Build Me Up

by Grouse, Lili

  Ford had planned his own party for Annabelle, in the new house that she didn’t yet know about. A lot of kids got cars for their sixteenth, but Annabelle was getting a house. Well, in theory, at least. Another reason Kristen was nervous – what if Annabelle thought she was trying to buy her affections?

  “Kristen!” A pair of skinny arms wrapped around her neck and Kristen felt some of the worry leak out of her body.

  “Hi, Elle. How was your flight?”

  “Awful. Like, I could have sworn I saw little bats under the wings, holding it up. We so need to get a private jet,” she joked. At least, Kristen hoped it was a joke.

  “I’ve always wanted a helicopter, myself,” Ford said and grabbed Annabelle’s bag, heading for the exit without further ado.

  “So… how was the party?” Kristen asked as she and Annabelle headed out, arms linked like old friends. In a way, they were.

  “Amazing,” Annabelle grinned. “The DJ was so cute. All my friends loved him. And don’t tell Dad, okay, but Mom’s new boyfriend owns a car dealership, and she said I can have a car once I get back to California.”

  “New boyfriend? No Oscar wins for the movie producer, huh?”

  “O-M-G, I didn’t tell you?”

  “No. What?”

  “Burt was a total douche. Like, they’d been married for years, and when he finally offered Mom a part in one of his movies, you know what he wanted to cast her as?”

  “What?”

  “The boring housewife that catches her movie producer husband doing the maid and decides to join the party.”

  Kristen covered her mouth, both in shock and to stop laughter from pouring out.

  “I know, right?” Annabelle said, eyes wide. “Mom was pissed. I mean, she knew what kind of movies he produced – even if she never told me about that – but she didn’t know he’d been practicing the choreography with his cast all the time they’d been married.”

  “So she kicked him out? Good for her.”

  “Yeah. She got a nice divorce settlement, too.”

  “What about you? Any wannabe movie producers hanging around?” Kristen teased.

  “No…” Annabelle looked down at the ground for a second or so, and Kristen noticed the tinge to her cheeks.

  “I know that look,” Kristen grinned. “Tell.”

  “He’s just a guy…”

  “Mm-hm…?”

  “He works at the beach club. You know, handing out towels, picking up litter, that sort of thing.”

  “And in winter?”

  “The library,” Annabelle grudgingly admitted. “I know, not the least bit exciting.”

  “Don’t say that,” Kristen shook her head. “Smart guys are totally hot. It takes a special kind of girl to appreciate it, and I sure wish I’d been one of those girls.”

  “But you’re with Dad…”

  “I guess I got smart in my old age,” Kristen joked.

  “You also lost your sense of style,” Annabelle said, pulling back to look her over, “What are you wearing?”

  “This? Don’t you like it? I picked it up at the Spend n’ Save,” Kristen grinned and made a little twirl. “I’m sure we can find you an outfit just like it.”

  “Yeah… I think I’d rather go to New York and do some actual shopping,” Annabelle said with a scrunch of her nose and Kristen laughed.

  “Come on, kid, let’s go see your new old room.”

  Ford watched as Kristen and Annabelle huddled together, talking and no doubt sharing secrets and fashion tips as they slowly made their way over to the parking lot. Kristen may think he had the party for Annabelle all set up and that she was none the wiser about it, but he had a very different party planned.

  He hoped she’d be happy, and not run screaming for the hills – or the airport – but he couldn’t be sure his proposal would be well-received. Annabelle, of course, was thrilled about the idea. They’d spent hours on the phone when Kristen hadn’t been around, planning it out in minute detail. Now that it was almost time for the big reveal, he was feeling like something was jumping up and down inside of him, just itching to get out.

  “Come on, you two. Let’s get this truck on the road.” Ford gave the hood a pat and walked over to the driver’s side.

  He waited for Kristen and Annabelle to climb in and then set off for the cottage. Given that they’d been busy with the Bankhead project, renovations on the old cottage had had to take a backseat, but he was ready to get started on it.

