Page 127 of Thorns and Ashes
“Actually, what do you say I pick you up tomorrow so you can see what we’ve been working on?” He tilts his head down and waits expectantly for my answer.
I haven’t been avoiding the place, but I also haven’t set foot back there since everything happened. Some nights I wake from nightmares, my chest tight, my hands trembling, like I’m trapped in it all over again. But when I open my eyes, Levi’s there, grounding me to the present and assuring me that I’m safe, and just like that, the panic ebbs, reminding me that we made it through, that we both came out of the ashes.
As the tightness in my chest subsides, I nod my head. “Yeah, that sounds great.”
Levi picks Ellie and me up first thing in the morning after his shift. Stepping outside, the cold bites my cheeks. The Adirondack air is sharp and crisp, making my breath puff out in little clouds as I make my way to the truck. The ground is coated in a thin layer of white, and the sky is that bright shade of gray that lingers after snow falls. Ellie trots through the thin crust of snow, her tail wagging wildly when she sees Levi. He opens my door and holds out his hand as he helps me up into the truck.
“Ready?” he asks, an undertone of excitement coming off him.
“Let’s go,” I tell him, butterflies fluttering in my stomach.
We head straight over to see what he, Tom, and a whole crew of contractors have been working on. The truck rumbles down the familiar road, tires crunching over packed snow as we pass the Fire Station. Pine trees heavy with white line the roadside, their branches sagging under the weight, and the frozen lake in the distance catches the faint glow of the rising sun. Even in the winter, this place is truly beautiful.
My knee bounces up and down despite myself, the anxious rhythm impossible to stop. Anticipation coils inside me as we get closer, memories of that night a few months back threatening to pull me under. Levi reaches over, settling his hand over my knee and giving it a gentle squeeze. His gaze catches mine, and his smile says it all. He gets it, he understands, and he’s here. His warm presence grounds me in the present and pulls me back from the edge.
The drive is short, and soon we are pulling up the driveway. Snow and gravel crunch beneath the tires as the truck climbs slowly through the stretch between the tall trees. My fingers curl tighter in my coat sleeve, and my heart picks up speed with every yard we move forward, but instead of feeling anxious, now I’m excited.
When our home finally comes into view, it looks nothing like what I expected.
“Levi,” I gasp, my mouth dropping as I unbuckle my seat belt and step out of the truck, not once taking my eyes off what he’s been hiding. “How?”
My voice trails off as I’m at a complete loss for words. My hands rise to cover my mouth as I’m left in absolute awe. It’s been two and a half months, but before me is a house I never would have recognized. There’s no sign anywhere that a fire ever occurred here. In fact, there’s no sign that there was ever a duplex here to begin with at all.
In front of me is the most beautiful two-story house, fitted with a full front porch including one of those swinging chairs. White shutters adorn the pale yellow exterior of the house, and beneath each window sits a flower basket, ready for spring flowers to be planted and grow. Ellie prances around the front yard happily until her long fur is covered in white from kicking up snow.
“It’s not done,” Levi mumbles when I shift my gaze briefly to look at him.
He scratches at his jaw as he watches me intently.
“There’s still a lot of work we have to do inside, but the foundation, the bones of it, they’re done.”
“How did you do all of this so quickly?” I ask, still in shock.
“With a lot of help,” he laughs. “Tom sort of owed me, but those new contractors that Callie hired are hard workers, and she reached out to that architect, Alex Marquez, who helped with the resort. He took my ideas and brought them to life.”
“Levi, this looks incredible,” I breathe. “Can we go inside? I want to see more.”
He smiles and releases a breath of relief. “Yeah, of course,” he says, taking my hand and leading the way up the white-painted wooden porch steps. “If everything goes according to plan, this place should be move-in ready by next month.”
The timeline is insane, but with everyone he has working on it and his experience with building houses, I know it’s possible. I move through the front door and go from room to room with Ellie following at my feet, taking it all in. With every step I take, it all becomes more overwhelming, but in the best way.
The kitchen and dining room are huge, with an open-concept layout leading to a family room, all lit by the natural light streaming in from the windows. There’s still plastic over the countertops and across the kitchen island. The inside isn’t painted yet, the cabinets are still missing the hardware, but it’s all here. Some of the plumbing from the duplex is still in place, giving the house two full baths. The rooms were upgraded and rebuilt. What was once two one-bedroom duplexes has now been transformed into a beautiful four-bedroom house.
“Wait,” I stammer, almost tripping over myself as I spin around to find Levi still watching me carefully. “This is a four-bedroom house.”
He pinches his lips together. “It is,” he says softly.
“So there’s only one home here now,” I rephrase, my eyes narrowing suspiciously on him as I piece it together, embarrassingly slow but understandably given my initial shock.
“That’s right,” he responds, but this time a small smile begins to tilt up his lips and amusement dances behind his eyes as he watches me put all the pieces together.
“Huh,” I finally say, twisting around, taking it all in again before placing my hands on my hips with a feigned look of confusion. “And where will you live once I move in here?”
He stares at me, dumbfounded for a second, before a coy smile fills my face and his shoulders shake with laughter.
“Very funny,” he laughs, shaking his head, before nodding to an envelope sitting on the counter that I hadn’t noticed. “That’s foryou.” He presses a soft kiss to my lips before pulling back. “I’ll wait for you outside.”
When my brows furrow, he smirks.
