Chapter 22
22
Omar
Natalie amazed me every single day. After the fundraiser, she seemed to own how much people liked her and wanted her thoughts and opinions, and by the time the volunteer week rolled around, she was managing everything like a boss.
Summer camp registration was full in less than twenty-four hours, and she was able to award twenty-five scholarships to kids who wanted to get in but couldn’t afford it. The tears in her eyes when she called each of the families personally to tell them said it all.
She was changing lives.
“I don’t know how you’re so amazing, but I’m grateful you chose me,” I told her the first morning of the volunteer week. It was the third week of March, and summer camp was three months away.
She smiled at me over her shoulder and shook her head. “I’m not amazing. I’m just me.”
“And you are amazing,” I said, walking up behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist. I kissed the back of her neck and enjoyed the shiver that went through her. “Let me know when you’re ready to go.”
She nodded and went back into my room. She spent about half her nights with me and half at her house with Daisy. I’d stayed with them a few times, but I didn’t want Natalie or Daisy to feel like I was invading their space. Or for them to feel like they couldn’t have time together without me around. Friendships were important, something I learned over the last month, too.
I’d become a regular at guys’ night at O’Kelley’s and was getting to know the local men. They were smart, funny, and good men, and I was honored they made me feel so welcome.
All of them, all the women from book club, and so many more people were signed up to help Natalie construct the building for summer camp. The whole thing was coming together.
“I’m ready,” Natalie said, pulling a sweatshirt over her head as she headed for the door. She was in faded jeans and a paint-stained tee and had her muddy boots at the door.
And she was stunning.
“You’re not supposed to look so hot in those clothes.”
“Would you rather I changed?” she asked with a smirk.
“No. I just can’t wait to strip you out of them later.”
She laughed and tipped her head back for a kiss.
I kissed her soundly, lingering long enough to have my body debating hiding out in bed all day instead of working at the campground.
Natalie, far smarter than me, pulled back with a chuckle. “You’re going to make us late.”
I shook my head and followed her out the door. “I would never.”
She laughed, knowing it was a lie.
She decided to ride with me to avoid having one more vehicle there. I had to convince her I didn’t mind if she drove my SUV, or my car for that matter, if she needed to. She finally agreed.
“Have you thought of a name for the summer camp?” I asked as I drove toward the campground.
“I… No. Does it need a name? I thought it would be MacKellar Cove Recreation Center.”
“It can be. I thought you might want a name for it. It’s going to be so much more than a rec center.”
“Hmm. That’s true. But do you think I should come up with a name?”
“I do. Natalie’s Retreat?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t want my name on it. It’s for the town.”
“What about something with Mountain View?”
“That could be a good idea. I like honoring Harry and Sue and what they built here.”
“I bet they would love that.”
She nodded. She looked out the window, thinking as I drove the rest of the way to the campground.
Amelia was already there, as were a few other vehicles, when we arrived. Natalie greeted everyone, thanking them for attending.
I followed behind her, letting her shine. Knox, Sofia, Sebastian, and Teddy, who worked for Knox, were all there for the first day of the build. Each of them had extensive knowledge and experience. They divided up the rest of the days of the week, and each was managing the project for one day solo.
Natalie coordinated with the four of them and assigned each of them a color for the day so she could tell volunteers which team they would be working with. It was going to be a big day, but with their skills and Natalie’s organization, it was going to be good.
The first volunteers arrived shortly before eight, and Natalie quickly assigned everyone a leader to work with. She joined Sofia’s group and started working.
I was assigned to Sebastian’s group with a dozen others. Sebastian gave clear, easy-to-follow instructions to the volunteers who were helping.
“When we get this panel done, we’re going to raise it up and brace it so it doesn’t move. Before we can secure it, we will need to make sure it’s plumb and level so everything matches up when all the panels are in place. Then we’ll move to the next panel. Each team has four panels to start with.” Sebastian met the gazes of everyone in the group.
Natalie had a concrete foundation poured right after the fundraiser, and with inspections done, the building was ready to go up. A sill was installed on top of the concrete for the walls to be attached to, and as a barrier between the concrete foundation and the walls.
Sebastian paired me with a man I didn’t know to assemble our part of the wall.
“I’m Omar,” I said, offering the man my hand.
“Whoa, the mayor. I know who you are. I’m Andre Davidson.”
“Nice to meet you, Andre. How did you get involved in this?”
“I live in Sofia’s building. In Knox’s fiancée’s old apartment, actually.”
“Haley,” I said.
Andre nodded. “Yep. She decided to move in with him, and I finally managed to sneak out of my parents’ house.”
“Sneak out?” Andre had to be close to my age.
He chuckled. “My dad had a stroke a few years ago. I was floundering a little and trying to figure out what I was doing with my life. I moved back home to help my mom out since it was a lot at first with my dad.”
“Wow. I’m sorry. How’s your dad now?”
