Page 33 of Ava
“No, I’ll pay for my own things, here.” She reached into her wallet and gave him the card. “I’ll tell you what Morgan told me. If you run into any trouble, call Uncle Chip.”
“Good to know,” he grinned, then shocked the hell out of Ava when he reached over and kissed the side of her head. She stood there in shock until he disappeared with the two overflowing carts. Giving herself a mental slap, she grabbed the last empty cart, and headed over to the other side of the store. By the time she’d made her purchases, and checked out, she met Justin at the service desk just as he was finishing. She arrived as the total was given. Neither of them batted an eye when Justin handed over the card, and they held their breath as it went through without a hitch. This time, Justin took the receipt and held onto it until they reached the truck.
Ava stood back and waited as he lifted the back seats in the truck, so they had more room to put the bags in. At one point, she told him to put the boxes of appliances in first, then the bags on top. After several minutes, he took her suggestion, and looked at her with a frown.
“No comments.”
She mocked zipping her lips, but grinned at him. After everything was loaded, they climbed in the front, and sighed heavily. Their entire shopping trip to that store took only three hours, but Ava was able to get everything on her list.
“Did you hang a flyer up here?”
“I did, that’s why it took me so long the first time. I came back out here to grab some so I could hang one up. I also put one up where we ate.”
“That’s right. Now onto the TV and washer and dryer.”
“I know where to go for that one.”
Once they entered the last store, they made a beeline for the appliance department, and in no time, they had picked out two sets of each item. They opted to have it delivered on Thursday, the same day as the furniture, and Justin paid for it at their register. They then went over to the section that held the TVs.
“What size?”
“This is all on you. I have no clue. Remember, it’s a large space and I don’t want to have to squint to see the screen if I watch it.”
“Okay, good to know.” He actually rubbed his hands together, and walked up to a salesman. In less than twenty minutes he had a 75-inch TV, and a TV mount all paid for, and a stockman wheeled them out to the truck.
Once inside, they looked at each other, grinned, and said, “Home.”
CHAPTER14
By the timethey arrived home, Ava was exhausted, and they decided to drop the TV off at the house before they went to the ranch. They were in luck, because the men were standing on the porch talking when they arrived.
“What’s up?” Josh asked as he went down the front steps when Justin backed his truck up, instead of pulling in. Justin jumped out, and went to the back.
“Help me take this in? I figured we can set it up tomorrow. Ava needs help unloading the back seat.” He nodded and while Josh helped him, the others went to Ava. She started handing out bags, and at their confused looks, she grinned.
“You’ll have to ask Chuck where a good place is to put them. It’s all the bedding, and towels, plus kitchen items. We went furniture shopping, and everything is supposed to be delivered on Thursday.”
“Oh,” Alfie said as he took several bags, then took them inside. It turned out that they put them in the areas between the living room and dining room, and went back for more. All the men took at least three trips to get everything inside.
“Don’t worry, Chuck,” Ava laughed when she saw his expression. “I’ll come over tomorrow and start putting some of the things away. If the bathrooms are done, and the paint is dry, I can start putting the towels away. I know I’ll have to wait for the kitchen to be done.”
“I should have all the cupboards installed by Saturday,” Alan said as he looked up from what he had been working on. He hadn’t been outside when they’d first arrived. Ava realized that he’d zoned everything out when he’d been working on the cabinets.
“Can I look at the progress you guys made today?”
“Sure,” Chuck said as he held out his arm for her to go look. The first thing she did was run up the stairs and go to the last room on the left—the room she’d picked out. She had to wrinkle her nose because of the paint smell, but she noticed a window in each room was open. Being far away from the road, and on the second story, it should be okay. As she stepped into the bathroom, she stopped dead in her tracks and just stared. With the tile and paint applied, the entire room looked so elegant. She had picked out the greens, and creams and was happy with her choice. When she’d been shopping that day, she’d taken extra care in purchasing what she wanted for her room, and though she didn’t give as much thought into the others, at least they were all color coordinated. Nothing mish mash or hodgepodge. She couldn’t wait to move in.
Back downstairs, she looked at the men, and frowned. It seemed like they were arguing about something. “Is everything all right?” she asked.
“You ask.”
“No, you ask.”
“Ask me what?”
Justin sighed, rubbed the back of his neck, and turned to her. “We know this is for you and the other women, but my brothers and I were wondering if maybe we could come in and watch TV one night.”
“I don’t have a problem with it, but what would Morgan say?”
