Chapter 16
“Hey, you guys! How’d moving into your apartments go?
” Ember asked Julio and Marie when they arrived after lunch the next day.
They’d both had the morning off to get situated into their new places.
Their furniture and belongings weren’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow, but this morning was the first official day they could move in.
“Good. I went to the store bright and early and got a lot of little stuff I know I’ll need. Like cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, a shower curtain, things like that,” Julio said.
“Awesome. If you need decorating ideas…don’t ask me,” Ember teased.
“But I thought you were tight with all those kinds of people? Didn’t you post some decorator’s shit on your IG account?” he asked.
Ember laughed. “First, I didn’t post it, my people did. And second, you know as well as I do most of the crap on my IG was basically paid advertising.”
Julio shook his head, but the smile stayed on his face. “It still blows my mind how different you are than what was posted on your social media all these years.”
“Yeah. It’s all crap. You have to get to know someone personally before you judge them. But anyway, I’m glad things seem all right with your apartment. You staying there tonight or in the hotel?”
“Hotel. I want to enjoy one more morning with breakfast being cooked for me before I have to fend for myself.”
Ember laughed. She knew Julio wasn’t a good cook.
Hated it, in fact. She had a feeling a lot of pizza would be in his future.
At least until he found a girlfriend. He claimed he wasn’t ready to settle down, but he also hadn’t made any secret of the fact that he loved the ladies…
or that he relied on them to do the cooking.
“What about you, Marie?” Ember asked her other employee.
“I’m great!” she chirped.
Ember blinked in surprise. Not that she was surprised Marie was in such a good mood; it was more that she’d yet to see her so…enthusiastic. “Glad to hear it,” Ember said.
“Yup. I woke up in a really good mood this morning for some reason,” Marie said with another dazzling smile.
“That’s great.”
“I have a feeling the rest of the day is gonna be amazing.”
“I hope so,” Ember said, grinning. Her good mood was contagious, and she was glad she seemed to be happy. “Everything all right with your apartment?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be? You vetted them for Julio and me, so we knew they’d be great.”
“You gonna stay there tonight?” Ember asked.
“Absolutely. I can’t wait to have my own space.”
“Do you have something to sleep on?” Ember asked, worried that Marie would be sleeping on the floor.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m good.”
“Okay, but if you need anything, don’t hesitate to let me know.”
“Ember Maxwell to the rescue,” Marie said with a wide grin.
Ember wasn’t sure how to take that, but because her friend seemed to be in such a good mood, she didn’t want to question it.
“Yup. That’s me. All right, here’s the plan for today.
I’ve got an appointment in half an hour with the principal of one of the local elementary schools.
Then I’ll come back here and pick you guys up, and we can go check out that land for the running course. Okay?”
“Sounds good,” Julio said. “What do you want us to do here?”
“Do you think you can work on painting?” Ember asked with a wrinkle of her nose. “I know it’s not the most exciting thing, but once we get the base coat on that huge wall over there, I can get the artist I hired to come in and paint our logo.”
“No problem,” Julio said.
“Awesome-sauce,” Marie echoed.
“I appreciate it so much. And if you get tired of that, no problem, you can work on testing all the fencing equipment. We need to make sure it all works as it should and that it’s safe for the kids.”
“Don’t worry about us,” Marie said with a smile. “We’ve got things covered here. Go to your meeting and we’ll see you soon.”
“Thanks. I should be gone about two hours. I’ll text if I’m gonna be late.”
Julio and Marie nodded then turned to get to work. Ember left the gym, relieved that she had such enthusiastic and happy people at her side. They still had a lot of hard work to do, but it would all pay off in the end. She just knew it.
The meeting with the principal went exceedingly well.
The woman was excited about the opportunity for the kids to get involved in some unique sports in the fall.
Especially since Ember told her it wouldn’t cost anyone a dime.
She explained how she planned on partnering with local businesses—putting their names on the equipment and other free publicity in return for their generosity.
She’d learned a lot from her parents and from being an influencer.
If she could use her name and fame to get people to donate money and other necessities to her gym, all the trouble her parents went through would be worth it.
