Chapter Thirty-Three
Noah
Even after a week of living in Australia, I still wasn’t used to waking up next to the most beautiful woman in the world. I took to retirement a lot quicker than I thought I would have. Jess quit her job at the antique store and took to taking care of Gina alongside me. I had more money in the bank than Jess knew, and if she was going to work, it would be doing something she loved. I no longer needed a nanny for Gina, but at the moment we were content living unemployed and being with Gina.
After making up, we made the mutual decision to tell Gina about us. And in typical Gina fashion, she was thrilled. So, there wasn’t any reason to hide our sleeping arrangements.
“You snore anyway, Daddy,” Gina had said after I told her I was going to sleep in Jess’s room.
But even after a week, Chloe’s house was a little cramped. Most of our stuff was in storage, but we didn’t bring clothes for a week. We brought all of them. Chloe was kind enough to let us stay, but I wanted to show everyone how serious I was about our life change. We needed a place for ourselves. A place we could call home.
I broke the news to Jess and Gina at breakfast. Chloe already knew since she helped hook me up with a real estate agent in the area. She left early that morning to go to work and encouraged me to look at some places outside of Mona Vale. Little did she know that I wanted her in our lives too, so most of the properties I looked at were nearby. Besides, I wasn’t ready to give up the fantastic ocean views in the area. Also, Jess’s relationship with Chloe was better than it had ever been before. Giving Jess the option to stay with us would make it easier if we were close to her mom.
“Can I pick my room?” Gina asked with a mouth full of scrambled eggs.
“Absolutely,” I said.
“Yay! Yay!” Gina said, bouncing in her chair. “New room!” She threw her hands in the air and swung them around.
Jess snorted into her coffee, and I laughed along.
“Are you excited, Jess?” Gina asked.
Jess pumped her hand in the air and said, “Whoop whoop!”
Gina mimicked her, and before I knew it, they both stood up and started dancing around the kitchen.
I sat back in my chair, watching them, shaking my head and smiling. This was the family I’d always imagined for myself. Even though it started off much differently, I wouldn’t have wanted any of my past to change. Even with the awful two weeks without Jess, that was the push I needed to get to where we were. Gina and Jess’s happiness were my number one priority now. And that sure felt good.
Each of the houses we looked at were beautiful. As I intended to stay in Australia for a long time, I didn’t skimp on my budget. I had more than enough from my account and would get even more from the sale of the business and my house soon enough. The real estate agent, Sami Moore, was a professional and really listened to the ideas I had for what I wanted out of a forever home.
While they all had beautiful views of the ocean, it wasn’t until the last one that I was indeed taken away.
“Is there a reason you showed us this one last?” I asked Sami.
She had a wicked grin across her lips. “Because I figured that you’d want to stop looking after seeing this one.
We stood in the living room. As in every other house, Gina went straight for the bedrooms, and Jess was closely behind her. Jess had no idea I was going to ask her to move in with me, so she hadn’t invested a lot of her input even though I pried it out of her at each possible home.
I stepped forward, and Sami stayed behind me, giving me the space to explore. I opened the sliding doors to the terrace that overlooked the ocean. Below the terrace was a private beach with cement walls on either side for even more privacy.
“I thought you’d like the private beach,” Sami said from the doorway.
I turned around and smiled at her.
On the way back to Chloe’s house, Jess slipped her hand into mine and said, “Which houses did you like best?”
“I think that last one would be perfect,” I said.
“I liked that one too,” Gina said.
“Then it’s decided,” Jess said. “Did you tell Sami that?”
“Not yet,” I said, squeezing her hand. I glanced back through the rear view mirror at Gina who was busy playing with two small dolls. We’d brought them to keep her busy during the house hunt, but she’d barely played with them while we were inside any of the houses. Though by the way her eyelids drooped, I knew she wasn’t going to play for long. We’d spent all morning and most of the afternoon on a non-stop house hunt.
“How about we drop Gina off at your mom’s and we can go back to see the house again?” I asked Jess.
Jess glanced behind her at Gina. “That’s fine with me.”
When we arrived at the house, Chloe was in the living room watching television. She loved her soap operas and never missed an episode. Jess and I tried to convince her to record the episodes, but Chloe said that it was a ritual of hers that she was unwilling to break.
From what Jess said about Chloe’s alcohol recovery, there were several “routines” in Chloe’s life that she wasn’t willing to cut for fear of relapsing.
“Did ya tire out the little one?” Chloe asked.
Gina dragged herself over to the couch and laid her head on Chloe’s lap. Chloe covered her with the afghan that regularly sat on the sofa.
“Mom, we’re going to look at one more house.”
Chloe waved her hand. “I’m not moving my tushie for a while. Have fun.”
I took Jess’s hand and led her out of the house, gathering the courage for what I was about to do.
I had driven for a little while before I decided to come out with it. “Jess, I already made the decision to buy the house. Sami is drawing up the paperwork this afternoon.”
Her eyebrows knitted together. “Then why are we going back?”
“I want to make sure that you like the house too.”
“Don’t take my word for it; you’re going to be the one living there. Besides, Gina is pretty easy, but she really liked that one.”
