Page 37 of Wishes at Water's Edge
“Hazel!” he said warmly and hurried over to hug her. “Hey, sweetheart. It’s so nice to see you.”
Hazel felt a rush of relief that he seemed so glad to see her instead of flustered. She hugged him back tightly. “I saw you through the window on my way in,” she said, stroking his hair back. “You looked really upset. What’s wrong, Jacob?”
He looked at her for a few seconds, and it was clear that he was debating whether or not to tell her something. She felt her heart skip a beat as she guessed that what he had been sad about had something to do with the way he’d been acting strangely lately.
Finally, he sighed and sat down on the edge of his desk. He gently tugged her over to the spot next to him so that she would sit down beside him.
“I wanted to keep this a secret from you,” he said slowly, his eyes on the floor. He shook his head. “But that’s becoming impossible.”
He turned to look at her, and he looked so sad that she felt her stomach do a somersault.
“Keep what secret?” she prompted, feeling concerned. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“I…” Jacob paused and took a deep breath. “I put in an offer on a fixer-upper house.”
Hazel’s jaw dropped. For a moment, she hardly processed what he’d said. Then she threw her arms around him and kissed him.
“Oh my gosh! For us? You put in an offer on a house for us?” She was completely shocked but elated.
He nodded, looking sad. “I did, but my offer got rejected. That was the phone call you saw me on just now.”
“Oh, I see.” She nodded, feeling bad for him. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “That’s okay. We’re going to find another house. Just because your offer got turned down for this one doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get approved. We’ll do it together.” She kissed his cheek, feeling elated about the project. “I love the idea.”
“Yeah?” He hugged her tightly. “I really wanted to surprise you. I had this idea that I would drive you up to the house and ask you to close your eyes until you were standing right in front of it—and then you’d open your eyes, and I’d just say, ‘Surprise!’”
Hazel chuckled, loving the way he sounded so wistful about how he’d wanted to surprise her. “That does sound amazing, but in the long run, I’d rather get to pick out the house with you. It’ll be so much fun. And I’m so touched that you wanted to surprise me and that you’re envisioning our future together.”
“Of course.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’m so excited about our future together. I want to give you a big beautiful old house that you can decorate as much as you want.”
She pulled away from their embrace so that she could see his face, stuck with a realization. “Is this why you were acting so weirdly about me wanting to paint and things like that? You wanted me to slow down on renovating my own home because you were planning on getting us a new one?”
He nodded, making a goofy scrunched-up expression. “I didn’t want you to put all that work in if we’re about to move somewhere else.”
She laughed. “That makes a lot of sense. I just couldn’t understand why you weren’t acting enthusiastic at all. And then when you came in here and shut your laptop all of a sudden—was that because you’d been looking at houses?”
Jacob groaned. “Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worried or anything like that. I should have realized that you’d notice me acting strangely like that.”
She grinned at him. “Hey, it was for a good cause. I’m just happy you didn’t totally dislike my ideas after all.”
He shook his head. “Not at all. I loved your ideas—I really want you to decorate our new home the way you’ve decorated yours. And there are other things I want to do with you too. I figured we could do things like building bookshelves and changing out the light fixtures. I love track lights, and I thought we could put some in the living room and kitchen. I mean—I was thinking that for the one I’d been hoping to buy, but we could probably do those things in whatever house we buy. I’d love to get some big old house with you. Most old houses don’t have track lights.”
“That all sounds wonderful to me. And could we do a tile backsplash in the kitchen?” she asked eagerly, pulling out her phone. She showed him the pictures she’d taken of the tiles in the general store. “With tiles like these?”
He chuckled and pulled her in for a kiss. “Those look beautiful, sweetheart. I would love that.”
Hazel let out a little sigh of satisfaction. Her enthusiastic boyfriend was back. “I’m so glad. They look like they belong in a little French cottage in the countryside, don’t they? Maybe in the seventeen hundreds?”
He laughed. “Yes. And they also look like they belong in our house that we’re going to buy and renovate together. I’m so excited about having a project like that with you. I think it would be so fun to do together.”
“I wholeheartedly agree.” She grinned at him. “Our house is going to be amazing.”
He sighed, looking regretful again for a moment. “The house I put an offer on was perfect. I was imagining Samantha playing in the front yard while you and I sat on the wrap-around porch and sipped tea.”
“That sounds like a good dream,” she told him, sitting on the desk next to him again. “A very good one. And I think it can still come true—and it will—in good time. We just need to find another house first.”
For a moment, they sat there smiling at each other, and Hazel felt her heart lift up in happiness. Not only was there nothing wrong between her and Jacob, but they were going to pick out a home together and fix it up as a couple.
And to think I was so excited about renovating my own house, she thought.This is going to be so much more fun than that. We get to house hunt together!
