by Karen Booth
“What’s that?”
He took her hand. “I love you.”
Those words felt like code for fire your contractor. “I love you, too, but I really just wish you’d tell me what you want me to do. Do you want me to fire my builder? Put the project on hold?”
He sighed. “I’m serious. It might be difficult for me, but I need you to make this decision on your own.” He pecked her on the cheek. “I have to get to the office or I’ll be late.”
She took in a deep breath. Ten thousand dollars. “Okay. I’ll call you later.”
Marcus left for work, and the fire department handed over her apartment forty minutes later. A cleaning team started immediately after that, airing out the space and getting it ready for construction to begin again. These were all things that had to happen no matter what happened between Marcus and her, but it still felt wrong. Every minute of it felt wrong. Even with ten thousand dollars hanging in the balance, it all ate at her.
Ashley fed Lila a snack of yogurt and graham crackers. Then they emptied the toys out of the basket and put them back in for nearly an hour. These were the sorts of moments she’d worried about, whether Lila would feel comfortable with her, but it was going really well. It was going so well that Ashley knew she couldn’t use that as an excuse anymore. She and Lila would be fine if she could bring herself to take on the responsibility.
By two, it was time to meet with her builder. Ashley realized that it was probably a little past Lila’s naptime, and she did seem sleepy, so she put the little girl in her crib, turned on the baby monitor and went across the hall to her meeting.
Phil with Koch Construction was waiting for her out in the hall. “Ms. George. It’s nice to meet you. Why don’t we start by walking through the apartment, and you can tell me what was planned and what didn’t quite get done.”
Ashley let him in, and they toured her apartment, working around the cleaning crew who were a buzz of activity. The kitchen was a gut job. No question about that. In the rest of the apartment, most of the flooring would be fine, but the entire apartment would need new drywall. The smoke smell would never come out, not even with a fresh coat of paint. Phil made it clear that other builders might tell her otherwise, but the smoke smell always came back.
They went through the guest room and the powder room, eventually arriving back at Ashley’s bedroom. Lila fussed over the baby monitor. The meeting with the builder was important, but an unhappy Lila seemed urgent.
“Phil, I need to go get the baby.” She decided it was easier just to call Lila “the baby,” not to explain her tenuous arrangement with Marcus. She had to admit that she loved the way it sounded.
Phil shrugged. “You shouldn’t dote on a baby too much. They usually just cry themselves back to sleep.”
Cry themselves back to sleep. That sounded like hell on earth. One minute of Lila fussing and Ashley was ready to surrender. Sure, she was Jell-O. At least she knew this about herself. “Yeah, well, what can I say? I’m a wimp. I’ll be right back.”
She dashed across the hall and caught sight of Mr. Bunny as she ran through the living room. She grabbed him, then hurried into Lila’s room and scooped her out of the crib. “Are you okay?”
Lila cuddled up into her neck, and Ashley cuddled right back. How could she not? Lila accepted affection with no reservation and she gave it in the same way. It was a wonderful experience, even if Ashley had had only a small dose.
Lila shifted, and Ashley felt something wet on her arm. “Oh no. I forgot to change your diaper before your nap.” I’m such an idiot. She went through the drawers and got out a clean pair of leggings and the cutest top she could find. “I need to take you shopping. Your father does not have much of a girlish flair for fashion.” She handed Mr. Bunny to Lila so she could hold him while Ashley changed her diaper and clothes. She wasn’t the fastest in the world, but she’d get the hang of it. Eventually.
Lila on her hip, Ashley returned to Phil and the question of what should be done in the bedroom. The minute she walked through the door and saw the wall, the wall that was adjacent to Marcus’s room, it dawned on her exactly what she should do. She didn’t need to walk away from ten thousand dollars or from Marcus and Lila. What she really needed to do was have Phil knock down a wall.
* * *
Marcus’s cell phone rang. It was Ashley.
“Everything okay?”
“Actually, everything’s great. But I just met with the builder, and I’m wondering if you can come home early and look at something in my apartment.”
Something in her apartment? Was she finally going to do it? Crush him with the news that when left to her own devices, she would continue on the path she’d chosen months ago? “And this is important?”
“Yes. I think you’ll be happy with it. Just come home. I mean, come over to my side of home.”
His head was pounding on the cab ride home—part headache, part Ashley heartache. Could he really be so lucky that this worked out? Or had he let false hope consume him? He wanted to think he was beyond that by now, but he and Ashley had been through so many ups and downs. It wasn’t unreasonable to think there were more downs coming. In fact, it was only logical.
He knocked at her door, which she answered quickly, Lila on her hip. That one look confirmed what he’d hoped for—she was made to be a mom. There was no doubt in his mind about that. He kissed his two favorite people in the world, once again reminding himself to take a deep breath, to let things happen. If she was going to move forward with her apartment, they could always turn around and sell it once he proposed. If she said yes. The most important thing here was that he didn’t repeat his past mistakes. He wouldn’t push her into what she didn’t want.
“Come on,” Ashley said. “The thing I want to show you is in the bedroom.”
