Page 38
Twenty minutes later, I’m in the kitchen trying to find a good spot for my air fryer, when Nate calls from the other room.
“Is this where you want the TV?”
I walk into the dining/living room where I find Nate holding up my apartment-sized thirty-two-inch TV against the long side wall that spans the living and dining rooms, stretching the length of the house. He may have well been holding up a stamp, it looks so ridiculously disproportionate.
“You’re gonna need a bigger TV,” Rick announces as he walks in with my nested side tables.
“Yeah, it looks a little small in this space,” I agree, looking around.
Actually, everything looks small in here. My cute, little, round dining table with the four mismatched wooden chairs that I picked up at a yard sale years ago, and painstakingly refinished, looks absolutely lost in the dining area. Even my comfy couch, which always seemed massive in the apartment, looks diminutive in here. I’m definitely going to need more furniture.
“Can we fit it on the bookcase?”
It’s another piece I picked up, a retro, seventies’ style wall unit with closed cupboards on the bottom and three narrower open shelves on top. Very sleek and Scandinavian-looking, but it too looks so much smaller against that wall.
“Sure,” Nate says easily. “We can just hook it up like this for now. It’s probably easier anyway; it gives you a chance to move things around as you try to get a feel for the space and figure out how you want it to work for you.”
He must’ve read my momentary “Oh shit, I am in over my head” look. I shoot him a grateful smile, but some of the excitement I felt before about moving in is turning into a mild panic now.
As I watch Nate hook the wires up to the back of the unit, a warm hand slides up my spine and curls around the back of my neck, giving it a little squeeze.
“Breathe,” Rick whispers by my ear, before I feel his hand disappear.
Then out loud he follows it up with, “Those tables were the last of it. I’ll head up and get started on putting your bed back together.”
“I’d offer to help, but I should get out of here. I promised Tatum I’d take her into Spokane this afternoon. Wish me luck; she’s shopping for winter clothes.”
I chuckle at the pained look on Nate’s face. He’s a typical man’s man, but it’s sweet to see him turn to putty in his teenage daughter’s hands.
“I’ll manage,” Rick returns, heading for the stairs. “Catch you later.”
I walk Nate out on the porch, zipping up the fleece sweater I threw on earlier. It’s definitely colder up here than it was in town.
“Do you have firewood?” he asks.
“I do, over by the barn.”
“You may want to stack some on the porch for the easy grab. Don’t want to be lugging across the yard every time you run out.”
“I will,” I tell him with a smile. Never mind I still have to chop those logs into manageable pieces, but I’ll figure that out. “Go, I’m sure Tate is eager to get going.”
His response is a grunt, but it doesn’t stop me from moving in for a hug.
“Thanks for all your help. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
He briefly hugs me back before lowering his head so he’s at eye level with me.
“I don’t think you’d have been lacking for help,” he points out, throwing a glance over my shoulder into the house. “Seems like a good guy. Don’t know him well, but what I do know I like. Savvy thinks highly of him. You could do worse.”
I’m not sure what to say, and I don’t really get a chance because he’s already down the steps and heading for his truck.
My eyes follow him down the driveway until he disappears, and then I look over to the barn. The propane guy called earlier to let me know he wouldn’t be able to make it today, which means I won’t be able to get my furnace going, and we may get frost overnight.
Guess I’d better put that chainsaw Ginny at Nuts & Bolts told me I’d need to the test.
By the time Rick finds me, I’m no longer cold and smiling like a loon, as I successfully cut another section off the thick log.
I have to admit, I was a little freaked out at first, having seen some of the damage a chainsaw can do firsthand at the hospital. But with all safety gear in place, and taking my time to get used to the weight of the saw, it doesn’t take me long to start enjoying the work.
