“It’ll betoobright on all the walls.”
Virginia hummed and nodded.
We’d been at this ever since Virginia had arrived hours ago. She’d offered to come and stay for a few days, and now that Dean slept in my bed with me, we had the room. First, we worked on cleaning out most of the nursery, leaving only the bed and a nightstand.
This was one of the last things left on our list of things to do before the baby. My house was finally presentable again because of Dean, and I already couldn’t wait to show it off to the girls. The yard was mowed and in shape, and inside, all cracks had been repaired and painted over, and anything that was left on the floor was put up and organized.
It finally felt like a home, not just a house. Most days, I woke up thrilled that Dean came into my life.
This was the main thing still bugging me.
I was about to go back to staring at yellow swatches when my phone went off. I figured it would be from the girls or Dean, but a name I didn’t expect to see flashed on the screen.
Brooke
Hey! It’s me. I’m performing at a sing off out in Nashville and I would really love it if you could make time for it. I’ve been really wanting to show you all I’ve been working on. I hope to see you there!
I stared at it. We hadn’t talked much since her half apology. I was still on the fence about how I felt about her, but I figured she would show up one day and we would see how it went.
The last thing I ever expected was for her toinviteme to something.
All this time, her life in Nashville seemed separate from her life here. She would come here to tell me about it, not ask me to see anything.
She didn’t reach out. She showed up.
This was a change for her.
Had anything else changed?
I wanted to go see.
But the bar was in Nashville. That was three hours away, and I didn’t want to eventhinkof driving that far by myself.
“Let’s take a break,” Virginia said. “You seem lost in thought.”
“S-sorry. I was thinking about something else.” I forced myself to look at the paint samples on the wall and still wasn’t sure which one I liked better. “But I should take a break, you’re right.”
“It’s dinnertime anyway. Dean should be back in about an hour.”
“Do you really think traffic will be that nice to him? He’s coming from Knoxville.”
Dean had been splitting his time working for Wren and Clyde. The only jobs he took were in Knoxville, but it was over an hour away, and that led to some late nights.
Between the maintenance on my house and his job, he’d hardly slowed down. Dean had told me he wanted to have savings so he could take time off and help with medical bills. I hated that he had to consider it, but even I could see the money would be helpful. I would have done the same thing, but I could only work so many hours before my body demanded I sit.
“Could you try to show me how to make a pasta sauce again?” Virginia asked. “I’m determined to figure it out.”
“Yeah, of course.” Cooking was mainly practice, though Virginia needed more help than I expected. Still, I enjoyed spending the time with her, especially when Dean was at work all day while the shop was closed.
We moved to the kitchen where I got everything we would need. My pasta sauce recipe was an amalgamation of many different ones, but I made sure to slow down and tell her why I was doing what I was doing. She’d seemed focused, but when she asked me if she could substitute tomato paste for tomato sauce, I knew she would need more time.
The front door opened as I was draining the pasta, and Dean appeared in the kitchen.
“Baby, what did I tell you about leaving the front door unlocked?”
I shook my head and accepted a kiss from him. “I was home all day, so it’s fine.”
“You forgot to say hello,” Virginia reminded him.