Under Pressure (Body Armor #1)(120)
She playfully punched him, caught Kevin’s grin and hugged them both once more. “Show me.”
They climbed the attic stairs for the unveiling, just so, as Jesse claimed, she could “get the real visual.”
And oh, did she get it. They were so incredibly awesome, she truly did want to melt down.
She didn’t know how it was possible, but Jesse assured her it would be an easier task than the bedroom since the space was wide open and “begging for a remodel.”
They would move the stored items down to the basement and do some hard-core cleaning, he’d replace the old window with an easier-to-open model that still matched the character of the house, and then they’d get busy building.
Jesse’s offer to create the office space appealed in a big way, for a variety of reasons.
Yes, she wanted her own work area. Right now she had her desk crammed in her bedroom, and there was barely room to move. When using the phone for client calls, she had zilch for privacy. And as an organized person, it made her a little nuts having files stacked around instead of neatly arranged in a file cabinet.
She also liked the additional time for Jesse and Kevin to bond over power tools. On a very basic level, she knew it was good for Kevin. She wanted to coddle him, and Jesse treated him like a young man—surely that was a good balance?
Selfishly, the biggest reason she loved it was because it’d mean more time with Jesse. And honestly, she wanted every second she could have, for whatever reason there might be.
Putting a hand over her head so she wouldn’t bump it on a beam, Jesse indicated the wall. “Where the ceiling slopes down, we’ll add lower cupboards and shelves. Your desk and main flow area will be here in the center so that we tall people can move around without cracking our noggins.”
Since he was taller than her, and Kevin was certainly growing, that made perfect sense.
Kevin nodded. “You’ll have a lot of places to put...stuff.” He seemed unsure what stuff she’d have.
“It’s an office dream,” she assured him.
Expression eager, he told her, “Jesse says this’ll be even better than your office being in the room I took.”
“Much, much better. And the fact that you’re in the room now...well, I couldn’t be happier about all of it.”
Both guys looked pretty satisfied with her enthusiastic reaction, so they all exited the attic with grins.
That seemed to set the tone, and the drive-in was a wonderful adventure that went by with nary a bit of uncertainty.
The good times even carried over to the next day for the grill-out.
For the first time since she’d gotten the awful phone call about her sister, Tonya felt optimistic that the future would not only work out, it’d be easier than she’d imagined.
And she owed it all to Jesse.
*
A WEEK LATER, they again congregated in Tonya’s backyard for games and grilled food. Jesse was feeling pretty damned good. Earlier that day he, Kevin and Tonya had finished clearing out the attic. Yeah, he was dragging his feet, taking more time than necessary. But so what? Kevin enjoyed helping out, he didn’t want Tonya overworked and, on a more personal level, he loved spending time at her place.
Mostly because he loved her.
Kevin too.
When with them, life felt more perfect. He didn’t want to let that go, but neither did he want to rush either of them. Both Tonya and Kevin were still reeling from having their lives turned upside down; he had to respect the frailty of the situation.
But damn, it was getting more and more difficult to leave each night when what he really wanted was to move on in.
“You playing or daydreaming?” Brick asked.
Daydreaming, but he got it together and grinned. “Playing.” Holding the badminton racket loosely in both hands, he indicated Brick should serve.
After already defeating Evan and Cinder, he and Kevin faced off against Brick and Merrily. It pleased him, made him feel like a proud dad, how Kevin showed his competitive edge, but in a nice way.
For what the kid had gone through, no one would have been surprised if he’d refused to play, or if he’d had a temper tantrum when they lost.
Instead, when they’d started playing last weekend, he’d gotten very serious and knuckled down. He had a natural athleticism that seemed to surprise him. Both Brick and Evan had commented on his speed. Jesse saw his dexterity.
All over simple badminton.
Jesse would like to get him to a bowling lane, or on a baseball field. Kevin took instruction with the same gusto most kids used when opening presents on Christmas morning. He possessed natural talent just begging to show. Jesse wanted to give that talent free rein. It’d be interesting to see which sports he liked.
It had been a busy but successful week. In his mind, Jesse repeatedly ticked off accomplishments.
Kevin had enjoyed the drive-in, including the popcorn and colas and corn dogs.
He’d worked hard helping Jesse on the attic project.
He’d tolerated the haircut, and had gotten to know the barber.
And best of all, he’d endured the shopping that had taken more than a few hours. Endured being an apt word given how it apparently pained Kevin to see Tonya buy him things.
Doing his part, Jesse had taken him aside and clued him in on how to accept his aunt’s shopping spree with graciousness, explaining that it was important to her, so even if he felt he didn’t want or need the clothes, he should just accept it and thank her.