis’s baby blanket made by our grandmother who died not long after he was born. A different pile to throw away, as in my old football cleats. Nasty. And that last one for maybe, but we don’t know. In other words, our elementary school art projects.
The hardest part was figuring out where to store all the stuff left since the loft was about to be turned into living quarters for guests. A lot of the stuff is now stacked in the closet of Travis’s old room until I can find somewhere better for it. Preferably at his house one day.
