Page 66 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

‘You have a few from Joe, one from Carlos, Deb and one from Lisa…’

‘Lisa?’ I asked looking to Jessa. ‘Open hers, what is she saying?’

‘“Sorry to contact you, but Dad’s back is acting up, if you guys have time, can one of the guys plow his driveway and add it to the Bar’s tab please?”’ Jessa read.

I nodded, ‘Reply, “Sure, I’ll ask Joe to add you to the rounds.”’ I looked at her and she didn’t seem upset with the message from my ex, though I knew Lisa was a sore spot for her. ‘Next?’

She read and replied to them for me as I drove down the Cape to our house.

I pulled into the driveway that already had a bunch of snow accumulated.

‘Welcome home,’ I said.

CHAPTER 21

JESSA

It was too dark out when we arrived back to the house on the Cape for me to make out all the work Drew had done to the exterior of the house. The house was set back from the road. The last I remembered from when the Koplands owned it, was that it had high hedges near the road and there were a few trees at the entrance of the property. There were no cars around, which I took as a good sign.

We pulled into the driveway of our beach house. It looked the same, but different somehow. Perhaps knowing Drew was making it ours changed my perspective. Knowing that before I didn't want to share this house with Matt, but now, I wanted nothing more than to turn it into a loving home to grow with Drew in.

The driveway was already covered in snow but he pulled up to the attached garage and pulled the Audi in as much as he could, given the tools being housed in there. I appreciated that I didn't have to walk out in the snow in my ankle booties.

‘Thanks,’ I smiled at him before getting out of the car and opening up the rear door to pull out my carry-on bag and his duffel bag, while he grabbed the grocery bags from the trunk.

‘Home sweet home,’ Drew announced, as he opened the door from the garage into the entryway. ‘This is still very much a work in progress, so keep that in mind,’ he told me, leading me into the house. It opened onto a mudroom where the laundry room and a large pantry were, located between the kitchen and what would become the formal dining room.

I placed his duffle bag on the new washing machine I had picked out a few months ago, and my carry-on on the floor next to where I took my shoes off.

Drew walked into the kitchen with the grocery bags as I started to look around.

The layout of the house was slightly different from when I last saw it, but the feel was completely different. I’d seen pictures of the progress over the past 8 months, but being inside it, to see all the small things that Drew had done, really made me emotional. He listened to me, the details had a purpose, and it was the small things that made it functional, practical and livable.

It seemed like a lifetime ago since I was last here. I was no longer the young naive girl with a verbally abusive, manipulative fiancé. I was happy to see, that just like me, the house was not only changing on the outside but also inside. While I was working at replanting seeds of the woman I wanted to be, with the hopes that the roots would take ground, Drew was building me a place where I could bloom. It was a relief to see that all the things I’d asked for were being implemented as best as the floorspace would allow.

As Drew started to put the things away in the kitchen, I walked around, first walking through the dining room; the walls looked to be primed, but the floorboards and crown molding laid in the middle of the room to be installed and a few paint swatches were taped to the walls. Across the foyer was the front room, where all the walls were still bare and the floor was unfinished, only the rough subfloor was laid down.

‘That’s my next project,’ Drew announced as he followed me around, stopping in the foyer and looking into what would become our home office.

I looked at the stairs leading up to the second floor; they were covered in plastic sheeting. He followed my eyes up and offered an explanation. ‘That’s so there’s not so much dust down here, it’s a mess up there. You can look, but maybe when it’s light outside, otherwise it's too dark right now.’ I couldn’t wait to start exploring what else had been done.

I had seen the pictures from the kitchen and living room that he had already finished, and they looked really good. I walked towards the back of the house.

As I rounded the corner, I saw the full effect. Pictures didn’t do it justice. The area had been extensively redone; I would have never thought that this space could look like it did right now. The kitchen was completely open to the living room, and he had these two areas completely finished and furnished. It did not look like a house in the middle of a renovation at all from where I stood.

‘Oh wow,’ I exclaimed, walking over to the beautiful kitchen. ‘You’ve really made progress here,’ I admired, running my hand over the charcoal granite countertops, looking at the glass backsplash and stainless-steel appliances. The white cupboard doors completed the look. It felt so much bigger than it looked in the pictures, and I knew I would be at home preparing meals here.

There were no curtains on the floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall windows along the back of the house. The stonework on the fireplace was complete, and he had driftwood along the front and on the mantel, which he had found on the beach. Above it, mounted to the wall, was a very large flat-screen TV. He had two brown leather sectionals in the living room, making a horseshoe shape, and a matching round ottoman in the middle.

‘Yeah, I’ve been busy. Your mom’s been a huge help too, and she’s picked all the furniture. The TV and surround sound were all me, though,’ he said looking at the entertainment unit with pride. There was a desk with a large Mac desktop and a bunch of papers in front of the window off to the side.

‘Your office?’ I asked.

‘Yeah, of sorts for now, until we get the front room finished.’

‘Well, I bet you spend a lot of time in this room.’

‘When I’m actually at home,’ he offered.

---