Love Shack (Tiny Houses, Big Hearts) (25 page)

Her truck was still there, but her home wasn’t behind it any longer. And unless someone had given it the Wonder Woman jet treatment, her house had just been stolen.

Felicity had heard of tiny houses being stolen before, but she couldn’t believe it was happening to her. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the empty space again.

It couldn’t be gone. Her first home, the drying rack she’d broken when Brandon fucked her until her eyes crossed, her computer, her life…it had to be some kind of bad dream.

“Deep breaths, chick. Here.”

Deborah came walking down the steps of the station and handed Felicity an envelope. Deborah pulled her hair free of her bun, finger combed her locks and didn’t even pause on her way to the garage around back of the building.

“What is this? Do you know where my house is? Did someone tow it?” Felicity’s fingers couldn’t rip the paper open fast enough. She didn’t even want to think about what the tow fee on a house was. And it was Friday. If it was locked up somewhere, she might not be able to get it back until Monday. “You told me I could park here.”

Deborah turned and walked backwards. “No. I told you you
had
to park here. And I told him this was finally something I could get behind. He did good. Go check it out.”

Felicity gaped at Deborah and scanned the handwritten letter she pulled from the envelope. At the bottom was Brandon’s name.

“You let Brandon steal my house?” Felicity yelled at the woman she’d thought was her friend.

“You can thank me later.”

Then the news anchor who had started this whole thing drove off. Felicity sat on the wide hitch on the back of her truck and read the letter.

It was meant to be sweet and romantic.

It was meant to call to her soft womanly side.

It really pissed her off.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

He never had been able to throw away the beautiful greenery Felicity had displayed all over her reclaimed metal gate. Even when he’d been pissed at her for lying about who she was, and wanting to do anything he could to take back the control she’d stolen from his life, he couldn’t throw it away. The dried sage and rosemary sprigs entwined with the wispy wooden vines weren’t flowery or bright, but there was something naturally stunning about the way she’d put them together.

Brandon had never designed anything outside of a spreadsheet on his own. His trip to Tom’s shop and the subsequent groveling scored him a little help this evening.

“Should I put the flowers in the wheels too?” The tiny girl held at least three dozen daisies in her hand. She had come with her mother to help set the scene. Tom had been doing a consultation for the two when Brandon came begging for help winning Felicity back.

Deborah was right. He needed more than just a few words and the deed to this land. He had to show her he was in this for the long haul.

“I don’t see anything over by the mailboxes. Why don’t you put some there? I want to make sure they look great.”

“Momma told me to stay away from there because the cement might not be dry.”

Brandon walked with Candice over to the mailbox. Sure enough, the cement wasn’t completely dry. The humidity was pretty high this week, and the stuff wasn’t solidifying as fast as Tom had hoped.

“Did you pick out which house number you and your mom wanted yet?” he asked.

She smiled back at him, showing off a missing front tooth and a ton of excitement. “We’re going to be in housebox two. Because it’s just me and mommy and we are all the other needs.” She leaned in and waved Brandon closer. “And two is my favorite number because I want to have two hamsters when we get in our new house.”

Brandon smiled with her and opened up the mailboxes marked one and two. “Well, I think Miss Newhouse should get to be number one then, don’t you think?”

“She’s the bestest, because she said Mr. Tom was putting a dollhouse in my room. In the wall!” Leaning over so as not to touch the cement the little girl placed two flowers in her mailbox and two in Felicity’s. “One flower for me and momma, and one flower for you and Miss Newhouse.” She smiled up at him. “It’s perfect.”

As she ran off to answer her mother’s call, Brandon stared at the two blooms in the mailbox. He wanted one of the flowers to be for him. But that was Felicity’s call.

He touched the petals briefly before getting back to work. His pocket buzzed with a text from Deborah. Felicity was on her way. This scene had to be perfect and it had to be done fast.

“She’s almost here,” he called out.

“Well, let’s hope this works then.” Tom pushed on the wooden post of the pergola he’d erected over the small fire pit area. The wires he’d wrapped around the entire property had taken longer and been a lot more than Brandon had planned, but it was go big or go home time.

“Do you think it’s too much?” he asked as Tom put the remote in his shaking hands.

“Better too much than too little at this point.” Tom slapped him on the back. “Good luck. But you gave me your word on the land.”