By the time she went back by the gym to pick up Julio and Marie, it was past three.
There would be times in the future that they’d all need to work late, but for now, before they had kids in the gym every day, she wanted to try to send everyone home by five.
The land they were going to look at was only ten minutes outside the city limits of Killeen, which was ideal.
She didn’t want to have to drive a long distance with the kids.
Ember had hopes the land would be perfect for a running course and a shooting station.
But more than that, she was thinking about where she’d house horses if she decided not to use a farm that was already established.
She’d need room for a barn and a jumping ring.
She couldn’t wait to see if this plot of land might be appropriate for all of it.
“Hey, Ember, do you mind if I back out today?” Julio asked.
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“No, not at all. I got a call that the truck with my furniture is arriving early. They wanted to know if they can deliver it before five. Since I don’t have a ton of stuff, they think they can get it all moved in pretty quickly.”
“Oh my gosh, that’s great. Of course. Go!”
“Thanks. I’m still staying at the hotel tonight, if that’s okay.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Ember asked in confusion.
“Well, you’re paying for it, and now that I have my stuff I could technically stay in my apartment,” Julio said.
“It’s not a problem. It’s too late in the day to cancel the room anyway. And I’d hate to have you starve to death without breakfast tomorrow.”
He laughed. “I appreciate it.”
“What about your stuff?” Ember asked Marie. “Did it come too?”
“Not that I know of,” she said with a smile and a shrug. “But it’s fine. I’m sure it’ll be here tomorrow.”
Ember nodded. “Okay, go on, Julio. I’ll see you tomorrow. The kids will be back, and we have two new ones joining us.”
“Cool,” he said. “Can we start the intro to fencing tomorrow?”
Laughing, Ember said, “Sure. I know you’ve been dying to get those épées in the kids’ hands.”
“I’m gonna show them a clip from The Princess Bride to get them excited, then we’ll start with the basics,” Julio said enthusiastically. “I’m out of here. See you both tomorrow!”
“Bye!” Marie called as she waved.
Ember walked by Marie’s side toward her BMW. She climbed into the car and, after entering the address into her phone, asked, “How’d it go today?”
“Great. We didn’t finish the painting because Julio got too excited about fencing,” Marie said with a grin.
“Why am I not surprised he wouldn’t be able to resist the épées?” she asked with a shake of her head.
Marie laughed almost hysterically at that…and Ember couldn’t help but wonder what in the world had gotten into the other woman. She seemed almost hyper for some reason. But at least she wasn’t in a bad mood like Julio had been the day before.
Finding the turn-in to the property they’d be looking at was a bit tricky. It took two U-turns before Ember finally saw the dirt track along the side of the back road they were on. Even though they were only ten minutes from Killeen, it seemed as if they were in the middle of nowhere.
Ember’s mind whirled with things that she’d like to do to make this piece of land work. She’d have to widen the entrance, put up some sort of sign, probably some fencing, but as she continued down the dirt track toward the center of the property, she had a feeling it would be perfect.
There were a few rolling hills, but nothing too extreme. Plenty of trees, but not enough that she’d have to chop any down for the cross-country course. She could design it around them. Ember stopped her BMW and cut the engine, climbing out quickly in her excitement to look around.
She could hear birds chirping, and it felt as if she was the only person in the world at that moment.
Closing her eyes, Ember let the peace and quiet of the countryside sink into her soul.
As someone who’d lived her entire life in a crowded city, having the opportunity to purchase this piece of land seemed almost unbelievable.
She opened her eyes and began to walk forward.
“There,” she told Marie, who’d finally gotten out of the car.
“That’s where we can build a small clubhouse kind of thing, where the kids can get out of the sun and wait for their turn to run and shoot.
” She turned and pointed to the right. “I think we could start the course there. It can go between those two large trees, swing around to the left, through that copse of trees in the distance, then snake back around to here. We can put the shooting range near the clubhouse, so we don’t have to haul the targets very far when we set them up. What do you think?”
Ember looked over at her friend—and her brow furrowed in surprise. A second ago, Marie had been happy. Now she looked serious and somber and…almost angry. “What? What’s wrong?”