Page 108 of Second Start: Family
Specifically, he asked her brother, Cully, and Dax. “I could use your help. With the house. The bedrooms upstairs are drafty and…”
No one else seemed to view the words as momentous.
“Sure,” Bodie said, while Cully nodded. “No problem. Let’s look at it now and figure a date.”
That brought them to this busy weekend.
Bodie, Cully, Dax, and Hall spent a long day insulating and reconfiguring walls on the second story of the house to four bedrooms. Dan and Bobby would each have his own room. Lizzie and Molly wanted to stay together, but their room would be larger.
Kenzie drove Dan to Casper to shop for a pair of new boots and jeans for the upcoming scholarship interview. When they returned, it became clear they’d also taken time for a stylish haircut for him.
In the meantime, the rest of them tackled the master bedroom. Grif and Luke moved furniture, including repurposing a second set of drawers into storage in the family room, relocating a bookshelf to the second-floor landing, then sorting and organizing.
Sunday, led by Bexley, Kiernan, Eric, and his girlfriend K.D., they painted. Gramps and Pauline arrived in his truck, with a new bed for the master bedroom, then hauled away the old one, and more.
Rebecca and Luke arrived mid-afternoon with two beef roasts to slice for sandwiches and all the fixings. They ate while the paint dried, then uncovered and moved furniture as needed.
By the end, they were all tired, but well satisfied.
Hall was stunned.
“I don’t know how to thank you—”
“No need,” Cully said.
Hall shook his head. “Really. I don’t recall the place ever looking this good. Ever.”
“It’s beee-you-ti-ful,” Molly sang.
Hall cupped her head. “It is. And we have all of you to thank—”
Bodie put a hand on his shoulder. “Pass it on. When and how you can. And enjoy. With your family.”
“Our family,” Hall said.
Since they’d visited Ellyn and Grif to see their baby, Kenzie knew she wanted their family to grow.
Bodie’s gaze went to his sister.
She returned it for a moment, before turning to Hall to hug him around the waist, while he pulled her into his side.
So only he could hear, she said, “We don’t have to get married, but I intend to share that bedroom.”
“The hell we don’t have to get married— No, wait. You should know, we still could lose the ranch. No guarantees or—”
“We might not, too. But if we do, you go back to school and become an architect.”
He snorted at the craziness of that. “I’m not kidding, Kenzie. If things go bad, I’d have nothing to offer you.”
She smiled, the crazy woman. “You’d have Dan and Molly and Lizzie and Bobby and maybe more.” Her smile picked up heat. “You’d have you. I can’t imagine wanting anything else.”
They smiled at each other, over the heads of the kids —theirkids,theirfamily.
*
