At the door, Caleb put both arms around her and pulled her to him. She put her arms around him and laid her head on his chest. He felt so good, she could have gone to sleep right there.
“How’re you?” he finally asked, ducking his head slightly to look down at her.
“Exhausted.”
Nodding, he laid his head on hers. “Me too.”
With the last of her strength, she rubbed her hand up and down his back. “Jane’s going to watch the kids again tomorrow. I can be there around eight.”
His embraced tightened. “You don’t have to. We’ll just be moving furniture when it gets there.”
“Yeah, but I need to get that last wall finished up in my old room. If you’d have told me twenty years ago that dark paint would be such a problem, I’d have chosen something else.”
He laughed and snuggled closer. “It’ll work. By tomorrow night, we won’t even have to worry about it for at least a couple of weeks.”
“Oh!” She came up off of him, wild-eyed with panic. “Did you call the hotel? I was going to…”
The smile on his face tripped across her heart. “You really think I’m going to forget to make those reservations?”
She put her gaze down, shy now at the implications.
He dragged her back into his arms and tightened them. “It’s not the honeymoon suite. I think every one of them has been booked for like three years.” Shaking his head, he snorted. “I think we’ve got to get better at planning ahead.”
However, Rachel just brushed his back. “Long as I’m with you, we could live in a hole.”
His laugh lifted her sagging spirit. “We could have Derek come decorate it. We’d have the best hole in the county.”
Rachel couldn’t stop the laugh as she pulled back and looked up at him. “I love you, you know that?”
He smiled and winked. “I think I heard that rumor somewhere the other day.” And with that, he laid his lips softly on hers.
The next morning, Caleb was up with the sun in the second bedroom rolling on the gold-toned paint. He’d made sure to open the back door in case help arrived, which it did just after eight.
“Looking good,” Derek said, coming in with no fanfare.
“Hey! Reinforcements,” Caleb said as he got more paint and rolled it on. “Jaycee come with you?”
“Nah. She’s coming with Sage in a while. I think they’re finishing up the flowers for some wedding or something.” Derek shrugged. “I don’t know. Women. You know how they are about that stuff.” He looked around. “Rachel not here yet?”
“Not yet. She was pretty beat last night.” Caleb rolled more paint into the side corner. “I hope she’ll take at least a little break this morning, but we’ll see…” He stepped back to survey the wall and then went back to finish one part. “You heading over to the church?”
“I was thinking about it. You about done with that? I could probably use a hand.”
“You could get Pastor Steve to help you.”
Derek laughed. “I’m sure he would love that.”
Finally finished, Caleb stepped back for good. “That’s okay. I’m going to have to let this dry anyway.”
Taking the roller from him, Derek headed out as Caleb got the pan.
“I think I’m going to have to wave the white flag on the baseboards in there,” Caleb said. “It’s not like it’s major. We can get it later. I don’t think Sara’s going to stone me if it’s not done.”
In the mudroom, they carefully washed everything out.
“So besides the furniture, what do we lack?” Derek asked. The question was more rhetorical than anything as he wasn’t really talking to Caleb, more going through the project for himself.
“We’ve got to finish laying the flooring in the master,” Caleb said as if they were one-and-the-same person thinking the job through. “That shouldn’t take more than an hour. The trim in the second bedroom and master, but that’s not major. Finishing the closets would be nice, but I don’t think we’re going to have time to even touch those. I wish we could’ve gotten the cabinets in the bathroom completely done. That would be one less thing for y’all to do when everybody leaves next week, but I’m afraid that’s out too. So what’s the plan anyway? Are you and Jaycee staying here for a while next week?”
“Well, we’re headed back on Monday for some production meetings. I’m hoping we can get the go-ahead from the Richardson’s for Attabury on Friday,” Derek said. “That way we can map that into the schedule as well.”
Paint handled, they headed out to Derek’s pickup.
“Do I need to be there for that?” Caleb asked.
