Page 24 of Conquered Obstacles

And maybe even then… No, probably not. Ice cream might be the line.

He laughed when I told him that. We went inside, and I used my power to prepare the fish and wrap them all up so we didn’t have to get dirty. I simply shrugged.

“So what do we do with ourselves now?” he asked, flinching when I did, probably hearing the innuendo. “Sorry, I didn’t—”

“No, I know what you meant,” I hurried to say, wracking my brain for what to answer though. Then it hit me. “Oh, I was going to ask about over here, with the TV mount. And—you seemed—I don’t know—the twins always handle that stuff.”

“Sure, I could help you get whatever,” he said easily, walking over towards the sofa he’d slept on the other night. He turned back to me and looked a bit awkward. “How about a full tour and another sundae?”

“Even better,” I agreed. “Sorry, this did get a bit awkward.”

“I didn’t mean what I said that way.”

I shook my head. “No, of course not. It’s just I remembered the other night and… Things have just been awkward and—” I shrugged.

The house was so big it took us two sundaes, and both gave me ideas for desserts and so did the first we ate, so by the time we came back to the kitchen, my counter was loaded with treats. I simply shrugged, but he looked thrilled, his goal also hoping to spark my creativity.

“I really don’t know what to do with all of this,” I admitted, gesturing to the house. “It’s too much, and normally the twins handle it all. The apartment above the bakery was the first time I was much of help, and that was about as much as I wanted to handle.”

He nodded along and waved me off when I picked up another sundae. “I cannot keep up with you. I have to tap out, but go right ahead.”

“Wuss,” I teased, smiling when he did.

“I would look at the listing pictures.” He shrugged when I glanced at him. “They normally have professionals do the furniture and take the pictures because they want the best shots. But for a fancy home like this, it would be a professional decorator, right? It would be at least something to give you a good baseline. None of them were bad, right?”

He was a brilliant man.

“No, not at all. I loved them, and it was what drew me to the house. I thought it was all a bit light but yes, that makes sense for listing. I immediately thought the twins and I would spill on white couches.”

He chuckled. “Your power would fix that right up.”

“Yes, but still impractical.” But I immediately pulled up the pictures I had saved since the listing was already taken down or I probably could have found it as recently sold. It always made sense to save the pictures.

The twins had taught me that.

We honestly didn’t do that much and what we did was pretty funny. It was more fixing what I didn’t like. Like the wood in the study was way too dark. I changed that but didn’t furnish it. But I did love the rug and dining room chairs in the listing photos… And hated the table. So for now there was a rug and chairs.

Isiah laughed so hard, but I simply shrugged and moved on.

Overall, it was progress but yeah, it was funny. We had fun and were amused.

More desserts were also on the counters when we finished that, and I’d had enough ice cream by then. It was time to get the fish going, so I also made dough appear and had it set up to rise so that was ready. I was a diligent student, loving how animated Isiah became as he talked about taking care with the fish that would feed us.

I thanked him for the lesson and asked if he wanted something to drink… As I almost tripped over my feet to find Jamie and his mother in the kitchen.

“I apologize,” Jamie hedged, glancing between us. “You said you had a date, so I thought you’d be out. Mother and I—”

“It’s fine,” I immediately forgave. “You’re living here too.”

“It’s a Tuesday afternoon that shocked me,” Isiah chuckled nervously. “But I saw you at the factory this weekend, so none of us have normal hours.” He cleared his throat and shot Mrs. Kraft a look.

She cleared her throat as well and was the adult in the room and decided to simply handle the awkward. She walked right up to Isiah and extended her hand. “We haven’t been officially introduced. Patricia Kraft, Jamie’s mom. Most call me Patti.”

“Isiah Chase, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Patti,” he greeted, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips. “I was giving Arabella her first lesson in smoking fish as she was making some changes to the house. You’re both more than welcome to join us.”

“That’s very kind of you, but I’m here to show support for Jamie and Colton’s spirit shop,” she explained. “The opening weekend is after Easter.”

“I saw the sign go up,” Isiah said. “The name is great.”

---