  His work on the Bankhead site was coming to an end, and it would be all up to Kristen to put the finishing touches on the new house. The structure itself was pretty spectacular, he had to admit, fitting into the landscape like an extension of the cliff it stood on, select panels reflecting the sun- and moonlight along the charcoal facade. It was a daring design, and Kristen had pulled it off. He would have told her he was proud of her if it didn’t sound so… off.

  When he turned right at the crossroads exiting the airport area, heading up the coast, Annabelle acted adequately surprised.

  “Dad? I think you took a wrong turn…”

  “Huh? Oh, right, I forgot, I have to drop something off at the Bowmans’. I’m sorry, it’ll only be a few minutes.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  Kristen looked over at him from her seat in the front passenger seat, a secretive smile ghosting her lips. Yes, he definitely had her fooled.

  When they pulled up at the cottage, Annabelle looked around, acting puzzled. “That looks like the old lighthouse cottage…”

  “Well…” Ford said, turning off the engine. “It is.”

  “Uh… but… this is the wrong side of the coast. I can see the lighthouse across the bay.”

  “Come on, let’s take a look inside,” Kristen said, climbing out of the truck.

  “Okay…” Annabelle said, smiling conspiratorially at Ford before getting out, much like Kristen had done earlier. Maybe he was the one being set up. He had a feeling that between these two, he’d never be sure of anything.

  Ford was the one who unlocked the door to the cottage, and held the door open for Annabelle and Kristen. He could see the excitement tensing Kristen up, and then her utter confusion as there were no party balloons, or streamers, or people jumping out and yelling ‘surprise’ when Annabelle entered.

  “Did you forget to send out the invitations?” she whispered to Ford, horrified that he had cheated Annabelle of her surprise party.

  “No. Go on,” he ushered her into the cottage.

  “But, Ford, there’s nothing…” Kristen trailed off mid-sentence and he knew she’d spotted the new dining room table he’d crafted. He’d also stained it and polished it, and now a proper dinner was set, with a couple of unlit candles in the center, along with a vase of deep red roses.

  “Welcome home, Kristen,” he whispered in her ear and she turned to look up at him.

  “But…”

  “Annabelle and I talked about it, and we both figured that a person really only needs one home per city, so despite the vast improvements you’ve made to the old homestead, we’re putting it on the market. Having it redone by a professional interior designer and decorator, the realtor seems to think it’ll make a splash.”

  “But…” As Kristen was getting ready to object, Ford captured her hands in his.

  “The old place was fine, fully functional, but it’s where I lived with Suzy. I’m ready to make new memories, in a new place, with you.”

  “But…”

  “Like I said, I’ve talked it over with Annabelle, and we both agree that I need to be more flexible. You were right when you said I could work anywhere. So here’s my proposal…”

  Kristen looked horrified when he said that last word, no doubt thinking he was about to get down on one knee in front of her. He wasn’t. Not yet, anyway.

  “I have a business proposal for you,” he clarified. “I happen to think we make a good team, and I would like to ask if you’re interested in continuing to work with me – wherev
er that may take us. With the money left over from the sale of the old house, I’m investing in a new trailer – one with a bed as well as an office space and kitchenette, and I’m expanding my business. I’ve put out a couple of feelers on the West Coast and further down on the East Coast, and there’s quite a bit of interest for heritage renovations. Would you consider being the architect-in-charge on any of those projects?”

  “What about Greenport? What about this place?” Kristen asked, making a sweeping gesture of the cottage.

  “It’s a great place to live, and I have some friends that are willing to look after it while we’re not here. I want to explore this country with you, Kristen. If we, one day, decide we’re ready to settle down somewhere, we’ll talk about where that will be then. For now, I just want to spend as much time with you as possible. So what do you say? Will you give it a try?”

  “We argue all the time,” Kristen said, her eyes fixed on him.

  “We make up every time, too.”