“Great, actually. You’d never know anything happened. But my parents didn’t want me to leave again, so they kept coming up with things I needed to do to help them out.”
“Ah, hence the sneaking out.”
Andre laughed. “Yep. I think it went over better that I stayed local. I hated it here when I was younger, but coming back I realized it’s not a bad place to live.”
“I agree. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
Natalie laughed, and I looked over at her. I loved seeing her relaxed and enjoying herself. Not that her anxiety was gone, or she would ever be cured. I knew it didn’t work like that. She still struggled, but she had a new confidence since the fundraiser. It was amazing to watch.
“You two are pretty serious, aren’t you?” Andre asked, bringing me back to our task.
I nodded. “We are. I’m lucky.”
“You are. Not that I’m looking to steal her from you or anything. I’ve never looked at a woman the way you look at her. She’s lucky, too.”
“It’s that damn app,” I told him.
“What app?”
“Book Boyfriends Wanted,” I confessed. “I met her on there. There’s some weird luck with that app. A bunch of local guys get together every Thursday night, and all of them met their women on that app.”
“All of them?” Andre asked.
I nodded. “All of them. Sebastian, James, Knox. Many more.”
“Tell me the name of that app again.”
I laughed. “Book Boyfriends Wanted. But be careful. You might get more than you bargained for.”
“I’m counting on it,” Andre said. He tapped his screen, then tucked his phone away. “Thanks.”
I nodded. We returned to our task, doing our part to construct the wall panel before attaching all the sections together and raising the panel.
Sebastian verified the position of the panel, then secured it in place. As a group, we moved to the second panel, finishing it as lunch arrived.
Tailgates were dropped, folding tables appeared from nowhere, and music poured from the speakers of one truck. Everyone grouped together to pass around bottles of water, bags of chips, and sandwiches from a local shop.
Laughter echoed all around, conversation flowing. Natalie walked toward me, thanking every group as she made her way through the crowd.
“Hi,” she said, leaning down to kiss me.
I captured her, pulling her onto my lap with a squeal and a laugh. I nuzzled against her neck and tugged on her ear with my teeth.
“Omar,” she hissed. “People are watching.”
“No one cares,” I said. I’d chosen a seat a little away from the crowd in case she needed a break from the busyness of all the people.
She wiggled on my lap, then sat next to me on the tailgate of my SUV.
“How do you think everything is going?” I asked her.
“Really good,” she said with a happy smile. “I’m amazed we’ve gotten so many of the outside walls done already.”
“There’s still a lot to do, but you have a great team here.”
“Well, thank you,” Andre said, appearing in front of us. “Didn’t mean to interrupt, but I wanted to say how excited I am about this place.”
Natalie smiled at him. “Thank you. Do you have kids who will attend?”
Andre laughed loudly. “No. No kids for me yet. I know how good this will be for the town, though. I’m Andre.”
“Are you the Andre who moved into Haley’s apartment?”
“Guilty as charged.”
“Nice to meet you. Haley speaks very highly of you,” Natalie said.
“Well, I think very highly of Haley. And Knox. I’m very happy for them.”
“Are you single? I have a friend I should set you up with.”
“I am single,” Andre said. “And very interested in single friends of yours.”
Natalie laughed. “I’ll talk to her tonight. Thanks for being here, Andre. We need all the help we can get. What do you do?”
“I have a small landscaping company. Mostly residential, but I’m trying to get into some commercial stuff. I just got the contract for MacKellar Cove Inn for the summer,” Andre said.
“I didn’t know that,” I said.
Andre nodded, looking shy and humble for the first time since we spoke. He never once mentioned his job or that he probably wanted the contract for town hall.
“Would you be willing to help me out with the landscaping for this place when we’re done with the building?” Natalie asked.
“Absolutely. I knew this week was all about the building, so I didn’t bring my trailer, but I was going to ask if you needed any help with landscaping. It’s a quiet time of year right now. I plow driveways and parking lots in the winter, but snow is pretty much gone and we’re not ready for a lot of outdoor work yet.”
“It’ll be here before you know it,” Natalie said. “Can I get your number?”
“Definitely.” Andre took her phone and added his information. “Andre Davidson, and my company is Davidson Outdoors, so you know who that random guy in your phone is. And so he knows.” Andre jerked his head toward me with a wink.
“Ha ha. I will remember you.”
Andre laughed. “I’m not sure that’s good or bad. You’re a powerful man to know my name. Should I be worried?”
“Have you done something that requires it?”
Andre chuckled. “Good point, Mr. Mayor.”
“I’m going to call you, Andre. I have a crew coming out to pave the driveway and parking lot in two weeks, but I’m going to need the landscaping cleaned up before we open.”
“I can bring my trailer later next week if there would be a good day. Trim back everything at the road to start with and take care of the volleyball court. Make sure everything is out of the way for the paving company. Then I can come out before you open and spruce it up a bit.”
