Part of me wants her to know that things are changing for me, and I hope I’m communicating that fact to her. But I want to have the conversation when I won’t be immediately leaving the next morning. So, I’ll wait, but in the meantime, I’m going to try and let her know by my actions.
“I feel the same. Good night, Dex.”
“Good night, Jolie.”
Before sleep claims me, I swear I hear her whisper, “I hope it’s okay that I’m falling in love with you.”
Chapter Fourteen
Jolie
Color me impressed that the company Dex works for picks him up and transports him to not only the airport, but his job site via the company helicopter. No commercial flying needed, which is good because Dex isn’t a small man and the way airplanes are built these days, he’d be cramped. He gets a daily per diem as well, which is kind of funny considering everything they need is provided for on the rig. Plus, depending on what the job is and whether he’ll be under water working or on the rig itself, his pay varies. We’ve gone over his finances and his lowest paying year, which was the first year he worked in the field, was nearly ninety thousand dollars. Now, because of his expertise, he makes well over six figures. Since he has minimal expenses, he has banked the majority of it and put some in money market accounts. In short, he let me know that money was no issue for us, because each of them also received life insurance payouts from their parents’ deaths. We’ve put the kids’ in high yield money market accounts for their future, buteven with refurnishing the whole farmhouse from the inside out, we’ve got money in each of our accounts.
“Dex, I don’t need that much!” I exclaim, looking at my personal account. It’s for my ‘fun money’ and there’s no way I can spend ten thousand dollars! I mean, I also have money in there, as well as a healthy savings account due to my own inheritance, but still, it’s a lot for me to comprehend.
“Sweetheart, let me do this. It eases my mind,” he replies as we FaceTime.
“Trust me, your grandmothers have us so fully stocked food-wise, we could survive for at least six months without going to the store. I just built new shelves in the basement for the paper products then did a Costco haul.”
“You used the house account, right?” he asks.
I roll my eyes at him because he set up a house account for groceries and that sort of thing, a joint account for the utilities and monthly bills that come in, as well as stuff for the kids, then we have a vacation account, a Christmas account, and an emergency fund which has two years’ worth of expenses in it ‘just in case’. I think he’s going overboard, but maybe my organizational skills are rubbing off on him, who knows? Oh, and did I mention he has one of those health savings accounts as well for anything that’s medical related? For a formerly single man, he sure had his act together, far more than I did, that’s for dang sure.
“Yes, I did. So glad I can balance a checking account,” I tease, causing him to grin at me. “Oh! Hold on, I want to show you what the kids and I finished yesterday!”
I jump up from the recliner I’ve been sitting in and run through the house to the back porch. Opening the door, I dash across the grass barefoot until I’m in front of the Taj Mahal of chicken coops. We had started it before he left, but since the kids wanted to help, we didn’t get it finished until last weekend. He’s been gone two weeks so far and it sucks, because he just heard from his boss, Bruce, that another job came in and they specifically requested him, so it’ll be at least another week or two before he’s home. With it just being me, Abuela, Nonna and the pets, I’ve found I’m a bit lonely. Funny how my life has gone from being rather staid and boring to one that’s full of happiness and joy. Still, I sometimes worry that there’s another shoe that’ll fall, that all of this will go away, and I’ll once again be all alone in the world.
“Okay, are you ready?” I ask, slightly wheezing from my exertion. I’m not working today per se; the kids got dropped off at a two-week camp since summer break is officially in progress. Instead, I’m focusing on some of the projects that are on my never-ending list.
Dex surprised me with a small binder of sorts that has color-coded tabs, so my lists are more organized now. There’s quite a bit of satisfaction when I cross through a completed task and put the date in the completion box. Silly, I know, but it’s what I’ve always done and so far, it’s worked so why change a good thing? I may have gushed a bit when he gave it to me; I haven’t had a gift since Grampy died except for the things I bought for myself.
“Hit me with it, baby,” he teases.
I giggle as I maneuver myself and my phone so he can see what we did. “Now, just understand that Arya insisted on picking out the paint color,” I warn as I pan the enclosure with the coop.”
“Is that… is that flamingo pink?” he asks, laughing. “With purple trim andsparkles?”
My own laughter erupts as I walk around the enclosure. Every attention to detail was taken, down to the little ‘flower boxes’ in the windows that’ll have greens growing for the chickens. There are shutters as well that we can close if the weather is inclement,andit was wired for both heat and air, so the chickens stay comfortable. Nesting boxes are set in the side with easy access doors to gather eggs once they start laying, of course, and there’s a small picnic table with a trough down the middle for seed. Brooding boxes are also inside, ready for when they have viable eggs that’ll hatch into babies. I’ve already signed us up for a candling class at the local tractor supply store. Neither me nor the kids can wait to start this adventure, that’s for sure. The whole thing has an enclosed top to keep the chickens as safe as possible from predators. The last thing I want is a fox or something to get in there and come out to a massacre, that’s for sure.
“Wait a second, how come the chickens have a picnic table and we don’t?” he suddenly asks.
Turning the phone around again so he can see me, I tease, “But wait, there’s more!”
Moving back toward the house, I veer to the left where an area has been dug out for the above-ground pool we’re putting in and pan that, then the patio I’m building to house the grills he owns, as well as two picnic tables. To say I’ve been keeping myself busy with stuff around the house is an understatement.
The kids have helped me finish painting the rest of the rooms and we’re now working on the area upstairs that’s between the bedrooms. I decided it would be a good little nook for the kids tohang out in if they wanted to be away from ‘us adults’. My hope is that they’ll start inviting their little friends over because I want them to have the childhood that I didn’t. Technically, Dex didn’t really have that either since he was an only child until he was in his early twenties, so there’s that to consider as well.
He whistles and says, “Damn, honey, you’ve been busy as hell. You’re not leaving me anything to do when I come home!”
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll come up with something, because for every project I complete, one of the others thinks of something else to add around here” I tease. “Oh! Do you wanna see how the loft is shaping up?”
“Hit me with it but you don’t have to run. I know it’s hot at home and there’s no sense in getting all sweaty when you’re not working today.”
Dale, bless his heart, knowing the situation, is only sending me out on small handyman jobs, so to speak. Since school’s out for the summer and I’m caught up on those, I’ve been focusing on the projects I had earmarked for the house. Plus, Nonna and Abuela are constantly adding to my never-ending list.
“I was taking a break because the first coat of paint had to dry,” I admit as I go back into the house and head upstairs. Turning the phone around again, I pan the area so he can see that I’ve ‘bricked’ one of the walls and have a flat-screen television already mounted, with an electric fireplace underneath. The walls are a medium gray so that the furniture that’s on hold for delivery will match. I decided on darker colors because it’s for the kids. Instead of carpet, I laid tile down for ease in cleaning, and two of the walls have bookshelves inset into them and have been stained a dark cherry. I’ll put the area rugs down once I’mcompletely finished but those are currently in one of the spare rooms right now waiting to be put to good use.
The smells from the paint, stain, and epoxy I used permeate the area despite the air purifiers I have up here, but it sends a frisson of longing for my grampy. I think he’d be tickled pink to see how I’ve taken what he taught me and made it my own.