  “We come from different worlds.”

  “We’re brave enough to try different things.”

  “I hate being cold.”

  “I’m a human furnace.”

  “Gross, Dad,” Annabelle interjected and they both laughed, snapping out of their own little universe.

  “Hey, I was winning this argument,” Ford chided his daughter playfully.

  “No, you weren’t,” Annabelle and Kristen said at the same time. They all laughed, then.

  “I guess we could give it a try,” Kristen shrugged. “One more project. If you find someone who wants to hire us both. I don’t have anything lined up at the moment, so…”

  “Wow, I feel so special,” Ford teased.

  “So…” Annabelle started squirming, “now that I have my driver’s license… how ‘bout I take your old truck for a spin? Just into town, I swear,” she held her hands up to deflect the oncoming objections streaming out of Ford’s mouth.

  “For how long?” he asked, his brows furrowed.

  “Um… like an hour?”

  “Make it two,” Ford said and tossed her the keys.

  “Gross, Dad,” she mock-cringed and hurried out of the cottage, happy as a clam.

  “So lenient with your daughter…” Kristen smiled, winding her arms around Ford’s neck. “Who are you and what have you done with Ford Hamm?”

  “I was hoping to win that argument…”

  “And you couldn’t do that with an audience?”

  “Not the way I was planning on doing it, no,” he smirked and picked her up. Kristen laughed as he carried her into one of the bedrooms, which surprisingly housed a freshly made bed with little rose petals sprinkled on the covers.

  “Is this how you propose we settle every argument, Mr. Hamm?” Kristen teased as he undid her top.

  “We can put that in our contract, if you like,” he grinned.

  “Mm… I’ll have to talk to my lawyer about that…”

  “You do that,” Ford said and pulled his own shirt over his head. “For now, I say we start negotiating terms. I should warn you, I drive a hard bargain.”

  “Oh, I’m counting on it,” Kristen matched his mischievous grin and pulled him down on the bed. Maybe they could have a successful merger, after all.

  EPILOGUE

  One year later

  Kristen took a step back and admired her latest project’s completion. The bathroom was perfect. Not only did it have plumbing – which it lacked a year ago – but it also housed a claw foot tub and a rain shower. The tiles were a pale gray, the floor slate and heated. There was a small, rectangular window above the tub, and an assortment of bath products lined the window sill.

  She was back in Greenport after completing a short-term project on a house up in Vermont – one that just so happened to need the expert touch of a heritage licensed contractor. Ford was still up there, negotiating a second deal, but he was due back in town any day now. In the meantime, she’d put the finishing touches on their summer home’s bathroom.

  They’d only been to her beach house in L.A. for a short vacation last winter, but it had been enough to catch up with old friends and spend some time with Annabelle. Annabelle, who was now 17 and dating a high school senior. Ford was worried, of course, but Kristen had the scoop on the young athlete slash serious student and tried to reassure him without betraying Annabelle’s trust.

  She’d enlisted Annabelle as house sitter for her beach home, knowing perfectly well that her best friend and her family would drop by unannounced from time to time to check on the place – and Annabelle. Annabelle’s mother had married the car dealership man, and the family was doing well in a small home in Woodland Hills.

  Annabelle was all set to come out to Greenport for the summer, and this year she was bringing her boyfriend Clay with her. Ford wasn’t ecstatic about the idea, but Kristen had negotiated with him on Annabelle’s behalf.

  Annabelle wasn’t getting here for another week, though, and Kristen hoped that Ford would finish up in Vermont before then. Being apart for just over a week felt like an eternity, and she had a hard time believing she could have walked away from him a year ago if he hadn’t made her a business proposal she couldn’t refuse.

  Kristen sighed in content and arched her back. She’d been working non-stop since she got here, and she was proud of her work, but she was ready to sink into a hot bath and relieve some of the tension that had built up in her neck, shoulders and back.

