Page 89 of Saving Her Heart
I nod, not trusting my voice, and head out into the morning sun.
The crisis at Building 2 turns out to be a minor plumbing issue that Michael actually handles fine on his own. I spend the rest of the morning at Building 3's construction site, meeting with the architects about the final phase of rebuilding.
"The community room is coming along beautifully," Patricia Wong, the lead architect, tells me as we walk through the framed space. "The residents' input really shaped this design."
"They wanted a place to gather," I say, running my hand along a beam. "Somewhere that felt like home for everyone, not just their individual units."
"Well, they're getting it," Patricia says. "Plus the enhanced safety features you requested."
I'm reviewing the plans when I hear familiar voices. The Walking Ladies have arrived, and they're carrying what appear to be several dozen cookies in Tupperware containers.
"We're here for the bake sale!" Gladys announces.
"The bake sale is tomorrow," I remind her.
"We're pre-selling," Florence explains. "Early bird special."
"You can't pre-sell cookies," I say, but I'm smiling.
"Watch us," Betty says, already approaching the construction workers. "Young man! You look hungry!"
Within ten minutes, they've sold forty dollars’ worth of cookies to the construction crew. The cookies are questionably edible—I can see one worker discreetly spitting his into a napkin—but everyone buys them, anyway.
"All proceeds go to the Building 3 community room fund," Joan tells anyone who'll listen. "We're buying a big-screen TV for movie nights."
"The insurance is covering furnishings," I tell them.
"Then we're buying a better TV for movie nights," Gladys says firmly. "One of those fancy ones that connects to the interweb thingies."
I don't have the heart to tell them that all TVs do that now.
My phone rings. It's Jax.
"Hey," I answer. "How's your day?"
"Good," he says. "Quick question—can you meet me for lunch? There's something I want to talk about."
My heart skips. Is this it? Is he going to bring up marriage? "Um, sure. Where?"
"That sandwich place you like? Noon?"
"I'll be there," I say, trying to keep my voice neutral.
I spend the next hour completely distracted, Charli's words echoing in my head. Should I bring it up first? Should I wait to see what he wants to talk about?
When I arrive at the sandwich shop, Jax is already there, sitting at a corner table looking nervous. My heart rate doubles.
"Hey," he says, standing to kiss me. "Thanks for coming."
"Of course," I say, sitting down. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine," he says quickly. "I just... I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Okay," I say, my mouth suddenly dry.
"So, Hudson mentioned something interesting," he starts. "His mom is selling her house. The one on Oak Street with the big yard?"
I blink. This is not what I expected. "Oh?"
