The concept feels foreign in my head, but also welcome.
“Yeah,” I say, instead of jumping into questions.
I take a step back and survey the paint job in the room. For a rental, it looks great. If I was going to live here, I’d want it to be a little more lively. Maybe add a mural. I’ve always dreamed about my home office having a Mario-esque scroller mural featuring all my favorite video game characters.
But for the rental, this will do. It’s not going to be a study, anyway, despite the fact that Jasper’s desk is in the middle of the room, covered with a tarp. This is going to be another bedroom, and I’ll have to decide what to do with his big, clunky desk.
I could bring it back to San Francisco with me, but it doesn’t fit with the furniture in my apartment. And, if I’m being honest, after seeing Max’s handiwork, Jasper’s furniture looks even shoddier in comparison.
He might have been great at construction, but putting together a desk both functional and beautiful clearly wasn’t in his wheelhouse.
Clapping, I turn and draw my thoughts away from Jasper, recognizing the familiar swell of grief rising up in the back of my throat. “Well, if you think that one looks good, wait until we do the next one!”
Max laughs when we walk into the next room and I reveal the paint I got during our last hardware visit — three cans of a soft pink.
“Oh,” he says, pushing up his sleeves, “so you’ve been planning this for a while. This isn’t what I was thinking when you saidpink.”
“What were you thinking?”
“Uh, more like a hot pink, maybe?” He laughs, and I shake my head.
“I’m not a psychopath.”
“Well, this color looks like baby pink. For a nursery.”
That hangs in the air for a moment, and I think about my reflections the other day, watching the ducklings in the pond. Maybe, when I get back to San Francisco, I should take my mom’s advice and cool down on my career. Spend more time looking for a husband before my biological clock times out.
I shrug, giddy as we push the furniture around and throw tarps over it. Once again, the mere fact of being in a room with Max — a room with abed, more specifically — is making my heart beat double time.
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea to leave a little bit of myself behind here, do you?”
Max catches my eye as we cover the bed with the plastic tarp, and we hold the gaze for longer than necessary. Finally, I’m the one to look away, kneeling down to open the paint can.
A beat later, from his place behind me, Max forces out a slightly choked, “No. I don’t.”
“Okay,good to know you’re notdead.”
“Do you ever answer the phone withhello?” I ask, shaking my head at my best friend.
“No,” Vanessa says. “I try not to waste time. So first, why the hell haven’t you been answering my texts? And second, these mock-ups areincredible. Have you done any dev work on it?”
“I was working with Max. I just have my laptop,” I say, tracing my finger over the edge of the chair I’m sitting in. “My desktop has the software on it. So, no. But you like the mock-ups?”
When I’d first gotten the internet hooked up, I shot some of my character sketches over to Vanessa, along with an explanation about the service and my newly installed connection to the outside world. Then, because of my focus on the renovation and the time I’ve been spending with Max, I completely forgot to check to see if she’d responded.
“Okay, wait, actually. I mean, yes, they’re fucking amazing and it’s honestly kind of annoying that you’re even pretending to be modest about this, but you were spendingmoretime with Max?”
“He’s just helping me.”
“Oh myGod, Lace, you’re literally doing thecity girl moves to the small town and becomes a trad wifething.”
“That’s way too long to be athing,” I counter, “and also, I’m not doing that. He’s just helping me with the renovations.”
“Yeah, and you want to bone him. And have his babies.”
A jolt rocks through me at the thought ofthat— me holding a baby while Max leans down to kiss her on the head. Him picking up a toddler and putting her on his shoulders.
That’s it! These mountains make people crazy. Highly creative, and strangely at peace, but also crazy. No way have I known a man for such a short amount of time and I’m already thinking about what it would be like to have hisbabies.
