Chapter Three
Felix
Having a police officer attend our demolition party ensured all the people planning to drive stayed sober and those for whom that didn’t apply didn’t overindulge.
For which I’d be forever grateful.
Josette cozied up next to me in a matching lounge chair as we sat around the firepit. We’d had an unusually wet spring, so fire bans hadn’t come into play yet. But they would. They always did. And the world would be set ablaze again. Well, at least my province would.
As Josie took my hand, I tried to meet her smile. “Today we accomplished a lot.”
Her blue eyes sparkled. “That we did. Jacob says if they push hard, the renovations will be done in a few weeks.”
He’d said the same thing to me while shifting from foot to foot. Either his toe had been itchy or he had some doubts.
“I have one more week of school, and then I’m off for the summer.” I glanced up at the starry sky—the stars I could never see from our house in downtown Mission City. “I don’t know how much help I can be, but I’ll be here every day.”
“You and Jacob can have some bonding time.”
I nearly choked on the mouthful of sparkling mineral water I’d just drunk. I cleared my throat. “What makes you think Jacob and I need bonding time? We’ve known each other our entire lives.”
“Yes, but not as future in-laws. Not as the two most important men in my life.”
She had a point.
Didn’t make me any less uncomfortable. More peopling. More interactions. More…stuff.
“He and his crew are doing the bathroom remodel first, right? For the master bathroom? So that we don’t have to bring a portapotty out.” Josette considered.
“Yeah.” Another expense and, frankly, gross. “Once he gets that done, I can camp out here as well.”
She scrunched her nose. “You worried about thieves?”
“Building supplies do get stolen.” I rubbed my arms, wishing I’d brought a sweater. “More that I want to get used to being out here. I’ve lived in town my entire life.” My ulterior motive, though, was to start cutting the apron strings sooner rather than later.
Wally moved out when he graduated from college with a certificate in landscape architecture. He’d gone to work for a great firm until he came into his inheritance, then he’d been able to buy his own equipment and start his own business.
His old boss had wished him well, encouraging Wally to take the bigger properties outside of Mission City. Richer, more demanding clients.
Pains in the ass as far as I could figure, based on Wally’s whining, but the money was damn good.
He’d recently moved from a rental apartment to his own townhouse with a down-payment he’d diligently saved to go with the remainder of his inheritance that he hadn’t yet spent.
I, on the other hand, still lived with Mom.
She didn’t want me to move out, and although she was here today, she wasn’t happy about this.
Linda, Josette and Jacob’s mother, was dropping broad hints that Mom would happily move out here to keep me company. That she’d sell her house in the city, and I could build her a cabin on the property. She’d be able to come and babysit the grandkids while I taught and Josie decorated.
Jesus.
I loved my mom. Desperately. I admired the way she picked herself up after Dad died and had striven to make the best life she could for us. How she’d encouraged us to follow our dreams and gave us money to help pay for post-secondary education. Money she could barely afford. Her annuity was helpful, but was meant for her, not to take care of us as well.
Dad hadn’t been supposed to die.
Young. Vital. Healthy. Then cancer struck and he was gone within a month.
If not for the strategic life insurance policy they’d taken out when Wally was born, we would’ve been in dire straits.
Josette squeezed my hand.
I blinked.
“Where’d you go, Felix? You seem to be wandering off more than usual.” She smiled. “And that’s saying something.”
Ah, yes. Felix with his head in the clouds. Felix who forgets everything. Felix who manages to get to work every day, but anything else seems beyond him.
I was accustomed to the not-so-thinly veiled criticisms.
“I’m fine, Josie.” I looked around. Our friends had paired off where appropriate and were mingling with others as well.
Izzie and Vanna were gone.
I was kind of annoyed with myself for being pleased with that.
Bertha and Keller had taken their brood home after dinner.
Only Darah remained, of Jacob’s crew. She and Wally were deep in conversation about something.
August and Julian sat close to Ben and Isaac, conversing about something animatedly.
Well, Ben and Julian were animated.
