Ronan opened the door and peeked around its edge into the room. He laughed when he found Brandt seated in the middle of the living room having a mani-pedi and a complete makeover.
“Hey! Don’t be laughing. I’m willing to bet I got prettier fingernails and toenails than you do,” Brandt said.
“You’d win that bet,” Ronan said, as he closed the door behind himself.
“Stop talking Unca Bant. I putting ya lips on.”
“Oh, okay. Sorry,” Brandt said, puckering up so the little girl could plaster bright pink lipstick across his lips.
“Where is your momma?” Ronan asked.
“Her’s frowing up.”
“Ohhh. Well, that explains it,” Ronan said.
“Daisy’s sick as a dog with all day and night twenty-four hour sickness instead of morning sickness, so we’re watching Penny and Carson for the night to give them a break. Tempest ran over there when Charlie called to ask about her helping Daisy out, and brought them back with her. But at the moment, she and the boys are out picking up pizza, since we live in BFE and nobody delivers out here, and Penny decided to stay with me.”
“And now you’re so beautiful,” Ronan said.
Penny grinned and immediately applied more lipstick to Brandt’s lips.
“Daisy's having a rough time of it, huh?” Ronan asked.
“Yeah. This pregnancy is worse than when she had Penny.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll have to go pay her a visit, see if there’s anything I can do to help out.”
“Don’t go tonight. Tempest just got her feeling better a couple of hours ago. She’s sleeping, hopefully. But I’m sure she’d appreciate seeing you tomorrow.”
Ronan nodded. “Alright. In the meantime…”
Brandt looked up at Ronan. “You want to tell me you worked out a deal with Emmalyn and ask when we can start on your house.”
“Why does nobody allow me to handle my own business?” Ronan asked, raising his hands in question.
“Everybody is always in everybody’s business around here. You know that.”
“Anyway, I’m taking the land between her house and the parking area. Leaving an acre next to her, the rest is mine. She won’t let me pay, but if you want some kind of payment for the land transfer, I’m prepared to pay it.”
“Don’t need it. The money to cover the land was already paid when Emmalyn bought it. She’s giving it to you, there’s no return of money to her, so it’s fine as it is.”
“Alright. If it changes, let me know. I’m supposed to sign the papers to transfer it to my name in the next day or two.”
“Sounds good. Glad you’re coming home, and glad you’re building a life here. It’s why I bought the land originally. Glad it’s serving the purpose I originally saw it for.”
“When can we start building?”
“You know it’s the slow season, so we can go ahead and get a jump on it in the next week or two. But I can’t just start putting things together. I need a blueprint. I need something to go by or we’ll all be building different things and not a one of them are going to match up.”
“I was thinking about it. I really like your parents’ house. The Acadian style. I don’t want anything as big as Havoc orEmmalyn have. It’s just not necessary. But I love your parents’ home. So, something along those lines,” Ronan said with a slight shrug and a raise of his eye brows.
“Three bedrooms two baths?” Brandt asked.
“Can we do four bedrooms and two baths?” Ronan asked.
“Sure. But I thought Giada only had two kids.”
“She does. But I’m thinking that I can use the fourth as an office while I’m finishing whatever schooling will be left. And if there’s ever another kid, we’ve already got the room. Just have to redecorate it.”
