Page 13 of A Breeze Over Rosewood Beach
I’ll show them to her later, over dinner,he thought with a smile as he started toward the front of the hardware store.Wecan pick out what windows we want and then we’ll be that much closer to having our dream house.
His heart swelled with happiness. He was ecstatic over the plans for the house that he and Hazel had, and he couldn’t think of anyone he would rather share that adventure with.
Hazel clasped her hands together tightly as she watched Jacob work. They’d been so excited about the picture window that they’d gotten to work on it immediately, and after getting some advice from Cedric over the phone, Jacob had carved out enough of the wall to fit the new window into place. It had taken a lot of time and effort, but she could already see that the effect was going to be more than worth it.
Jacob let out of a huff as he finished securing the window frame in place. “She’s going to be a beauty,” he said, turning to Hazel with a grin. “And just in the nick of time—remind me why we decided to renovate in the winter again?”
Hazel chuckled. They were both wearing winter coats and hats, and she’d tugged her mittens on again the moment she could. Thankfully, it was a sunny day and not too cold, and they had the heat running inside the house, which helped with how chilly it was.
“It’ll be worth it once warmer weather comes around and we’ll be all ready to nest in this house to our hearts’ content,” she said cheerfully. “We do the hard work now, and come summertime we’re going to be sitting on that porch, relaxing on a porch swing with cushions and sipping iced tea.”
“A porch swing,” Jacob said with a grin. “Another great idea. I’ll add that to our list.”
He nodded decisively before going back to work on the window frame. Hazel watched him with a glow of joy in her chest. She felt like a child on Christmas Eve, hardly able to contain her excitement.
“Okay,” he said, stepping back and giving the window a careful look over. “Yup, that’s it. We’re ready to install the window itself.”
She squealed and gave him a huge hug. “Thank you, sweetheart.”
He laughed and rocked her back and forth. “You’re so welcome. Now come on and help me put this thing in.”
They lifted up the heavy picture window together, and Jacob stood on the outside of the house while he secured it into place to make sure that it didn’t fall and break. Hazel stayed inside the house, holding up the window on the other side, and she felt warmer and warmer as the picture window became locked into place.
Finally, Jacob gave her a wave and a grin and then hurried over to the front door. He stepped inside along with a gust of cold wind a moment later.
“There,” he said proudly. “That’s all done. We’ve got a picture window.”
Hazel stepped back and surveyed their work, her eyes shining. She clasped her hands beneath her chin, feeling her heart beat with excitement. She could hardly believe the house was really theirs, and that it was already starting to look more and more like their dream home.
“It’s so beautiful, Jacob!” she exclaimed, hugging his arm. They were both still wearing their coats, and she was beginning to be too warm, but she didn’t want to stop staring at the picture window and the wonderful view it offered of their yard. “Look at how much light it lets in!” She turned and looked at theway sunlight was streaming across the old floorboards. “Early mornings are going to be so lovely in this room.”
“You’re right.” He kissed the top of her winter hat. “We can come in here with our coffee in the early morning and watch the sun rise through our picture window. And on days off, we can just stay on the couch and read or watch TV.”
“It’ll be so cozy,” Hazel agreed, thinking with relish of getting to relax on the couch with Jacob and soak in the golden sunlight in the morning, or of getting to sit and read with a cup of tea while curled up in a comfy armchair.
She turned to look at him and saw that he was looking at her with a sappy smile on his face.
“What?” she asked, laughing. “What are you looking at?”
“I’m just really enjoying seeing you so happy,” he told her.
She hugged him tightly and gave him a big kiss. “Jacob Dorsey,” she told him, looking up into his eyes. “I have never been so happy in my life.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sally scampered into the dining room of Ocean Breeze Café, holding a large brown cardboard box.
“It’s here!” she called out to her employees. “The decorations have arrived!”
Both teenage girls who were working at the café that afternoon squealed and hurried toward her. Sally set the box down in the center of an empty table and started to cut open the packaging tape with her keys.
“These are so fun,” she told the teenagers. “Everything’s got some kind of nautical or ocean theme. We’ve got this big, beautiful anchor that looks antique, and a couple of knickknack sail boats that I’m going to hang in the window like Christmas tree ornaments.”
“I love that!” Annie said, leaning in eagerly to see what was in the box. “That sounds like so much fun.”
Sally opened the box proudly and she and the girls lifted out the decorations one by one, cooing with delight. There was a sign that read “I’d Rather Be Fishing,” and Sally announced with a chuckle that she was going to hang it in the bathroom.
As she and her employees continued to unwrap the decorations from their bubble wrap, she noticed a customerwatching them out of the corner of her eye. It was that man who had come in the other day, who had been so unreasonably grumpy about the sweet potato fries. Well, he’d been grumpy about the lack of tater tots. But if Sally had learned one thing in the restaurant business, it was that you couldn’t possibly plan everything. They’d been swarmed by a children’s birthday party en route to the zoo that morning, and their limited supply of tater tots had been completely eradicated by the ravenous littles.