  Maybe… no. She shouldn’t. If Ford did come back to Greenport tonight, as he suggested he might, she wanted to have some kind of dinner ready for him. But the tub looked so great… Maybe just one quick dip…

  Twenty minutes later, Kristen was soaking in a hot bath, more candles lit in the bathroom than she could count, and a nice foam covering her nude body. She leaned her head back against the edge of the tub and closed her eyes.

  No sooner had she done so when she heard the sound of an engine and crunching gravel. Someone was coming. She immediately tensed and made to grab a towel, then realized the door was locked. If it was Ford coming home, he had a key. If it were anyone else… well, they’d just have to wait, wouldn’t they?

  Kristen returned to her previous position, determined to relax. She kept one ear open for the sound of keys in the lock, though. When she heard the lock turn in the door and Ford call out for her, she smiled.

  “In here!”

  “Hey, sorry I’m late, traffic was…” Ford started, then trailed off as he walked into the bathroom. “You’re in the tub.”

  “I am.”

  “Did we have a tub before?” he asked after a moment of plain staring at her.

  “Perceptive,” she grinned.

  “Sorry, I was a bit distracted by the naked woman in the bathroom,” Ford teased and shrugged out of his jacket. “Looks great, by the way.”

  “You’re only looking at me,” Kristen remarked.

  “Best view ever.”

  She splashed him and he jumped back instinctively. “Look around.”

  After shooting her a look that said he’d rather chew off his own arm than take his eyes off of her, Ford dutifully inspected the tiles and flooring, and the little decorative bottles and stones littering the window sill. Then his gaze returned to her. “Sorry, I can’t concentrate on anything else at the moment. I’m feeling pretty sweaty and grimy.”

  “Well, there’s a shower, too,” Kristen said, gesturing to the shower space.

  “Without a curtain,” he noted. “I like it.”

  “I’ve ordered frosted glass. It hasn’t arrived yet.”

  “Well, you’re already wet, mind if I grab a shower while you watch?” he said, grinning as he pulled his T-shirt over his head and unzipped his jeans.

  “Go right ahead,” she waved dismissively. “I might join you in a bit. Water’s getting cold, fast.”

  Ford made a show of getting in the shower, making her stifle more than a few giggles before she couldn’t take it any longer and climbed out of th
e tub to let him wash her.

  “I missed you,” she said as he soaped her up. “I’ve missed taking hot showers, too.”

  “Yeah, we should get a shower for the trailer,” he agreed.

  “How did the negotiations go? Did we get the next job?”

  “As it turns out, our last client has a business partner looking for a renovation crew for his vacation home.”

  “Oh? Where?”

  “Malibu.”

  “Really? For how long?”

  “Six to eight months, give or take.”

  “Oh. Yeah, that could work…”

  “What’s wrong?” Ford frowned, studying her face.

  “Nothing. Just… calculating.”

  “I thought you’d be happy to spend the winter and spring in California. I know you’ve asked Annabelle to housesit, but I’m sure she won’t mind staying there with us.”

  “It’s just… I don’t know if I’ll be able to see it through…”

  “What? What are you talking about? I thought we were doing well, I-”

  “We are,” Kristen cut him off, cupping his face in her hands. “We’re doing really well.”

  “Then what makes you say…?”

  “You know, I’d planned to make us dinner, set the table real nice, but then I got so tired and achy that I decided to get in the tub and then you came home… I guess what I’m saying is that I planned this differently, but sometimes things don’t work out the way we planned them. And sometimes it can be a good thing, but also scary…”

  “Kristen, you’re not making much sense here,” Ford said softly. “Come on, let’s get you dried off.” He turned off the shower spray and got them each a towel from the newly installed towel rack. He wrapped the towel around her and rubbed her arms, causing friction and making her skin heat up. It was a warm summer’s night and she really didn’t need to get any warmer, but she let him take care of her. After all, it was kind of nice to be taken care of once in awhile.

  “Coffee?” he offered.

  “No, thanks. I’ll just have some herbal tea.”