Page 58 of A Second Chance

This incident was not Eddie’s fault. “I’ll get started on the load survey and calculate what we need to add. This isn’t up to code,” he pointed at the circuit breaker.

“Find me when you have a quote,” he grumbled, stomping off into the barn.

Jason began the work of gathering the information he needed to make the calculations. Anyone running a dairy farm for as long as Mr. Kepler should have realized he needed to consult an electrician before adding new equipment. The new equipment was larger and required more wattage, a load that the older wiring of the barn was not designed to handle.

A few hours in and his phone rang, and he snatched it out of his pocket with the brief hope it was Gwen. Nope. “Mom,” he answered.

“What is that sound? Where are you?”

“Working at Kepler.”

“Milking cows?” she asked.

“Upgrading the electrical system of the milking barn.” If the fact people still hired him surprised her, she didn’t let on.

“Well that makes more sense,” she said. “Your sister tells me you got an apartment.”

“Yeah, I was gonna call you after finishing up here and invite you guys to come see.” Keplers’ cows now wandered around the pasture. He’d gotten half of the milking stalls running again, so the cows were milking in smaller batches. Jason turned and found himself face to snout with a cow, who chewed, and quietly appraised him. He waved and felt stupid. The cow just stared.

“Okay. Well, you still have a room full of stuff, and I think it’s about time you come clean your old room out and get what you want to keep.”

His heart stopped. If he’d known that was a requisite of getting a place, he may have stayed with Ben and Brandon longer. Forever, perhaps. “All right,” he managed.

“Sunday,” she said. “I’m making dinner, your sister and family are coming. Bring that girl I’ve been hearing about and I’ll see you on Sunday. Dinner’s at six, but come early so you can clean your room.” The phone screen confirmed she’d disconnected.

Well, shit.

“If you were planning on trampling me, now would be a good time.” The cow didn’t move. “Fine, be that way.”

Twenty-One

Gwen trudged down the steps. The smell of coffee irritated her. It meant that Nick had slept at her house, once again coming in the middle of the night. Did he live there or not? It would be a common courtesy for Avery to say that she’d moved her boyfriend in. Instead, he became a fixture at their table in the morning. He knew his way around their kitchen, where everything went, and he made breakfast. Nick was also good at cleaning up after himself, at least. He wasn’t the worst housemate in the world. She’d give him that credit, and he made Avery happy. And with the added security of a police detective in the house was another check in the positive column. But this morning at the sight of him frying an egg on her stove as if he were home, she snapped.

“Do you live here now?”

He paused and inhaled. She thought maybe he was counting to ten before responding. “It must seem that way,” he replied evenly.

“Not that you’re a bad housemate,” she said. “It’s just that you two should’ve given a heads-up before you became a constant fixture here.”

The toaster on the counter popped and he retrieved the toasted bread and slid the egg on it. He offered her the egg sandwich and she shook her head. “I’ve asked Avery to stay at my place,” he mumbled, not looking at her. “She didn’t want to and I know I have little there. My whole life was work before Avery. So, I told her to bring over whatever she wanted, make herself at home.”

“And she said no?” Gwen’s voice sounded like gravel.

“My lease is up in six months, I asked if she would rather pick out a place together, that’s ours…”

She’d turned him down, again. “But she loves you,” Gwen whispered.

“And I love her, very much… so here I am. Where she is happy and comfortable. That’s what matters.”

Gwen blinked rapidly to hold the tears threatening to fall. “I had no idea.”

“I don’t want to take Avery away from you guys…”

“But you want to start a life with her,” Gwen said. His eyes met hers and he started to speak then closed his mouth. “It’s okay. From what I understand, that’s fairly normal. And at this point, you understand we’re not… normal.”

He smiled. “You guys have an amazing bond, and I love that. I’d never do anything to jeopardize that.”

Gwen laughed. “Oh, sweetie, you couldn’t.” She left Nick standing in the kitchen. Her sister was afraid to leave home. To Gwen home wasn’t a place, it was the three of them, together. Did she feel it was disloyal to move out with Nick? Gwen needed to talk to her and let her know it was okay to leave the nest. She’d never be without their support. Besides, if Avery ever became pregnant there’d be way too many people crammed in this house.

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