Page 27 of We're One

“I trust your opinion. You’re obviously great at your job,” Zach says. The damn dip in his voice is seriously messing with my hormones. I look up and our eyes meet, and for a moment, the air between us is charged. His gaze captures mine for several heartbeats. Finally, I manage to look down and inhale a calming breath of air.

“Sounds good,” I say, my voice too squeaky. I clear my throat and start again. “With added touches of plants, the other accents will really pull it all together.” Wait? Didn’t I say this already? He’s frying my nerves. I can’t stand next to him. I move away as I go over to my bag and fiddle with it, pretending to pull something else out as I give myself a lecture on staying professional.

“I like all of this, Sia,” Zach says, thankfully staying right where he is as he touches the different fabrics, pulling some into the out pile. We have very similar tastes. He only removes a couple of the ones I like. “What about the picture frames?”

“A home needs framed photos throughout. They tell the story of who you are, where you came from, and what you like. We don’t have to cover every space with photos, but a home with only artwork feels like a museum,” I tell him.

“I like the personal touch. Gramps always put framed pics of us in the den, but never hung them through the house. I think after he lost Grams, he didn’t know how to decorate,” he says with a chuckle.

“That’s normal. Some men love decorating, but that’s more the exception to the rule. Although, I have to tell you some of my best competitors are men.”

“I’m not in that category. I have no clue where to even begin. I have you here, though, so that’s better than me trying to do all of this.”

“Very true. Once we have the walls painted, I’d love to take you to my favorite warehouse that has displays set up to give you entire room views. You can pick an entire set, or pick out individual pieces.”

“I’d love to see it, and give you ideas, but honestly, I’ll let you pick the final vision. You’re going to know more about what won’t crowd the space too much. If it was up to me I’d probably line the house with La-Z-Boys and nothing else,” he says with a chuckle.

We continue discussing details when Zach gets a call. He lets out a sigh. He answers, tells the caller he’ll call right back, then hangs up and turns to me.

“That’s a work call I need to take. Why don’t I show you the computer with the photo file. You can pick out images you think will work. This call will take at least an hour,” he says.

“That sounds good to me,” I tell him. I need a break from his company. It’s not that it isn’t pleasant. It’s the opposite. Being with him is far too enjoyable and easy. I need to calm my hormones.

He takes me into the office and opens a file marked photos. There are thousands of images. This will take a while. He leaves me with a fresh cup of coffee and a bagel with cream cheese, then disappears. This man must not have anything to hide if he’s leaving me with open access to his computer. I wouldn’t leave my computer with anyone. It has far too much personal stuff on it. I’m not a person to snoop, but he doesn’t know that.

Honey comes in the room and immediately curls up at my feet. I like this dang puppy far too much. It’s not wise to get attached to anything that belongs to Zach, but I’m failing. I like his dog, I like his home, and as much as I don’t want to, I like him. Ugh.

I turn from these thoughts as I click through images, feeling a lump in my throat as I go through Zach’s life. There are countless images of Zach with his brothers, Blaze and Callan, their camaraderie and love for each other evident in every shot. There are multiple images with their grandfather, and some with their grandmother, the older people’s faces beaming with pride and love. The ones of Zach and his brothers with their parents make my eyes sting. This family was so happy together. To have all of that ripped away is so heartbreaking. It makes me realize I need to take some time and make a visit home. I miss my parents. Talking on the phone isn’t enough after a while.

One photo of Zach catches my eyes. It’s him and his brothers fishing by a serene lake, their laughter frozen in time. He’s so young and carefree, younger than when I met him, maybe around sixteen. He’s wearing the same cocky smile he wore the first time I met him, like he has the whole world in his hands. Another picture is with Zach and Gramps, their arms wrapped around each other as they gaze out at a beautiful sunset, their profile absolutely stunning. More tears sting my eyes.

I shake off the feeling and compose myself, then create a new folder and add my favorite photos to it. I hope he allows me to choose the pictures. I want to surprise him. I’m sure he hasn’t looked at a lot of these images in years. It will be fun to place them through the house, to allow Zach and his siblings to walk down Memory Lane as they move from room to room.

I carefully select a mix of young and current images, ensuring they represent the beautiful essence of Zach’s family and the strong love they share for one another. I’ll get them sent and framed as soon as I know the colors of the walls. This, in my opinion, is the most important part of the redecoration process.

I lose track of time as I get the last of my photos in the new folder. I jump as Zach’s voice interrupts my task. “Find anything good?” He chuckles as I look up to see him standing in the doorway. Honey sleepily looks up, then jumps to her feet to circle Zach, her tail wagging away. I wish I could wake up as happy and fast as an animal.

“What time is it?” I ask, my eyes a bit blurry. I blink away the fog that comes when staring at a computer for too long.

“Four. That call took me nearly three hours,” he says with apology in his voice.

“Wow, I lost all sense of time. That was fun, and yes, I found great images. Do you want to go through them?”

He shakes his head. “I’m sure you did well. I’ll leave that up to you.”

I beam at him. “As soon as we have the wall colors chosen, I’ll send these to a company that will send them back framed and ready to go.”

“Wow, that’s great,” he says. “I guess there’s no need to head to the print shop anymore.”

“I love the convenience of everything being online. That is until I lose internet then don’t know what to do with myself.”

He laughs. “My job depends on the internet, so I get that.”

“I think we went over everything we could today. Let’s do the walk through on the next round so you can take some time to look through the rooms on your own and have an idea of what you want to do before I go through it with you. Also, you can spend the next couple of days narrowing down the samples. When I come back next, we’ll do a complete walk through on the house. I’ll bring my trusty tabs. We can move as fast or slow as you want now. When the budget is this high, things don’t have to wait.”

He frowns for a moment, but it’s so brief I might’ve imagined it. He quickly grins again. “I can’t send you home hungry. Why don’t you stay for dinner?”

It’s crazy how much I want to accept his offer. Because I want to accept so badly, I shake my head. This day has messed with me too much already and I need to make an exit before I do something foolish like end up on one of his couches naked.

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