RE: Quarterly Meeting
Dear All,
Please be reminded of the new slot for the next meeting at 09:45 rather than 08:45.
The rest of the email was just his signature and the agenda attached. I reminded myself to make a note on the calendar I’d put on the fridge. I hadn’t expected to be elected to the town council, but I’d taken the chance nonetheless. As soon as they let me know I’d gotten the position, I quit the shoe store and had a wild celebratory night with the guys at Ash’s old place.
“Oh, politics,” Beck said over my shoulder, peering at my phone screen. “Any drama we should know about?”
I laughed and shook my head. “Unless new policies about grass length in the park are dramatic, no.”
“You have no idea,” Beck answered as he moved to lean over the fence and stare into the distance. “People take grassveryseriously. Hey, it’s here.”
A truck pulled up in the road in front of the house, and Beck called out for Calder and Ash over his shoulder. They appeared from the front door about a minute later, sweaty from the random bits of handyman work they had been doing inside. I wasn’t shy about looking at them, and Calder offered me a wink when he caught me with his eyes.
“Finally,” Ash said as he made his way down onto the lawn and up to the truck.. Calder and Beck hurried after him, all eager to show off their strength. I didn’t mind; I loved the healthy competition they had going between them.
Plus, they were easy on the eye, especially when they were doing particularly manly things.
I watched Calder sign for the delivery, before the four men moved to the back of the truck. Pretty soon, Calder, Ash, and Beck were pulling out the huge king-sized mattress and bed base we’d ordered from the back. They spoke to the delivery guy a bit longer, probably insisting that they didn’t need any help and that they’d move the whole thing inside themselves.
My suspicions were proved correct when he seemed hesitant and confused at first, but eventually seemed to relent and got back in his truck. As he drove away, the guys stayed beside the bed, talking to one another and making hand signals.
I didn’t go down to help. It was far too fun to watch them from up on the porch, and how their firefighting teamwork was coming in handy now.
I can’t believe this is actually my life,I thought as they seemed to decide to bring the mattress in first. Beck and Ash stood on either end, while Calder took position in the middle. Their muscles moved as they lifted it and began to walk, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Are you good?” I called out, and received several nods in return. They marched their way to the porch and up the steps, before pausing to take a break.
“This thing is heavier than it looks,” Beck claimed, wiping his forehead. “Good quality, though, you chose well, Ash.”
“Nobody’s better than me at picking beds,” Ash answered proudly, and grinned at me. “Don’t you think so, Rhea?”
“We’ll see,” I teased with a quick wink. “At least it definitely has space for all of us.”
“I don’t know,” Beck said. “Calder snores. He might need to take the guest room.”
“It’s not that bad,” Calder insisted as they started working the giant mattress through the front door piece by piece. “Besides, Ash is the one who kicks in his sleep. I would bet money that’s worse.”
“If he kicks me, then I’ll kick him out to the couch,” I laughed, impressed with how quickly they were maneuvering the thing inside. “I need my beauty sleep, especially with the council meetings coming up next week. People are going to have a lot of questions for me.”
“About the grass?” Beck asked curiously.
“Not just the grass,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “I’m new. People are going to be judgy. And they’ll probably want to know about the situation with all of you.”
“None of their business,” Calder insisted before he disappeared into the house.
Soon enough, they’d managed to get the mattress into the foyer and upstairs. They marched back down to retrieve the bed’s new base, made of dark, heavy wood. I left them to it, heading to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate for when they were finished.The three of them always appreciated a nice drink after a hard stretch of work, and with days getting colder, I’d switched over from lemonade to something nice and warm.
With all of them moving in, the house was busier and fuller, and looked different from when I had first gotten there. Aside from it no longer looking like a single woman’s house, they’d added some things that would make everything more convenient, and had gotten several appliances, too. The king-sized bed had been the last addition to make it all feel complete.
“Oh, hot chocolate,” Beck was the first to appear around the corner when they were done, and he grabbed his with excitement. Ash followed closely behind him, smiling when he reached for his own mug. Calder didn’t appear with them.
Ash saw the questioning look on my face. “He said he wanted to make sure everything was perfect, but maybe he’s up there brooding over something. Don’t know what he’s so grumpy about, I’m the one who gave up the perfect man-cave apartment. I mean, not that I’m complaining; it’s worth it.”
“Mm-hmm,” I nodded, though I did raise an amused eyebrow at Ash as I gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Look, you can still take your bike to work if you want to.” Beck jokingly elbowed Ash in the ribs. “You don’t have to give up that lonely bad boy vibe if you don’t want to.”
