Sofie:
Sir. I will fight you.
Paul:
I have a cane.
Sofie:
I have teeth.
Nalani:
Leaving work to pack. Wish me luck. If Koa isn’t surprised, it’s one of your faults.
Me:
Go get him, Nalani. We love you.
Sofie:
So, the two of you are sitting at lunch together, messaging the group?
Nalani holds her phone up, “Smile.”
My phone chimesand I see a picture of Paul and Savannah light up my screen.
Paul:
You and the little one mind meeting me at the house when you’re done with work?
Nalani smiles, “Told you he loves you.”
She pops a kiss to my cheek. “And Miss Holloway? Look at your last text.” I glance at my screen. “You said you love me.”
That shouldn’t make me emotional, but it does. Because all the homes I’ve lived, all the families truly good families I have lived with, I have never been able to return that sentiment.
She pops another kiss to my cheek and holds her hand on her stomach and whispers, “Baby steps.”
The car pulls up asclose as it can to Paul’s driveway while two massive dump trucks rumble away. Perfect timing.
“This is good,” I tell the driver as I unbuckle Savannah’s carrier. “Thank you.”
Savannah blinks up at me and kicks her feet the whole walk to the entrance. This place really does give me butterflies. The second I open the door, I freeze.
The entire downstairs is gutted. Like HGTV “before the commercial break” gutted.
Every wall Paul has ever cursed at is gone. The floors are covered in brown paper.
The whole place is wide open, bright, a blank slate waiting to breathe again.
Paul stands at a temporary island made from two sawhorses and a huge sheet of plywood. Blueprints are spread across it. Beside him is a man in a work jacket, jeans, and boots.
Paul looks up the second he hears me and his whole chest lifts, like he has been waiting.
“Kid,” he says with a smile. “Just in time.”
As I walk over, he gestures between us. “This is Claudia Holloway. Woman of the house. And this is our GC, Timmy Bricks.”
