Page 139 of You Found Me
We’ve made a good amount of progress with the renovations to our home—only having a few more rooms to go. He even insisted on paying Mia to find a few pieces of furniture and decor that she felt wereus.
After leaving Coleman & Jenkins, I thought he’d be less busy—but other than seeing him after class, the hospital, and when we’re fixing up the house, he’s always working on his laptop or in his sketchbook.
If I didn’t know him to his core, I’d worry about what that means. I won’t lie and say that a tiny part of me hasn’t thought something was going on. He’s been super secretive with work, and when I cornered Theo, he clammed up and ran off.
So I’m a little surprised that Spencer has me blindfolded in his truck on the way to a site. “You’re sure you’re not murdering me this time?”
Spencer chuckles. “How long until you stop assuming I’m trying to get rid of you?”
I smile. “You’d be sad if I stopped and you know it.”
Since I can’t see it, I’m only able to imagine his grin when he responds, “You’re right about that. Luckily for you, we’re almost there.”
We’ve only been driving for about ten minutes, which leaves me puzzled. Ten minutes can get you just about anywhere in this town, and I feel like I would have noticed a new business or homes being built.
“You’re not building us a house after we’ve done all this work on our little Magnolia Cove home, are you?”
He snorts in disbelief. “After all the headaches it’s caused, we’re in it until we don’t have any more room.”
“You got that right,” I laugh, before feeling the car come to a stop. I lift my hands up to remove the blindfold, when I feel his warm hands on mine.
“Don’t even think about it, Shortstack. Keep it on until I say it’s okay to remove.”
I hear the click of his seatbelt and the door opening, before he says, “I’ll be watching, so don’t try to pull a fast one.”
Shaking my head, I can’t help but smile. “I promise to keep it on. Just hurry up—you know how impatient I am with surprises.”
I think he must run around to the passenger side because after his door closes, mine is opening faster before I can even utter another guess at what his surprise is. Without saying anything, Spencer hoists me out of the cab, pulling a squeal from my lips. When he continues to hold me after closing the door, I already know that he’s going to carry me the rest of the way. Refusing to even let me get a hint of the terrain, my heart is hammering in my chest with excitement.
It’s then that I hear voices. Not the kind I have in my head sometimes when I’m overwhelmed, butactualvoices belonging to my friends.
“Spence,” I ask with a bit of hesitation, “what’s going on?”
Finally, he lowers me to my feet and clears his throat, loudly saying, “You can take it off now.”
Once my eyes adjust to the bright sun, I look around and notice Mia, Colette, and Cori are all doing the same thing as me, and that we’re in the wildflower meadow. The girls’ faces probably mirror my own; confused. It isn’t until I hear Lettie gasp as she moves closer to where our weeping willow stands and see a board with a rendering of a large building.
Spencer squeezes my hand and when I turn to him, he says, “Trust me when I say I’m not taking the tree down. Go take a closer look.”
I nod, then quickly walk to where the girls are standing. I hesitantly let my eyes roam over the board, and then I see it. Right next to the drawing of a beautiful building, is a drawing of a huge playground near this very willow tree.
Just like the one from my childhood.
I look at Mia, Colette, and Cori, with tears forming in our eyes, and smile.
“I take it you didn’t know anything about this,” Cori says.
“Not even a little,” I let out a breathy laugh. Thinking back a little, I ask, “How did you three get convinced to go along with getting here blindfolded?”
“Teddy,” Mia answers, wiping her eyes. “He said there was something he needed to show us and to get Cori here this morning. The blindfolds took a little extra convincing since he was the oneinsistingwe put them on.”
Colette sighs. “I’m sorry I was being difficult.”
Mia waves her comment off. “It’s definitely a weird request.”
“It helped that Beckett was there to help when Theo started floundering,” Cori says with a half-smile.
Colette and Mia chuckle while I look at the carving in the tree.
