Page 6 of Into the Mountains
“You could have called Frank,” Jacob suggests. “He’s pretty good with birds.” At Charlotte’s glare, Jacob looks back downat the blueprints and pretends like he’s re-calculating some numbers that he most likely can’t really make sense of. Considering the numbers he’s looking at are ones I calculated myself, I know they’re right.
“It was late at night, okay? No one else was answering and I was clearly desperate. I knew he didn’t have Ethan, so I called him.”
“You knew enough to know he didn’t have Ethan?” Now I’m glaring at Sky, because I don’t want to get into this and we don’t have to explain ourselves to anyone. If they don’t want to believe what we told them, then that’s their problem. Not ours.
“Anyway, I’m here because you called me about the blueprints for the expansion.” I know they aren’t done with the subject, but I really don’t care. I came here for a reason, and running into Charlotte so we could get interrogated wasn’t it.
“So, we had an idea,” Jacob starts.
“It was really Jacob’s.” Sky finally turns her head away from Charlotte to look at Jacob like they’re the only ones in existence and there aren’t three other people in the room with them.
“Okay, gross. Please tell us the idea before I vomit.”
“For once, I agree with Charlotte.”
Sky’s eyes dart between us, her hands knotting together in front of her. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she’s nervous, but she doesn’t get nervous. She hides behind her shield of sarcasm and makes quick quips before she lets any kind of nerves show.
Jacob takes her hand in his to settle them before continuing. Her body eases slightly at his touch. “This project is really important to me. The clinic has really taken off thanks to Charlotte. We have a ton of online traffic because our presence online is better than ever, which isn’t much of a stretch considering before it was practically non-existent. But I wantthis place to have just as much of an impact if not more and I think the expansion will do that.”
He sounds so confident in his plans, I almost feel the small seed of jealousy try to take root in me. I’m happy for him, but I’m not too ashamed to admit I wish I had his confidence.
“I need this to be amazing and I want this space to feel as cohesive as possible.” He looks between Charlotte and me. He doesn’t say anything else like he’s waiting for something. Realization dawns on Charlotte’s face and I think she’s understanding something before me. I hate it.
“Oh absolutely not. I’m not doing that.”
“What?” I ask. “What aren’t you doing?”
Jacob looks at me directly, waiting for me to catch up. And when I finally do, I parrot Charlotte’s words. “Absolutely not.”
“C’mon, you two can’t put whatever differences you have aside to do this for me?”
Charlotte chortles. “The differenceswe have are deeper than you realize and I do not want to put them aside for anything. Especially to work together on a project that’s as important as this one is. I’ll do as we agreed, Jacob. I’ll do the interior design, but I’m not working with him. I’m just not.”
Jacob and Sky make eye contact and have some sort of silent agreement before nodding. “What if I told you I could get you out of the apartment?” That gets Charlotte’s attention.
“I’m listening.”
“I’m fully moved out of my house. Our house is practically finished and our stuff is moved in. Mine is empty and I really don’t want to sell it. It needs a lot of work, but I figured since that’s something you love, maybe you could make it a home?”
“I can’t afford a house, J.”
“I’m not asking you to buy it from me.”
“I’m also not letting you give it to me. That’s too much.”
“Wait, if she doesn’t want the house, can I buy it from you?” Ethan and I live in a small, two bedroom house we started renting when we moved back to Blue Grove when Sarah was sick. Once she passed, we never moved, but having a bigger space that is more permanent would actually be nice. It would show Ethan that I don’t have any plans of leaving here or going back to Seattle. There are times I think he has doubts that I want to plant any kind of roots here because this was his mother’s home. Not mine.
“What?” Sky and Jacob ask together.
I look between all of their confused faces, feeling exposed all of the sudden. Part of me doesn’t want to admit what I’m thinking, but a bigger, homier space would mean the world to Ethan. To both of us.
“We could—” I hesitate and then look over at Ethan, the black kitten now perched on his shoulder reminding me of Frank and the parrot he adopted last year. “I could buy it from you. I think.” It’s been a while since I’ve tried to get a loan from the bank, which is why we’re renting now. With all of Sarah’s medical bills, it made it difficult to get something. But it’s been long enough and her bills have been taken care of.
“The house we’re renting is nice, but I think we’d like to have a space that would be more permanent. And Ethan can have a bigger room. The one he has now is basically a closet and it would be nice to have a place that is in town.”
Jacob and Sky exchange a glance with each other. “It’s up to you. It’s your house.”
“It’s not anymore.” Jacob shrugs and moves around the desk. He stops a foot or so in front of me and reaches out his hand. I don’t take it right away, because I’m not sure what he’s reaching it out for.