I found Isaac to be a quieter man. More contemplative. Apparently he used to be a lightkeeper out in Tofino. He’d once explained how that was solitary work. How he’d go weeks or months without genuine and deep interactions. Then he met Ben and, despite his love of the ocean, he’d come inland. His work as a harbormaster in Mission City on the Fraser River kept him close enough to the water that he got his fill.
Oh, and he and Ben took every opportunity to head to the west side of Vancouver Island and the ocean. In fact, they were headed there for a week of hiking when school ended.
Isaac caught my eye and raised his beer.
We often shared a little laugh over Ben’s enthusiasm versus our…quietness. The man was a solid and positive presence in Ben’s life. As husbands, they made a good match.
Ben, like me, was still young. We both wanted children but also agreed waiting until we were at least in our late twenties made sense.
The couple lived in an apartment in Mission City and were saving for their own place. Tough to do with real estate prices what they were.
Again, I marvelled at my house. I shouldn’t have been able to afford it.
Jacob should be charging me more for the renovations.
But I pushed aside those thoughts and clung to Josette. “You’re happy, right?”
Her smile faltered just a touch. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, just because you said you wanted a wedding in the woods when you were five years old, doesn’t mean you want to live in them when you’re twenty-five.”
She laughed. “We’re not exactly living in the woods. We’ll have indoor plumbing, Felix.” She gazed at the house. “It’s everything I could’ve asked for. It’s you.”
“And you,” I quickly added.
“And me,” she agreed, although more slowly.
I wasn’t convinced.
Still, when the party broke up, I accepted the congratulations from everyone.
And noticed how Jacob and Seth kept talking long after everyone had left except Josie and me.
“What do you think is so fascinating?” Josie grinned. “Do you think they might be forming a friendship?”
No missing the emphasis. Jacob was a lover of all people, but I hadn’t gotten a vibe from the cop that he might be gay. “Don’t meddle, Josette.”
She placed a hand on her chest dramatically. “Moi?”
“Yes, you.” I scowled. “You’re way too much in Jacob’s business.”
She pursed her lips. “I want him to find the happiness we have.”
“He’s got a thriving business, dates regularly, plays rec hockey, and has close friends. Oh, and a meddling sister. What else could a guy want?”
I compared Jacob’s life to mine. How could I not? I had a job I loved and the woman I was supposed to love. I had a few close friends like Ben and Isaac, so that counted for something. But I didn’t play sports or, obviously, date regularly.
Twenty-five years old and still a virgin.
Josie stroked my cheek. “Soon, okay, love?”
Does she mean sex, moving in together, or marriage?
And why did all three leave me cold?
I saw the last of the revelers off. Well, helpers who stuck around for a barbecue. We’d completely gutted the place.
Jacob and his team were ready to go Monday morning.
Josette had all the design stuff organized and was ready to tackle the house after that.
I had a week of school and then the entire summer break to settle in and organize the wedding.
Well, I wasn’t organizing the wedding. But Josette insisted I have some part in the planning.
She’d shown me her wedding gown.
I’d asked if that didn’t violate some kind of bride/groom superstition thing, and she said no.
Whatever.
The gown she chose surprised me. Instead of poofy and princessy, she’d chosen sleek and elegant. Instead of virginal white, she opted for a champagne color. All clingy and sexy. Appropriate for a wedding in the woods? I wasn’t certain, but whatever made her happy.
Honestly.
Josette talked about our wedding all the time. She had a scrapbook where she planned out her dream wedding. She even cut pictures out of what it was going to be like—the seating, the ribbons, the flowers, the location. In the past week, since I’d taken possession of the house, she’d been out to snap pictures of the backyard. Making calculations of where everything would go, I assumed.
Her scrapbook was something else. Way more than I’d ever put into it.
She had one for the house as well. Ironically, that one she didn’t share with me. She wanted me to be surprised, or so she maintained. Since I was helping with the renovations—including the painting—I wasn’t entirely certain how that’d work.
I turned off the last of the lights, locked the house, and headed to my car using the light of the moon.
