Chapter Six
Jacob
As I looked over Josie’s swatches, a feeling of unease settled over me. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason. Except this wasn’t what I’d expected. Josie was a frilly girl. And sure, she decorated for her clients’ aesthetics and not her own, but I expected…more white, flowers, and pink.
I wasn’t going to speak up, though. Josie knew what she was doing. And her bold color palettes looked spectacular. The master bedroom had dark colors like navy blue, hunter green, royal purple, and deep burgundy. The bathrooms were gray, light blue, and an oatmeal that shouldn’t have worked, but did. Even the shower curtains were devoid of frill.
This was the opposite of her apartment.
When she showed us the dark gray for the living room, I had to speak up. “Josie, this seems…dark.”
She grinned. “With the amount of sun this room gets, it’ll pop. And even on dreary days, the paint will reflect in the lamplight.”
“Okay.” I wasn’t sure what any of that meant. “But…you’re going to do floral accents, right? For the cushions and drapes?”
“Oh, drapes.” She squealed. “I’ve ordered slatted blinds for all the windows, but I want blackout drapes for all the bedrooms. Despite the canopy of the forest, all but the north windows are going to get plenty of light. Don’t want the little ones waking up before they have to.”
Ah, the Josie I expected. Making little comments about the kids they were going to have. They only had two spare bedrooms, but I could easily build an extension. She’d once said she wanted ten. I had my doubts, but they’d need to get going on that pretty quickly, unless they planned to adopt.
Come to think of it, I wasn’t certain how many kids Felix wanted. I just sort of figured he’d go along with whatever Josie wanted. We all just sort of went along with what she wanted.
When she pointed out the dark cabinets and slate-gray backsplash in the kitchen, I had to speak up. “Really, Josie?”
She spun to me.
“Where are the flowers? The frilly? The lace?”
Felix also looked at Josie, his brow furrowing in that cute way it did when he was also super confused.
Josie smiled. “That’s not the style for this house.” She waved her arms. “This is a cabin in the woods, not a condo in the city. If you want flowers, you can do that in accents.” She turned to Felix. “Are you not happy with these choices? Because we can totally change things up.”
Felix looked helplessly between the two of us. “Uh, no, I think these are great selections.” His gaze locked on mine. “I think Jacob’s worried that you’re taking my likes into consideration, but not your own.”
She eyed the two of us. “I know what I’m doing. Unless you’re unhappy…”
“No.” Felix scratched his forehead. “I’m really happy. This is exactly what I would’ve chosen.”
I could see that. Sand, forest, and mountains were all represented in the colors. The earthy feel suited their nature paradise. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. Except it’d be a pain to change everything around once they’d settled in and Josie had second thoughts.
“Okay.” She hugged her design binder to her chest. “Dinner at Stavros’s. My treat.”
Felix frowned, again catching my gaze. “That’s generous, but—”
“No buts. I aced an interview and I want to celebrate.”
“That’s great.” He grinned but, to my surprise, didn’t touch Josie. No hug, no kiss, no physical interaction of any kind. Come to think of it, for engaged people, they sure didn’t show a lot of affection. They’re not engaged, and maybe they’re not demonstrative. Okay, they hadn’t exchanged rings, but we all knew the wedding would come soon after this house was ready. And Felix often came across as a little shy, but Josie was boisterous. She often hugged me, Wally, and anyone else in her vicinity. So why not Felix?
None of your fucking business.
After Felix locked the house, we all got into our separate vehicles and headed to downtown Mission City.
Luckily, we nabbed the last three spots in Stavros’s parking lot.
I arrived at the host’s station first and requested a table for three.
They had a booth available and, within moments, the three of us slid in.
Before we’d even opened our menus, our server arrived to take our drink orders. Felix chose soda, Josette opted for water with lemon, and I indulged in beer. Only one since I was driving.
I sat across from the happy couple and gave them surreptitious glances as I decided on a couple of gyros. Felix would have gyros, and Josie would have a Greek salad with a side of bread. We were nothing if not predictable.
After the server had returned with our drinks, taken our food order, and removed our menus, I offered a smile. “So, Felix…sleeping in a proper bed.”
He blushed.
Which was kind of adorable.
“Yeah, thanks for that. Not that I minded the bears for company, but I like the idea of not having to keep the bear spray close at hand.”
Josie giggled. “You know, you’ll have to figure out some way to make it safe for when the kids want sleepovers outside.”
Felix frowned. “Kids?”
“The gaggle of kids you’re going to have.” She patted down her hair. “I don’t know if a fence is feasible. And you’ll need a system to contain the dogs.”
“Dogs?”
He appeared mildly distressed, with a furrow in his brow.
“Well, of course you’re going to have dogs. All kids need dogs. Don’t worry, you’ll figure out how to handle it.”
Wait. Not once had she said we.
I nearly called her out on it, but tonight didn’t feel like the time or place. “So, what interview did you nail?”
As I’d hoped, that launched her into a long discussion about some opportunity that at once felt specific, but also felt weirdly vague. I assumed the job would be in Vancouver and was about to seek clarification of that when our food arrived.
