bought some of those oversized pillows to use in here too.” She pointed to the shopping bag. “Maybe we can use them over in the corner as a little reading space or something.”
“That would work,” he replied, oblivious to her inner turmoil. “I wanted to ask if you plan on putting a TV in here. We could mount it up on the wall and put up a few more shelves to house any cable boxes or other electronics.”
She knew Haley would appreciate a TV of her own, so she shrugged. “I guess so. Sure.”
“Okay. Cool. In that case, I’d say once we set that up, this room is basically done. Do you have a TV you want to use in here yet?”
She shook her head and then realized maybe she did. “The one in the guest room could probably come down here.” Even though it was the one she used to help her sleep at night, maybe it was a habit she needed to break. After all, the faster the space down here was set, the sooner she could start her work for Mia.
“Want to show me where it’s at?”
Sydney led him up the stairs and down the hall to the room she was staying in. Her bed was unmade, and she had boxes and suitcases all over the place, and suddenly wished she had come up first and cleaned up a bit.
“You’re staying in here?”
“Uh…yeah.”
“Not ready to take on the master bedroom for yourself yet, huh?”
Damn, am I that transparent?
“It didn’t feel right. I think I’m going to have to totally strip everything from the room—all the furniture, the bed…everything—in order for me to feel okay with sleeping in there.”
“I’d feel the same,” he said as he inspected the TV mount on the wall. Reaching into his tool belt, he took a few measurements before pulling out a screwdriver to remove the television from the mount.
“You don’t think it’s weird?”
“Not at all. That’s going to be your room for however long you live here. You deserve to have it be a space with no…for lack of a better word…ghosts.”
She wanted to be offended, but she couldn’t because it was completely accurate. With a sigh, she sat on her bed. “My parents slept in there while they were here, and at the time, I reasoned it was because it was the biggest room with the biggest bed. But once they left, I just couldn’t make myself move in there.”
The TV came off the mount and Kyle rested it on the floor against the closet door before facing her. “Once we finish the downstairs, I can make that the next room if you’d like.”
“I should probably focus more on the living area. That’s where the most work is needed. I shouldn’t be using the money for my own personal stuff. I can call Habitat for Humanity to take away the furniture and then paint the room myself. It’s not a big deal.” Then she nodded because it made the most sense. “So we’ll stick to your original plan to do the kitchen next.”
To her surprise, Kyle sat down on the bed beside her, his expression mildly annoyed. He took a minute before he spoke. “It’s really starting to annoy me how you are constantly refusing the help.” When she went to interrupt, he held up a hand to stop her. “You do it a lot. And the only one you’re hurting is yourself.”
She was going to argue, but he was already speaking again.
“You are entitled to good things, Sydney. You’re allowed to have something for yourself here.”
“And I already have that with the office space! This whole project was about making the space better for Haley!”
“And for you! Geez, don’t you get it?” he yelled, and his hand instantly flew to his mouth. “Shit. Where’s Haley?”
“At the mall shopping for clothes for school with her friends,” she said begrudgingly. “But…”
“No! No buts, Syd. For your information, working on the master was already in the plans, so…why not get it out of the way first?”
He was lying and they both knew it. When Pastor Steve came to talk to her along with Jake Summerford, they had discussed what the absolute necessities were to help her with the house. The kitchen, the main living space, and the bathrooms were her top priorities, and they agreed that was what they’d take care of. Since that time, she’d gotten a new front porch with new steps, a rec space for Haley, and a new office.