“That’s the thing,” I said. “Gina and I were talking, and we wanted to make sure that all three of us liked it.”
“Why?” she asked.
I had her full attention now.
“Because we want you to live there with us.”
Her mouth fell open. “You’re asking me to move in with you?” Her voice shook slightly.
I glanced at her then back to the road. “Yes. Will you?”
“Is that why this house is so close to Mom? You wanted us to stay near her?”
“That’s part of the reason,” I said. “Gina and I came here for you. And we want to be close to you and Chloe. This house is exactly what I’m looking for in all aspects.”
“I didn’t get to look around much,” she said. “Gina was all over the place, unable to pick her room. You might want to watch out because she was eyeing the master bedroom.”
I chuckled. “She must not have seen the ocean views from the room next to the master.”
“She did,” Jess said. “She liked the bigger terrace off the master and the private bathroom.”
I shook my head slowly. Maybe if I told her Jess and I needed the space, I’d be able to get her to give it up. Or I’d have to bribe her with something else. There was no getting around her stubbornness sometimes.
I pulled up the driveway to the house. I imagined pulling up every night ready to see Jess and Gina after the end of a day. I couldn’t wait.
“Where’s Sami’s car?” Jess asked.
“She left me the key,” I said. “Come on.”
Looking at the house again with fresh eyes made me love it even more than the first time.
Jess looked a little nervous, so I took her hand and walked with her up the front steps. I picked up the key from under the WELCOME mat and stuck it into the door.
“Welcome home,” I said as I let Jess inside the house first. “Now, there’s no pressure,” I said quickly, “but if you like it, you can move in. Or you can wait until later.”
“I’ve never heard you babble before,” Jess said with a smile.
I laughed and scratched at my chin. “Asking a beautiful woman to move in with you is a big deal.”
Jess kissed me, and I pulled her close while we stood in the foyer for a few moments together.
“That should give you my answer.”
“Hm,” I said. “Maybe you should try that again. I couldn’t hear you.”
She swatted at me and then turned toward the inside of the house. There wasn’t any furniture, but I’d researched several interior designers to contact after the house was officially in my name. I imagined what it would look like fully furnished to Jess and my standards. I glanced over at the fireplace and could see Jess and I snuggling by the fire with Gina.
Jess went into the kitchen. I could just hear Gina’s laughter as the three of us made meals together. This place was perfect.
I walked several steps behind Jess, just as Sami had done for me, giving Jess the time to experience the house on her own.
But unlike Sami, Jess turned and held out her hand for me. I took it.
“If this is going to be our house,” she said, “let’s talk about it together.”
“Sure,” I said.
“I love the fireplace,” she said as if she read my thoughts earlier.
“Over here is my favorite spot,” I said, bringing her out onto the terrace. We stood against the railing, both of us looking out into the distance.
Jess closed her eyes and inhaled. “It smells like home.”
“Let’s check out the rest of the place,” I said.
We walked through the living room into the family room. The sizes of the rooms were a bit smaller than what I was used to, but I would trade that house any day for this one. We could have lived in a two bedroom shack, as long as we were on the ocean, I didn’t care. I’d never been a beach kind of guy, but with retirement came relaxation. And I loved spending time on the warm sand when I was on vacation. Now I couldn’t live without it.
We headed upstairs. The hallway split into two sides, one side leading to the master suite and the others to the other three bedrooms. Two of the bedrooms faced the street. It still had a fantastic view of the neighborhood. But the two rooms that were going to be mine and Gina’s faced the ocean.
I smiled, thinking of how amazing Gina’s life was going to be from here on out. She would have two parents and live in the most beautiful place.
Jess and I walked through all the rooms, leaving the master for last. We talked about what we were going to do with Gina’s room and the possibility of making one of the bedrooms into an office.
“You didn’t know there was a third floor?” I asked. I wanted this house to be the place where people from my life visited, not somewhere to squish everyone in. I wanted a proper home that could accommodate as many people as we wanted.
“No,” she said.
“It’s a smaller floor but perfect for an office for me. There’s another room up there as well for you to do what you want. Maybe a sewing room?”
Her eyes sparkled at the idea.
“I think of everything,” I said.
She chewed on her lower lip and took my hands in hers. “I want to see the bedroom.”
I walked into the room first, going to the balcony overlooking the ocean. “This view. You can’t beat it.”
I turned, but Jess wasn’t next to me. I walked inside, and she stood in the middle of the bedroom, but her eyes were locked on mine.
“Is everything okay? Do you like it? We can decorate it with whatever you want.”
“What I want to know is where the bed is going to be?”
I scanned the room. “Well, probably over here,” I said.
“Show me.”
Her voice was lower and her eyes danced. I cocked my head, not fully understanding what she wanted.
I stood at the spot where I thought the bed should go.
Jess slid her hands up my chest and clasped them behind my neck. “So, at night, we’d come in here and lie down together?”
“Yes,” I said, my breath hitching.
She lifted onto her toes and placed a kiss on my lips. Her tongue darted into my mouth, deepening the kiss.
“And then what?” she asked.
My hands fell to her waist. “How about I show you?”