Page 68 of Miracles and Marriage
“He wasn’t very old—you couldn’t know he’d die when he did,” she said.
“Still, regrets for things not done don’t fade easily.”
Which was the entire reason she was trying for a baby. If she couldn’t have one, she’d be heartbroken. But at least she’d know all her life she’d done what she could. That was one regret she wouldn’t have.
“Thank you, Cal. You’re making sure I don’t have regrets for things not done.”
“Hang in there, Zoe. We’ll have that baby.”
They arrived at the house late morning. It had a definitely deserted look about it. There were leaves that needed raking and bushes that needed pruning. The house itself looked empty, as if the life had gone out of it when Hal died. The windows were blank. The paint looked tired.
“You planning to paint the outside as well?” Zoe asked.
Cal climbed out of the car and studied the facade.
“It looks lik it needs it. Now isn’t the best time of year, however. Maybe come spring. Let’s go inside and make plans.”
Zoe was glad to have something to do. She knew they needed to stick close for the next couple of days. She appreciated having the project to focus on. Otherwise she’d think of nothing but Cal.
And she dare not let him suspect how she felt.
Zoe grew more excited as they progressed through the house. Cal was serious about relying on her to design the color schemes and make suggestions to bring the house up-to-date. She could almost pretend they were planning their first place together. She’d give each room an assessment, then think aloud of what could be done. He’d agree, she’d jot notes and they moved on to the next.
By dinnertime she had a tablet full of notes and ideas.
“I’d like to get this in some better order, maybe combine the different needs from each room so we’d only have to have a plumber or electrician out once and have them take care of everything, rather than call back and forth as we get to each room,” Zoe said, bubbling with ideas and wanting to get schedules drawn up.
“You’re in charge,” he said, leaning back in the comfy sofa in the living room.
Cal had ordered pizza, preferring that to having to cook.
Zoe felt energized. “This will be a lovely home when you’re finished.”
“When we’re finished,” he said, closing his eyes.
“Are you going to sleep?”
“Not yet,” he said. “I’m envisioning how the place will look.”
“I bet a young family would love this home. The backyard is huge. Think of the fun the children could have. Did you have a fort and a tree house?”
“I had a tree house, Jason had the fort. And there’s a trail down to a stream. We had some major naval battles on that creek,” Cal said.
Zoe tried to picture a younger Cal playing with his friend. She and her brothers had done their share of battles in makeshift plains of the sand at the beach. They used to make small homes and forts from wooden matches and end up burning them as a grand finale of each battle. Would her baby be part of the next generation at the beach?
“My brothers liked battles,” she said.
She still couldn’t picture Cal as a boy.
“Do you have any photos from when you were a child?”
She’d seen a couple of him in pictures of his uncle after the funeral. Had there been more?
“There’re likely to be around somewhere,” he said vaguely.
Glancing around, he narrowed his eyes.
“I suppose the best plan would be to do one room at a time. Decide what’s to be done, clear it out, get it painted, repaired as needed and move on.”