Derek grinned. “I don’t know. Is that a yes?”
They got in on opposite sides of the pickup, and Derek glanced at his passenger only once as he started the vehicle.
Twined with everything else were the thoughts of the show, and Caleb had come to the conclusion that if it could work, he wanted to try. “I’m not going to lie. This is like jumping off a bridge with no bungee cord, but…”
Derek glanced at him again when he didn’t continued. “But?”
With a short shake of his head, Caleb let out a breath. “I think my answer is yes as long as this thing with Attabury works.”
“What if it doesn’t?”
“Then I think God just told me no.”
The sun was up when Rachel rolled over, feeling like her whole body was one, giant aching mess. “Ow. Ugh.” She laid her wrist over her eyes to block out the waves of pain. The short breath dragged her back down into sleep, and she let it for a moment.
How was she ever going to get herself moving again?
Her heart lurched as her mind skipped across what today would bring. New furniture for the house. His parents. His sister and her family.
Sage had offered for them all to come out to her house for dinner later, and Rachel wondered how many times she could take advantage of her friend’s hospitality. Food. She realized with a snap that Caleb had next to nothing at the farm. They couldn’t welcome his whole family here and drop them out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to eat.
Letting out a hard breath, Rachel thought through her bank statement. It would have to go on the credit card. After the wedding and the honeymoon, they could sort it all out. Because right now, that life almost didn’t look real from here. One more close of her eyes and she forced herself up. Time to be productive.
“How’re you holding up?” the pastor asked as he held the door for the two of them to wrestle the two end tables free from the menagerie of mixed-and-matched furniture in the back room of the church.
“Don’t ask,” Caleb said, and he looked at Derek. “Got it?”
“Yeah.”
“K. Let’s go. One, two…”
They lifted the thing and hefted it over several other pieces to the door.
“How’s Rachel?” the pastor asked.
“Probably about as good.” Caleb followed Derek down the little hallway, past the ramp that when it was in place went up to the church, and out the front door. They loaded that one and headed back in. “I think she’s bringing the kids over for Jane to watch again today.”
The pastor nodded. “That ought to suit Jane to a T. She loves those babies.”
Back in the room, they located the second end table, covered in random decorations. Derek cleared it off as Caleb stood back watching, his hands on his hips.
“You all needing any help with the house today?” the pastor asked.
On either side they lifted the thing.
“At this point, we need all the help we can get,” Derek said. Going out into the hallway, they were followed again by the pastor.
“Well, what if me and the boys came over to help?” he asked. “You know me and this stuff, but I’m sure the boys would love it.”
“Bring them over,” Derek said. “We’ll put them to work.”
“You too,” Caleb said. “How are you with carrying furniture?”
The pas
tor laughed as they loaded that one in and headed back for the lamps.
“Well, for you two, I might be willing to at least come lend some moral support.”
The two of them laughed, and Caleb clapped the pastor on the back.
“At this point, we could use all the moral support you’ve got.”
Thankfully the pastor and his boys had arrived by the time the furniture truck did at just after ten o’clock. Caleb paired off with Aidan, and Derek with Pete. Table, chairs, love seat, bedframes, recliner pieces. The mattresses and boxed springs took all of them, and even the pastor had to help with the couch.
As Derek went out to finalize the paperwork with the furniture company, Caleb stood in the living room amidst the craziness. His parents would be here in less than three hours. How were they ever going to get all of this put together?
“A little help here please!” Rachel’s voice called from the kitchen, and Caleb headed that direction without bothering to question it. At the cabinet she swung four bags of groceries up onto it and let out a hard breath.
“What’s all of this?” he asked as the fear snaked up into his chest.
“Well, we can’t just leave them out here with nothing to eat, can we?” She stepped over and kissed him lightly. “Come on. There’s more in the car.”
