Not So Easy (The NOT Series Book 4)

Chapter 21

“I still can’t believeyou’re wearing those,” Mom said, shaking her head as she unwrapped a plate and added it to the stack she’d already placed in the dishwasher.

“Why not? They’re comfortable and super convenient.” I whipped a marker from the front pocket of my overalls. “Need a Sharpie? I’ve got you. Need a box cutter?” I pulled one from my back pocket. “I’ve got that, too. Women have been begging for pockets for decades, and now I have seven of them. It’s awesome.”

The truth was, I’d been skeptical, too, until after harassing Calvin about them for the thirty-seventh time, he insisted that I try them. Going along with the joke, I pulled on a pair of his, which were ginormous on me, but dang if they weren’t comfortable. And practical. I wore them to pack up half the kitchen and didn’t have to go hunting for the marker not once.

I could carry everything I needed. By the time I’d packed the mugs, I had my phone, earbuds, hair tie, and even a pack of gum on me wherever I went. He totally converted me. Within a week I had multiple pairs of my own, and if I could have made them look professional enough, I’d have worn them to work.

“They’re bringing in the couches,” Becca said as she walked into the kitchen with baby Noah strapped to her chest in a black carrier. “You need to go tell them where they go.”

A week shy of four months, the little one was turning out to be a happy baby, smiling all the time. Even with ridiculously chubby cheeks, the dimples inherited from his father were easy to see and made me want to smoosh his pudgy little face.

“You got this?” I asked Mom.

She shooed me away. “Go do whatever you need to do. I’m good.”

“I’ll stay and help her,” Becca said, stepping around my beautiful island, which I couldn’t stop sliding my hands across. It was so smooth I wanted to press my face to it.

Even after a month of going in and out for one reason or another, I still couldn’t believe this was my kitchen. My house. I even had a dream in which Bammy was standing on the porch beaming with pride as she watered the flower boxes. It was like she was sending me a message that I’d done good. Before I could run to her, I woke up, which made me cry. Calvin stirred and pulled me in close.

I still didn’t know if he’d been awake or reached out by instinct, but the gesture made me love him even more.

Oh, yeah. We were saying that now. Totally freaked me out when I said it first, but what was a girl to do when a man built her the most gorgeous custom desk that was exactly what she’d always wanted?

Thankfully, he’d said it back immediately, and since then we’d both said it often enough for me not to feel weird about it anymore.

“Watch this corner,” Dad was saying as I walked into the living room. Calvin and Jacob were carrying my fluffy cream sofa in through the foyer, while Miles carried the coffee table.

“That goes right here facing the fireplace.” I stood directly in front of where I wanted them to drop it. “Not too close to the window. The matching chairs go down there.”

Found at a local secondhand shop, the chairs were the perfect size to allow for a beautiful Christmas tree to be placed right in front of the window. Though it was a muggy August day, I could still picture the house covered in holiday décor, just as Bammy had always done.

“New volunteers reporting for duty,” Megan announced as she and Ryan walked into the foyer just as the guys lowered the couch. “He’s the muscle and I’m the organizer. Put us to work.”

Being a little over five weeks out from the wedding, the soon-to-be newlyweds had a cake tasting that morning, but had promised to join the crew as soon as they could.

“What flavor?” I asked.

“Raspberry chocolate truffle,” Ryan replied. “I’ll be dreaming about that cake for years.”

Megan was a lemon lover so this chocolate confection must have been amazing to be the unanimous choice.

“Geraldine said to tell you hello, Calvin,” she said after greeting me with a half hug. “Thank you so much for sending us her way. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything that good in my whole life.”

He nodded in his usual no big deal way. “Thanks for taking my suggestion.”

The more time we spent together, the more I realized how generous Calvin truly was. Throughout the renovation, every company we used was owned or run by someone from the neighborhood, or they were a fledgling business in need of work and exposure.

He had a knack for knowing every mom and pop operation within a twenty mile radius, and never took the least bit of credit for the help he gave. As if he hadn’t done enough for me already, Calvin also went out of his way to make me the preferred event photographer for Hickamore House.

I’d had no idea until four calls came in the same day, all for weddings at the venue. Assuming the couples had talked to Becca’s office, I sent a thank you message to both her and Amanda. Neither had any idea what I was talking about.

“The chair and accent tables are next,” Dad said, taking his supervisory position seriously. “Then we’ll bring in the bedroom stuff.”

“Where are the girls?” Megan asked while the men filed back outside.

“Becca is helping Mom in the kitchen, and Lindsey and Josie are upstairs unpacking my closet.”

Closet was an understatement for what Calvin created. More like a movie star dressing room with full vanity, floor to ceiling shelves for my shoes, and enough drawers to hold everything I owned and then some. Because we’d used part of a bedroom, there was even a window. Anything on a hanger occupied the existing closet in my bedroom, which had also gotten a makeover to make it deeper than originally designed.

