~Landon~
“So, this is a surprise?” Steven, Cami’s nephew, asks two weeks later. We’re in Cami’s house, upstairs in the storage bedroom that I’m now turning into her closet.
“Yep,” I reply, and spackle where the doorframe was.
“Won’t she see the mess when she gets home from work?” he asks with a smirk.
“She and Kat are in Seattle for a couple of days on a wine-buying trip. So I have today and tomorrow to finish this up.”
“Cool,” Steven says, surveying our work. “She’s gonna go apeshit when she sees it.”
“I hope so.” I grin over at him. “She needs better storage for all of those shoes.”
“Why do girls have to buy so many shoes in the first place?” He frowns, like women are as much a mystery as aliens.
“It’s not our job to understand them,” I reply with a sigh, and clap him on the shoulder. “We just try our best to keep them happy.”
“That’s a mystery too,” he says, shaking his head in disgust. “I’ve been living with this girl, Melissa, since my folks moved up to Seattle. I like her, but damn, she’s a head case.”
“How long have you dated her?”
“A couple years, I guess.” He shrugs. “We get along okay for the most part, but damn, she’s so jealous. I can’t even be polite to a waitress without her losing her shit on me.”
“That sounds exhausting,” I murmur, not envious of his plight in the least. I’ve dated girls like that before. Hell, most of us have. They’re emotionally draining.
“I was so glad you called me to come help with this,” Steven continues. “She was ranting and nagging about something this morning. Wanted me to mow the grass or something, which is fine, but I just mowed it two days ago. Sometimes I think she just needs to nag me about anything to feel good.”
I nod, not sure what to say. I can see that he’s frustrated, but we’re not really close friends. After a pause, he glances at me, and looks like he’s about to say something, but then turns away and begins stirring the paint we’re going to use on two of the walls.
“Go ahead and ask.”
He waits a minute, and then surprises the shit out of me when he asks, “Do you regret doing the Navy thing?”
I blink for a minute, mentally switching gears. “Not at all.”
He simply nods.
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about enlisting.”
“In the Navy?”
“Yeah.” He shrugs. “I think it could be a good opportunity for me.”
I think so too. But I don’t want to push the military on him. The decision has to be his own.
“Have you talked to a recruiter?”
“A few times, yes. I don’t think I can be a pilot because of my eyes.”
“What’s wrong with your eyes?”
“Glasses. I don’t have Navy pilot eyes, but there are a million other things I can do.”
“Absolutely.” I shove my hands in my pockets and wait, expecting him to start asking more questions, and I don’t have to wait long.
“Was it hard, being away from your family all of the time?”
“I’d get homesick a bit in the beginning,” I reply, and rub my chin, thinking back to that time. Mostly, I was homesick for Cami, but I don’t tell him that. “But they’ll keep you busy with training. You’ll get leave so you can come home to visit.”
He nods. “And maybe I can get stationed in some cool places. See things I wouldn’t get to see otherwise.”
He’s a smart kid.
“That’s one of the things I loved about it.”
“I’ve heard girls like a guy in uniform.” His young face lights up at that thought, making me smile.
“I thought you already had a girl?”
“Come on, you and I both know that’s not going to last. I’m not married to her, and I can’t wait to get away from her every day. That’s not how I want to live my life.”
“No. You don’t.” I’ve been there too, and I’m so thankful that I don’t have that now. I love being with Cami. I could talk to her all day and never tire of her.
“You’re not sick of my aunt,” Steven says pointedly, looking me in the eye.
“No. I’m not.”
“So, her parents died a while back, and my folks moved away, and I’m the only family she has here, not counting the girls, so I feel like I should ask you some questions.”
He’s holding my gaze, his shoulders are square, and his hands are fisted. He’s a good young man who loves his aunt, and I couldn’t have more respect for him than I do right now.
“Ask away.”
“What are your intentions with her?” He crosses his arms over his chest.
“Are you asking if I intend to marry her?”
“Do you?”
I nod, finally able to voice aloud what’s been running through my head for weeks. “I love your aunt, Steven. She’s an amazing woman. I would be the luckiest man in the world if she agreed to marry me.”
“Aunt Cami is the best.” He nods and looks around the empty room. “She deserves the best that life has to offer. Someone to love her and spoil her some. Maybe buy her some of the fancy shoes she likes to wear, and just take care of her when she doesn’t feel good, you know?”
“I agree.”
“I didn’t want to move to Seattle with my folks, and Aunt Cami didn’t even blink when I asked her if she’d help me out sometimes, like if I needed a place to crash or a ride to school or something. She’s always been a good friend to me. She’s like a big sister.” His voice cracks and he clears his throat with a chuckle. “It’s stupid to get all emotional, but I love her, and I just wanted to make sure that you’re not just dicking with her, you know?”
“I’m not just dicking with her. And it’s not dumb to get emotional when you’re talking about someone you love.”
Steven nods. “Are you going to make her move away?”
“I don’t think anyone makes Cami do anything,” I reply with a laugh. “She’s much too headstrong for that.”
“You know what I mean. If you get married and stuff, and you want to move away, are you going to take her with you?”
