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“Come on,” he said, sighing at me like I was a complete idiot. “Let’s hit the lumbar store. You need help.”
I figured I’d be decent enough at drilling some shelves and brackets into the wall.
As I stood back several hours later, though, and saw what Callow had done, I decided that I would have been complete shit at building shelves.
Because not only had Callow picked different wood than I would have, and better, more hidden, braces than I originally had picked out, he’d made the whole thing look like a built-in feature of the room instead of just some wood slats I’d slapped on the wall for storage.
“Where is your girl?” Callow asked as he checked the time.
“She went out with her sister after work,” I explained. “That’s why I wanted to do it today. Figured I’d have the whole day to maybe get it done.”
“No maybe about it,” Callow said. “But you didn’t paint or stain it. Which is gonna be a bitch to do now that it’s on the wall.”
“I wanted her input on that part,” I said, shrugging. It didn’t matter how much work it was. I was invested on making this feel more like a home for both of us.
To my surprise, Lexy had kind of effortlessly adjusted to being in my house. There was no awkwardness about moving her things into the closet and the dresser, in the drawers in the bathroom. Hell, her makeup was on the counter more often than it wasn’t. Her shoes were always in front of the door, an ever-present trip danger. Her favorite mugs were in the cupboards.
And I loved every fucking part of it.
That was why I wanted to consult her on big things like the shelving unit that would house all the music she loved.
“How are the twins settling in?” I asked as I brought him a beer back from the fridge.
“Good. They’re… insular,” he said.
“They were always like that,” I said. “I think it might just be that… twin thing. How they have that bond that kind of makes everyone else feel like they’re on the outside of something.”
“Maybe,” he said, shrugging.
“You think it’s more than that?”
“I think they’ve been busy the last few years is all I’m saying,” he told me, taking a long swig of his beer. “I’m sure the boss man will suss that shit out, though.”
“He always does,” I agreed. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride back to the clubhouse,” I said. “I think I’ll be getting a drunk call soon, and have to go track down my girl.”
“Yeah. Figure Sully has come up with some new way to have fun and piss off Brooks. Might as well get in on it,” he said.
By the time Sully and Callow were done setting up a game Sully called Spin the Blackout, my phone was buzzing in my pocket, and my girl’s voice was on the other end.
“So, what I’m gathering here is… when I buy you birthday or Christmas presents,” I said after a half an hour drive where we dropped off Lottie, then drove back home, and Lexy riddled me with questions about her surprise.
“I can’t help it,” she said, doing her third big yawn in five minutes. “We never really got surprises growing up.”
“Not even on Christmas?”
“Our father gave me money to buy Lottie presents. And… myself.”
“So Lottie got surprises, but you didn’t,” I assumed.
“Yeah,” she said, shrugging, but she was too drunk to hide the hint of hurt.
“What about when Lottie got old enough to buy you presents herself?” I asked, reaching over to squeeze her thigh.
“Well, it’s… Lottie,” she said with a smile. “She can never contain her excitement over anything. So she ends up calling me from her car in the parking lot after buying me something, and gushing about how perfect it is…and then telling me what it is.”
“That sounds like her,” I agreed. “But I can keep a secret and hold onto a surprise for as long as needed. But I have a feeling that you are going to snoop.”
“Me?” she asked, in mock outrage, pressing a hand to her heart. “Never.”
“Lucky for me, I got about a million different houses to stash shit in,” I said, getting out of Lexy’s car, then going around to help her out. Because she was more than a little wobbly.
By the time we got to the door, she was hanging all over me.
“Close your eyes,” I demanded, then put my hand over them just to make sure.
“I was closing them!” she insisted.
“Sure you were,” I said, opening the door, then walking her into the living room right in front of the shelves. “Alright, open,” I said, surprised how anxious I suddenly was.
I didn’t have to worry, though.
There was a stunned moment of silence before she whirled on me, grabbing my arms when the world spun, but beaming up at me.