To my surprise, Jacob leaned against it, clearly waiting for me.
“Uh, h-hey.” Did I just stammer that? Didn’t make sense, since I’d known the guy my entire life, but I suddenly felt shy.
“Hey.”
“So…did you and Seth get along?” Didn’t you just tell Josette this was none of your business?
Despite the shadows, I caught a glint of perfect white teeth. “He’s a cool guy. It’ll be good to have a cop just down the road. He didn’t bring his husky, MacKenzie, but I said if he dropped by during construction, he might consider it. You know I love dogs. We’ll have to be careful of nails and stuff, but I always am.”
I knew this about him. Safety was always the top priority.
“Hopefully I’ll be here. You know I love dogs as well.”
“But your mom’s allergic, right? That’s why you never had one growing up?”
I winced. “And the responsibility. I swore I’d take care of him or her, but Mom was adamant she didn’t want the trouble—especially after Dad died.”
“Ouch.” He pointed to the house. “But you can get your own dog now, right?”
“And leave them home alone all day?”
Jacob laughed. “Plenty of dogs stay home alone all day. There are ways to acclimatize the dog. I can like, send you an article or six.”
I eyed him. “Why would you have them?”
“Because I considered doing it myself. But, as a single guy who works long hours, it didn’t seem fair. Teachers have regular schedules, right? And I can build you a dog run, if you’d like.”
“I, uh, will have to talk to Josette.”
He frowned. “Yeah, I guess so. If she does her fancy designs with sculptures and artwork and frou-frou couches, you might have a problem.”
“You think she’ll do that?” Panic seized me. I saw this place as rustic and rural. Sure, some of the mansions up here were fancy and frou-frou, but many were just comfortable homes. I’d been looking at real estate listings for almost ten years—I’d seen a good portion of the houses up here.
Jacob cocked his head. “She hasn’t consulted you on the designs?”
I shook my head. “She wants me to be surprised.”
He whistled. “Well, okay, then. I think you’re nuts if you’re going along with it.”
I put my hands on my hips. “It’s her house as well. If she wants—” I scrambled for the right words but could only repeat what’d been said before. “—frou-frou and fancy, then that’s what she’ll get.”
“You’re more accommodating than I would be.” He eyed the house. “You don’t even have a man cave.”
“A what?” I wrinkled my nose.
“A room where you can hang out with the guys. Play video games. Watch sports.”
I shuddered. “I don’t do those things. You know that.”
He winced. “Sorry.” He took a deep breath. “Master bedroom, two guest bedrooms—”
“Kids’ bedrooms.”
“—and three bathrooms.” He frowned. “Not a lot of privacy.”
“Why would I need it? Plenty of families have much less. Three bathrooms is a luxury. And the master bedroom is on one side of the loft while the kids’ bedrooms are on the other.”
“Josie tell you what you’re having?”
I looked at him, startled. What? Who’d have thought? Hey. No. Is he implying?
He chuckled. “Well, she’s got everything planned out. I figured she’d have that organized as well.” He pushed off my car. “Gotta go. I’ll be here first thing Monday morning. I know you’re working, but feel free to drop by at any point.”
“I’ll be able to help—”
He grasped my hands, running his roughened, callused thumbs along my pristine, soft fingers.
Little tingles went up and down my spine, and my body stirred. My breath caught.
“Soft hands.” His teeth glinted in his smile. “We’ll find something easy for you to do.”
I didn’t want easy. I wanted to be one of his best helpers.
Still, when he released my hands, an odd bereft feeling settled over me.
Aside from Josette stroking my cheek this evening, when was the last time I’d been touched? Mom and Wally weren’t big on showing affection.
And in a romantic sense?
Never.
But he’s not touching you in a romantic sense. He’s proving you’re not fit for hard labor.
So true.
Then why do I want more? Why am I imagining him kissing me? Holding me? Telling me everything will be okay?
He nodded, made his way over to his pickup truck, and within a few moments was pulling out of the driveway.
I followed, but much later.