They walked down the grand staircase, which curved along one wall. “You should host weddings here, private affairs.”
“Are you doing to come and do the photography?”
“You know I don’t photograph people wearing clothes, and I don’t expect anyone would be willing to get down to their birthday suits for the wedding album.”
“Probably not, but I’ve already thought about the wedding thing. It would be a beautiful setting. I’m going to hire a landscaper to create a walk through the pecan orchard complete with benches and a gazebo. I’ve got some rocking chairs and a couple of porch swings on order. I hope to have everything up to code and through inspection by the end of the year.”
“Spring opening?”
“Yes. When everything is in bloom and beautiful. The only other time of year that I think would be just as perfect is fall, but I don’t want to wait for another year if it can be helped.” They stood in the doorway of the formal parlor at the front of the house. It had two sets of floor-to-ceiling doors that opened out onto the front porch. “This room will be a very calming green with dark wood accents, the dining room as I said some shade of red. The kitchen is done. I love the black and white. The other two rooms upstairs, one will be a light purple with brown accents and the other will be a sky blue.”
“I’m glad you’re not shying away from color. It’s always looked good on you,” Neil said, sitting on one of the stools at the island.
“It’ll look more Victorian than antebellum, I’m afraid, but Aunt V loved color too, and from what I’ve read in family journals, the original colors in the house were bright, even though they weren’t popular yet. Walls were always dark, and the rooms had pops of color. Some used to say it was because my grandmother was too drunk off her own cakes to realize the faux pas she was committing.”
Neil laughed. “More like she was too drunk off the liquid ingredient than the cake itself, though if memory serves, since it was so very long ago that I had a piece, the cake is rather potent.”
“Don’t pull that crap on me. You had some last night.”
“That doesn’t count.”
“Why not?”
“Because last night I was with others and couldn’t indulge as I normally would. You should just get started on one. I’m not leaving here without it.”
“Here as in Blue Ridge or here as in my house.”
“Both.”
Blue sighed and made an exaggerated show of rolling her eyes back. “Fine,” she said through gritted teeth, though there was no heat behind it. She loved to bake, and the cake would keep both her hands and her mind busy. Right now, she was all for that.
Neil got up from his seat and walked around to her. He smoothed his hand down the back of her hair and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Good girl,” he whispered. “While you do that, I’m going to grab my camera and take some before photos of the house. You’ll want them along with the after. They would make a great collage in the foyer or along the wall leading up the stairs.”
She watched him scamper out the back door in excitement. Leave it to Neil to do everything in his power to brighten her day, and his enthusiasm about her renovation project on the house meant the world to her.
Reaching into the cabinet under the island, she plucked up a new bottle of dark spiced rum. She glanced down at her watch and nodded as she opened the bottle. “Not too early for a sip or ten while baking,” she declared to the large, empty room, ignoring how the words echoed not only around the walls but around her heart. It was about as large and about as empty. “Cheers.” She lifted the bottle in a mock toast and took a sip.
Oh yeah, this was going to be a damn good cake.
Chapter Nine
Cort stood against the deck railing of Buck and Caroline’s house. “Cabins, huh? I thought you just lured me up here to set me up with a woman needing an electrician.”
Buck grinned. “The cabins, for sure. The set-up? I ain’t copping to that.”
“Uh-huh,” Cort said skeptically. He knew them better than they thought he did. “Tell me about your business idea.”
“I want to construct cabins all up and down the mountains. I could see it the second I got up here. I sat right here and was in awe of how beautiful it is.”
“I can’t argue with that. It is something else. A whole other world surrounded by these trees and all the nature, but don’t they already have a ton of cabins all up and down the mountains?”
“Yes.”
“Then what would make any that we build special?”
“Green.”
“Green? As in eco?”
“Yes.”
“Damn, Buck. You realize how expensive that would be? Not only for us but for the buyers?” Buck sat forward, an earnest look on his face and in his eyes. Cort knew that look well and braced himself.
“Look, we’ve all done a little eco building over the last few years. We all have some contacts in different areas. We can all learn, get the certification, but I think it would be our unique niche. Especially if we can make it more affordable. The cabins might be a little smaller, but I know we can make this work. I’ve put a lot of thought into it. I’ve made a lot of phone calls. There aren’t many green cabins up here yet. And…”
“Have y’all seen the blue haze of the mountains in the distance?” Caroline spoke up from her seat on the arm of Buck’s chair.
The way Buck looked up at her when she said anything, the way he was always touching her, whether it be her hair or her back or just her arm, Cort had never seen his friend look happier, more content. Same way Decker was with Rosie. His friends had found “the one,” and while he would never have admitted to believing in her, he knew she existed, had in fact existed for the last five years.
“No.” Cort shook his head.
“Well, they’re called the Blue Ridge Mountains for a reason. The haze comes from the trees, from a chemical they emit into the atmosphere. It mixes with other chemicals in the air and creates a haze, moisture to protect the leaves from the sun. It’s one of the most beautiful sites I’ve ever seen.”