Groceries, furniture, the last of the baseboards going on as people in every room snapped pieces of furniture together. It was like being in a beehive of activity. Caleb went to one room and helped until he was sure they could handle it, and then he ran to the next. He helped Derek place the living room furniture before heading in to help the pastor with the bedframes.
“So what are we putting on these beds anyway?” the pastor asked as he sat on the floor tipping and turning a side rail back and forth. “You got a closet full of bed linens somewhere?”
Panic ripped through Caleb just as Rachel came in.
“Groceries are done. What can I do?” she asked, and he turned to her, his eyes wide and worried.
“Do you have stuff for the beds?” he asked, his voice echoing with shell-shock.
Her eyes widened as well. “Oh no. Uh. I didn’t think of that. I have a couple sheets and blankets at home.”
“That’s done,” Derek said, coming in as well. He took one look at them and stopped. “What’s wrong?”
They turned to him, neither saying anything for a long moment.
“What are we going to put on the beds?” Caleb finally asked. “You didn’t get anything, did you?”
“Reinforcements have arrived,” Jaycee announced happily. She stopped at the pallor that had descended on the room. “What’s up?”
Derek looked down at her, and Caleb decided he needed to let them at least discuss it. Was it his place or not? He couldn’t clearly tell anymore.
“We didn’t get bed linens,” Derek said. “We talked about it, but I didn’t even think about it when we were doing the furniture.”
Worry cascaded down her face for one brief second. Then she exhaled and nodded. “Tell you what. Y’all get this done, and Rach and I will go find some.”
“Where?” Derek asked.
She just smiled. “Trust me.” She winked at him. “I’m magic, remember?”
And with that, the two of them left.
When they got into Derek’s black pickup, Rachel thought she might have climbed to the top of the world.
“Wow,” she said, “you can see everything from up here.”
Jaycee laughed. “I wish he would’ve gotten something a little more sensible. I hate driving this thing.”
“Might as well be driving a truck.”
“No kidding.” Jaycee maneuvered the thing around and headed out. “So, how are things? You ready for all of this?”
“If I said, ‘yes,’ I’d be lying.” Rachel wrapped her arms around herself. “I mean, I can’t wait to marry him, that’s a given, but everything else… the wedding, his family, the house. It’s all a little overwhelming.”
With a nod, Jaycee glanced at her. “How about the show?”
Rachel had left that thought out on purpose. She was trying very hard not to think about it. “I’m glad for him,” she finally said.
“For you?”
Tipping her head, she thought that through. “For me… I don’t know. I mean, if it works like you guys said it would, being around here, it wouldn’t be too bad. But I’m still not even sure how I fit into any of it. I mean I’m not the camera girl kind of person.”
“Oh, you might be surprised,” Jaycee said.
“I don’t get that, why you would say that, what that even means.”
Jaycee let out a long breath. “Look, I’ve seen some of the footage, Rach. I can’t explain it, but you and Caleb, together, you’re… sparkles and light. You’re fun to watch together. I don’t know if that was because we were getting to see you two fall in love or what, but when you watch, you can’t deny it’s something really special.”
“Maybe it won’t be like that now.”
As Jaycee turned into her mother’s driveway, she smiled. “Or maybe it will.”
“How can one person be this bad at putting things together?” the pastor whined from his spot on the floor. He lifted his glasses to get a better view of the pieces. “I can feel myself sliding back pre-paradigm-shift here, and it is not fun.”
Caleb came over and sat on his heels. He took one look at the thing, took it from the pastor and turned it over and then tilted it. “It goes in there.”
“That’s what I mean!” Frustration crawled into the pastor’s voice. “How do you and Derek see that? I’m over here turning it up and down and sideways, and nothing works. You come in here, and… well, of course, it goes like that.” Shaking his head, he fitted the two pieces of the bed onto the foot. “I’m telling you, give me something like this, and I jump all the way out of peace and right back into ‘I’ll never make this work. I’m such a failure.’”