You mean the place you’ll be sleeping without me? “I thought your bedroom was done.” He came to a dead stop outside her room. He couldn’t take another step. He didn’t want to face what she was about to say. “If you’re going to hurt me, Ashley, just do it now. It just feels like you’re throwing your future in my face. This future you’re building for yourself, one that only includes me and Lila on the periphery. It’s not fair to us. And frankly, I don’t think it’s fair to you, either, because the truth is that we belong together. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my entire life.”
Ashley stood there, staring at him. “So now you tell me your opinion? Finally?” Lila was still in Ashley’s arms, playing with her hair.
“Yes. I tried to keep my opinion to myself and let you make your decision without any involvement from me, but I can’t do it. I could give you five hundred reasons why we shouldn’t be having this discussion, why you shouldn’t be telling me whatever fabulous idea you have for redoing your apartment.”
“And let me give you one reason why we should.” She curled her finger and bounced Lila on her hip, looking at his little girl. “Don’t you think Daddy should stop being such a grump and come with us into the bedroom?”
“Da,” Lila said, melting his heart. It really did kill him to see how adorable Ashley and Lila were together. If he was already going to be dead, whatever Ashley was about to tell him couldn’t kill him any more.
“Okay. Fine.” What had Ashley told him hundreds of times? To relax and enjoy himself? He failed to see where the enjoyable part was in this exercise, but he’d go.
“So, here’s what I talked about with the builder.” She marched to the far corner of her bedroom and smacked the wall. “We start here and we knock down the whole thing, all the way to the other side.”
He sputtered. “Ashley. My bedroom is on the other side of that wall. Where exactly would you presume I sleep during this phase of construction? And why in the world do you want to do that, anyway?”
“It would connect our two apartments. We’d use my bedr
oom and half of your bedroom and make a larger master bedroom. Then we could enlarge Lila’s room. She’s going to need more space than she has right now.”
His brain sputtered, stopping and starting. Once again, she managed to pull a scenario out of thin air. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? You want to do this?”
“I do. I was standing here with the contractor after I’d put Lila down for a nap. I heard her on the baby monitor, and it felt like my heart was being torn out. I couldn’t listen to it for even a minute. The thing that had once seemed more important than anything was far less important than taking care of Lila.”
“I’m very familiar with that feeling. It’s heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time.”
“So I went and got her and changed her diaper. I think that was my mistake. I didn’t change her before I put her down for a nap.”
“You’ll learn these things. All new parents do.”
“I’m figuring that out.” She smiled, stepping toe-to-toe with him. “You know, I don’t like to do things I’m not sure I can be good at. But I realized that this is one thing that nobody ever gets perfect at. I made a mistake, but she was still fine. And she seems perfectly happy.”
“I’m looking at her face, and I can tell you that she’s more than perfectly happy.” He pulled them both into his arms, the two women he couldn’t live for even a day without. Ashley hadn’t left. She hadn’t tried to find a way to slow things down, even though that was her normal inclination. Instead, she’d pushed through it and found a new plan, a perfect plan. A perfect future.
Eighteen
Koch Construction wasted no time once the building board approved the project. Three weeks after Ashley and Marcus had their meeting of the minds in her apartment, the wall between their bedrooms was officially down. She couldn’t really believe that Marcus had agreed to something so drastic so quickly, let alone acquiesced to living in a construction zone. When Ashley had asked him about it, he’d said it was all because of love.
“Our bedroom is going to be huge.” Marcus shook his head, stepping over the imaginary dividing line between their apartments, a line that was now gone. He smiled, even though the subtext was that he’d bought into one of Ashley’s crazy ideas. She could live with that. Plus, he was super sexy in his Saturday attire of jeans and a T-shirt. And to think, they had the entire weekend to look forward to. The three of them.
“A good chunk of it will go to expanding Lila’s room. Good thing we have enough space to move everyone around during construction. I really hope my parents will be able to visit once it’s all done.”
“If they aren’t able to come because of your father’s health, the three of us will have to make the trip down to South Carolina. It will be good for all of us to get out of the city, and Lila and I haven’t seen nearly enough of the US.”
Forget impressing her parents with something as frivolous as an apartment. She could show them how well she’d done for herself by introducing them to the stunning, sweet and generous man she’d fallen in love with, and the cutest little girl in creation to boot. “Fresh air. Shrimp and grits,” she said.
“Coconut cake?”
“Always.”
“Perfect.” He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “After that, it’ll be your turn to make a trip and come to the UK. Meet my parents. Take a few days away from London and visit the summer house. Rolling green countryside. We can walk to the village every day. It’s lovely.”
“It sounds it.” Really, she couldn’t imagine anything better than the grand adventure they had ahead of them. The best part of it was that he was genuinely excited by their future. He seemed to be healing from the pain of the last several years. Grumpy Marcus was behind him, although he did get touchy about sharing the remote control, especially when Manhattan Matchmaker was on. He insisted they watch it every week.
“Maybe by then we’ll be engaged,” he said, cocking an eyebrow.
