Chapter 15 #2
I’m finishing up when Brody calls. I feel a rush of excitement seeing his name on my phone.
All day I’ve been telling myself that last night meant nothing, that it was just sex, but if I’m being honest with myself, I think I’m having feelings for Brody.
I was feeling this way even before the sex, but spending the night with him, in his arms, in his bed, made those feelings even stronger.
‘Hey, Brody,’ I answer.
‘Hey, how’s it going?’
‘Good. How about you? Are you getting a lot done?’
‘Yeah, that’s why I’m calling. That route you came up with is working out great. I’m farther along than I thought I’d be and it’s only noon. I’m taking a quick lunch break and then I’ll get out there again.’
‘You think you’ll be able to finish the route today?’
‘Yeah. I might even have time to make it to the houses you scheduled for tomorrow.’
‘That’s great!’
‘Yeah, so anyway, what are you up to?’
‘I was just doing a little cleaning.’
‘Cleaning? Why are you cleaning?’
‘It’s something I do to relax. You don’t mind, do you?’
‘I guess not, but it seems kind of weird to have you cleaning my house. If you’re bored, just watch TV. Take a nap. Do something else.’
‘When I’m stressed I can’t just sit around and do nothing. I need to keep busy.’
‘Why are you stressed? Did something happen?’
‘I talked to my parents. And then Cam.’
‘And?’
‘Let’s just say it didn’t go well, which is why I’ll go crazy if I just sit here. Is there anything else you need done? You want me to shovel the driveway?’
‘No. I’ll plow it when I get home.’
‘I could do the sidewalk. ’
‘This is heavy, wet snow. You’ll hurt yourself if you even try.’
‘I have to do something. What about painting? I found some cans of paint in the spare bedroom. I could paint the walls in my room, and if you don’t like it, you could paint over it later.’
‘Kate, I told you, I’m not working on the house right now.’
‘It’s just paint, and it’s for my mental health. I’ll even pay you to let me do it.’
‘You’re not paying me. If it’s really going to help you, then go ahead.’
‘Oh, speaking of paying you, now that I have my phone I’ll transfer the rent money to you, along with what I owe you from the stuff you bought me.’
‘Yeah, okay. I should get going. I need to get back out there.’
‘Okay. See you tonight.’
I’m excited about painting. It’ll get my mind off all the stuff going on with Cam and his parents, along with all the thoughts I’m having about Brody.
Why am I having feelings for a guy I just met?
I didn’t feel anything for Cam until we’d been going out for a month.
Maybe it’s a side effect of breaking off my engagement.
I’m an emotional mess right now. It’s completely possible I’m only imagining I have feelings for Brody as some kind of attempt to prove to myself that Cam wasn’t the right guy.
I’m not sure that makes sense, but I’m going with it for now.
As I’m preparing my room to be painted, I hear the doorbell ring. I freeze, wondering if I should answer it or ignore it. Brody didn’t say anyone was coming over and I’m not sure he’d want me answering his door. It rings again, then I hear knocking.
Going out to the living room, I hear a guy talking. ‘Brody? You in there?’
I walk to the door and open it just a crack. ‘Can I help you?’
There’s a guy standing there. He’s tall and really good-looking. He smiles at me. ‘Hey, is Brody home?’
I almost say no, but don’t want this guy thinking I’m alone here. He’s probably not a murderer, but you never know. I’m a city girl. I trust no one.
‘He’s busy right now, but I’ll tell him you stopped by. Could I have your name?’
‘It’s Nash.’ He offers me his hand. ‘Nash Wheeler. I’m Brody’s cousin.’
‘His cousin,’ I say, noticing the resemblance. I open the door more and shake his hand. ‘Nice to meet you.’
‘Are you a friend of Brody’s?’
‘No. I mean, kind of. I’m staying here for a few weeks.’
He nods. ‘Yeah, that’s right. Nick mentioned Brody had a girl staying here. You’re the one who got stuck in the storm?’
‘Yeah. My car went in the ditch. Actually, it’s not my car, which is even worse. Anyway, I’ll tell Brody you stopped by.’
‘Is he here? I need to talk to him about the house.’
‘He’s out plowing. I’m not sure when he’ll be back.’ I step aside to let the guy in. ‘Come inside. It’s freezing out there.’
He comes into the house, looking surprised when he sees it. ‘Did Brody hire a maid?’
I laugh. ‘No. I cleaned it this morning. It’s how I relax. I clean. ’
‘If you want to come relax at my apartment, you’re welcome anytime,’ he jokes.
‘I might take you up on that. Do you live around here?’
‘No, I live in Chicago, but I’ve been doing some work here the past few months. My wife and I have been staying in the house I’m renovating. It’s next to the orchard. Brody’s parents own it. They’re letting Callie and I stay there for free in exchange for me doing the repairs.’
‘How long have you been married?’ I ask, thinking he doesn’t look much older than Brody.
‘We got married last fall. We’re having our first kid in a few weeks.
’ His face lights up when he says it. ‘That’s part of the reason we’re here.
My wife’s family died a few years back and she was struggling not having her mom around during the pregnancy.
So we’ve been living up here so Callie could spend time with my Aunt Martha, Brody’s mom. She’s been great.’
‘What about your parents? Are they back in Chicago?’
‘My dad and brothers are. My mom passed a while ago. Callie and I were going to head back to Chicago last Saturday, but then the storm hit and kept us here. Now Callie’s freaking out she’ll have the baby here, but I don’t think she will. Her due date is still a couple weeks away.’
‘How exciting. Congratulations!’
‘Thanks.’ He laughs a little. ‘We’re both a little nervous to be parents, but we’ll figure it out. So anyway, I just came by to drop off some supplies. I can just leave them in the garage.’
