Chapter 15 #2
“I don’t know. You wanted to come shopping.”
“Tell you what, you let me know if I put something in the basket you don’t like,” Cristie said.
“Deal.”
He followed her as she shopped for sheets, comforters, matching curtains for the bedrooms, place mats for the kitchen table, even a fresh set of dishes for the kitchen.
She picked out half a dozen of what she called bath sheets, which looked to him to be really big, extra fluffy towels, and wash cloths and hand towels to match.
She asked him about the pots and pans in his cabinets and the baking sheets and casserole dishes.
She even bought a new fancy shower curtain to match the new bath sheets.
But what struck him shortly after she started actually shopping, was that she wasn’t just picking patterns and colors.
Once she’d narrowed down the color and pattern options for the bedding to just two or three final choices, she opened the packaging and ran her hands across them.
She lifted them to her face and sniffed, then rubbed them on her cheek, and then decided which she would put in the basket.
When she chose new baking dishes and pie plates for his kitchen, she took her time, comparing the depth of the dishes, and the patterns on their outsides.
She set out three or four of the place mats she was considering, and looked at them on the shelves from several different angles.
When she finally had just about everything she thought he needed, she turned to him and smiled.
‘What do you think about the furniture in the house?”
“It’s fine.”
“Have you sat on it? Spent any amount of time on it?”
“No more than average. The recliner’s a little creaky, the sofa is not as big as I’d like, but it all does its job.”
“Come on. Let’s pay for this and hit the furniture store.”
“I’m buying new furniture?”
“Yes. You’ll love it.”
Remi suppressed a smile, and followed along behind her as she chose a register and they got in line. Fifteen minutes later they’d filled her trunk and half the backseat and were heading to the only furniture store in town.
A couple of blocks down from Cooper’s Mercantile, she pulled into the parking lot of a furniture store.
They got out and made their way to the front door, but this time when Remi stepped in front of her to look around the store before they went inside, she waited patiently behind him.
When he finally went inside and waited for her to lead, she smiled up at him as she went by, no snippy remark about him making sure the atmosphere felt safe or not.
He started to thank her for understanding, but decided that it would end up in her becoming defensive, so he just smiled and followed her around the store.
Cristie didn’t hesitate. She went straight for the living room furniture, looking back at him over her shoulder. “You want something big and heavy, right?”
“Something that I can melt into and be completely useless.”
Cristie grinned at him, and led him to the other side of the living room display. “Do you care what color?” she asked without looking back.
“Nope.”
She tried a few sofas, then a few love seats, then one near the wall with several large boxes on dollies lined up in front of it caught her eye. She walked over and peered over the top of the boxes. “Oh, this one is pretty!” she said, squeezing between the two dollies and disappearing from sight.
Remi followed her over, and watched over the tops of the boxes as she tested the recliners, two of them, one at each end of the ‘L’ shaped sofa, then sat at the curve of the ‘L’, testing out the support of the sofa.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Haven’t sat on it yet.”
Cristie got up and took hold of the handle of one of the large dollies and pulled it further down the aisle.
Remi did the same with the other dolly, then walked over and sat down beside her on the sofa she’d chosen. It was a camel colored sofa, overstuffed and heavy, over-sized in general. When he sat down on it, he almost felt like it was hugging him. He sighed and relaxed further into the sofa.
“I know, right? And check out the recliners.”
Doing his due-diligence, he got up and moved to one of the recliners. He sat down and used the handle on its outer side to extend the footrest and lean the back into a semi-reclined position. “This is nice.”
“I vote this one.”
“Oh, do you?” he asked.
She smiled at him, and let her eyes drop to his chest instead of his face. “If you like it. It is for your house.”
“I like it. I do like it. It’s nice. But I have one.”
“It’s used, and you said yourself you wanted a larger one than is in there.”
“I suppose you’re going to pick out drapes and a coffee table, too?” he asked.
“Yes. And a throw rug.”
“A throw rug?” he asked.
“It makes it look more put together in the house. Kind of like the frosting if it was a cake.”
“If you think I need it, then I’ll get it.”
She grinned at him and jumped up to go find the salesperson.
“Hey, how are we getting this home?” he called after her.
“They’ll deliver!” she answered as she skipped away.
Remi sat on his new sofa, relaxing and grinning to himself.
He knew exactly what she was doing. She’d been buying all the things she’d want in her own home.
She chose her favorite color schemes, her favorite fabrics, her most wanted everything.
She was, whether she realized it or not, decorating her next home, and making sure it was everything she’d want it to be.
And since she would have to move into his home, because he was not moving in with her parents, it would be her home and he wanted her to be comfortable there.
“Remi?!” she called from the customer service desk.
“Yeah?” he answered, getting up off his soon-to-be new sofa and walking toward her.
“So, what do you think about wooden blinds? Stained a dark oak color?”
“I don’t know. Do I want them?” he asked her.
“Yes, you do. Because I’m thinking you need some white lace French panel curtains in the living room. They, and the dark oak blinds, will give you privacy, but offset the color of the sofa. It’ll look really classy.”
“I’m a male, Cristie,” Remi said, his brows bunched together as he tried to imagine white lace curtains in his living room.
She thought about it as she chewed on her lip. “Okay, well what if we got Battenburg lace curtain panels?”
“What’s the difference? It’s still lace isn't it?” he asked.
“Battenburg is more like a lightweight cotton fabric that has a little lace edging, almost like embroidery on its outer edges. Sometimes it’s more elaborate but we can find some of the more simple ones.”
He stood there looking at her.
She looked back, grinning at him.
“It’ll look out of place with the rest of the house.”
“I’m working on that. I can only do so much in one evening, though.”
“You really want to do this, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“Why? So after you get me all set up with your personal tastes, you can make a run for it and leave me surrounded by the stuff you chose?”
Her smile fell and she stood up a little straighter.
He thought she was going to get defensive, but instead she shook her head softly. “I’m not running, Remi. I just wanted to help make your place nice.”
They held one another’s gaze for a few moments more before Remi gave her a single nod. “Fine. Do what you want.”
She gave a little squeal and turned back to the man behind the desk, pointing out pictures in the sample catalogs that were placed on the counter top surrounding the circular ordering desk he was working in.
Remi took a few steps away from the counter as she was busy explaining what she wanted to the salesman.
At one point she turned to him. “Remi, what do you think?” she asked.
Remi turned toward her, and smiled when she gestured toward the computer screen. There was a representation of what his windows would look like with the dark wooden blinds and the white lace-edged curtains. “You have a vision going on in that head of yours don’t you?”
“Kinda,” she confessed.
“Go ahead. Do whatever you want.”
“Do you know the measurements sir?” the salesperson asked.
“Not right off the top of my head, but we can let you know.”
“You know what? I bet my Dad knows,” Cristie said. She took out her cell phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Daddy. Do you happen to know the dimensions of the windows in Remi’s house?”
She waited for just a second or two, then looked at the salesman. “The two on the front are 35” x 60”, and the one on the side is 35” x 60”, too, but there’s only one of them.”
“Kitchen window?” he asked.
“Oh, the kitchen windows Daddy?”
“It’s 29 x 47,” she said. “Thank you!”
She hesitated before she ended the call, listening to her father on the other end.
“What? No, I’m shopping with Remi. He needs blinds and new curtains.”
“Does it matter?” she asked.
“Bye,” she said, finally ending the call.
“What did he say?” Remi asked.
“He wanted to know if I was decorating your house for you or for me. Can you believe it?” she asked.
Remi fought hard not to smile, and was actually successful. “Hard to imagine,” he managed to say, then strolled away before she noticed he’d lost his fight with the grin that curved his lips.