Page 50 of Reckless (Adventures in Love 3)
“Thanks for the offer, but if I can get the time off, it will just be me,” I tell her, and I swear I catch Margret and Cybil sharing a look, but I ignore it as I get down off the ladder. There is no way they could know. Right?
“That paper is beautiful,” Margret says as we all stand back to examine the now-finished wall.
“It is, isn’t it?” Cybil says, and I couldn’t agree more. The black background with colorful flowers and gold swirls totally pops, especially with the light gray, almost white, that the rest of the walls are painted.
“So what’s next?” Everly asks.
“Well, we were going to quit after this wall was done, but if you guys don’t mind helping us, we could knock out the other wall.”
“I can stay. Just let me call Blake and let him know that I won’t be home until a little later,” Everly says.
“I’ll call Mason and do the same,” Margret tells us, and both girls go to where their things are across the room while Cybil and I take the ladder and stuff to the other wall we want to cover.
Then, with the girls’ help, we knock out the rest of the work within just a couple of hours, and as we lock up the store when we’re finished, all I can think is maybe, just maybe, in moving here I will actually have everything I ever wanted and more.
Chapter 15
JADE
I take my cell phone with me along with my cup of coffee to the bathroom, setting the cup on the counter so I can dial my mom’s number. When the phone starts to ring, I put the call on speaker and set it down so I can pick up my face cream.
“Hey, honey,” Mom answers as I pump some face cream onto my fingers and start to massage it into my skin.
“Hey, are you and Dad all packed?” I ask, picking up my concealer and starting to dot it on my face.
Tomorrow my parents are coming, bringing with them a truckload of the stuff from my old store and killing two birds with one stone while they’re here, since they’ll be able to hang out with Claire while Cybil and I go out with Everly for her bachelorette party and Tanner goes out with Blake for his bachelor get-together the same night.
“We are, or I am. I’ve refused to pack for your dad this trip,” she grumbles, and I laugh.
“What happened?”
“I asked him what he wanted to put in our suitcase, and he told me to decide. Then I told him that he should tell me since I don’t know what he will want to wear every day.” She lets out a breath. “After that I told him that I’m not his mother and put all my stuff in a smaller bag.”
“Mom, you do realize that you’ve created that monster? You’ve always packed for Dad,” I remind her.
“Yes, well, now he can pack for himself,” she huffs.
“All right,” I agree, because my mom is stubborn, and if she has it in her head that she is not going to pack for him, no one will be able to change her mind.
“If it makes you feel better, I’ve reminded him no less than a dozen times that we are leaving tomorrow so he needs to get his stuff together.”
“He’s a big boy; he’ll figure it out, and if he doesn’t, he can go shopping when you guys get here.”
“Your dad shop.” She laughs, and I smile at my reflection while I lean toward the mirror and apply mascara to my lashes.
“Okay, besides the packing business, are you all ready?”
“Yes, your boxes and things are all in the back of the truck under a tarp, and we’ve got a kid from town coming over to house-sit for us while we are away, so the dogs will be okay.”
“Awesome. I can’t wait to see you both.”
“We can’t wait to see you either.”
“You mean you can’t wait to see Claire,” I say as I grab my blush and start to apply it to the apples of my cheeks.
“She’s gotten so big,” she says, sounding so happy. “We miss all of our girls.”
“We all miss you guys too,” I assure her.
“So what are your plans for the day?”
“I’m getting ready to go pick up Cybil. She and I have a meeting with my boss, Liam, to go over the contract he had written up for the coffee shop and the store.”
“That’s exciting.”
“So exciting. I still can’t believe how things have just been falling into place.”
“You were meant to be there, honey.”
“It feels that way,” I agree, then look at my reflection and take my hair out of the ponytail I’ve had it in since last night. Thankfully it doesn’t look bad, so I just use a few sprays of dry shampoo and run a brush through it.
