Page 56 of Fake It Till You Make It

During her tour of the inside, she’d run her fingers alongthe walls with framed pictures of his family and him in uniform. Afterward, Eli had excused himself to change out of his stiff jeans. He’d kept the door to his bedroom cracked so he could see where she wandered. If she looked at his mail or peeked into his medicine cabinet. But she hadn’t. She’d headed straight for the ceiling-to-floor windows. There were six of them. They gave the place a spacious feel, even though it was only about 1500 square feet. The kitchen and the family room were just a big open square in the middle of the cabin with a river rock fireplace against one wall. The two bedrooms down the hallway on the left were the same size with a shared bathroom in between.

He grabbed a beer from the fridge for himself and a bottle of water for her. “Break time, partner. I relax on the porch. You can join or not.”

“Thanks. I think.” She took the water bottle and followed him.

Once outside, Amarie spun around on his porch. That Wonder Woman thing again. The overhead light washed her partially in warm light.

“This is the most amazing view—the trees, the water, the mountain, the stars.”

He chuckled. “I see this every day when I open my eyes.”

Though not visible to one another, the three cabins formed an arc with a central area at the base of the waterfall. They’d agreed to use the common area as a picnic spot where they had laid out pavers, a fire pit, and a built-in stone bench. And they each had their own Adirondack chair that they relaxed in sometimes while they divided up a six-pack at the end of the week.

“I can’t imagine living like this in the city. This is like a one-million-dollar view, you know? No, it’s a three- or four-million-dollar oasis, because of the water. That’s a part of itsbeauty. But there’s so much more. There’s no way you can lose this.”

Looking at her, Eli had to agree. She’d made tonight so much more for him. By being here. Something as mundane as bathing kittens seemed magical with Amarie sharing the labor.

“The only water that I can afford is coming down from the sky. Eli, I don’t think I could imagine a more beautiful place to come home to after work. I can’t wait to get my own place. It’s something I didn’t realize how badly I wanted until now. I thought that I would live with someone else forever. But I think I do want my own home, you know? So I can decorate it the way I want. I have all these pictures on my Pinterest board. It’s like a vision board, but it’s online. Anyway, it’s just fab. So, I had these visions of what I want my home to look like. All the way down to, like, my shower curtain. And the rugs on the floor and the pictures on the wall. Even my loungewear. Like I just want to be in my own space.”

“I can understand that. You’ll have it one day, Amarie.”

“You think I will?”

“Don’t sound surprised. You make things happen. Of course you will, sweetheart.”

She gave him a sideways glance. “Eli, how many of those beers have you had? You’re the first person to actually say those words to me. And then tack on an endearment?”

“I said what I meant. Don’t start a nervous ramble over it. Just accept it.” He certainly had.

“I am… I did. But not even my best friend says I make things happen, and that’s kind of a requirement of the job. Things, bad usually, happen to me…” she trailed off.

Eli wanted her to have her heart’s desire. He could see her creating the life she envisioned. After all, the womanwas fearless, innovative, and adventurous. She would leave him and build a life outside of Service.

“Your luck’s changing, Amarie.” Eli’s had since he’d taken a gamble on her. He cleared his throat against the clog in his chest. “Ah, I’m going to set the kittens up in the second bedroom.”

“Oh, they’ll be lonely in there.”

“What are you suggesting, Mama Bear?”

“They arrived in a sack. At least let them roam.”

The woman proceeded to take the freshly washed kittens out of the basket, depositing them on the wood decking. Of course, they found Hiccup’s hind legs and started exploring.

“I mean, your family home is beautiful, but I never imagined a waterfall on the property.”

“Home has always been the most beautiful place on earth.”

“Woof. Woof. You lucky dog.”

“Another zingy one-liner.”

“I know, right? And you get all this mental and manual labor for free.”

He laughed, but Amarie deserved more than he could pay her in one lifetime. In a small town like Service, catching up on the day’s events was a favorite pastime. The Black Bear, the Coffee Bean Barn, and when Ophelia allowed it, the Dog-Eared Page bookstore were the social gathering sites. It was common practice if folks saw each other in the parking lot of the general store or the Coffee Bean Barn that three hours later they’d still be in the same spot catching up on old times. Since Amarie’s arrival, the Calvary Clinic had become the impromptu watering hole. Eli knew Amarie had been the difference maker.

“When I was a boy, we lived downtown. My fatherwould walk this very land with me on his shoulders. There was nothing more than an old, dilapidated barn long abandoned by his family. He told me that one day, our forever home would be here. Tobias doesn’t remember it, but I do. Noah was still in Mom’s belly. I thought my dad was invincible back then. Every promise he’d ever made to me, he followed through. I wanna do the same for him.”

“Eli, please don’t sound so grim. Together we can do this.”