“It sure is. There are some mornings Rosie drags me out of bed just to look out over the mountains.”
Cort laughed. “You’re so whipped.”
“Not as whipped as she is.” Decker winked as he said it and grinned from ear to ear.
“Okay, okay.” Cort held up his hands in surrender. “TMI, man, TMI. Back to this business. Equal shares?”
Buck laughed and nodded. “Equal shares.”
“And you’re both certain you want to do this?”
“I am.”
“Me too.”
Cort looked from one to the other of his two best friends in the world. He knew they wouldn’t steer him in a direction that was wrong or unstable, even though at the present time the construction industry was a bit on the unstable side. But the eco-boom going on would provide some interesting challenges, experiences, and income. He wasn’t one to shy away from the challenges, and it wasn’t as though he had a permanent address right then. He tried not to think of Blue, of her address and how it could likely be his too, of how things had been left when Neil arrived and gave Cort an exit.
Before arriving in Blue Ridge, he’d have said he didn’t care to settle down anymore. He was happy roaming, not being any one place for too long. On the surface, anyway. Deep down he wanted what he’d always wanted: the wife, the white picket fence, the kids, and pets. He wanted the summer evenings on the front porch and the Christmases complete with decorations and lights and midnight assemblies of toys.
He pulled himself from those thoughts and refocused on the conversation at hand. It was iffy that Blue would even have him for a lover now, much less as more. “How hands-on would we be?”
Buck slid back in his seat and wrapped his arm around Caroline. “I figure that at least one of us would have to travel to each site pretty regular, and I want to actually do the building, on-site. I don’t want to manufacture something and have
it shipped in. I want to build on-site. I want to use as much of the natural materials of the land as possible. I know we’ll need to hire a few people, but for the most part, I want us to do the actual work.”
“How much funding do you think it’s going to take outside of what we each contribute?”
“More than I want to think about. My father is going to pony up some as an investment, and some of his guys will be available to us as workers.”
“I assume you have figures and a business plan and the whole nine yards.” Cort was always the more cautious of the three of them. Always wanting to know everything up front. Always needing to know where the exits were. It had served him well, but it also kept him from experiencing a lot of the spontaneous fun in life. Decker and Buck were forever telling him to lighten up, to just have fun, to just live in the moment without having to know all the details before making a decision.
At the same time, this was a big damn decision and a lot of damn money. Not that he didn’t have more than enough to put into this new venture, and they wouldn’t steer him wrong, but he needed to see all the facts and projections.
Buck nodded. “Yes, I have everything you need to look at.”
“Good. I’ll do that and get you an answer in a few days. When are you looking to get this underway?”
“I want to have everything in place by the time the ground thaws in the spring.”
“All right. That will give me enough time to finish up a few projects I’d committed to for the next few months.”
“You got more than Blue’s place to do?” Buck asked, taking a swallow of tea.
The move prompted Cort to pick up his own glass of tea. It was the best sweet iced tea he’d ever had. While he was a boy from out West, he had developed quite a taste for the Southern elixir. “Yeah. There’s a townhouse in Charleston, and in the fall, I need to head out to Texas for a job that was put on hold a while back. The guy thinks he’ll have the money to finish it up before winter.”
“If it would help, I can work on Blue’s place.”
“I’m the electrician.”
“I can do some.”
Cort grinned. “Yeah, but I can do it all. Besides, you’re not the expert on historical homes.”
Decker shielded his eyes. “Okay, you two. Put the dicks away. I don’t really care to see you compare whose is bigger.”
Caroline grinned. “You might not, but I wouldn’t mind seeing.”
“Like hell.” Buck held up his hands in surrender. “I give. You’re right, but if she needs any general work…”
“Yeah yeah. I can do that too, remember?” Buck had a lover he was head over heels for, but that didn’t mean Cort was going to give the other man any reason to spend an inordinate amount of time with Blue.
Good God, he was jealous. There was nothing to be jealous about, but damn… What the hell other explanation was there?
“I haven’t been out to the plantation yet, but Rosie said it really is beautiful.”
“It is. It’s been well taken care of, and it’ll be great as a bed and breakfast.”
“It’s not still open to the public right now, though, is it?”
“No, I don’t think so. I think she’s concentrating on the renovations. It’ll need work after the electrical is done. Looks like electric light was added back in the forties, but the last work that was done was around the sixties or seventies.”
“So, you’re rewiring the whole house?”
“Yeah. I’m going to hire some local guys, maybe from down in Atlanta to come and help me out. No way I can do it all myself.”
Buck nodded. “I’ve made a few contacts just up over the Tennessee border. There are some local guys who grew up around these areas that might be willing to lend a hand.”
“You think there’s some that are skilled enough?”
“Won’t know until we start asking around. Might be good to train some of the young guys around here. A lot of them could stay, and the more that stay, the more work that’s needed.”
“Rosie said there’s a lot of tourism around this time of and into the fall,” Decker added.
“Yeah. Busy times up here. Could draw more people if there were more places for people to stay.”