I frown and shake my head. “Her business is here. I’m pretty sure that Portland is going to be our home for quite some time.”
“Good.”
“Do you have more questions, or can we get to work and finish this closet before she gets back tomorrow night?”
He laughs. “I’m done with the third degree. Oh, but don’t tell her anything about the Navy stuff. She won’t take it well, and I want to be the one to tell her.”
“I won’t say anything.”
“JESUS, THIS IS incredible,” Riley says the next day as she wanders into the closet and turns a circle, her eyes wide in awe. “Seriously, guys, this is fantastic. I should marry you both, right now, just for this closet.”
“I’m too young for you,” Steven says, his face bright pink. “But yeah, she’s gonna love it.”
“And I’m taken,” I reply happily. “So, we did good?”
“You did great. This is more than a closet, it’s a dressing room! I love that you brought her vanity in here with her makeup. There is so much hanging space in here.” She turns to examine the shelves. “And she’ll have space for new shoes and bags too.”
“Yeah, because she needs those,” Steven says, rolling his eyes.
“If having too many shoes is wrong, I don’t wanna be right,” Riley says, then turns to me. “Okay, what can I do?”
“Help us fill it up. I don’t know how she’d want her clothes and other things organized, but you will.”
“I know exactly what to do.” She marches out of the room and returns a few minutes later with her arms full of clothes. “We need to bring her dressers in here too.”
“There’s not enough wall space in here,” I reply, but she shakes her head.
“We’re going to put them in the middle of the room, back-to-back, and she can use the top for jewelry and her hair stuff. Trust me.”
Steven and I eye each other dubiously, but we wrestle the matching six-drawer dressers into the room, set them back-to-back, and I grin. She’s right. They’re the perfect height for her to use them, and they leave plenty of space for her to walk around them.
“I’ll be right back,” Steven says, and runs out of the room as Riley passes me a stack of shoe boxes.
“You can start unboxing those and placing them on the shelves, and I’ll come behind you and organize them based on color and style.”
“This is really involved,” I reply.
“You have no idea,” Riley says, nodding. “But it’ll be so worth it. It’ll get you laid for days.”
“Gross,” Steven says as he comes back in the room carrying an ottoman from her office. “She doesn’t use this, and it’ll look great next to the dressers. She can use it to sit on to put shoes on and stuff.”
“Brilliant!” Riley says, clapping her hands. “That chandelier is a great touch.”
“I thought it made the space feel more feminine,” I reply, happy that we’ve done a good job.
“This is Girl Central,” Steven says. “I’m gonna have to go play football or something, just to get the girl germs off of me.”
“What are you, nine?” I ask, and throw a sparkly shoe at him, hitting him in the shoulder when he dodges.
“No, I’m out of here,” he says, and grins. “Have fun touching all the girl stuff, man, but this is above my pay grade.” And with that, he escapes.
“Punk,” I mutter, but can’t help but smile. “She’s going to be surprised.”
“This might be the nicest thing anyone has ever done for her,” Riley says, and pats my shoulder. “You did good. When will she be home?”
“In about two hours. Kat texted and said they were just leaving a few minutes ago. She’s going to text again when they’re about a half hour out so I can order a pizza.”
“Swanky,” Riley says with a wink. “And FYI, don’t give her wine tonight. She’s been drinking wine for two days.”
“Yeah, I figured.”
EVERYTHING IS READY for her when she walks through the doors. Sunflowers are set out, candles lit, pizza waiting on the coffee table. And Scoot, who thankfully wasn’t interested in the construction process, thus staying out from under foot, is curled in a ball on the back of the couch.
She steps inside and immediately kicks off her shoes, sighs, and glances up, surprised to see me standing in her house.
“Hi,” she says, and smiles. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I haven’t seen you in two days,” I remind her, and step to her, taking her overnight bag from her, her purse, and helping her out of her coat. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
“Do I smell pizza?”
“Mm,” I reply, and kiss her on the forehead, breathing her in. Damn, I’ve missed her. “Come eat.”
“You’re a prince,” she says, and flops on the couch, scrubbing her hands over her face.
“You know you’re always beautiful, but you look tired tonight.”
“God, I’m exhausted.”
I pass her a slice of pizza and she immediately takes a big bite and sighs in happiness. “So good.”
I’m going to be inside her later when she makes that same exact sound.
Rather than grab a slice for myself, I pull her feet into my lap and get to work rubbing her arches, and making her purr while she munches happily on her dinner.
“I could seriously get used to this.”
I smile. “Me too.”
“I think I’m getting the better end of it.”
“That’s up for debate,” I reply. “I get to touch you, talk to you. I think I’m in pretty good shape here.”
“You say some really sweet things, you know.” She watches me with tired green eyes.
“I don’t say anything that I don’t mean,” I reply. I pass her another slice of pizza and switch to the other foot, paying it as much attention as I did the first. “How did it go?”
“It was great,” she replies. “Cuppa Di Vita has a few new wines in their cellar, and we tasted them all.” She frowns. “But for some reason it didn’t sit well with me, so I tasted, then spit. I didn’t swallow.” She giggles, making me grin. “I always thought spitters were quitters, but . . .” She shrugs and giggles again.