‘What supplies?’
‘For the house. I told Brody I’d give him whatever leftover supplies I have at no charge.
I’ve got some trim pieces, a few boxes of tile, leftover plywood, and some other stuff.
I was hoping he’ d be here to go through everything, but since he’s not, I’ll just leave it and if he doesn’t want it, he can donate it. ’
‘Is this stuff from the house you’re living in?’
‘No, I finished that up in December. This is from one of my other renovations. I do construction. My whole family does. My dad owns the company. I was in Chicago last week and went to some of our job sites and picked up whatever supplies we had left over to bring back here.’
‘Are you helping Brody fix up this house?’
‘That was the plan, but he keeps putting it off.’ Nash’s phone dings and he checks it. ‘I need to get going. I told Callie I’d be home by now. I’m going to go unload the truck and head out. It was good meeting you.’
‘You too.’
He goes to the garage and opens the door.
I look out the window and see him taking long pieces of trim from his truck and carrying them to the garage.
If Brody’s getting all this stuff for the house, why isn’t he fixing it?
He’s had time to work on it. This week was the first big snowfall of the year.
What’s he been doing the past few months that’s kept him from working on the house?
Nash finishes unloading the truck, then leaves. I return to the bedroom and get to work painting the walls. It’s a boring white paint, but it’s better than the light blue that was on there before. And it covers up all the nicks and scrapes that were on the walls.
It takes all afternoon to finish the room and I only got one coat done.
But when I’m finished I feel much more relaxed than I did this morning.
I even feel happy, which is not how I should be feeling with everything that’s going on.
How could something like painting, which most people consider a chore, bring me this much joy?
I wish my job made me feel this way. If it did, I wouldn’t dread going back to it.
At seven, Brody returns. ‘I got everyone’s driveway plowed that was on the list, along with four of the people who were on tomorrow’s list.’
‘Brody, that’s great!’ I give him a hug but make it quick, remembering we’re not dating. We’re just friends, maybe not even that. I don’t know what we are.
‘Yeah, and I called the people on tomorrow’s list and confirmed I’d be there in the morning.’ He gets a proud smile on his face. ‘I feel all professional, like I actually know what I’m doing.’
‘What do you mean?’ I say with a laugh. ‘You know what you’re doing. You said you’ve been doing this for a couple years.’
‘I’ve been winging it and hoping I make money.’ He takes off his coat. ‘What smells so good?’
‘I made dinner. Spaghetti. It’s all you had.’
‘You didn’t have to make anything. We could’ve gone out. The roads are better now.’
‘I didn’t mind making it, and I wasn’t sure if places would be open tonight.’
‘Yeah, that’s true. A lot of places are still closed. Sawyer opened the brewery. The place was packed when I drove by.’
Brody has a picture of him and Sawyer and the rest of his family taped to one of the walls in the living room. I cringed when I saw it, not the picture, but the tape he used to hang it. Who hangs pictures that way? Brody needs serious decorating help .
‘I’d love to go there sometime,’ I say. ‘To Sawyer’s brewery.’
‘We could do that.’ Brody walks to the table where I have dinner set up. ‘This looks great. If I were alone I’d be eating a peanut butter sandwich off the counter.’
I roll my eyes. ‘You’re such a bachelor.’
He sits down across from me. ‘So what happened today? With your parents?’
I tell him about the lawsuit and how my parents are insisting I live with them, then I tell him about Cam and how we wants my stuff out of his apartment this week and that he’s hiring a tow truck company to come get his car and sending me the bill.
‘And you were going to marry this guy?’ Brody shakes his head. ‘I don’t get it.’
‘He wasn’t always like that. We used to get along great, but then he moved to DC and we grew apart and now it’s like we’re strangers. That’s why I couldn’t marry him.’
‘But you almost did.’
‘Because I thought it was too late to back out. And everyone kept telling me how lucky I was to be marrying Cam and what a great life we’d have.
I listened to them more than I listened to myself.
Calling off the wedding was the first time in a long time that I did what I wanted instead of what other people wanted me to do. ’
‘Maybe you should be doing more of that.’
‘More of what?’
‘Doing what you want instead of what other people tell you to do.’
‘It’s not that easy. My parents are very controlling. ’
‘Only if you let them.’
‘Yeah, I guess.’ I smile at Brody. ‘Thanks for letting me vent. I feel a lot better saying all that. You’re the only person I can talk to about this who will listen instead of telling me I’m wrong.’
‘Anytime.’ He points to his empty plate. ‘And anytime you want to make spaghetti again, go ahead. That was really good.’ He looks around. ‘The house looks good, too. Best it’s ever looked. Thanks for cleaning it.’
‘I didn’t mind doing it. Like I said, it helps me relax.’ I get up. ‘Hey, let me show you the room I painted.’
We walk down to my room.
‘You did a good job,’ Brody says. ‘But damn, those paint fumes are strong. How are you going to sleep in here?’
‘I’ll have to open a window.’
‘And freeze to death? I don’t think so. Just take my room. I’ll sleep on the couch. Or we could—’ He stops suddenly, then says, ‘Never mind. That’s not a good idea. I’ll take the couch.’
He was going to suggest we sleep together, but then decided against it. What does that mean? That he doesn’t want us to be anything more than friends? Or roommates?
It makes sense. He doesn’t want a girlfriend.
He’s told me that more than once. And look how he lives.
This house is the stereotypical bachelor pad and he likes it that way.
He’s not looking for a relationship. Last night was just sex and we probably won’t do it again. Even if we do, it won’t mean anything.
Brody and I are roommates. He’s my landlord. I’m paying him money to stay here. It’s a business arrangement. That’s all this is.