Ready For It (MacAteer Brothers #2) - M.L. Nystrom Page 0,18

of boys’ outfits on the same table. One sported camouflage and said Mama’s New Man on the front. So cute! Wait? Nursery? I dropped the shirt back on the table. My condo only had one bedroom. It was huge, but still only one. Where in the hell did I put a crib? Did I need a changing table? I looked at the other baby items staring at me from the shelves. Rocking slider chair. Baby bathtub. Stroller. Bassinet. Swing. Bouncer. Something called a diaper genie. Toys. A box to put the toys. Where did I put this stuff and all the other paraphernalia that came with a baby?

Fuck me, I had to move.

Bev noticed the expression of alarm on my face. “You don’t have to decide everything today, sweetie. You do have time.”

Yes, I have time. Not a lot, but enough if I’m careful and don’t put off planning. “I’m good, Bevvie. I just realized my place won’t cut it. I’m gonna have to look for a bigger condo, or better yet, a house.”

Her brow wrinkled as both eyebrows rose. “A house is a lot of upkeep for one person. I have firsthand knowledge about that.”

Visions of swing sets, plastic pools, and running through puddles in the backyard after a rainstorm swam through my head. A real Christmas tree with homemade macaroni decorations. Linoleum on the kitchen floor, perfect to surf across in sock feet. I made up my mind. “A house. I want a house. It’s not like I can’t afford it. My place is nice, but it’s only that. A place. I need something I can make into a home. A real one like yours. I like my condo, but actually, I feel at home when I’m over hanging with the kids at your house.”

Bev’s eyes softened, and her mouth curled upward. Of all the people in the world, she knew me the best. We bonded as freshman teachers years ago. When she looked at me, she didn’t see a rich bitch with her nose in the air. She saw a fellow teaching crusader whose goal was to develop young minds and enrich their lives. One night of drunken confessions, I opened up and talked to her about my life and my family. Money doesn’t mean happiness. Her experiences with her ex-husband proved that, and stories of my childhood years sealed it.

“There’s lots of houses in my neighborhood for sale, but every one of them is a fixer-upper. If you want to look at them, I’m sure Connor and Owen can help you, but I expect you’d rather get something move-in ready.”

“Owen’s still here?”

“Yeah, and it looks like he may stick around for a while. Connor took him to help with a deck build this week and let Owen do the designing. He must be pretty good, ’cause the homeowner’s neighbors saw it and wanted one. You’ve seen those big domino sculptures, right? You knock over just one and that leads to a bazillion more falling. That’s what’s been happening with these renovation jobs. Connor booked two more after this new one and has consultations on four more. Owen is staying to do those jobs and maybe longer. If this keeps up, they’ll have work all summer. Connor plans on letting Owen do the majority of designing and building. Supervision too if there needs to be a work crew hired. He really needs to get back to his woodshop and get the backorders filled.”

I knew about Connor’s custom furniture business. He had a workshop in the back of their house that he recently expanded. I peeked inside once while he worked. Custom tables, boxes, beds, dressers, all in various stages of completion and with more orders coming.

“Owen doesn’t seem the type to lead a work crew. He’s rather quiet.”

“He does most of the work himself, and yeah, he doesn’t say much, but his designs are brilliant. You should go by the one he’s working on now and take a look.”

“Maybe I will.”

I didn’t quite know what to think about the news that Owen would be sticking around for a while. There was something disturbing about him. Not creepy or scary—I didn’t feel unsafe around him. Quite the contrary, I was more comfortable around him than my own family, but there was still something about him that drew my focus more and more. Perhaps we bonded when he held my hair back for me while I vomited my guts out at Bev’s. Not many people could say they had