Page 47 of A Breeze Over Rosewood Beach
“Would you be my girlfriend, Sally Lipton?” he said, his voice so soft it was almost a whisper.
“I can’t think of anything I’d like better.” Their faces were very close together now.
A cool, lushly-scented gust of ocean wind blew against them as they brought their lips together for a kiss. Sally felt her heart lift up as if it was being blown upward by the wind, into the first light of the stars.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Jacob hurried down the main staircase of the new house, enjoying the solid sound his footsteps made on the wood.
I’m glad I decided to redo this staircase,he thought with a smile.Maybe someday Hazel and I will have more kids than Samantha thundering up and down these stairs.
He loved their new home. Every morning when he woke up, he felt as though he needed to pinch himself. Did he really live in this gorgeous big old house, with the woman of his dreams and the best daughter a man could ask for?
He reached the bottom of the staircase and started to look around for his wife. He wanted to kiss her goodbye before heading off to work. He stepped into the kitchen, where the dirty dishes from their breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and blueberry cinnamon rolls were still resting in the sink. Hazel’s scent of vanilla and orange lingered in the air, but she was nowhere to be seen.
He went into her office next, and then the living room, and then even the basement. Finally, he stopped at the foot of the stairs, scratching his head and wondering if she’d somehow gone back upstairs without him knowing.
“Hazel!” he called and waited a few seconds for a response. Their house was big, but it wasn’t so big that he wouldn’t be able to hear her call back to him. “Sweetheart!” he called again, louder than before.
She still didn’t reply, and he went over to the picture window to check the driveway for her car. It was still there, gleaming in the winter sunlight.
“Where on earth is she?” he murmured.
He made his way back into the kitchen, wondering if she was in there listening to music on her headphones while doing the dishes. She wasn’t, but he caught sight of her through one of the windows. She was standing on the small back stoop of the house, bundled in her winter coat and hugging herself against the cold.
Confused, Jacob went over to the back door and knocked on it gently before pulling it open.
“Hey, you,” he said, coming to stand beside her. “Is something wrong?”
She turned toward him with a smile. “No, not at all.” She kissed him on the cheek. “I got an idea and I wanted to come out here to picture it better. Now my imagination is going wild.” She gestured dramatically into the air, and Jacob laughed.
“Going wild, huh? What do you mean?”
“Okay.” She clasped her hands together, and he knew she was about to make a speech about something that was very important to her. He chuckled and leaned against the side of the house to listen. “Picture a bunch of flower boxes out here,” she said, gesturing to the side of the house as if she was a fairy waving her magic wand, about to make it happen with a sprinkling of pixie dust. “And then this tiny little stoop—wouldn’t it be wonderful if we extended it into a back porch? Then we could hang Christmas lights here in the winter and flower garlands in the summer. Of course, we can do that on the front porch too, but since the back of the house faces the ocean, Iwant to decorate it so the boats passing see it and know how cute we are.”
Jacob threw his head back with a laugh. “Well, everyone already knows how cute you are, especially me.”
“So you like that idea? Building a porch out here?”
He grinned at her. “I thought we were done with all our renovating,” he said, taking her into his arms and dipping her backward. He kissed her forehead.
Hazel smiled slyly. “You have to admit that it would be fun. At this point, we’re old pros at renovating. I never thought I’d say it, but I’m kind of itching for another project.”
“You are? Wow.” He touched his nose to hers. “I thought we were done with all of our renovating, Mrs. Dorsey,” he teased. “I seem to remember you saying that you were so relieved that all of that work was over and you didn’t want to pick up another paintbrush for another five years or so.”
Hazel wrinkled her nose. “I guess I’ve become unusually fond of paintbrushes. I miss them. Come on, admit it. You like the idea too. It would be fun to do another project together, and it would be even more fun to have a back porch.”
Jacob chuckled. “You’re right, I do have to admit that it would be fun. I really like working with you.”
“I really like working with you too!” She slipped her arm through his and hugged it. “We do it so well. And working on so many things at once with the house was tiring and overwhelming at times, but taking on one thing like this won’t feel that way. I feel like we just did renovation boot camp and from now on any projects we want to take on are going to feel really easy.”
“I wouldn’t go right to easy,” Jacob said, and then shivered.
“Ah, you’re out here without your coat,” Hazel said, pulling open the door. “Let’s go back into the kitchen.”
They stepped back inside, and Hazel started to rub Jacob’s arms to help warm him up.
“Putting up a porch is going to be a big project,” he said, smiling at her and feeling grateful for the way she was taking care of him. “It’s not going to be very easy.”
