Page 81 of Designs on You

“I mean furniture- and décor-wise. I assume you’ve had some of your things in storage.”

“Oh. Nothing. I got rid of everything before I moved out here. It was all mostly older or borrowed or left over from college.”

She grimaced. “Yikes. Okay, then. So you need everything. Furniture, dishes, pots and pans, towels. Things to hang on the walls. Everything, right?”

“Yup. Can you handle that?”

He figured she’d freak and he should have mentioned that to her earlier. But she surprised him by lifting her shoulder in a casual shrug. “I can if you’d like me to.”

“I would like you to. It’s about time I got grown-up stuff.”

She laughed. “I’d say past time, but yes, I’ll deal with it. Do you know what style you’d prefer?”

“Style? No. Just pick what you like and I’ll like it, too.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Eugene.”

“What? I know game stuff. I don’t know décor shit. That’s your area of expertise, and you’re very good at it.”

“Décor…things, aren’t the same as selecting what kind of dishes you like or what types of pots and pans you want to cook with. Or choosing a barbecue.”

“Which will be built in.” He scratched the side of his head. “Okay, I guess there are some things I need to pick out myself.”

“Indeed. Let me get the appliance deadline date from Ned so we’ll know when those are going to be installed. Then we’ll go shopping for those, along with everything else.”

He wrinkled his nose. “Joy.”

She looped her arm in his. “Some shopping is fun shopping. We’ll even buy you a lawn mower and a weed whacker, unless you plan to hire someone else to do that for you.”

He frowned. “No, I’ll do that myself.”

“Okay, then we’ll go buy you yard things.”

“Now that does sound like fun. But first, how about lunch?”

“Do you always put your stomach first?” she asked.

“It complains the loudest, so yeah, it takes priority.”

“Then, lunch it is.”

• • •

Lunch had been a good idea. Natalie had been hungry, and the grilled chicken salad and mango iced tea was exactly what she’d needed.

Eugene had a chicken sandwich and fruit salad. After they finished, they took their teas and drove to the appliance store. She had gotten the specs for the appliances from Ned so she knew what the max size parameters were for each item.

She waved off the salesperson who rushed up to greet them and told him she’d flag him down if they had questions, but otherwise she’d see him when they finished choosing their items.

“You’re very good at that,” Eugene said.

“At what?”

“Dismissing people.”

She laughed. “I do this a lot. Trust me, it’ll go a lot faster without George over there trying to push us to whatever gives him the biggest commission.”

“Then you’re in charge. Ma’am.”

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