“I don’t know if I have a budget for sprucing up, but we can talk about a few ideas,” Natalie said.
“If you let me put up a sign here, or a flyer where the parents sign kids in and out, I’ll do it all for free,” Andre said.
“Free?”
“The number of people who will be in and out of here every week will more than pay for my expenses. I’ll even maintain the property for you, again for free, for the first three years.”
“Three years?” Natalie gasped.
Andre nodded. “Like I said, I believe in what you’re doing. I know it’s going to be good for the community. Families need this. My expenses are small, and my work is quality. I’m hoping to hire a few new people, but I have a good relationship with Landon at Blossom & Grow. If he knows it’s for you, he’ll likely give me everything for free or very low cost. If you’re open to whatever we come up with.”
“I love that place,” Natalie breathed. “And yes, of course I’d trust you both. That’s very generous of you.”
Andre smiled. “It would be my pleasure, Natalie. Truly. Thank you for what you’re doing here. This guy’s mostly pulling his weight, but I’m kind of carrying him.” Andre mock-whispered the last part.
I scowled at him.
Natalie chuckled. “Well, I keep him around for other reasons, too.”
Andre’s eyes got big, and Natalie clapped a hand over her mouth.
I chuckled.
“I didn’t mean it like that. Oh my God. That’s not… I’m going to stop talking now,” Natalie said.
“Probably for the best,” I told her. “And I think most of your volunteers are ready to get started again, if you’re ready.”
“Yes, I’m ready. And I need to go nail my mouth shut, so I’ll say thank you, Andre. It was wonderful to meet you, and I look forward to working with you more.”
“You as well, Natalie.”
Natalie walked back to the center and spoke to Sofia before their group got back to work.
“I like her,” Andre said.
“I love her,” I told him.
“I sort of figured. This place is something special. So is your woman.”
“Yeah, she sure is.”
The rest of the day brought a skeleton of a building, including the framing for the roof. The building was massive, with three panels at each end and six panels down each side of the building. When the volunteers left, the crane rolled in.
Knox, Sofia, Sebastian, and Teddy were working with Teddy’s old crew to get the metal roof on the building. Natalie didn’t want any overheard crane work done with the volunteers around, and everyone offered to get it done at the end of day one.
When that was in place, and the building looked even bigger, everyone called it quits for the night.
Day two was punctuated by the constant sound of hammers as plywood was wrapped around the entire building, then vinyl wrap was secured over it. Windows went in that afternoon, followed by the first rows of siding.
The siding was finished on day three, doors were installed, and plumbing and electrical went in through the entire place. Another inspection gave us the go-ahead for insulation.
If my position had one advantage, it was that I could have an inspector on standby when we needed one. He came back first thing on day four to check the insulation so we could move on to drywall.
“It looks like a real place,” Natalie said as drywall was screwed into place by teams of four. She hired a crew to work on the ceiling since it required scaffolding, but everything that could be reached by ladders was handled by the volunteers.
“It is a real place. It’s going to be amazing.”
“It is. I can’t believe what we’ve done this week. And Andre is going to come out next week to clear the landscaping at the front so I can get the camper moved.”
“Where are you going to move the camper?”
“I’m going to stick it over by the tree line while we’re paving, then figure out the best place for it.”
“Are you sure? Those trees look like they could fall at any time.”
Natalie shook her head. “It should be fine. It’s the best place for it while they’re paving, and I want to move it anyway. Since we’re going to make the site available for other town functions and private events, I think it would be better if the camper was not the first thing people see when they drive in.”
I laughed. “It’s not the prettiest thing ever, but it’s functional.”
“Yeah, it is. Eventually I want to replace it with something a little nicer, something with more bathrooms and a better office. Possibly a permanent structure, but that’s low priority.”
“You have a lot going on.”
She groaned. “I know. I feel like I’ll never finish it all before summer.”
“You will. I know you will. First the building, then the parking lot.”
“Yeah, the asphalt company is coming in a few weeks to pave the driveway and parking lot and seal the basketball court, then we need to stay off all of it for at least three days.”
“Still plenty of time before you need to open,” I said.
She nodded. “Yeah. We’ll get lines painted for parking, and we’ll get the camper moved back into place by the end of April. The pool company is going to come out in early May. Andre will finish the landscaping whenever he can get out here.”
“That was really great of him to offer to help like that.”
“Yeah, I hadn’t planned on a lot for landscaping, but it’ll definitely add something to the place.”
“It will. And so will your second group of volunteers.”
“I forgot about that! See, so much going on.”
“Good stuff, though. One thing at a time. For now, stand back and look at what you’re creating. What you’ve put together. What this town has done.”
She smiled and looked out at the landscape. Tears filled her gaze. She nodded. “Wow.”
“This is all thanks to you, Natalie. And so much more is coming.”