We stood in the furniture store hand in hand, staring blankly at bedroom furniture. Jess fixed her eyes on the least expensive option, a white twin bed frame that was manufactured of particle board.

“This will probably work.”

I looked at it and laughed. “It tiny, and it’s cheap.”

“Cheap is good,” she said.

“There’s a difference between cheap and inexpensive. That’s cheap.” I lifted it and dropped in onto the floor. “You can pick anything you want. Anything at all. Take your time.”

“I can’t get anything,” she said.

I’d been paid for the release of Unstoppable. We needed two beds, dressers, and a few night stands. I certainly didn’t want to squander my earnings, but the store’s most expensive items weren’t out of reach.

I gave her a look of reassurance. “You sure can.”

“That’s hard for me to comprehend,” she said. “I barely make it through each month.”

“Well, now we’ll have two incomes and one household expense. Pick out whatever you want.”

The look on her face was payment enough for the countless nights I’d worked to release books at the rate of one every six weeks. After wandering around the store for an hour, we chose two matching ornate metal bedframes and several pieces of bedroom furniture.

“This is so nice,” she said. “I’ve never bought new furniture before. Ever.”

Being able to provide for her and the children gave me a much higher degree of satisfaction than I had ever obtained from providing for myself. Excited to see the look on Landon and Lily’s faces when they realized that they would no longer be sharing a mattress on the floor, I set up the delivery of the pieces and drove home.

The next day the furniture was delivered and set up. Following the delivery, it was immediately apparent that Jess was excited about moving in.

“I don’t like the color of Teddy’s room,” she said.

“The kids room?”

“Yeah. It’s uhhm. It’s kind of brown-ish.”

I shrugged. “Have Teddy’s painter paint it.”

“The bathroom, too.”

I glanced in the bathroom. “What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s white.”

“White is good.”

“It needs to be a blue-ish gray.”

“Fine. Have him paint it, too.”

The loft was one big open space, with two large bedrooms at one end. The main body of the living area, less the bedrooms, was twenty-four hundred square feet, with no partition walls. Three concrete columns were equally spaced along the center of the space.

Each column was painted a different color. One blue, one yellow, and one red. One sixty-foot-long wall was painted purple. The others were red. Ugly brown. Navy blue. The corridor that led to the entrance was painted grass green on one side and red on the other.

She glanced around the spacious room and looked at the various colors. “I’d like to paint everything.”

I huffed out a breath. “Call Teddy. Have him send the painter over. I’ll work something out with him.”

A week later, everything was painted to Jess’ liking. The home was decorated with a woman’s touch. The tops of the cabinets that had been bare for years were now fitted with ornamental metal plates and plant life.

The walls were littered with pictures, photos, and cute little sayings. Candles and lamps – two of my pet peeves – were everywhere.

As I glanced around the home and wondered just what I’d agreed to, the door swung open and Teddy walked in.

His eyes darted around the room. “Looks good.”

“Thanks, Teddy,” Jess said.

“Looks like a whorehouse in here,” I said. “There’s fucking candles everywhere.”

“Smells good,” he said.

The only thing good that I could smell was the hint of the soup Jess was cooking in the slow cooker. I glared at him. “Go home, Teddy.”

He flopped down on the couch. “Where’s the kids?”

“Daycare.”

“Oh, crap,” Jess said. “I’ve got to go get them.”

When she returned, the five of us sat down to a meal of her family’s recipe of wild rice soup, chicken bundles, and a salad. It wasn’t Ramen noodles, but I could certainly get used to it.

Teddy plucked a crumb from his beard and poked it into his mouth. “Good grub, Jess.”

She swelled with pride. “Thanks, Teddy.”

I raised my fork. “I’ll second that. It’s delicious.”

She looked at me and smiled. “Thank you.”

I glanced at everyone as they ate their meal. Landon and Lily’s manners had improved drastically, and they were practicing them at the table. I realized as I surveyed the people who surrounded me that my family had grown.

More importantly, on that night I realized my house had become a home.