He clicks his tongue. “That’s right. Alright, I’ll show you real quick, then you can get inside.”
As I follow Graham into the shop, I don’t allow myself to freak out or overthink what just happened. Not tonight, at least. This is what I wanted, and I’m not sorry that we did it. If there’s anybody I’d want to have sex with, it’s Graham, even if I’ll probably kick myself in the butt for it later. Once inside, Graham steps to the side, letting me see what he’s been working on, and my breath catches in my throat.
“For the baby,” he explains as I pad over to the six-drawer wooden dresser.
Turning toward him, my throat is thick with emotion. “You built this?” My voice cracks.
He nods, coming up beside me. “I’ve been working on it a little bit every night after everyone’s asleep. I figured we could pick a gender-neutral color together to paint it, or leave it unpainted for now and do it once the baby’s here.”
I swallow roughly, my chest tightening at how thoughtful he is. “Graham, this is beautiful. I can’t believe you did all this.”
“It was easy,” he murmurs, like it’s no big deal. “And I wanted something else to work on after I finished with the coop. There’re a few other things I’d like to build for the nursery too.”
“This is incredible,” I say, leaning in and wrapping my arms around him. “Thank you.”
His heart is beating fast, and I find so much comfort listening to it as he holds me to his chest. “You don’t have to thank me, Charley.”
We stay like that for another minute before Graham makes a show of opening and closing all six drawers. He tells me hewants to finish up a few things before coming in, so I head inside by myself, and as I’m quietly making my way through the house toward the bathroom, I don’t miss the fresh bouquet of sunflowers placed in the center of the dining room table. My heart clenches, and I’m overwhelmed with emotions because I know he picked those up for me.
He knows they’re my favorite.
21
Graham
I’m meandering down the hall after putting away some towels I just folded when I hear the front door open. “Party’s here!”
Chuckling, I walk into the living room, finding Grace standing in the entryway with bags in her hands. “What the hell is all that?” I ask, taking them from her to bring into the kitchen.
“Snacks and alcohol, obviously. Have you ordered the pizza yet?”
“No, I didn’t know if you wanted to eat right away or wait.” Nodding toward the hallway, I add, “Charley said you can sleep in her room tonight, if you wanna set your stuff down.”
When Grace found out Charley and Georgia were going out of town this weekend, she asked if I wanted to have a “twin slumber party,” which is something we used to do every so often in high school and college, but stopped once we got married. It was basically just an excuse for us to veg out in front of the TV with food and drinks, while Grace fed me all her college drama that I didn’t really care about. I didn’t think she was serious about coming over tonight until she sent a reminder textyesterday morning and let me know that all three of our kids were also having a slumber party at Grandpa’s house.
I’m looking forward to tonight, because it’s something to keep my mind off Charley being gone. I don’t know why, but I’ve been on edge all week, knowing she was going to be traveling this weekend. My stomach has been in knots all day, and I couldn’t seem to calm my racing heart until I heard that their plane landed around one. I’m sure Charley’s going to have a great time, and I’m happy that she’s going because she’s been mostly excited about it, but I can’t shake knowing she’s so far away, and if something were to happen—with her, or the baby—I wouldn’t be able to get there as quickly as I would if she were here.
“Her room is so cute,” Grace announces as she rounds the corner. “You should let her decorate the whole house. It’d probably look a whole lot less…boring.”
“My house is not boring.” I huff with a chuckle.
My sister raises her brows. “Graham, there isn’t a single bit of color in here. Not to mention, the utter lack of rugs anywhere. You could use a feminine touch.”
Funnily enough, before moving in here, Charley asked if I wanted her to bring any of her décor or furniture, but I said no because I already have everything we need. She ended up selling everything instead, but like hell am I about to tell my sister that.
“That’s a little rude,” I mumble. “There’re flowers on the table. That’s color.”
Glancing over her shoulder before bringing her gaze back to me, Grace hums, a knowing glint in her eye. “Sunflowers. Interesting choice.”
Here we go.
“I’ll order the pizza now,” I say, changing the subject as I reach into my pocket for my phone.
Grace snickers. “Good call. I’ll find a movie.”
By the time I get back from picking up the food, Grace has a bottle of wine cracked open. She pours each of us a glass while I grab some plates and bring them and the pizza box into the living room. Some chick-flick she put on plays while we eat, and even though I couldn’t care less about the movie, I can’t deny how nice it is having my sister here. We used to be a lot closer when we were younger, and I miss that. All three of my sisters are a pain in the ass sometimes, and entirely too nosey for their own good, but they’re my sisters, and they’ve always been there when I needed them the most.
My phone buzzes with a notification, and my pulse kicks up when I see it’s from Charley. Except for telling me they landed, I haven’t heard from her all day. I imagine she’s been busy.
