Page 52 of The Corner of Heartbreak and Forever
“Haven’t you ever heardwhen there’s a will there’s a way?” Reed asked.
“Sure I have,” Winona said with a smirk. “That’s how I ended up raising Shayla on my own. My man had the will, and his good-for-nothing trollop found a way.” She pointed her pencil at Reed and said, “You do that to her, and I’ll hunt you down myself. Now,” she smiled brightly, “what can I get y’all for breakfast?”
THEY HEADED OUT to look for a bedframe after breakfast and meandered through the furniture store by the mall. “I don’t think I’ve ever shopped for furniture like this,” Grace said, looking around at the nearly empty store.
“You mean arm in arm with a guy who keeps grabbing your butt?” Reed tugged her against him.
“That and shopping in a physical store. When I went to college, the dorms were furnished, and when I got an apartment I bought furniture online. I’m surprised stores like this can stay open when people can shop from home. Everything is so…”
“Boring?”
“Yes, totally. You worked so hard to make your house stand out, and it’s too pretty for this. This furniture would bring it down. At least the boutique where we bought the couches and dining room set had unique pieces. But nothing here feels special.”
“You’re absolutely right. This isn’t us, Grace. Let’s get out of here.” He took her hand and headed for the exit. “There’s only one place to look for a bedroom set worthy of my girls. The Barn.”
She stopped cold. “Whoa.Girls?Plural?”
“Well, yeah. You and my Painted Lady. She’s my other girl.” He crushed her to him and said, “You’d better read up on Victorians, babe. Or you’re going to need that morning run just from misunderstandings.”
“I think we need to stop at the library.”
They drove out to Jeb Jericho’s place. He owned a few acres just far enough off the main drag to be private, but close enough to be found by consumers. Jeb ran the Barn, his appropriately named furniture shop, out of a big, blue, renovated barn, with his showroom on the first floor and his living quarters on the second. His workshop was in a separate stone building, which was once an old church.
“I can’t believe we didn’t think of coming here first,” Grace said as they headed up the wide walkway.
“It must have been all that mind-blowing sex, followed by a full belly.” He hauled her in for another delicious kiss. “You’ve made me dumb, sweetheart.”
“That’s weird. You’ve made me happy.”
She snuggled into him as they climbed the granite steps. There was a note on the barn door that read IN THE WORKSHOPand had an arrow pointing toward the old church building.
The shop was built of stone, floor to ceiling, with the exception of a few stained-glass windows on either side and near the peak of the back wall, where the altar must have once been. There were several large workstations with furniture in various stages of assembly littering the tops. Metal shelving units holding tools lined the walls, and some sort of fireplace or kiln was built into the rear wall, near a set of enormous double doors. They found Jeb in full protective garb, welding two large pieces of metal together. When he spotted them, he turned off his welding gun and took off his mask.
“Hey, guys. How’s it going?” he said as he pulled off his gloves and stripped out of his protective jumpsuit. “I hear you might need some stonework done on the old theater.”
He strode toward them in a pair of faded jeans and a blue T-shirt withCOWS WON’T MILK THEMSELVESwritten on a round label with a picture of a cow at the top. Ever the farm boy, Jeb had always been proud of his roots. He snagged a baseball cap from a table and pulled it on. He had smallish, studious eyes that Grace had always felt saw far more than people wanted him to. Those watchful eyes took in the two of them. A hair over thirty, Jeb was a big man, known around town for his artistic talent and overprotective nature. Poor Trixie had a heck of a time trying to date with Jeb and her other brothers watching over her.
“Absolutely,” Reed said. “I just got the word yesterday that the offer was accepted. I’m still processing it.”
“It’s a heck of a building. I’d have bought it if I’d had the money, but it’s too rich for my blood. I’d love to be part of the project, though.”
“You’ve got it,” Reed said. “We’ll set up a time to go out there and look around. We thought you could help us with a bedframe.”
Jeb smiled, softening his sharp jawline. “Sure. I’m glad to see the rumors are true about you two. What’d you have in mind?”
The devilish look in Reed’s eyes when he said, “Somethingsturdy,” told Grace exactly where the conversation was headed. She yanked on his hand, and he pulled her closer and laughed.
“I’m kidding,” Reed said. “Well, not really, but you know…”
After too many innuendos and an equal dose of laughter, they left with a contract in hand for a custom-designed wood and iron bedframe, spent some time meandering around the shop and picked out two unique nightstands before heading into town to shop for Sophie’s baby gift.
“I can’t believe Sophie’s married and having a baby,” Reed said as they looked through baby toys. “Do you like her husband?”
“Brett’s great, and he’s madly in love with Soph. He’s from New York City. The fact that he built her a house here and he’s staying here for her maternity leave, which is, like, three months, I think, says it all.”
“I’m glad she found a nice guy.” Reed picked up a box and read the side. “Check this out. It’s an activity gym, and it says it not only helps develop the baby’s fine and gross motor skills, but this musical mobile will help enhance the baby’s problem-solving skills and turn your baby into a little Einstein. What the…?” He showed her the box. “Who’s thinking about enhancing their infant’s problem-solving skills?”
Grace read the boxes of several other toys. “They all say things like that. Every toy is supposed to make your baby smarter. And here I was looking for something soft and cuddly.”