She pursed her lips. This was their one sticking point—or, more precisely, it was Ashley’s sticking point. Things were happening so fast, and she’d said yes to it all. She’d added to her plate. Heck, she’d gone back for seconds, and it still didn’t seem to be enough for Marcus. They couldn’t do everything important at one time, could they? “Marcus, you’re talking about expanding the distillery.”
“We have to up production now that the Hilltop Hotels contract came in. We’re talking thousands and thousands of cases of Chambers No. 9 in hundreds of hotel bars.”
She sighed. She was happy. Really, she was. She just didn’t like the runaway train feeling. “The network just gave me the green light for First Date in Flight.”
He shook his head. “That right there should tell you just how much the network loves you. I adore you, but it really is a silly idea for a television show. A couple goes on their first date on a cross-country flight? I can’t imagine anything worse.”
There was a time when this would’ve prompted a fight, but even she found her own idea a bit ludicrous. Fortunately, at least as far as her career and earning potential were concerned, the network was thrilled. “Believe me. I know.”
“You should put Joanna on it.” He unleashed a devilish grin.
“I should totally put your sister on that show.” Now the wheels were really turning... Maybe she could put Grace on it, too—as the new head of network publicity, Grace had no time for romance. “My point is that our lives are crazy right now. Even crazier than they were a month ago. Do we really want to plan a wedding? I get stressed out just thinking about it.”
He pulled her closer and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I don’t want you to get stressed. I really don’t. But I also don’t want to wait to start our lives together.”
She pointed at the enormous gaping hole that was once the wall between their bedrooms. “News flash. We’ve already started.”
“I’d still like to get it all sewn up.” Quickly he planted a kiss on her forehead. “Lila should be up any minute now. We can go for our walk and talk about it some more.”
“Or we could just go on our walk and have fun,” she called, but he was already out of the room.
Now that the three of them had been living together for nearly a month, they had routines, one of which was to go for family walks. They would traverse Central Park at Seventy-Second Street near Strawberry Fields, stroll down Fifth Avenue to the southern edge of the park, back across at Fifty-Ninth Street and up again. Lila loved every minute of the sights and sounds of the city, and it was good couple time for Marcus and Ashley. He hadn’t been enjoying the city nearly enough.
It was a beautiful May day, almost like summer. Ashley wore a tank top with her jeans, and Lila was in an adorable purple sundress that Ashley had bought for her. The sun shone brightly, the temperatures reaching into the upper seventies. Truly a glorious day in the city. When they arrived at Fifty-Ninth Street, Ashley started veering right, but Marcus walked to the curb with the stroller, waiting for the crosswalk signal.
“Where are you going?” she asked, pointing in their usual direction.
“Let’s walk a few more blocks down Fifth Avenue. It’s such a beautiful day.”
Ashley shrugged and joined him at the light. Two blocks later, she knew precisely what he was up to.
Marcus stopped in front of Tiffany & Co. “Oh. Look where we ended up.”
“You planned this. I really don’t think it’s fair for you to coerce a woman with diamonds.”
He leaned down in front of the stroller and lifted Lila out of her seat. “What’s that? You think we should go inside and look for a fancy ring for Ashley? That sounds like a splendid idea.” He smiled, the sun glinting off his Ray-Bans. “She’s so smart. I tell you, I really think we should have her IQ tested. She could be off the charts for all we know.”
“You’re very
funny.” She stepped next to him and pushed his sunglasses down his nose, trying to discern if he really was serious.
He swiped off his sunglasses and hooked them on the front of his T-shirt. “Listen to me, Ash. We’re already knocking down walls. Let’s knock down the final wall between us. Because the reality is that you’ve already folded us into your life, and we’ve done the same to you. We’re one unit. A family. We’re already here. Let’s make it official. It’s just a ring. It’s not a big deal.”
“You realize that’s an argument for not bothering, too, right?”
“I do. But I think we owe it to each other. We love each other. We should get married.”
“We’re talking about a big, expensive party that’s going to be a total pain to plan.”
“Yes. Exactly. With flowers and a band and a cake and the most beautiful bride in the world.”
She looked down at Lila, who was watching the exchange between then. “And how about the most beautiful flower girl, too?”
“We’ll have to keep the rose petals out of her mouth.”
“We could give her a basket of toys. She’ll have no problem emptying it.”
He grinned wide. “I like it. Stuffed frogs and Mr. Bunny to step over as you walk down the aisle.”
“Do we really want to go ring shopping with Lila? You know she won’t be happy in Tiffany. I’m sweaty from our walk. We’re both in jeans.”
He took her hand. “Ashley George. You and I both know that we can argue until we’re blue in the face, but it’s not going to make either of us happy. You’re giving me every reason in the book why we shouldn’t do this today, but I’d like to give you one why we should.”
She had a good idea what he was about to say, but she wanted to hear it. “Okay. Tell me.”
“I love you, you love me and we belong together.”
She ignored the urge to tell him that he’d actually given three reasons. The truth was that they were the three reasons—Ashley, Marcus, Lila. Was there anything else? Absolutely not. Tears rolled down Ashley’s cheeks. “Damn you, Marcus Chambers. You made me cry.”