Page 65 of Take My Heart
‘It’s all they had in your size. It was either that or a Hayden Falls sweatshirt in extra large.’
‘It’s really cute’ She sets the sweatshirt down and pulls out a t-shirt. ‘Another Kanfield shirt?’
‘I swear, it’s all they had. This is a tourist town and the orchard’s a big deal. It’s the main reason a lot of people come here. The drugstore sells a lot of our merchandise.’
‘Another Kanfield sweatshirt,’ she says, laughing as she holds it up. ‘And Kanfield sweatpants. I’ll be a good advertisement for you.’
‘Yeah, you will. Sorry, but it really is all they had. I would have gotten you something else if I could’ve, but this time of year we don’t get a lot of people coming through town and those were left over from the fall.’
‘I’m just kidding. These are all great. I’ll go put them on.’
She goes in her room and comes back a few minutes later wearing Kanfield Orchard sweatpants and a Kanfield Orchard sweatshirt.
I laugh, seeing her dressed like that. I should get a picture and send it to my parents.
‘What do you think?’ she asks, spinning around.
‘You look great. And everything seems to fit.’
‘The pants are a little tight.’ She looks down at them. ‘But they’ll stretch out.’
She’s bigger on the bottom than she is on top. I hadn’t noticed that before now because I haven’t really seen her body. She’s got a rounded ass that fills out the sweatpants in the best possible way. It’s going to be hard not to look at it. At least the sweatshirt is big on her.
‘While you were gone,’ Kate says, racing over to me, ‘I had some ideas.’ She’s got that wide-eyed, excited look she had earlier when we were out in the snow.
‘Ideas about what?’ I ask.
‘About my room. Well, the room I’m staying in.’
‘What about it?’
‘I can describe it better if we’re in there.’ She takes off to her room.
I follow behind, not sure what this is about, but I like seeing her excited. It’s a lot better than seeing her sad.
She waits until I’m in the room, then says, ‘I was thinking we could paint the walls a greenish-gray color. It’s considered a neutral and is so much better than white or boring beige. And it’s really in right now.’ She goes over to the window, which is covered by black metal blinds from the previous owner. ‘Wecould easily replace the blinds with new white ones and then get a white comforter for the bed. It’s a small room so the white will help open it up and make it feel airy, but the darker wall color will keep it from feeling cold. Accent pillows on the bed could bring in some color. I’m thinking something warm, like maybe orange. Add in a small lamp for the nightstand and the room would basically be done. Oh! And I was thinking we could get a colorful throw to put along the end of the bed and then for the closet—’
‘Okay, stop,’ I say, hearing the anger in my voice. ‘I’m not doing any of that.’
She looks at me, the excitement on her face replaced with disappointment. ‘It’s just a suggestion.’
‘Yeah, I get that, but I didn’t ask for your suggestions.’
She’s looking at me like she’s trying to figure out why I got so angry just now. If I could tell her the truth, I would, but I can’t. I’m too embarrassed to admit I got myself into this mess and don’t know how to get out.
‘I wasn’t trying to tell you what to do,’ she says. ‘It’s just that when I see an empty room like this, I automatically imagine how I’d decorate it. I didn’t mean to make you mad.’
‘I’m not mad. Let’s just forget it, okay?’ I turn to leave.
‘Brody, wait.’ She races up to me, meeting me at the door. ‘I was just giving you some ideas. You said decorating wasn’t your thing so—’
‘I’m fine with how the room looks now.’ I glance at it, at the stained carpet and broken blinds, the walls that need painting, and the trim that needs to be replaced. The room looks like shit, but new blinds and a new comforter aren’t going to fix it. Major work needs to be done and I don’t have the money for it.
‘But aren’t youtrying to sell the house?’ Kate asks.
‘Yeah, but not now. I need to fix it up first and I don’t have the—’ I stop before I say money. ‘I don’t have the time to do it right now.’
‘Which is why this is perfect!’ She gets that excited look again.
