Page 87 of Seeing You

Not that she’d eversellit to him—gift it to him, yes, but there was no way she’d accept money from her own father like that.

They walked into the house after a quick knock, and it was just as loud and boisterous as every Donovan family get-together. Her sisters and Jade were in the kitchen laughing about something, Silas was out in the yard throwing a football around with Tanner, Reid and Levi were out by the grill, and her mother was holding baby Calvin and reading him a story.

“I’m going to go out and see what the boys are up to,” Ronan said before heading into the kitchen to put the dessert boxes down. He said a quick hello to everyone on his way to the yard.

Billie joined her sisters and Jade while helping set up food and munching on the chips and guacamole Chloe had brought with her. Her mood was definitely lighter than last weekend, and she decided to tell them about her plans for her kitchen renovation.

“That’s awesome!” Jade said as she made a plate of snacks for herself. “You are definitely due for it…actually, long overdue.”

“I know. I just hope I can fit what I want in the existing kitchen footprint. I’m not looking to turn this into a whole-house renovation. I’m definitely not prepared for that level of chaos.”

“You should talk to Reid,” Ash suggested. “He’s been doing demo on houses for years and helping the contractors who are doing the renovations. As a matter of fact, he and Dad are working on a place not too far from here where they’re pulling out the old kitchen and putting in a new one.”

“Are you going to get a double oven?” Jade asked.

“Ooh…and one of those massive refrigerators?” Chloe added. “You’re going to need a bigger island, that’s for sure. You might lose some of your seating, but you have the dining room. Maybe make that your primary eating area and use the entire kitchen for cabinets and a workspace! That could be amazing!”

“I hadn’t really thought of that…”

Just then, Reid strolled into the kitchen, stopping to kiss Ashlynn before turning and smiling at everyone. “I’m not going to start the grill for another hour. We’ve got more than enoughfood here to keep us going.” He spotted Billie and nodded. “Hey, Bill! We were just talking about you this morning.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, your dad and I demoed a kitchen and the contractor has the new one almost completed. Kevin Connelly is the guy handling it. He mentioned that he’s coming to give you an estimate next week, right?”

She nodded. “I have no idea what I’m looking for or the kind of work he does. It was really kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision. Have you worked with him before?”

“A few times.” Pausing, he looked at Ash before returning his attention to her. “We’ve got some time before dinner; would you like to go over and see the job he’s doing? You could just see the quality of the work and maybe get a few ideas.”

“Is that allowed? Wouldn’t the homeowners be a little annoyed that strangers are walking through their house?”

“They’re not living in the house, and Kevin said people would be working throughout the weekend, so…if you’re interested…?”

“I don’t know…I just got here…”

“Go!” Ash prodded. “It’s not like we don’t all see each other every day. It’s okay for you to leave for a few minutes. Besides, Reid said the appliances these people are putting in are amazing.”

“It’s a chef’s kitchen,” Reid explained. “And yeah, it’s definitely amazing. When I saw the size of the island, you were the first one I thought of.”

“Oh, well…now I really need to see it!” she joked. “And you’re sure it’s okay?”

“Absolutely! C’mon, we’ll take my truck over.”

Smiling at everyone, she said, “I guess I’m going to look at a kitchen!”

Following Reid out of the house and out to his truck, she listened to him praise Kevin’s work and work ethic. It went along way in putting her mind at ease about doing the work. At this point, she was ninety percent sure she was going to do it, but until she knew how much it would cost, she wasn’t going to get too excited about it.

“I didn’t realize you were still doing the demo thing,” she said as they pulled out of the driveway. “I thought you were busy at the firehouse.”

“I am, but every once in a while I get a call from one of the contractors asking if I’m available. The extra money is nice and if I have some time—and energy—then I do it. But I’ve turned down plenty of requests. This one is less than five minutes from our house, so it seemed like a good fit.”

“And you asked my dad to help?” she asked with a laugh. “Why would you do that to yourself?”

Luckily, Reid laughed with her. “Ronan’s not so bad. Your mom mentioned how he was just puttering around looking for things to do, so I thought he might not mind helping out. He really misses bartending, but there haven’t been any job openings for that around here.”

“He should be focused on retiring.”

“I don’t think he can afford to just yet. He enjoys taking odd jobs, but he can’t do anything too physical. Ash loves having him close by, so we try to find him things to do whenever we can.”

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