by Dale Mayer
“The barbecue is hot,” he called to her.
“Burgers are ready,” she called back. She formed them and laid them on a plate. She made six. She carried the plate out to the grill and handed it to him. “I figure I could take one with the salad for my lunch at work tomorrow. You’ll eat two tonight and have two more to reheat for your lunch tomorrow. As long as you’re okay eating burgers three days in a row,” she teased.
He chuckled. “I like my food any way I can get it.”
“Me too.” They both stood by the grill until she remembered she hadn’t made the salad. “Oops,” she said, racing inside. There she chopped lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, tossed it all with salad dressing and carried the salad bowl out with their dinner plates and two more beers on a serving tray. “Do you want to eat at the table or on our lounges?”
“Lounges,” he said. “Do we have any chips left?”
“No idea.” She set up their tableware and popped open their beers. When she turned around, she saw him moving into the kitchen, rummaging for the leftovers from the previous days’ barbecues. “What are you working on with your laptop?” she asked as she put a small end table between them, so they could reach the salad and condiments without any trouble.
“Just paperwork,” he said. “Talked to a real estate agent today.”
She froze. “You did?” She barely concealed the horror in her voice as she stared at him “You’re not thinking about selling your house, are you?”
He looked at her for a moment. “Would that bother you?”
She dropped her gaze. How did she answer that? “First of all, I’m not with you because of your house. But I know how much this place means to you. And I have to admit that I’ve fallen in love with it too.”
He reached out a hand and gently stroked the hair off her face. “I don’t think you’re here because of my house,” he said for clarification. “And it’s not me looking to sell or buy. Geir doesn’t own a house, and we’re trying to find him one that’s got a studio for Morning.”
“Right,” she said, “but those look like floor plans.”
He nodded. “There is a vacant one-acre lot on the next block over.”
“I remember that one. Could you build him a house?”
He shrugged. “I could. It depends on the money though.”
“But Morning has a nice chunk coming from the sale of the B and B, doesn’t she?”
“Sure, but not everybody is ready to build.”
As she studied him, she looked closer at the plans. “Are these your plans?”
“I always thought I’d build a house someday because I wasn’t expecting my parents to die as soon as they did. At least twenty years too early.”
She nodded. “You would’ve had fun with that, wouldn’t you?”
“I like working with my hands.”
“What about the other guys? Are they any good at it?”
“Jager is hell on wheels as an electrician. But he’s not certified for residential wiring. He might have to upgrade or something. I’m not sure. And does he even want to?”
“Exactly. Lots of issues to consider.” She studied him for a moment and frowned. “Does he really know what he’s doing?”
Badger nodded. “He does. He also knows another guy who is a licensed electrician amongst other things.”
“So?”
He glanced at her and shrugged. “I don’t know. Everything is up in the air.”
“Who’s this licensed guy?”
“A veteran,” he said shortly. “He did his training in the military, got his license when he came out.”
“Oh, I like that idea,” she said.
“Why?”
“I think anytime you use the ex-servicemen and their newly repurposed skills, it’s a good thing.”
“I don’t know how much newly retrained he is. But he is certainly licensed.”
“Is he superbusy? Would he have time to help?”
Badger plunged his hands into his pockets and just stared at the barbecue grill.
She wondered what was going on.
After a moment he said, “You might have seen him.”
She stopped and looked at him. “I might have?”
“In your practice. Yeah. He’s missing his lower left leg.”
She stared at him for a moment. “Ethan?”
Badger gave her a lopsided grin. “Yeah, Ethan.”
“He’s not working at all, is he?”
“No, he’s had a setback but he is trained, and he is qualified. But I’d have to spead with him. He’s got some stuff going on in his life too.”
“And so you want to put him to work? Help him to heal?” she asked, finally understanding where he was coming from. “I think it’s a great idea.”
Badger shrugged. “We’re not sure what the hell we’re doing yet. It’s only an idea we’re discussing at the moment. Among others.”
“You find any carpenters in the former vet club?”
“Maybe. One guy was a framer until he fell. He did five years in the navy and then went back to civilian life but had a bad accident while he was working on a building.”
“And he’s injured?”
“Injured enough that he doesn’t feel he can go back to work full-time as a framer.”
“How about working part-time with you guys?”
“It’ll be just the one job,” Badger said in a cautionary voice.
“Sure, it would,” she said with a big grin. “Is Erick looking to build too?”
“Hard to say. None of us really knows what the hell we’re doing.”
“What about helping out Levi?”
“As you know, that’s been discussed too.”
But he didn’t say anything more, and she didn’t want to push him. Like her, they were all feeling their way. “Let’s eat.”
Badger wondered if he should tell her that he’d seen somebody on the property today. He also thought he had heard a knock on the door when he was out by the pool. By the time he’d gotten there, nobody was outside. He hadn’t been suspicious until he walked in the kitchen and thought he saw somebody walking around the house. Dotty raced to the glass doors barking. When he stepped outside, a woman looked at him then at the dog nervously.