During the meal, Felix told us about an interaction with a parent. Something about maybe not being able to keep a foster child the man and his partner had cared for. I also figured out Felix’s favorite student just lived down the road and, now that Felix was no longer the boy’s teacher, that he could interact more freely with the kid.
I was definitely glad Felix would get to know some of his neighbors. And having the cop down the road wouldn’t go amiss either.
“Okay, I have to go.” Josie leapt up, quite unexpectedly. She pressed a kiss to my cheek, squeezed Felix’s hand, then headed to the host stand. Presumedly to pay.
“Well…” Felix eyed me. “She seems really happy.”
“I think she is. She loves her fashion-design work.”
He scratched his stubble that was barely visible. “Right. Well, I’m going to head out.”
For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me on the cheek. But he didn’t. Instead, he nodded and then beat a hasty retreat.
That was weird.
I contemplated eating dessert, but didn’t want to do so alone. In a moment of inspiration, I texted Julian. Immediately, an invitation arrived.
After ensuring Josie had paid the bill, I hopped into my car and headed over to Julian and August’s home.
August had finally agreed to move into Julian’s place. Josie had updated and decorated his old home, and now he rented it out.
In some ways this felt slow because they’d been together for months now. In other ways it felt fast because August had said he was going to wait for a year after his sister’s passing. Ironically, although I’d always seen Julian as the impulsive one, now that he’d decided to move, August had taken the reins in getting them settled properly in Julian’s house. Or maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised—August was a take-charge kind of guy. Hence running his own arborist business for years.
In a moment of odd candor, he’d also admitted his sister died suddenly, leaving him over a billion dollars from some app she’d designed, and that he’d started a charitable foundation in her name. He’d found a woman to run it, apparently someone very competent, and he took a hands-off approach, just reading the reports and making decisions when pressed to do so.
As I drove into the suburb where Julian lived, my brain kept swirling. Every time I tried to push Josie and Felix out of my mind, they wormed their way back in.
Well, mostly Felix.
I grinned when I pulled up to the house and found both August and Julian sitting on their front porch, gazing out over the setting sun. I exited the car and walked over to them. “Too late for a visit?”
Julian leapt up, strode over to me, embraced me, then slapped me on the back. “Never too late for friends.”
August rose, a bit slower. “Can I get you a drink? We’re just having hot chocolates.”
I gazed around, acting dumbfounded. “Dudes, it’s the beginning of summer. Did you not sweat all day?”
Julian slung his arm around my neck.
Of course, I had to hunch a bit, given he was shorter than me.
“Nights are still cooler.” He grinned. “Hot chocolate? We could always add some rum?”
“You have rum?”
He gazed upward. “Well, no…”
“Then I’ll happily stick to the hot chocolate.”
“Great, I’ll get it.” He indicated his seat. “Keep my fiancé company for me, eh?”
I plopped and sighed.
August smiled. “You just come to hang or are you going to talk about what’s really going on?”
“Uh…” I chewed my lower lip. “I just came to shoot the shit.”
“And maybe talk about the night of the party.”
I hadn’t seen the men since then. “I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Julian popped out of the house, handed me the mug of hot chocolate, then sat on the steps, looking incredibly relaxed in a distressed Vancouver Whitecaps T-shirt and cargo shorts. August, on the other hand, wore khaki pants and a button-down shirt.
I eyed him. “You work as an arborist.”
He snickered. “Yes, I do. Except when I’m expected to attend meetings with the woman running my sister’s foundation. Some kind of board meeting where I was expected to put in an appearance.”
“You must miss your sister.”
He blinked. “Yeah, I do. I really do. But days like today, where I see how much good her money’s doing for the community, I feel like she’s here in spirit. Giving me a boost and reminding me why putting on a shirt for a few hours isn’t the worst thing in the world.”
I couldn’t fathom it. As much of a pain as Josie was, I couldn’t imagine my life without her.
Julian squeezed his husband’s ankle. An oddly intimate gesture. “Nia’s here in spirit. Now, you.” I glanced at me. “You solve your love-life problem yet?”
“Uh…” Again with the inability to be articulate.
August chuckled, “Julian, I don’t think he realizes.”
Julian snickered. “How his future brother-in-law kept staring him at the renovation party and during the bonfire? Or how our friend here kept staring back? Poor Izzie was completely ignored.”
Now it was my turn to snicker. “I didn’t ignore Izzie. She kept hitting on that cop.”
“Seth,” August supplied.
“Right.” I sipped the warm goodness. “And Felix was staring at Josie—”
“Bullshit.” Julian coughed the word out. Then gave me the most unrepentant grin I’d ever seen.
“He’s right.” August sipped whatever was in his mug.
My friend didn’t drink, so it was likely hot chocolate as well, as they’d said.
“I think your Felix might have a crush on you.”
“He’s not my Felix.”
August and Julian exchanged a long look that I struggled to interpret.
Then August laid his hand on mine. “I think we need to have a serious talk.”
An hour later, I took off for home, even more confused than when I’d arrived.