Page 37 of Ava
“Deep undercover in Afghanistan. Gathering Intel from the locals at the market place. I had to stay there for three months.”
“Ouch.” Ava shook her head as she heard that. “Longest I had to stay was six weeks.”
“Yeah, and you were a sniper. I was too, but because my Farsi was better than the others, I had to stay.”
“Crap. Maybe that’s why they kept me there that long too.”
“We’ll never know.” Morgan sighed, then looked at the men. “Sorry, but let me think about it. In the meantime, why don’t you two make plans to go back and purchase seven more beds, and dressers, and the pillows and rugs?” She handed the black credit card back, and Ava allowed Justin to take it. They quickly left the room, and closed the door behind them. They weren’t told to, but the expressions on the others’ faces warranted it.
“You okay?” Ava asked Justin as they made their way down the hall and stopped in the living room.
“Yeah, so you okay with us going back tomorrow?”
“Sure, you?”
“Yes.” They stood there, and Ava sighed. “Well, goodnight then.”
“Goodnight.” He headed toward the kitchen, and they both noticed the dishes were done, the counters clean, and Alex was gone. She hadn’t realized they’d been in the office that long.
“Is Alex always like that? Wanting to do things by himself?”
“Yes. And he’s the quietest of all of us. At first, I thought it was Alan, but he’s only quiet when he’s planning a new design to make with his wood. When we came out here, I thought I’d be worried about them, but they seem to have adjusted fine. I think out of everyone, I should be worried about me.”
“Why?”
“Because, I don’t have a new project to work on. I’m the engineer, or architect on this project. My job is at the beginning, and to keep from being totally bored, I help with the build. I have nothing, that’s why I put up flyers today. John and Josh own the construction business. Alfie has his leatherwork, Alan has his woodworking, and Alex wants to be a rancher.”
“Oh, so that’s why you volunteered to help Morgan with Boswell?”
“It is.” He nodded, then took her hand and gave it a squeeze. He then turned and walked away. She waited until she heard the back door shut, then she went to her room, showered, and was curled up in the chair in the corner with a book, and read until ten, then climbed into bed for the night.
CHAPTER15
“Ready?”Chuck asked everyone as they all stood on the front porch of the new house at eight o’clock on Tuesday morning. He saw everyone looking around, and sighed. “We’ll be finishing up the landscape this week. The trucks should be rolling in later today, but the house is completely inspected and ready to be lived in.”
Everyone nodded, and he handed the key to Morgan. When she pointed to Ava, the other woman shook her head. “No, you do it.”
“I’ll do it,” Wyatt said as he took the key from Chuck, and inserted it into the lock. Everyone saw him draw in a deep breath as he turned it, then twisted the knob and opened the door. “Holy shit,” he said as he stepped inside and to the side, so everyone else could come inside.
“Oh my,” Dolly said, with her hand to her throat. “This is beautiful. Big, but beautiful.”
Ava stood in the back, and let the Erwins walk about the entire house before they rejoined her. On the way back down the stairs, Lucas stopped, pointed, and cried out. “Holy crapola! Dad, can we get a TV that big?” His statement caused everyone to turn to stare. Several people had their mouths open in shock.
“Superbowl Sundays are here from now on!” Wyatt proclaimed, and didn’t bother changing his statement when Morgan elbowed him.
“I wouldn’t say we’d get one that big, son, but maybe we can upgrade.”
“Sure, get a bigger TV when I’m about to leave for college,” DJ groused, but he did it with a grin on his face. “How big is the screen?”
“Seventy-five inches,” Justin said with his own grin. “It was the biggest one the store had. I thought it would work with all this space.”
“You’re right,” Wyatt said as he took several spaces back, and looked. “Yeah, that’s the perfect size for this area. Anything smaller and you wouldn’t be able to see it. I like the fact that you can see it from not only the living room, but also the dining room, and the kitchen.”
“I have a question,” Dolly spoke into the silence.
“What’s that Mrs. Dolly?” Chuck asked.
“Where did you get these fabulous cabinets?” she asked as she rubbed her hand lovingly over one of the doors of the upper kitchen cabinets. She frowned when everyone turned and pointed to Alan.