“Oh! I was just taking measurements.”
He frowned at her.
“A woman named Kat requested it,” she said nervously. “I did knock on the door to see if anybody was home.”
He nodded. “I was in the pool but got out when I thought I heard the dog barking.”
She picked up her bag and said, “I’ll come back later.” And she bolted to the side of the house.
He’d stood there for a long time, then wandered off to the side of the pool, where she’d been standing before a large grassy piece of the backyard. It was one of the prettiest spots because of all the roses he had planted along the back of the property. Roses had been his mother’s favorite flower. As he’d stood there and stared at the house, he just didn’t get it. What the hell could anybody possibly be measuring out here for? And what did Kat have to do with it?
But he hadn’t asked her. And now he didn’t know if he could because, if she was up to something, he didn’t want to spoil the surprise. At the same time, it was a little disturbing to think she was measuring for something around his house.
And then he winced. See? That was the problem. He was still thinking of it as his house. His place. And yet truly, while she lived here, it was theirs. She had her own house, but, if he wanted to keep her here with him, he had to start thinking of his house as being their house. So he would just sit back and relax and let her say something to him on her own. “Anything interesting happen today?” he asked as he picked up some chips.
She shook her head. “Nope. Talked to Honey once. Just a busy day.”
“How is Honey?”
She slid him a look. “She’s fine.”
“Is everybody still coming this weekend?”
She stopped with a chi
p in midair. “I forgot to ask.”
“What did you talk about then?”
“It was just a touching-base kind of a call,” she said carefully, and then she picked up her burger and took a big bite, effectively cutting off the conversation.
He thought about all the holidays coming up in the second half of the year. He wanted her to feel comfortable enough to do whatever she was planning, but it was unnerving. He wasn’t big on surprises. Especially not surprise parties. “So are you happy in this house? Is there anything you would want to change?”
Startled, she glanced at him, but her mouth was full of food. She had to chew and swallow first. “I wouldn’t change anything,” she said, astounded. “It’s fantastic just as it is.”
Chapter 4
The next day Kat got a phone call from the wedding planner she’d consulted.
“I might have blown it,” Marisa announced.
“What are you talking about?” Kat asked.
“I was looking on Google Maps, so I didn’t have to go to the house, trying to get a good idea of the size and space, but couldn’t get a close-enough look,” she said, her normal enthusiasm waning. “So I figured, if I made a quick visit to the house, I could tell if we had enough room or not.”
Kat gasped and sank back against her chair. “Oh, no,” she moaned.
“Yeah. I did knock on the door yesterday, but there was no answer, so I figured it would be safe. I ran around to the back and took some measurements. But, just when I was done, he stepped onto the back porch. And I might have said I was there at your request.” Her words came out in a rush.
Kat pinched the bridge of her nose. “Oh, my God.”
“I’m sorry,” Marisa said. “I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, my God.” Kat didn’t know what else to say or think. “Well, that explains his cryptic comments last night about if I wanted to change anything about the house.”
“He said that?” Marisa asked in amazement. “He didn’t ask you what I was doing there?”
“No, he’s waiting to see if I come forward and say something first.”
“I was only there for a few minutes,” she murmured.
Kat groaned and stared out the window. “Let me think about how to handle this.”
“Okay. There is one good thing though,” Marisa added.
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“You have lots of room,” and she quickly hung up the phone.
“What difference does it make if there’s a lot of room in the backyard if he’s now so suspicious I can’t even do this?” Kat muttered out loud.
Her assistant popped his head around the door. “Did you say something?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Just talking to myself.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” He stared at her for a moment. “You seem to be really preoccupied these days.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I was just thinking about doing something sneaky, but I might have been caught already.” She shook her head, got up and walked to the window. “Serves me right for trying to plan a surprise.”
“Hey, planning surprise parties takes real talent.”
That got a chuckle out of her. “Are you saying I can’t do it because I have no talent for it?”
“No, no, no, no, that’s not what I meant,” he cried out. “But I do have a talent for that stuff,” he said proudly. “I pull off those kinds of parties all the time.”
“Yeah? How about a surprise wedding?” she asked starkly. “Think you can pull that off?”
He stared at her, a bit of confusion on his face. “Whose wedding?”
She glared at him.
And then he got it. “Oh my gosh. You want to surprise Badger with a wedding?” Instantly Jim stepped backward. He frowned and put his hands on his hips. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“I’m not either,” she said, fatigue in her voice. “But it’s the cards I’m dealing with right now.”
“Well, you could be very modern. Ask him to marry you.”
“I was thinking about it,” she said, staring out the window, watching the cars go back and forth. “And then I thought, with somebody like him, I probably shouldn’t give him time to think about it. It should be fait accompli. He should come home one day, with a reason to be in a suit. Hell, I don’t give a shit if he wears a suit or not, but he probably will. And I’ll be out in the garden, waiting for him.”
“But the men are supposed to be in the garden waiting for the bride.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, I haven’t figured that one out yet.”
