Chapter 39
Aisling
Present day
I scoop my hair up in the palms of my hands, tying it tightly into a high ponytail. Tanner stands behind me, leaning against the bathroom wall in the lake house with his large forearms folded across his chest. His eyes are on mine even when mine aren’t on his.
I give my hair another tug, tightening it in the band, and then I turn to face him, resting my palms on the counter behind me.
He immediately closes the small space between us, resting one hand on my hip and using the other to entwine his fingers with mine.
“You’ve got this,” he tells me, his voice a quiet rumble.
I stroke my free palm over the broad muscles of his chest, closing my fingers around the unbuttoned collar of his shirt and giving him a little tug, wanting him closer.
“Yeah,” I breathe out, even though I can’t deny that I’m a little nervous.
And Tanner can tell.
Tanner releases my hand from his so that he can cup both of his palms around my cheeks, tilting my face upwards before pressing a slow kiss to my lips.
I woke up this morning to the sound of quiet brushstrokes. I wrapped the thick emerald quilt over my chest as I sat up on one elbow, fluffing my hair as I peeked down from the bed.
Tanner had gotten up at the crack of dawn to paint over the area that he had fixed with his dad’s friend Jason Coleson yesterday – and to the delight of the happy butterflies in my chest Tanner was wearing nothing but his jeans. He heard the hitch in my breathing and turned to look at me over his shoulder, his tan back muscles flexing as he grinned, and then hunched back down to finish painting the drywall.
Now, with my mom less than five minutes away, Tanner is no longer shirtless or wearing his country boy jeans.
He was almost shy when he had told me this morning that he’d brought some of his clothes back with us from when we left his parents’ house the other day, and then he went on to cautiously show me that he’d taken one of his white shirts and a pair of navy suit pants that he had often had to wear when the Carter Ridge Rangers played hockey games at other Division I colleges.
He also reiterated that he would give me and my mom some space if I wasn’t ready to introduce him yet, but I could tell from the frantic bounce in his knees as he sat on the edge of the bed that he really wanted me to have him with me.
So now he’s towering over me at the bathroom counter, wearing a pristine white shirt that can barely contain his giant biceps, and deep navy suit pants that accentuate the thick muscles of his thighs.
His hair is pushed back to expose the perfect golden skin of his forehead, and his large palms are sliding down my throat, squeezing me gently as his gaze rakes me up and down.
Today I’ve opted to wear my long baby pink sundress with the halter neck and flirty skirt – partially because it’s the kind of pretty and demure outfit that I think is appropriate to wear in front of my mom after two months of not seeing her, and partially because it drives Tanner wild.
I tilt my head to the side, making my ponytail swish back and forth behind me, as Tanner pushes his hard body up against mine. His chest rises and falls rapidly as his fingers toy with the little button at the back of my neck.
“You look beautiful,” he says quietly, his eyes meeting mine.
“Thank you,” I whisper back to him. “You look so hot my mom is probably going to have a crush on you.”
He presses our foreheads together, chuckling quietly as his palms move down to massage my waist.
We stay like that for a few moments, the only sounds Tanner’s handsome laughter and my light quick-paced breathing, the rustle of the larch tree leaves filtering in through the small window on this quiet overcast day.
In the darkness of the intimate bathroom – just Tanner and me and the beautiful black tiles shining on the walls around us – I let my breathing slow, feeling his calmness radiate into me, and I soak up this quiet secret moment as I wait for the sound of my mom’s tires to appear outside.
He presses another kiss to my cheek and says in his deep voice, “Baby, let’s go downstairs.”
I nod up at him and let him take my hand, leading the way.
My mom has been slowly making her way over to Larch Peak over the past two months, checking in on all of the family’s properties on route, like a sort of multimillionaire road trip because she prefers to travel by car rather than plane. Not because she’s afraid of flying, which she isn’t, but because she hates how detrimental air travel is for the welfare of the Earth.
So she prefers to drive her two-hundred-thousand dollar eco sedan instead.
I glance around the open-plan areas of the lake house’s bottom floor, checking that everything looks perfect for before she arrives. Tanner wraps me up in his arms when I finally hop down from the last step, crushing kisses over my cheeks and making me giggle into distraction.
“I love you,” he murmurs, taking my wrist in his fist, and tugging me behind him over to the front door.
He opens it up, letting me step out onto the porch first, and then he places his hands over my hips, his large chest rising and falling steadily behind my ponytail as I nervously twiddle with my fingers, eyes on the dirt road between the trees.
The sleek front of my mom’s car gleams into view and, even though it wasn’t built for off-roading, it glides effortlessly along the head of the lake. It has as much grace and speed as a multi-million dollar race car.
I quickly smooth a hand down my swishing ponytail, feeling my nerves spike as the car pulls up right in front of the porch.
Tanner breathes out a quiet laugh.
“Jesus, baby,” he murmurs, the hint of a grin tugging at his mouth. “Is your mom in the F1 or something?”
I give him a scowly little look and he smiles wider, palms caressing my hips.
“You’ve got this,” he reiterates quietly, just as the drivers’ side of my mom’s car opens.
In a way, my mom looks very much like me, only she’s a little taller and with brighter hair – hers taking on a more auburn and traditionally Irish colouring.