Sitting down on the floor, Caleb reached for two other pieces and fitted them together. “Can’t be that bad.”
“Oh, it is. Trust me. It so is. I feel just like I used to at my grandpa’s. He could do anything, put anything together. I wanted to be just like him, but things never worked for me like they did for him.” Leaning back to take a few second break, the pastor shook his head. “I’ve never been able to do this stuff.”
“Yeah, but you can do other things, way more important things than putting a bed together,” Caleb said. “Just think, if it wasn’t for you, Rachel and I would never have made it this far.”
“And if it wasn’t for you and Derek, my house would be falling down around me about right now.”
“See, we need each other,” Caleb said, bringing his piece over to fit it with the pastor’s. “It all works together.”
“Huh.” Not following his piece of the bedframe because Caleb was handling it now, the pastor put his hands down and just watched. “It’s funny. I just read something like that the other day, how when you do things God’s way, all of the pieces just fit like they’re supposed to, how all the words go together—like grace and hope and joy and love. It’s not this or that. It’s all of it at the same time.”
“Sounds interesting.” Caleb fitted another foot onto the bed frame. “Wish I could read stuff like you do.”
“Who says you can’t?”
Caleb laughed. “Believe me, Pastor, reading is not on the list of things I do well.”
However, the pastor shrugged. “I think you might like this one. It’s about the patterns in life and how when you find God, you can break out of those patterns. Paradigm shifts, you know?”
With a nod, Caleb righted the frame that was now altogether. “Paradigm shifts.” He laughed. “Is it me, or do I somehow keep getting into these discussions when I’m with you? I don’t even know what paradigm shift means.”
“Yes you do. You just don’t know you do. A paradigm shift is how you’re here in this room with me getting a bed ready for your family so
they can come watch you get married. It’s a life-hinge that once it occurs, your life will never be the same again.”
Widening his eyes, Caleb nodded. “Seems like you specialize in those.”
The pastor smiled and shrugged. “God specializes in those. I’m just along for the ride.”
“Hello! Anybody home?” a voice called from the kitchen, and Caleb’s head jerked up as absolute horror crossed his face.
“Mom?” he asked the air. Letting the parts of the bed frame he still held down to the floor, he fought through the confusion as he turned and headed for the kitchen. Sure enough, his mother and father were standing in the middle of it amidst the table and chairs no one had bothered to arrange. Utter shock pounced on him. Going over, he hugged them both though shock trailed his every movement. “What are you doing here? I thought you said three.”
“Yes, well, your mother needs to learn to read,” his father said with teasing in his voice as he righted their suitcases.
“I do not. I just got our times mixed up with Sara’s. They’ll be here at three.”
That did nothing to calm Caleb’s heartrate. “What? I thought they were coming tonight.”
“They are,” his mother said decisively. “At three.” She smiled as she glanced past him. “I see you’re not alone.”
When Caleb turned, he found Derek, the pastor and both boys in a half-ring staring at them wordlessly.
“You should introduce us,” his mother said, leaning in to him.
“Yes. Yes, I should,” Caleb said as he fought to get life back to right underneath him. “Mom, Dad, this is Derek West. Pastor Steve and his two boys, Aidan and Peter.”
Handshakes went around the room.
“Rachel went with Jaycee, Derek’s wife, to get some things.” Caleb put his hand over the back of his head. “We’ve been working like mad to get the place ready, but time kind of got away from us.”
“Well, for heaven’s sake,” his mother said, “we came to help, not to sponge. Tell us what we can do.”
They’d only been gone a little over an hour as they put together a potpourri of blankets, sheets, pillows, and comforters from practically everyone’s house. They had cleaned out Jaycee’s mother’s linen closet as well as Sage’s. The final stop was Rachel’s place for the extra pillows from the kids’ rooms.
A Moment Like This: A Contemporary Christian Romance Prequel Novella (The Grace Series Book 4) Page 13