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“Good. I’m tired of you driving that car that looks like it’s going to die at any second.”
“I’m fine, Mom. I promise.” Shelby smiled. “Besides, I carry extra magnets in my glove box.”
“What do you do with those?” Mom asked, her brows furrowed.
“I keep them just in case something falls apart and needs a magnet to pull it back together of course.”
The other women laughed, but Mom backed off.
“What’s next?” Tricia asked.
“Umm…I want to take one of the rooms down here as a home office, and we can unpack my medical books there,” Shelby said. “I know Nate is taking the front room, but I can take the one beside it.”
“Why not just share an office?” Mom asked.
“I think it’s probably better if we have separate ones,” Shelby replied. “When I need to look something up or study something, I want to be alone in absolute quiet.”
“What will Nate do in his office?” Mom asked.
“He has a degree in accounting, and I know he works on his business dealings at home. He writes invoices and balances his checkbook. We both own businesses, and we need to do some work at home.”
“I didn’t realize Nate was that hands on with his family business.”
“Trust me. He knows everything that’s going on at any given time.” Shelby found some plates and set the table. “We’ll be ready when the food gets here.”
As soon as the table was set, they went into the room she’d claimed for her office. There were some built-in shelves, and even a built-in desk. “This will be perfect for me.”
While the others unpacked most of the boxes, Shelby unpacked her boxes of books, needing to know where each one had ended up.
When the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of their lunch, Shelby all but ran to the door. Food. They all needed food.
Chapter Ten
The house was livable by late that night, and after work the following day, Nate arrived at Shelby’s office to take her car shopping. She followed him to the car lot of his choice and they spent some time looking around at vehicles before they talked to a salesperson.
The girl selling the car was happy to answer all their questions, and she went on a test drive with them, showing them all the special features of the vehicle. They went home with a Chevy Equinox, and left Shelby’s old car with them. They’d gotten very little as a trade-in, but neither of them cared. The car was off their hands.
After arriving home, they decided they needed one more night of DoorDash because neither of them felt up to cooking. “Wait!” Shelby said after they’d started talking about where to order from. “Tricia was here. Let me see if she left something in the oven for us.”
She hurried into the kitchen, finding everything had been scrubbed clean. She didn’t know if boxes had been unpacked, but the kitchen gleaming made her not care too terribly much. Opening the oven, she smiled. “We have supper!”
Nate followed her into the kitchen. “What did she make?”
“Pork chops, baked potatoes, and what looks like broccoli covered with cheese.”
“Perfect,” he said, reaching for an oven mitt. Sticking his hand into the oven, he pulled everything out. “It’s all still hot too.”
“Let’s eat,” she said, happy they wouldn’t be ordering in again. She firmly believed that whatever you made at home was healthier than what you ate out.
She got them each a cold glass of water and carried it to the table. He’d already put plates on along with silverware and was carrying the food from the oven into the dining room.
“This looks amazing,” she said.
He nodded. “I want to keep Tricia around for as long as possible. How many days is she working this week?” he asked.
“I have her working all five days. She’s unpacking boxes as well as cleaning. I hope that’s all right. I know I should have discussed it with you first.”
He shook his head. “No, I think that’s fine. It’ll help us settle in here faster. It’s hard enough living in a construction zone. Thanks for being so easy-going about it,” he said.
