Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“Do you think you can ask him to take off his shirt while he works?”
“Holly!” Eva hisses, but it sounds like she’s trying not to laugh.
“I’m not asking him to take off his shirt.” I roll my eyes at her, which I do a lot.
“You’re right. That would be weird. I should just turn the heat up so that things progress more naturally.”
“You’re ridiculous.” I laugh, then turn toward the door when he comes in with his work bag in hand. While I show him the shelves we picked up, Holly and Eva start to drag the furniture we got from out of the hallway, where we were keeping it so we could hang stuff on the walls and use the ladder without having to move things around.
Not surprisingly, it takes him no time at all to hang the floating shelves, so after the girls and I finish getting Holly’s new desk in place, I switch to putting the products that we have for sale up on the shelves with his help. Then, while Eva works on the seating area, Holly sets up her computer and makes sure everything works for tomorrow.
When we are all mostly done, I quickly run the vacuum while Bax takes his tools back out to his truck, and then I roll out the new floor mat we got for in front of the door for people to wipe their feet on if it rains. When I’m done, I look at Eva, who is stopped in the middle of the room with her arms wrapped around her middle.
“What do you think?” I ask her.
“It’s perfect,” she says quietly.
“I love it!” Holly sings, twirling in her new chair.
“Me too,” I agree, looking around.
Before, the space had an almost surgical, sterile feel to it, but not anymore. The reception desk is curved with slat wood panels that have a black backing, and the art on the walls is all dark with pops of color. The chairs that replaced the couch are a burnt-orange leather with wide seats and cool-shaped backs, and the magazine table between them looks like a piece of driftwood that was lacquered.
The space is modern but not stuffy, and if Eva goes forward with designing a black panel wall behind the reception desk, it will tie everything together even more. It’s just not something we could pull off today with all the running around we had to do. Also, none of us know how to do that kind of thing—not that I doubt we could have figured it out if we had the time.
“I’m still pissed at Julie for doing what she did, but maybe she did me a favor,” Eva murmurs. I wrap my arm around her shoulders, hugging her into my side, and she hugs me back with one arm. “Thank you both for all your help today. I couldn’t have done this without you two.”
“I’m glad we could help.” I look behind us when Bax steps back inside.
“What do you think?” I ask him, letting Eva go.
“It looks great.” He wraps his arm around me when I curl into his side. “You girls did a good job choosing pieces that all flow together.”
“He would know.” I pat his stomach as I look between Eva and Holly. “He decorated his house like he paid someone to do it.” I tip my head back his way. “Or did you pay someone to decorate for you?”
“My house doesn’t look like I paid someone to decorate.” He chuckles.
“Yes, it does,” I disagree. “Even the pumpkin stacks you put on the porch for Halloween were perfect and looked like they could’ve been on the front page of a magazine.”
“Babe,” he mutters, shaking his head.
“I have to go with Olivia on this one,” Holly cuts in. “I mean, I haven’t been in your house, but the outside is awesome. And my grandma’s always going on about all the flowers you plant in the summer and how she’d swear you have a gardener, but she knows you do it all yourself.”
“You plant your own flowers?” I look up at him. I don’t know why this shocks me. I’m sure lots of guys like gardening, but I just can’t picture him doing it.
“Yeah.”
“Of course.” I smile, and he gives my waist a squeeze.
“Are you done here, or are you going to stick around for a little longer?” he asks, obviously done with this conversation.
“We’re done,” Eva answers for me. “You and Holly take off. I’m just going to grab my bag and lock up.”
“We’ll wait for you,” I tell her, walking over to where my bag sits on top of the client fridge—one of the only things Julie didn’t take with her.
“You don’t need to wait for me.”
“We know, but we still will,” Holly tells her, moving from her chair to open the cabinet at the side of her desk, where she keeps her bag.