Perfect Love Story (Love 1)

“Would you like a coffee?” I offer her, and she smiles at me. “I mean, you have to stand and drink it.” I smile back at her, silently high fiving my humor.

“I would love one,” she says, “Can I look around?”

“Please feel free,” I tell her as Crystal starts making her a coffee. “The couches and beds are due to be delivered on Saturday,” I tell her, and she looks at me with her eyebrows pinched together.

“We don’t get anything delivered on the weekends. Besides, this house needs a new paint job before anything comes in.”

“Um, well, I start work on Monday, and there is no way I can continue sleeping on a blow-up mattress. So they’d better be here on Saturday with my bed or else.” I look at Crystal, waiting for her to finish her sentence, but she doesn’t, and then Delores walks out of the room.

“Or else what?” I ask her as she points at me.

“Don’t fucking start. I will, I don’t know, poison their fucking cattle. Or”—she throws up her hands—“tip over a cow. Don’t fuck with me and my sleep.”

I fold my lips trying not to laugh as she glares at me and Delores comes back downstairs.

“Okay, girls, pack up your stuff. You will stay with me until your furniture is delivered.” She shakes her head. “I’m so, so sorry that you had to sleep here last night. This is the only property Jensen blocks off from being rented, but I had no idea,” she trails off, “that it was this fucking disgusting.” She looks at us. “Excuse my language.”

Crystal comes to stand next to me and leans on the same counter as Delores takes a pad out of her purse and writes her address on it. “This is my address. It’s on the other side of the development.” She writes something else. “This is the code for the gate. Luckily, I have no cattle for you to tip over or poison.” She winks at Crystal. “Now, this is the address,” she says as she tears another paper off, “to the construction house. I want a list of everything that has to be done. Right down to all the sockets. I will make sure everything is finished this weekend.” She hands me the address. “Now, I hear you had a shitty month.” She grabs her cup of coffee.

“A shitty month is a good word for it,” I tell her as I put my cup down. “I mean, I’ve never found out that my husband was already married with a family before, so my vocabulary might not be up to par.” I laugh. “But shitty about sums it up.”

“Love works in mysterious ways. Sometimes, it comes when we aren’t looking for it or least expecting it.” She shrugs her shoulders. “I mean, I don’t even know how I would have handled your situation,” she says.

Crystal laughs. “She didn’t really handle it.” I glare at Crystal. “I mean, she wallowed, but she didn’t handle it.”

“How would you have handled it?” I ask her, folding my arms across my chest.

“Me?” She points at herself. “I would have probably burned down the house and then told his parents what a fucking douchebag their son was. After I stole his body and kicked the shit out of him.”

I gasp as Delores laughs. “See, a reason it didn’t happen to her.” She tilts her head to one side and smiles as she finishes her coffee. “Now, I have to run. The club is having a spring mingles meeting.” She grabs her purse. “Pack your things and come on over.”

We nod at her as she walks out and gets into her huge Cadillac truck. I look over at my cousin. “You so wouldn’t have stolen his body. You lie.” She shrugs her shoulders as she walks toward the stairs.

“We will never know. Now, let’s make that list so we can get a nice hot shower.” Taking a notepad out of my work stuff, we go room by room, and by the time we finish, I’ve filled two pages, front and back, with a bit on the third page. After I dress in tights and a sweater, we make our way to the construction office. We pass Main Street again, turning left on Walker street. We continue to the end of the street and see the medical clinic right in front of us. The construction house is on one side and the firehouse on the other side. When we park in the parking lot and get out, Crystal says, “I’m going to go into the clinic, if that is okay.” I nod at her and make my way over to Walker Construction.

Walking up the steps to the big log house, I open the door. When the bell over the door rings, the blond receptionist looks up. She smiles at me. “Hi there, how may I help you?” The phone rings, and she holds up her finger. “Walker Construction, how may I help you?” I turn around and take in the room; a fireplace sits in the middle of the room with the company logo on the top. “I will have him call you back as soon as I see him, Delores,” she says as she hangs up the phone. “I’m so sorry. Now, what can I do to help you?”