“Are you coming down with something?”
“Maybe.” Her hands are resting on her belly now as she watches me rub her feet. “You have great hands.”
“They enjoy touching you.”
She smiles softly. Her hair was once in a tight bun, but it’s loosened and soft tendrils frame her sweet face. Her makeup is simple, like she usually wears it, and her lips are bare and kissable.
“How are you?” she asks.
Anxious to take you upstairs. “I’m great. It was pretty uneventful around here while you were gone.”
“Uneventful is good.” She yawns. “I should take my stuff upstairs and get some comfier clothes on.”
“I’ll go with you,” I reply, and hold my hand out to help her up. She’s so tired it seems that just lifting her feet up each of the stairs is a challenge. When we get to the bedroom, she crosses to where her dressers used to be, then comes up short.
“I’ve been burgled,” she says. “By a burglar that has a thing for yoga pants and bras.”
“I’m sure those exist,” I reply with a chuckle, and take her hand again. “But I think I have another explanation.”
“I hope so. I was really looking forward to those yoga pants. And why is there a door in that wall?”
“Come on, Sherlock, I’ll show you.” I lead her through the door and she simply stops and stares, her jaw dropped, trying to look everywhere at once.
“Oh my God.”
I hang back and watch as she slowly steps inside and touches the edges of her hanging clothes, runs her hand over the top of a dresser, and sits at her vanity, as if she’s never seen any of those things before.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispers. I walk up behind her and massage her shoulders, watching her face in the mirror.
She’s not smiling. She’s not clapping.
She’s crying.
Fuck.
“I need you to talk to me, sweetheart,” I murmur, kneading her tense muscles.
“I love it all so much,” she says, and sniffs, completely confusing the hell out of me.
“But you don’t like the color?”
“No, the color is perfect,” she says, and reaches for a tissue.
“If you love it, why are you crying?” I squat next to her and take the tissue out of her hand, gently blotting at the tears on her cheeks.
“Because it’s just so sweet,” she says, her green eyes swimming. God, she’s killing me here.
“I was hoping it would make you happy.”
“I am happy.”
I chuckle and reach for another tissue. “So these are happy tears?”
“Yeah.” She sniffs again. “Landon, it’s seriously great. Did you find my closet Pinterest page?”
“Honey, I don’t know what a Pinterest is,” I reply honestly. “I just built what I thought you’d like, and what I thought would be functional.”
She turns in her chair and takes it all in again. “The light is pretty. How did you do all of this in two days?”
“Steven helped me,” I reply, and feel completely helpless as she breaks down in tears again. “And Riley came to help me organize it.”
“You all went to a lot of trouble.”
This is happy?
“Hey.” I pull her into my arms and rock her back and forth. “Stop with the waterworks, baby.”
“I’m just tired,” she says. “I’ve been really tired lately.”
“Maybe you’re coming down with something,” I reply, rubbing circles on the middle of her back.
“I hope not. I have a lot of work to do.” She pulls back and smiles through the tears now as she gazes at her rows and rows of fancy shoes. “I can finally see them all at the same time.”
“Are you sure you like it?”
She throws her arms around my neck and hugs me tightly. “I couldn’t love anything more.”
My thoughts exactly.
“Thank you so much, Landon. This is better than anything I could have imagined.”
“You’re welcome.” I kiss her forehead, then pull her to her feet. “Come on, I’m going to put you in a hot bath, and then bed.”
“God, that sounds like heaven.”
I smile as I help her sit on the bed, then march into the bathroom to run the water, making sure it’s not too hot, then return to the bedroom, laughing when I see that she hasn’t even flopped back on the bed, she’s simply sleeping sitting up.
Her eyes blink open when I start to undress her.
“Do you think you can sit in the bath for a few minutes without drowning?”
“I can’t guarantee anything,” she says, her smile soft and a bit shy. “I’m sorry that I’m so sleepy.”
“You’re adorable.” And if the truth be told, I don’t mind taking care of her in the least. “But because you’re exhausted, I’m going to get in with you so I can revive you if you go under.”
“You’re the cutest lifeguard I’ve ever seen,” she says around a big yawn.
“Thanks,” I reply, and lead us, both naked, into the bathroom, and into the steaming-hot water. She leans against me and sighs deeply.
“Mm, this is delightful.”
“I missed you,” I murmur against her ear, and watch as water glides over her skin, skimming her breasts. Her light brown nipples are puckered, begging for my fingers to graze over them gently.
“I missed you too.” She kisses my arm. “Thank you for my closet.”
“You’re welcome, baby.”
“I bet Riley was jealous.”
“I believe she proposed to me at least three times this afternoon.”
Cami laughs. “She can get her own man.”
“That’s what I told her.”
She tips her face back, gazing up at me with sleepy eyes, but her lips are slanted up in a grin. “I love you.”
And there it is. Every time she says those words, it’s as if my world is kicked off its axis and I have to catch my breath.
I am one lucky son of a bitch.
I lean in and sweep my lips across hers. “I love you too, Cami.”