Page 51 of Ten Hammers

“Right. Okay. All of our renos are amazing. But I am never going to love every nook and cranny of this house the way I love the cottage and no one better make the phrase ‘nook and cranny’ dirty for me.”

This is met with several chuckles, and a devious gleam in Cruz’s eyes.

They’re all listening, so I go on. “I want to see the vision you guys have for this place. I want to see all of your fingerprints on it. I’ll help choose the colors and finishes and everything, obviously, but as far as the layout and all the special features… I want this to be your brainchild.”

I’ve actually thought about this quite a bit. We’ll dismantle this place, rid it of every rotten board, even if we can’t do the same for all the rotten memories. Then I want them to rebuild it with love. With all of our other renos, we let the families have wishlists, the way they had done with me and the cottage. But this one, I want to be all them.

That’s the only thing that keeps me from wanting to just swing into the place on a wrecking ball, ala Miley circa 2013, knocking it all down, until nothing is left but a pile of rubble that can be swept away.

“If that’s how you want it, you got it, princess,” Max says.

“We’ll add so much value, you’ll be able to sell it for whatever price you want,” Gav promises.

“I’ll give it so much curb appeal, Mom and Pops will want to buy it from you,” Axel jokes.

I’d been thinking about that, as well. I scrunch up my nose. “I might not want to sell it actually,” I rush on despite their expressions, which run the gamut from a quizzical to confounded to perplexed to flirty as hell. “I might want to give it away. If I could pick the perfect family for it… a deserving family, a family that needs it… I don’t know. Despite how it was for me, maybe this place can be a happy home. Someone’s dream home. A home they’d never get to have otherwise.”

All my boys are looking at me, beaming with pride.

“How very Win of you,” Gavin says.

“Well, you know what they say, a demo a day keeps the doctor away,” Gunnar.

“Absolutely no one says that, dude.” Gav rolls his eyes. “But let’s do this.”

“What room do you want to start in, Win?” Theo asks.

“Actually,” Jack jumps in quickly, his eyes finding mine. “Winnie, will you go on a date with me?”

“Right now?” I ask.

“There’s no time like the present, Winifred.”

“You can’t hurry love, Jackman,” I retort, but I’m grinning. God, it’s a big goofy grin, I can feel it stretching my cheeks.

“You guys mind?” Jack asks his brothers.

No one grumbles but no one jumps up and down cheering, either.

Finally Diesel says, “Go. We got this. Win, is there anything you want us to save for you to…”

“Let my wounded inner child knock the shit out of?” I finish, half-joking. “Yeah, save the recliner for me. Thanks.” I turn to Jack. “Do I need to change?”

“Not a damn thing,” he says.

I roll my eyes, but my insides are both ooey and gooey. “I meant, do I need to put on another outfit?”

“Nah, but if you want to take what you’re wearing off and y’know, not put anything else–”

“It’s Jack’s turn, Cruz,” I wag my finger at him.

SERIOUSLY. WHAT IS MY LIFE RIGHT NOW?

“You know he’s going to be incorrigible now that he knows there’s a chance you might flirt back with him, right?” Jack asks, amused.

Before I can reply, Jack swoops me up, then, slinging me over his shoulder as he always does around our renos. It feels so familiar but new. He’s wearing a shirt for once. I might need to adjust our list of rules to add necessary shirtlessness because this shoulder ride is not nearly as fun as it could be. I’ve fantasized about him swooping me up and off to the bedroom so many times over the years, but this is the first time it actually could happen because we are officially dating.

“Have her back by curfew or you’re both grounded!” Gunnar calls as Jack carries me out the front door.

---