When Lou found out I was moving to Chicago, he asked if I planned to sell my house, and I thought about it but decided against it. Although it holds a lot of bad memories, it also holds a lot of good ones, like the ones from this past summer.
So I'm keeping the house, but making some changes. Nash is going to add a walk-in closet to the master bedroom and renovate the master bathroom because it's really dated. When that room is done, it'll become my room and my old bedroom will be converted into a reading room. I've been reading again, which I used to love, but stopped doing after the accident. The room has lots of natural light so is perfect for reading. Nash is going to build me a window seat and some bookshelves.
Ben's room is now our guest room. It didn't need to be renovated but it did get an update. We replaced the twin bed with a double and painted the walls a soothing green color.
It was really hard to make those changes to Ben's room. I felt like I was losing him all over again. But Nash helped me each step of the way. We started by packing away the bedding, then taking the toys to be donated, and then boxing up his clothes. I couldn't box up his clothes so Nash did it for me, but I kept Ben's favorite dinosaur shirt, which is stained with fruit punch, his favorite drink. I also kept the monkey he gave me. It's going to go in my reading room and sit with me while I read, just like it did when I used to read stories to Ben.
"Ready to go?" Nash is standing outside his truck, holding the door open for me.
"Yeah." I climb in, then watch as Nash's brothers toss the football around the front yard. Three tan, muscular, shirtless men playing football. I'm surprised girls aren't parading in front of the house to see this. Actually, a couple cars full of girls did slow down and stare earlier today. I'm sure as word spreads around town, more will show up.
Nash's dad and brothers are here for our Labor Day party and to see the finished house. I met Nash's dad a few weeks ago. He came here after Nash found out about his birth mom. His dad didn't say that was the reason he came to visit but I think that was why. He was worried about Nash, even though Nash kept telling him he was fine. His dad stayed for the weekend and the two of them worked on the house together, and every night the three of us met up for dinner on Nash's deck.
I really like Nash's dad. He's one of those warm, friendly people who's easy to talk to and makes you feel comfortable right away. He's big and tall, like his four boys. I still can't imagine how much food it would take to feed all of them. I guess I kind of know because we're feeding them this weekend and I had to fill up two grocery carts.
"We need anything else while we're there?" Nash asks.
We're driving to the gas station that's just down the street to get some bags of ice for the coolers.
"No, I think just the ice," I say as we pull into the parking lot. It's packed with pick-ups and SUVs hauling boats. The tourists are here for the long weekend and loading up with supplies for a day at the state park and the lake.
"Look who's here." I point to Katie, who's with some other girls. They're standing next to a white SUV that's attached to a large red and white boat. Some guy is putting gas in the SUV while Katie and her friends talk. They all have on shorts and bikini tops.
"She doesn't seem like someone who'd go boating," Nash says. "Might get her hair wet."
He shuts off the truck and as usual, it backfires.
I watch as Katie and her friends drop to the ground, screaming and covering their heads.
Nash laughs. "Guess I scared them."
I'm laughing so hard my stomach hurts. "Oh God, that was hilarious."
Katie and her friends slowly get up when they realize no one else has reacted to the loud sound. I look over and see some college-aged guys standing by their pick-up, laughing at Katie and the other girls.
Katie stomps off into the gas station, her friends following behind.
"I gotta get this thing fixed," Nash says as he opens my door for me.
I hop out. "Are you kidding? I love this truck. It's how I first met you, and now I've just discovered it can be very entertaining."
He chuckles. "Well, I'm leaving it here and getting a new one when I'm back in Chicago."
"Really?" We walk hand-in-hand to the door.
"I can't have my girl riding around in some shitty pick-up. I'm getting a shiny black new one with leather seats and an extended cab."
"Isn't that expensive?"
"Gramps invested wisely. Just found out I made a big chunk of money on some stocks he owned, which are now mine. I cashed out and am using the money to buy a new truck." He opens the door for me and we go inside.
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
"It was supposed to be a surprise, but I couldn't wait. I had to tell you."
Nash grabs two giant bags of ice from the cooler, and as we're heading to the register, we run into Katie.
She narrows her eyes at Nash. "You can tell your idiot brother that he broke off my engagement."