Fragile Hearts (Poplar Falls #4) - Amber Kelly Page 0,21

into a few of our schemes from time to time.

“Can this one be my room?” Beau asks as he rolls open the door Jefferson just finished hanging.

“It sure can. I’ll even have Walker put your name on the door,” Elle offers.

“Cool!”

We make our way out to the patio on the back of the house, which already has a big L-shaped outdoor sofa surrounding a rock firepit. We sit and can hear the nearby stream trickling behind the trees. We chat and wait for the fellas to finish their work for the day.

Once they are done, Walker comes and squats down beside Elle.

“You finished?”

“For the day, yes.”

“I’ll go grab us some towels and a cooler,” she says before walking to the shack.

Beau and Woof come running up.

“Hey, little man. You ready to go play in some wet water?” Walker asks him.

Beau gives him a funny look.

“Did you just say, ‘wet water’?” I ask.

“Yep.”

“You’re a dipshit.”

Elle walks up.

“Woman, your friend is calling me names again.”

“What did you call him, Bells?”

“A dipshit.”

She purses her lips and thinks for a moment. Then, she shrugs. “I’ll allow it.”

Beau snickers.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side,” Walker says as he picks Beau up and tosses him over his shoulder.

Woof starts barking up at him.

“You too, dog. You’re both traitors.”

Walker leads us to his pier, and he takes Elle, Beau, and me out on his granddaddy’s old fishing boat. We spend the rest of the evening out on the “wet water.”

Brandt

I drive Mom into Denver to catch her flight to Portland.

“There are leftovers in the freezer. I labeled them all and left instructions on how long to heat them. There should be enough to get you through the first week. After that, you’ll have to stop and get takeout,” she says as I pull her bag from the back of my vehicle.

“Don’t worry. I promise I won’t starve. I can feed myself, you know,” I tell her as I kiss her cheek.

“Lou-Lou’s special food is in the refrigerator in the bottom drawer. I give her a small bowl twice a day. First thing when we get up in the morning and then again around five. She’s not used to being alone at night, so she may want to sleep in your room. Just pull her bed in and she’ll curl up on it. If she gets too anxious, you can call and I’ll talk to her over the phone and try to soothe her.”

“Vet here, remember? I think I can handle your pup’s needs,” I mutter.

“That reminds me, Bellamy will be at the clinic first thing Monday morning. I already went over your schedule with her, and she has my number, so she can call me with any questions.” She ignores me and continues to fret over her instructions.

“Mom, we’ll be fine. It’s for two weeks. Nothing is going to fall apart in two weeks. Not me and not the clinic. Just go and enjoy Debbie and the kids,” I try to reassure her.

She hugs me tight. “I will, son. I’ll miss you though.”

“I’ll miss you too, Mom.”

Once I see her safely into the terminal, I head back home. Home. Poplar Falls is finally starting to feel like home. That is something I never thought would happen when we landed here.

Today, a new tractor is being delivered, so I can start clearing my land, and I have a general contractor coming out at two o’clock to give me a quote on the renovations I have planned for the house. Once the house is complete, I’ll start the landscaping.

Since it was built in the 1800s, I was able to go to the Poplar Falls Historical Society office, which is basically a room the size of a large closet off the library downtown, and I had them look up the original blueprints of the house. My goal is to restore it to its former glory but with a few modern upgrades, if at all possible.

I’m not handy myself per se. My father was a businessman, and he taught me a lot about finance and business but not my way around a hammer and chain saw. However, I would love to learn as much as possible and do what work I can with my own two hands. I just need someone with the patience to show me as they go, but the yard I can do. I worked endlessly on ours back in Portland. I was in a non-verbal battle of wills against one of the retired gentlemen down