Page 57 of Pick Yourself Up
They hadn’t exchanged the words yet, but Amber knew she was there, fully in love. She’d been savoring the feeling and the joy it brought her, but one day soon she’d tell him. She didn’t think he’d be in the least bit surprised.
A crack of thunder had them all flinching and then laughing. Thea grinned. “Looks like the storm moved in a little earlier than we expected. That’ll give us a day off picking and time to make some decisions.”
Ford turned to Amber. “Why don’t I give you and Gray a hand with some of the bigger projects, seeing as the weather isn’t good for anyone other than the ducks?”
Jolie laughed. “They love the rain, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hemsworth return this way soon.”
While Boomer stayed with Amber all the time, the Australian shepherd wandered freely. He mostly returned to stay with Ford and Jolie at night, but he sometimes stayed outside as well. Ford had built a couple of doghouses, but Hemsworth didn’t use them often. She imagined he played in the orchard with his buddy Fox. Or protected the Quack Mobile.
She smiled at Ford. “That would be great, thanks.”
For the next few hours, Amber painted the second-floor hallway ceilings. Gray and Ford brought old bathroom fixtures down and new ones up. Boomer watched them and kept returning to her as if asking if they were doing the right thing.
“It’s okay, Boomer. They might look the same to you, but the new fixtures are much nicer than the old ones.”
Satisfied with her answer, the shepherd kept trotting between the two groups to check on their progress.
When she finished the last of the ceilings, well, the first coat anyway, she realized she wasn’t sure where the two men were working. She hadn’t heard them in a while.
Doing the cutting in from the top of the ladder and then using the longer pole addition to fill in the central areas of the ceiling meant her arms and shoulders were like rubber. “Maybe I should have chosen to do something that didn’t use the same muscles as apple picking.”
She folded the ladder and rested it against a wall, then grabbed her brushes and rollers. “Let’s go clean these up, Boomer.”
She’d been using the mudroom at the back of the kitchen as her cleanup area. The male voices in the area had her freezing in place and looking at her dog.
Boomer tilted his head to the side and looked at her, totally relaxed. Then he woofed softly and bumped her hand with his muzzle, letting her know she was safe. She breathed through the fear and listened. The deep male chuckle had her relaxing. Gray.
What was he doing? They must have finished the bathrooms upstairs and were working in the small bathroom or owner’s suite down here. Those hadn’t been on her schedule, no matter how much she wanted them to be.
With the tall windows on two sides, the room would have a great view of both the forest on one side of the property and Gray’s gardens from the other. Her heart had wanted to finish that space first, but without having a B&B to run, it hadn’t made sense.
In the mudroom, she cleaned her brushes, then looked at her dog. “Okay, Boomer. Let’s see what they’re up to. Find Gray.”
Boomer’s ears straightened, and his tail wagged. He loved following commands, but finding his friends was one of his favorites.
Boomer led the way out of the mudroom and down the little hallway off the kitchen. The voices were coming from the suite.
Boomer bounded forward with a woof, telling her he’d found his prey.
Gray’s laugh reached her. “Looks like we’re busted, Dodge.”
Amber reached the doorway to the suite and couldn’t keep in the gasp. The two men weren’t alone. Jolie, Thea, and Knox were with them, all grinning at her.
They’d painted the living room, and she could see through the open door that the bedroom was also the same cozy green she’d chosen for the entire B&B.
They’d filled the living room with furniture from the other farmhouse. A cozy love seat, chair, coffee table, and a small bistro table and two chairs made the space feel like home.
Blinking away the tears that wanted to form, Amber rolled her lips together. “You’re all amazing. This is wonderful.”
Gray leaned down to kiss her. “Come see the bedroom.”
She followed him to find a fun and cozy quilt on a wonderful cast iron bed that had been in one room on the top floor. Now it had a mattress and bedding.
A dresser sat on one wall and small tables acted like nightstands. In the bathroom, fresh towels sat on the racks and the fixtures gleamed.
Gray swiped at the tears on her cheeks with his thumbs. “I take it you like it?”
She laughed as she blinked away the moisture. “I love it.”
