Chapter 8
Sidney didn’t mind going to his brother’s house to help set up his home.
He knew that Melbourne would do the same for him.
It was just that he wanted to get his house in order so that he wouldn’t have to be so late getting his home set up while his mate was just coming around.
It took all his power not to tell his brother he should have planned better.
“What’s the matter with you? You’ve been snipping at everyone all day.
” He told his brother Fowler that he’d not been doing that at all.
“Yes you have. You made Amy pissed off. If not for me being there when you did it I think she might well have zapped you with some of her magic and that would have been the end of you.”
“I’m just not in a great mood. Why did he wait so long in finding a house?
They’ve been together for a month now. As it stands right now, we have to get everything off the truck tonight so that they’re not sleeping at the bed and breakfast in town.
Who plans things that way?” Fowler popped him in the back of the head once.
“What was that for? If you don’t agree with me that’s fine but you don’t have to try and take my head off. ”
“First of all, take it down a notch. I didn’t hit you nearly as hard as I could have.
Secondly, they’ve been dealing with their work schedule.
Unlike the other wives, Sammy isn’t going to give up her job just because she married into money.
She likes what she does and is, from what I hear really good at running the restaurant.
This was the only two days that she could get off in a row.
” Sidney said that they were still cutting it close.
“Close to what? They have all the time in the world to get things set up. And if you didn’t want to help then you should have stayed home. ”
“I don’t mind working to help them out. But don’t you think that this is a little rushed right now?
I would have had my house filled out before I bought it.
” Fowler told him it didn’t always work out that way.
“I guess not. But I’m not one to leave things until the last minute.
I plan to be living in my house when my mate comes along. ”
“Good for you. And what if she has a house of her own, like Amy did? Or one like Emma had? Then what would you do?” Sidney said that they’d end up selling one of them.
“I think what Melbourne and Sammy are doing is great. One more thing that they can cross off their list. And from what I’ve heard, they had a list that they worked on together and purchased everything together as a couple. I like it that way.”
They were asked to bring in the table and chairs for the dining room.
It was a room that he decided that he liked more than the others that his brothers had.
This one had a large table and twelve chairs that would fit around a round table that fit in the room well.
There were also extra leaves to put into it so that they could enlarge it to fit as many as eighteen people, and it would not seem all that crowded.
The round table would make for better conversations around the thing, he thought.
“How about you try to be nice instead of thinking that you’d do so much better?
Look at the two of them, do they look like they’re mad because they waited too long in buying a house.
And according to Melbourne, they’re helping out Mrs. Barnes who owns the B&B by stimulating the economy a bit.
She told me that it surely did help her to have the place used when she would normally not have anyone staying.
” He said he’d not thought of that. “Well, they could have rented another condo that was bigger than where they’re staying but they like being pampered a bit too.
Mrs. Barnes runs a nice place and I’d hate for her to go out of business just because she doesn’t have enough visitors coming around. ”
They not only got the table put together but also most of the chairs unboxed as well.
When they were finished with the room, Sammy brought in the pretty sun catchers that she’d gotten to hang in the windows that were a perfect match to the place mats that she’d picked up too.
Sidney thought that he’d like place mats over a table cloth more anyway.
The living room was about finished when they were done with the dining room.
The three overstuffed couches looked great in the room, and he had to try out one of them to see if they were as comfy as they looked.
Sure enough, they were more so, and he could see himself sitting here watching a game on the television while hanging out with his brothers.
“The television will be delivered in an hour. They said that they could even hang it for us if we wanted. We did spend a great deal in their store so I’m betting that isn’t a service that they just offer to anyone.
” Melbourne thanked him for coming to help out.
“I know you had a lot to do today but this is so much more fun than I thought it would be. We’ve even ordered food to pig out on while we break in the living room. ”
“I love your couches.” He said that Sammy had picked them out and suggested that they get three of them. “She has great tastes. And the lamps go perfectly with them too. Like they were made for each other.”
“They’re from two different stores, believe it or not.
The first store didn’t have anything that we both liked—I love the fact that we were able to pick out our first houseful of furniture together.
It made it seem more for us and not something that one of us would have picked out alone.
I wouldn’t have gotten this. It seemed to fluffy.
But once I sat in them, I knew she was right. ”
“There’s a lot to be said for doing something like this together, I guess.
” He told him that they’d picked out everything together, and it seemed more special for them.
Sidney was beginning to see that his brother had done things up right, and he might well be doing the same thing.
But he was going to get himself a bigger condo so that when he did find her, they’d have a place to stay before they got a house.
“I heard that your father-in-law is staying at your condo. Is that all right with him?”
“Not only is he very happy that he isn’t living in an abandoned house but he likes having more than four walls to look at too.
He’s going to stay there after he gets better too and his leg is healed.
It makes it so much easier for his daughters to visit him as well.
” Sidney was helping Melbourne break down boxes when the food arrived.
They still had quite a bit to put in rooms but since the dining and living rooms were set up, they at least had a place to eat and to hang out. And he couldn’t get over how much he loved the two rooms now that they were finished.
The food was a big hit and he was told that if they were still working at dinner time they’d be ordering out again.
He could see that they were going to need to order out, as they not only had the kitchen items to unbox, but there were the library and bedrooms that needed to be put together, too.
By the time he was finished with the first bedroom, just taking cardboard off the furniture, he was ready for his second round of food.
And he’d also realized that the two of them had set up their home just the way he’d hope to do his own someday.
But they’d done it together. He thought that was the point that Fowler was trying to make when he popped him in the head.
After the second bedroom was finished up, it didn’t take nearly as long to unbox the things in the second bedroom as it did the first one, he was ready for a nap.
There had been good food at the table when they’d all eaten and he needed to lie down.
As soon as he got into the kitchen to help out there, Sammy came to find him.
“I was wondering if you could set up the computer as a surprise for Melbourne. It’ll be nice to have them both set up but I know that he’s missing some important investments that he’d be on top of but for the move.
” He told her that it would be his pleasure.
“Thanks. I love that we both have our own offices so that we can work from home. When I was working from my home before moving here, I was using a board across two chairs to use for a desk. That’s about all I had room for.
But I can see myself spreading out in my office and not having to be at work so much.
I love what I do but I do spend too much time there, I’m beginning to realize. ”
Sidney was glad to be doing something like this for his brother.
And with all the help they were getting things squared away quickly.
As soon as the television arrived, he noticed that his brothers were spending time in living room rather than in the rooms they were set to be working in.
He had to laugh every time someone said that the furniture was almost too comfy to sit on, and they were hard-pressed not to take a nap.