Once coffee is brewing and Danny has his orange juice and is playing with Shallots, I whip up omelets for the three of us. It’s still funny to me that I canwhip upanything, but I’m beaming as I bring an omelet and coffee outside.
Paul is sitting on the front porch and seemingly sulking.
“Hello, Paul,” I say overly sweetly as I hand him breakfast. “How are you?”
It takes a moment for him to reply, and he does so in a noticeably surly tone. “I suppose we were going to redo the railing anyway.”
“That’s the spirit!” I playfully punch him on the arm, but he still glares at me. “Paul, come on. I know this is a little bit awkward, but it doesn’t have to be a big deal.” I grimace as he violently stabs his omelet.
“You’re Mike’s kid, okay? My best friend’s kid. And he’s not here to watch out for you, so how can I not?”
Danny was right.
I sit down on the edge of the porch. “I get that. But you don’t have to watch out for me. At least, not with Danny. You know him. You know he’s a really, really good guy.”
“I know.” He slurps his coffee. “I know he is.”
“And if it helps, we care about each other. A ton. This wasn’t some meaningless one-night thing.”
“Fine. Just don’t break anything else.”
When he goes back to devouring his omelet, I take this as a positive sign.
“We’ll do our best.”
When I go back inside, Danny is washing the dishes by hand.
“I know this kitchen is dated, but there is a dishwasher,” I point out.
“I needed something to do.”
I rub his back. “Paul is fine. But, yeah, he’s definitely going to ride your ass today.”
He sets a plate in the drainer, shuts off the water, and turns to me. “Totally worth it. As long as I get to ride—”
“Okay, easy there.” But I laugh.
Not that I doubted that last night was real and meaningful, but it’s still wonderful when his lips hit mine, his tongue finds mine, and he kisses me with the same passion I felt last night.
Paul storms in and noisily sets down his mug and plate. “Okay, enough with the making out and more with the paint scraping. Matteo and Slowski will be here in a few minutes. I want that porch ready for staining.”
“Yes, sir,” Danny says with a grin. Even with Paul here, he kisses me quickly. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
“And while they’re working on that, we need to talk,” Paul says.
While I brace myself for more grilling, it turns out that he wants to talk house stuff, which is a relief.
“The living room windows and the doors to the deck are going in next week.”
“Yes, I know. And?”
“Have you thought about the greenhouse window for the kitchen that I mentioned? It would look over the lake. And then we could enlarge the second window here and replace it with the same iron frame as the others. That’d be the time to install those. You know, if you want.”
He’s so damn invested in this house—I can tell. And I love it.
“Yes, let’s do both!” I almost jump up and down. “This kitchen totally needs more light. And we’ll talk about the rest of the renovations here later, right? ’Cause I have ideas.”
“Yes, kiddo, we will. And I’m sure you do.”