She closes the door of her car with a little pat and then she brings both of her hands to her chest, letting out a happy burst of laughter as she sees me offer her an excited but nervous wave.
“Aisling!” she exclaims, her bright green eyes roaming all across the newly reconstructed porch – Tanner’s incredible handiwork.
I set up two matching wooden lounge chairs out the front and there’s a soft garden couch in the back, under the weather- protecting safety of the overhanging roof, which means that it now looks so cosy and homely – the perfect place to sit back and watch the lake.
My mom half-jogs up the porch steps, her delicate fingers trailing over the railing as she ascends, and then as soon as she’s in front of us she’s opening up her arms for me, squealing with laughter as we embrace.
“Oh, Aisling, this already looks incredible!” she says, and I breathe out a quick relieved exhale, the anxiety in my stomach halving as her mood tells me everything that I needed to know: that this project isn’t a disaster, and there is every chance that she might decide that the business can expand into small town house-flipping, rather than being solely focused on million-dollar residential construction.
I pull back from her arms, admiring her long green skirt and matching long-sleeved shirt. Subtle rather than ostentatious – an admirable rarity for someone who’s earned more money than they could ever need.
“Mom,” I say, moving back a step so that I can stand beside Tanner. I peek up at him under my lashes and his cheeks are burning the most adorable shade of red. His jaw muscle rolls as he glances quickly between my mom and me.
His hand settles on my lower back, his nerves evident from the subtle shake in his forearm.
My heart clenches tight.
He is absolutely adorable.
“Mom, this is Tanner,” I say, my husky voice even lighter than usual, lifted by my gentle laughter as I squeeze my body against Tanner’s muscular side.
“He’s my boyfriend,” I breathe out, my eyes sparkling as Tanner pushes a hand through his hair.
His broad chest swells with pride.
“And Tanner, this is my mom, Aoife,” I tell him, unable to look away from him as his eyes move to hers, his biceps flexing as he extends his hand.
“Ma’am,” he says, his voice gravelly and deep. His large shoulders are set steel-straight, the effect of his military upbringing, but he gives her a tiny hint of his handsome smile and those gorgeous dimples. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he rasps, his hand all but swallowing hers as he gives her a firm but deliberately-trying-to-be-gentle handshake.
My mom slides a slightly wry glance my way, the smile she can’t fight back telling me, Aisling, you did good .
I roll my eyes, smiling back at her.
“No, no,” she says, eyes lifting back to Tanner’s. “The pleasure’s all mine.”
I laugh out loud at that one, and Tanner flashes me a nervous look, not getting her little joke.
I place my hand over his warm abdomen, comforting and reassuring him as I return my attention back to my mom.
“So I’ve done a full reno – inside and outside,” I tell her, deciding to just rip the Band-Aid when it comes to bringing up business.
There’s no point being tentative about it. I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve from now on.
“I can give you, like, a whole tour of the place if you want, or – if you’d rather – you’re totally free to look around on your own.”
I bite my lip as she peeks over my shoulder, glancing inside.
“It’s fully repaired and fully furnished,” I add, stepping out of her way as she lingers on the threshold.
She turns her confident gaze back to mine and, with a kind smile, she says, “It looks beautiful, Aisling. Want to give me the tour?”
So that’s what we do for almost a full hour – me taking her from room to room, explaining the changes that I made and how I’ve utilised the space to turn a rundown lake house into something so gorgeous and cosy.
From the way that she keeps on smiling at me I can tell that she knows I’ve fallen in love with the place – meaning that, if she thinks that it is up to standard and they can sell or rent it out, I guess I might be, like, a little bit heartbroken when I have to say goodbye to it.
By the time that we’re back downstairs we take up a seat on the plush dark sofa, my eyes flicking out of the front window to where Tanner is sat on the top porch step, eyes on his palms as he patiently waits for me to finish my pitch. His large shoulders are slightly hunched, his breathing steady as he keeps his head down, although I can still see the slight bounce to his right leg, his biggest tell when it comes to him being excited and full of anticipation.
Well, maybe his second biggest tell.
The huge bouquet that he bought for my mom is sat in a glass vase in the centre of the coffee table – the rarest lilac roses interspersed with tiny Irish clovers.
I swallow quietly and blink back to my mom, my palms face-up on my lap as I pour my business heart out to her.
Telling her why house-flipping, especially with hidden gems like this inconspicuous small town lake house, will be beneficial to the business alongside their larger scale builds. How renovating a place like this completely aligns with their eco ethos, as well as bringing life back to these beautiful places, without in any way changing their original small town charm. New condos can look so out of place in the country, whereas house-flipping reinstates the true rustic beauty in a place like this.
By the time that I’m finished, Tanner is glancing at me over his shoulder, watching me through the large lake house window. His fingers are leashed together and he gives me a confident nod of his head – telling me that, no matter what, this dream was worth going for.
My eyes meet my mom’s and as soon as I see her gorgeous smile happy tears are immediately flowing down my cheeks.
I bury my face in my hands, shoulders shaking with emotion as she laughs gently and places a reassuring palm on my shoulder.
“It’s perfect, Aisling,” she tells me. “Of course you’ve got the job.”