Megan clapped her hands. “I want to see that.”

Since I’d already said where the chairs should go, and end tables were easy enough to move around if necessary, I figured the guys didn’t need further directions.

“Then let’s go.”

Seconds later we were standing in the middle of my dream closet, which was the most organized it would ever be. The shoes were even put together by color. A red shelf, a blue shelf, a gold shelf. That had to be Josie’s doing because Lindsey was the slob of our group—which she would be the first to admit—and I knew nothing in her house would ever look like this.

“She even folded your underwear,” Lindsey said with disgust as they showed off their work.

“You don’t fold your underwear?” Megan asked.

Josie scoffed. “She barely folds her clothes.” Poking Lindsey in the arm, she said, “Tell me you pair your socks, at least.”

Without shame, Lindsey rolled her eyes. “What’s the point? They’re all white. You just pluck two out and go.”

This was the woman teaching our youth. Thank heaven she took grammar more seriously than she did the laundry.

“Your socks are paired,” Josie assured me. “Should we go down and see if your mom needs help in the kitchen?”

We were only two hours into this move, but I’d been bringing boxes over for weeks so much of the work was done long before today.

“Becca is down there with her, but it couldn’t hurt to have more hands on deck.”

“One of us should give her a break and take the baby,” Josie said as we filed out of the closet. “I volunteer for that.”

“You had him this morning,” Lindsey said.

“So did you.”

“Not as long as you did.”

Megan put an end to the bickering. “I haven’t seen him yet today, so it’s my turn.”

This was how our visits went now. A constant battle over who got the most baby cuddles. Becca often joked that none of us wanted to see her anymore. Only Noah. Which wasn’t true, of course, but the little one did have every single one of us wrapped around his tiny little finger.

Despite Becca having no biological sisters, this child had all the aunts he could ever need.

The guys were placing the end tables when we returned to the living room, and the chairs were already in place. That meant all the downstairs furniture was in. Having so much muscle was making the job move along much faster than I’d expected. The TV had been installed over the fireplace the week before, so all that was left was to fill the built-ins and hang the artwork.

Both tasks on my to-do list for the week.

“Time for a break,” Mom said, carrying one side of a cooler while Becca carried the other. “The pizza should be here any minute.”

The men brought the kitchen chairs into the living room since they were so sweaty, while us ladies took the furniture. I was going to need more seating as our little group of five had expanded in the last couple of years.

“So you’re the lone wolf now,” Mom said as she tapped Lindsey’s leg. “How’s it feel to be the only single one left?”

Without hesitation, she said, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Josie laughed. “Under the word single in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Lindsey.”

“I don’t blame you one bit,” Mom said.

That woke Dad up. “Hey, now.”

She waved his protest away and said to Megan, “How’s the wedding planning coming along?”

“Wonderful, though it helps to have the best planner in town as a best friend.”

“Amanda did most of the work while I was off,” Becca said as she nursed Noah in a chair by the window. “But thank you for the compliment.”

As everyone chatted around me, I couldn’t believe I was back in this house. Bammy’s soul was still here, but now I’d put my stamp on the place as well. If only she could be here to see what we’d accomplished in the home she’d loved so much.

Glancing over to the man responsible, I caught Calvin watching me with a sweet expression, and extracted myself from the couch.

“Come help me with something in the kitchen,” I whispered as I strolled past him.

Heavy footfalls followed me from the room. Once we were far enough into the kitchen where no one could see us, I spun around and leapt into his arms, putting everything I was feeling into the kiss. Several seconds later, when we came up for air, he pressed his forehead to mine.

“What was that for?” His breath was warm against my cheek and I didn’t even mind the sweat soaked shirt beneath my hands.

“For making this my dream home. For caring about it as much as I do.” Pulling back, I looked into his eyes. “For being the perfect man for me.”

“I’m far from perfect,” he said with a deep chuckle that vibrated down my body.

“You’re perfect for me,” I said again, emphasizing the most important part. “That day we talked, you said that I don’t need you, but I do. I need your calmness and your patience. Your creativity and practicality. You’re my anchor in this crazy world, and I don’t want you to ever again think that I don’t need you, okay?”

Lips curling into a grin, he teased, “So you’re saying you like me.”

I dropped a quick kiss on his lips. “I’m saying I love you, and I hope that someday I can give you back as much as you’ve given me with this house.”

With a deep sigh, he shook his head. “You’ve already given me everything I could ever want just by saying those words. For a long time, I didn’t know if happy was in the cards for me. Now I do.” With an affectionate squeeze, he added, “You made me work for it, but I’d do it all again because you’re worth the fight, Donna. I’ll always fight for you.”

Knowing myself, I had to be honest. “I can’t promise this is going to be easy.”

“Whatever comes, we’ll face it together.”

Those words coming from anyone else would have triggered my inner cynic, but not from Calvin. He’d more than proven that he meant them.

“Together.”