Summer Cursed

He walked me through the rest of his plans. Bedroom three would have built-in bookshelves on all the walls and a large picture window with a view of the forest. Where the house had originally stood, would be a pond surrounded by rocks and plants. He planned to place two live oak trees on either side of the pond. “Would that be okay with you?” he asked when he realized I’d been silent the entire time.

I turned and threw myself at him. “Are you kidding me? Of course it’s okay with me! I just wish you’d let me pay you full price.”

He laughed and bent back, lifting my feet off the ground for a second. “We are not getting into that again.”

“Oh yeah?” Our faces were close. Too close. The urge to kiss him was strong, and before it got out of control, I stepped back and put some space between us. “I just hope you’re not losing money on this.”

“I’m not. I promise. A lot of the contractors owe me favors, and there are always extra supplies from other sites. It’s all good.”

“There are no words to express how much this means to me. Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” He smiled. “So, tell me what happened with Stella.”