Jim stepped up and looked out the window with her. “I’d love to be part of it.”
She slipped him a sideways glance. “Part of what?”
“The whole thing,” he said enthusiastically. “Oh, my God, it would be such a rush.”
She glared at him. “Unless Badger is upset and doesn’t like a pincher move like that.”
“You know something? He would really like it.”
“How do you figure?”
“Because he poses those kinds of moves all the time. So, if he got caught in one himself, he would think you outsmarted him. And that he would appreciate.”
“But I don’t want him tricked into it,” she said. “I want him to marry me because he loves me.”
“You won’t trick Badger into anything. He won’t marry you to save face. If anything, you’re taking a huge chance putting Badger on the spot like that. Because he could say no.”
She nodded. “I know. I know that all too well.”
“Do you have anybody to help you?”
She shrugged. “I was talking to Honey. She can’t stop thinking of joining me by setting up Erick too.”
At hearing a strangled sound from Jim, Kat turned to look at him. Found an odd look on his face. “What?”
“Well, there’s no way in hell you can do two surprise weddings, if you think about it. There are seven of you. Seven brides for seven men,” and he started to rub his hands. “Oh, my God.”
She shook her head. “No way. No way we can pull it off times seven.”
“But you have to,” he said. “Because, if one couple isn’t involved, that man will feel unloved. That what they have isn’t as strong as what the rest of you have. That would be devastating to him. So, if only one of you does this, you could get away with it, maybe. Maybe because you and Badger were the first to couple up in this group. But that’s the only pass you get. After that, it has to be all seven together, so no one feels left out.” And he started to pace her office. “You need a reason for the celebration. You need a reason for the men to have suits on. You need a reason to get them all at your place.”
“Well, that’s easy enough. They come every Sunday.”
He nodded. “Right. So this time we just have to have a way to make it fancier.”
“What do you suggest?”
He turned to her. “I’m not sure. We need to think on this. It’s got to be a compelling reason for them to come, all dressed up.”
She nodded. “Ice is willing to help out. Though I’m not too sure what help to ask her for.” She added humorously, “I talked to Stone to see if he’d give me a hand, and he was horrified at the whole thing and said hell no.”
Her assistant chuckled. “He’s got a girlfriend of his own, doesn’t he?”
She grinned. “That’s the thing. No matter who we get to help, they’re all in the same boat. If they help us, their girlfriends or boyfriends will look at what we’re doing here and start thinking about their own situations.”
Just then her phone rang. She pulled it out to find a call from Ice. She hit the Talk button and waved Jim back out to the front room. “Hi, Ice. What’s up?”
“I can rope Levi into this,” Ice said. “Matter of fact, we talked about it. I explained a little bit about what you wanted to do.”
“Was he horrified?” Kat asked in a dry tone. “Because Stone sure as hell was.”
Ice chuckled. “Actually Stone’s
quite intrigued by the whole idea. After you contacted him, he’s done a lot of thinking about what he could do to help. The three of us have been talking. We could make it an engagement party. Levi would set it up so your guys would all know he’s going to ask me to marry him. Of course our guys won’t know. Stone is making sure he and I and Levi do our talking in the control room only when it’s just us around.”
Kat listened in astonishment as Ice laid out the plan. “Oh, my God.”
“Is it too much?” Ice asked, her tone laced with humor. “It was Levi’s idea. I was quite surprised he came up with it. Of course it’s just a cover,” she added hurriedly.
“Well, it’s an incredibly romantic one. And I’d love to host your engagement party—even as a cover,” Kat said with a laugh. “It would certainly be a reason for the guys to dress up.”
“Yeah, but,” Ice said, “the engagement party ruse is just for the guys to know. You can’t know about that. You’ll need your own ruse on your end for having a more formal affair.”
“I’ll have to give it some thought.” Her mind raced as she thought about it. “There’d be a lot of organizing to do.”
“Yep, sure would be,” Ice said. “I could probably get some help from here, if you don’t have anyone in mind.”
“The question really is, how many?”
“How many what?”
Kat brought up her latest conversation with Honey.
As soon as Ice heard the whole thing, she started to laugh. “Oh, my God. This is too priceless. But that would be perfect. Levi can contact the guys, tell them what he’s planning. Tell them he wants it formal. Maybe Labor Day weekend. We were planning on coming that weekend anyway.”
Kat slapped a hand over her mouth as she thought about it. She didn’t know what to say. But it was an incredibly ballsy idea. “Do you think the guys will hate it?” she asked fearfully.
“Badger? It’s likely the only way you’ll get that coot up to the altar,” Ice said, chuckling. “Do I think he’d hate you for it? No, absolutely not. It’s a sign of how much you care. Anyway, like I said, I’ve just had a casual conversation with Levi about it, nothing for sure and nothing set in stone. So think about it, talk to the others, see what you want to do, and then get back to me.” Just before she hung up, she said, “And, yes, it takes a lot of balls to do something like this. And I’m damn sorry I didn’t think of it myself.” And then laughing again, she hung up.