“I could make building us a house my focus, instead of deciding on a new job. Get us settled.”
“You shouldn’t have to do the bulk of the work if you don’t want to. We can hire people for that. Thomas is a contractor, right?”
“I think I would enjoy it. Working with an architect, and yeah, still with a contractor. I’m not claiming I can do that job. But it will be a lot less stressful for both of us, I think, if we’re not trying to squeeze it in around two full-time jobs.”
He turned in a circle, then moved along for a different view. “We’d be able to make all the decisions to get the perfect place for us. Give you an office with a view, since that’s where you spend most of your day. An awesome porch, so we can sit and watch the stars.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.” She went up on her toes, but he met her more than halfway, and kissed her softly.
“How much land, again?” he asked. He glanced at the paper he was holding.
“It’s only twenty acres, but all that land there,” she pointed, “is protected. No building, no camping. For four hundred acres.”
“So we’d have all that land to run on.”
“Exactly. And where this land ends, over there,” she pointed, “is the other parcel of forty acres, which we can go look at too. The views look like they would be pretty similar. If we don’t have a huge preference for the specific land, I’ll vote for the smaller parcel for us, and the see if Myra and Adam might like the larger.”
“Agreed.”
“We don’t have to decide now. These parcels have been up for sale for quite a while.”
“We’ll go take a look, but my bet’s on that plan. Even if Myra and Adam aren’t sold on it, this is perfect for us.” He kissed her. “I’ll look into finding us a realtor. Or do you already have a list?”
She laughed. “Of course I do. And I’m happy to hand it over.”
Chapter Ten
Cindy hit the publish button on her screen and sat back in her chair with a sigh. It had been an intense article to research and write, but an important one. She’d had articles about insurance and wills before, but this one went deeper. And reminded her that she needed to put a priority on getting their marriage handled. Just because they, and the pack, considered mates to be spouses, didn’t mean the government would agree. Her current will put her assets in her brother’s hands, so she could trust that he would hand things over to Adam, but it would be unnecessarily complicated. A marriage license would fix that. And they both needed new wills.
She stretched and moved back up to the keyboard. Pulling up the list she’d already started, she dove into it, researching marriage licenses for their county to start with. She kept an eye on the clock. Jonas had told her he was going to help out at the pack house for a while.
The living room, kitchen and dining room had been set up, but now they needed to make the rest of the house into a home, ready for visitors and any pack members who might choose to live there before setting up their own houses. Plus, they needed to make it a space where the kids could hang out if their parents weren’t home, or they just wanted to socialize with each other.
He’d said he thought they would start painting the bedrooms today. Since she’d finished her work early enough, she could make the more complicated of the two dinners she’d tentatively planned. She pulled up the to-do list for today, confirmed she hadn’t missed anything, crossed out her Plan B dinner option, marked her work as done, and closed the list. She pulled out her phone, switched from her working playlist to one of her cooking playlists, and turned on the speakers for the whole house.
Instead of heading to the kitchen, she went to the bedroom and pulled out an apron she’d ordered last week and hidden in her drawer. It was retro style, bold red with large white polka dots. It boasted a lacy sweetheart neckline and a thick, sassy white tie around the waist. It was completely ridiculous, and she loved it, and was sure that Jonas would too. Especially over her cozy yoga pants and the long-sleeve thermal she was wearing.
She danced and chopped, sang and twirled, photographed and planned. When she had achieved a simmer, she turned to drinks. A little tug on the mate bond told her that Jonas was in a good, happy mood. Probably a little bit tired from the day’s work, but not too much. She considered her options. Making something that would bring a smile to his face was priority number one. Having that something be a recipe that could be posted on her blog was just a bonus.
Pulling out her phone, she accessed her file of possibilities and explored. Hmm, an Old Fashioned? A Gibson? No, not after a day of painting. A Mojito? Ah, a Tom Collins. Perfect.
She pulled out everything she needed and prepped the garnishes, then took pictures. She checked along her bond and didn’t sense Jonas on the move, so she figured she had some time to check in with Myra.
Myra answered on the first ring. “Tell me everything.”
Cindy laughed. “Nothing’s happening here, I just wanted to check in with you. I figured inviting and rejecting was probably a stressful process.”
“Well, you’re not wrong. I’m so glad I have Adam to help me out, and of course Jen and Joe have been great as well. Remind me to make sure that any new members of the hierarchy don’t have names that start with J.”
“Or at least have more than three letters.”
“That would work, too. We talked to all of the pack, and decided to invite the Changs, the Parks and Mrs. Bogan.”
“That’s Miss Latisha to you,” Cindy interjected.
Myra’s laugh was clear and easy, so Cindy wasn’t too worried about the stress of the decisions, and relaxed. She moved to the couch and plopped down.
“Right, Miss Latisha is awesome, and has already accepted our invitation. She’s going to take her time with the move, so we might not see her for a couple of months, but she’s in.”
