“Sure,” she said brightly as she bounced over to me. God, it was good to see that smile become a more permanent fixture on her face. She ended up just paying Sean to fix her car and strip all the malware from it, but it seemed like she couldn’t care less about it as it sat parked since she got it back last week.
I led her over to the barn, opening the door for her to walk in ahead of me. Most of it was in boxes, but she gasped at the few pieces she could see.
“What is all this stuff?” she asked while rifling through a box of handmade centerpiece doilies.
“It’s all the stuff my grandma was able to save after the wedding chapel burned down. We didn’t have it constantly decorated, people usually wanted their own items brought in, but Grandma did have a stash of her own stuff to make the place look stunning,” I told her as she opened more boxes. There were vintage crystal vases and candleholders, plates and pitchers and punch sets. “I thought maybe we could set up the barn to be a dining space for the harvest festival,” I said, feeling hopeful.
“Calvin!” She whipped around to face me. “That’s an incredible idea!” The look of excitement on her face could have stopped my heart. She was always beautiful, but when she was happy like this, she shined brighter than all the stars in the clear night sky.
“But why do you want my help?”
The confusion on her face was cute, and I found myself wanting to kiss her because of it. The realization shocked me. Ihadn’t wanted anything like this for a while, and the feeling was only kicking in around her.
“Well, I thought, with your interior design degree, you may have an eye for decorating. I want to surprise my mom and grandma, and wouldn’t know the first thing about where stuff should go.” I hoped I wasn’t overstepping.
She hadn’t mentioned anything to me about wanting to find work, so I wasn’t sure if she wanted to take a break from it or find something different. The smile on her face told me I was onto something and when she squealed and clapped while jumping up and down, all my worries completely vanished.
“Oh my gosh, Calvin, yes! Vicky and Trixie are going to loveit,” she gushed.
We got busy setting up the tables and chairs. She wasn’t afraid to put me to work then, and I was more than willing to do anything she told me to. But as soon as I tried taking the vintage pieces out of the boxes and asked her where she wanted them all, it seemed I was just more in the way than anything and she shooed me out of the space.
I left, laughing to myself. Her mannerism was so much like Grandma Trixie shooing you out of her space, I didn’t even think she realized how much she was growing to become a part of my family.
“Hey, Cal,” Garrett called with a big smile on his face as I came out of the barn. “Would you just look at the yard? It’s sure coming along.”
It really was. Nothing was in bloom anymore, but all the fall foliage decorated the farm in a warm tapestry of colours. The yard had been cleaned up, and white lights had been strung along the driveway leading to where the bonfire would be. Tables were getting set up with displays for the farmers’ market, and we even had a section with games for the kids complete with a hay bale maze. Something larger than pride filled my chest.This wouldn’tbe enough to pull my family out of debt, but it was going to help tremendously.
“What do you need me to do? Put me to work,” Garrett said, rolling up his sleeves.
“Actually, I have something else I need help with. It’s closer to my place, though.”
As we walked, we talked about the plans for the weekend, and I let him know about how Stella was working in the barn to decorate it with Grandma’s vintage stuff for the dinner.
“You really like this girl, don’t you?” Garrett asked in his joking tone of voice, but I could tell it was a genuine question.
“I don’t know, man. I don’t feel like I’m ready for a relationship. There’s so much going on with the business and I hate seeing the load on Mom’s shoulders.”
Garrett nodded as he understood. Although he hadn’t stuck with the family business, he still helped out as much as he could.
“But there’s just something about her. The look on her face when she dropped that vase, and the way she screamed when that bear cub was chasing her…those are memories I can’t get out of my mind until I see her smile. Like I need to know she’s okay.” I didn’t mention the very first night I saw her trembling and covered her with a blanket, but that was also an image that was ingrained in my brain. “Did you know it was her birthday at the beginning of October? She just told Mel the other day.”
“What?” he asked, shock lining his face. My brother lovedbirthdays. Well, really, he just loved to party and would take any excuse to do so. Birthdays were just the best one and he was thrilled with any reason to celebrate the people he loved. “Well, that’s just completely unacceptable.”
I nodded, grateful for my brother’s help as we got to work on the surprise I had set up for Stella.
By the time Garrett and I finished, Stella was standing outside the barn with a look of accomplishment on her face.
“Do you want to see?” she asked, her cheeks rosy with excitement and a slight sheen of sweat along her forehead. Her long hair was pulled into a messy bun on top of her head, and I wondered what it would feel like to run my fingers through it. Gosh, she was gorgeous as every single version of herself, and I wanted to know each one.
I resisted the urge to hug her, but followed her into the barn and was absolutely blown away by the magic she’d created.
“Stella,” I breathed out. Her name was the only word I could vocalize as I took in the space that looked like a fairy tale wedding. She had moved the tables from their original setup and made two long rows on each side of the barn, leaving a large space in the middle. She had strung lights from the rafters in the ceiling—I didn’t even want to think about how she got up there—and had the vintage glassware displayed as the most beautiful centerpieces on top of the handmade doilies.
“I’ll add the flowers in the morning, I placed an order with Gloria, and she’ll be bringing them by.” She looked at me expectantly. “Do you think they’ll like it?” The look on her face changed, there was still the excitement that was showing before, but there was a bit of concern and worry underneath, too. It was like she doubted herself.
I wish I knew what to do to take that worry away completely, but I gave her the best I could in that moment—the truth. “Stella, they’re going toloveit.”
She looked relieved at my comment.