“You’re really getting into this small-town thing.”
“I am. I never thought I’d like a town this small, but Caroline was right. It kind of grows on you.”
“And you?” Cort turned his gaze on Decker who looked him square in the eye. “You’ve always traveled everywhere, just like me. You’re okay here? You like it?”
“Yeah, man. I do. It’s time to stop roaming.”
Cort wasn’t ready to admit he agreed. He only nodded and finished off his glass of tea.
“We’ve got time and can see how it all shakes out. For now, though, I’m hitting the hay.”
Decker snorted. “That’s not all you’re gonna be hittin’.”
Buck grinned. “Nope. Y’all can show yourselves off Caroline’s porch.”
Cort and Decker watched as Caroline slid off the arm of Buck’s chair, saw the look in the man’s eyes when she went inside. Buck followed her through the glass doors and locked them firmly behind himself. “Well, I guess that’s our cue.”
“I guess so. You staying with Rosie tonight?”
“I am. Or at least I’m going to try.”
“Try?”
“She still gets prickly about me staying there sometimes. Claims she needs her space.” Decker rolled his eyes upward, and Cort laughed. He’d never known the other man to be so accommodating with women. If one needed space, Decker always gave it. In spades, never coming back.
“You’re whipped, man.”
Decker grinned over at him as they both got up to make their way down the stairs to the ground. The drive from Caroline’s to Rosie’s wouldn’t take long, and Cort figured he’d walk from there back to the cabin Decker had rented.
“When was the last time you worked on a historical?”
“A few months. I did some work in Baltimore. I’ll check the county clerk and current code specs and requirements and then get started. You ever seen the place?”
“No. I haven’t been out there yet. Only met Blue a few times before you showed up. Don’t know her at all really. She’s a bit of an eccentric from what Rosie has said.”
She was, Cort agreed, but he wanted to hear what Rosie had to say about her. “Eccentric? How so?”
“She didn’t say, and I didn’t ask. Just something about the way she was raised and the history of the family, but I don’t know any specifics. She said people in town are kind of fascinated but kind of wary when it comes to Blue.”
“Is there a point to this little insider’s chat?”
“To see how interested you are. You like your women straightlaced, and this one isn’t anything like that from what I gather. Last night was a bit eye-opening, watching you two.”
“Rosie told you, didn’t she?”
“Told me what?”
“You don’t pull off dumbass well. She told you Blue and I have a past, didn’t she?”
“She might have.”
“Oh stop bullshitting.”
Decker laughed. “Okay, yeah. She told me, but she didn’t give me any details. Hell, I don’t think she’s gotten any details from Blue, and that’s pissing her off.”
“That’s because there’s nothing to tell. It was a one-night stand. Shit, man, she was the last person I expected to see when I pulled up to the house yesterday.”
“How long ago?”
“Five years.”
“Damn, Cort. You’re in love with this woman, and you didn’t tell either of us.”
In love? How did Decker know that? “In love? Nah.”
“Now who’s bullshitting? What’s the deal with that other guy here?”
“Ah hell. He’s a friend of hers.”
“You ever gonna tell me what kind of pictures are hanging in her house?”
“You’re still on
about those? Man, you’ve got a real live woman in that—” he pointed in the direction of Rosie’s place “—house, and you’re worried about pictures in another one? You’re hopeless.”
“Rosie said they’re the art kind, erotic, but not porn,” Decker went on.
His friend was watching him closely for some reaction, and Cort was careful not to show any. “That’s about right.” Cort didn’t think Blue would care if anyone knew about the pictures. She was certainly a bit of an exhibitionist, but there again was that kick of jealousy. He didn’t want his friends seeing her like that. When he’d been staring at her pictures and jerking off, when he’d been thinking about showing her off to other men but not letting them touch her, his two best friends were not in that equation.
Decker’s laugh echoed off the tress. “No fuckin’ help.”
“Nope.”
“What about the tattoo? She got more than the one?”
“What the hell is it with you?”
“You talk about Buck and I being whipped, but you love her, man,” Decker said again. “She feel the same?”
“Yes.” It was the first time he’d dared admit it to himself. She’d told him she loved him, said she didn’t need him to love her back. He didn’t want to admit he believed her, but he did. He knew with the way she gave herself to him, offered herself, crawled in his lap that last time… Dear God, he wanted her. Again. Now. All the fucking time.
“Well, at least you have that.”
“Yeah,” he said without much conviction. His dick was harder than a piece of steel, and he wanted nothing more than to pile drive into her. She stirred every emotion he had and some he thought he’d long forgotten. Sex with her, talking with her, sleeping the afternoon away with her. He’d never felt so good or so odds with himself.
“You want me to drop you at the cabin?” Decker asked as they settled into his truck.
“Nah. I’ll walk through that little path you’ve got between your place and hers.”
“You sure? I promise not to ask any more questions.”
“Yeah, I know, but after that meal Caroline made, I should probably be walking from here all the way to your place and back about twenty times.”
Forever in Blue Jeans Page 13