Brandon nodded. He’d promised that even if this didn’t work, he’d sign over the deed to Felicity. He didn’t want to stand in the way of this community any longer than he already had.

After Candice and her mother climbed into Tom’s truck for a ride back to the halfway house, the girl leaned out the window and crossed her fingers. “I hope she forgives you.”

Tom rubbed his neck. “I think Candice is sweet on you.” His serene smile as he looked at the mother and daughter giggling together in his truck told Brandon that Candice wasn’t the only one with a crush.

But Brandon had to worry about his own relationship at the moment. He would have told Tom about his new job, but there wasn’t time tonight. The man would find out soon enough. Until then… “You better get those two home. It’s getting late.”

Tom’s hands were rough and calloused from the years of working, and Brandon squeezed back, hoping he’d get a chance to rough up his hands a little with the man in the future.

“I’m getting the two of them dinner. Kid needs a trip to a restaurant without a drive thru and so does her momma. Especially after bringing all these flowers.” Tom smiled. “I’ll send you the bill.”

“Why do I get the bill?”

“This is your seduction, not mine.”

And with that, Brandon was left standing in the middle of what he prayed was Felicity’s version of paradise. He wasn’t going to give her money or fame, and he couldn’t even give her a loan or financial help any more either.

He hoped he could give her back what he’d taken from her.

He hoped she’d let him be a part of it.

Chapter Forty

Felicity was fuming when she pulled up and spotted her house back on the land Brandon had bought out from under her. On the land he’d refused to sell her without a face to face meeting.

The bastard was manipulating her to get what he wanted, and she was not thrilled about playing this game his way.

She wasn’t going to soften. She was going to go in there and tell him what an asshole he was being. He didn’t believe in her, and he thought so little of her that he jumped to horrible conclusions.

Felicity touched the greenery she’d handmade with items from her herb garden. He hadn’t thrown it out. In fact, he’d dotted the green with a few daisies. Nope. She wouldn’t be swayed into rekindling the feelings for this man.

Well, she wouldn’t have to rekindle them since they never technically left, but she was determined to not settle for someone who thought less of her than she deserved. She was going to be with someone who respected her, and with someone who she was honest and forthright with so that she earned that respect instead of having to backtrack and defend her actions.

A pergola was standing next to her house. How had that gotten there? A fire danced in a brand new fire pit. With beautiful Adirondack chairs forming a semicircle around it, it would be a perfect place to gather. But it wasn’t her fire pit. And she was going to find the man who had stolen her house and…and decorated it with sage and rosemary leaves along a daisy garland. She was going to find the man that stole her house and painted her steps to match her door.

He wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Was she just supposed to back her truck in and take her house back? Looking around, she spotted something else. This wasn’t as pretty. In fact, it was little more than cement and steel boxes. Felicity walked back around the gate and stared for a long time before she realized there were numbers at the top and on each locked cubby.

“A mailbox.” She realized. Touching the metal frame and each of the little locks, she couldn’t believe it. This would be where the people in her community could land. They could get mail here.

He’d made her a mailbox. Okay, so maybe she could forgive him for not listening to her, because really, she hadn’t given him a whole lot of reasons to trust her anyway.

She could forgive him, but she couldn’t take a chance on a relationship. They could just be friends. That could work. They could be friends. She liked having friends. Even if she knew what they looked like naked and how hard they pressed her against the counter of her kitchen.

Friends it was. He had to be here. His car was parked on the street.

“Brandon?” she called out.

She had her mind made up to forgive him and had her heart steeled against whatever he might say. Then, before she could call out again, as the sun was dropping further beneath the horizon behind her, the lights clicked on.

Thousands of fairy lights twinkled among the daisies. The fire blazed and the brilliance of the scene reflected against two crystal wine glasses that Brandon held in his hand as he walked from behind her trailer hitch.

“Hey.”

He was wearing a pair of suit pants, and a white button up shirt that didn’t quite fasten all the way. His sleeves were rolled in perfect folds to his elbows, and his hair wasn’t glued to his head with product. A few strands fell forward and he shook his head to try and put them back in their place.

Felicity was dumbstruck. Her hands wanted to dive into his hair, and her body wanted to press against his. So to remind him as much as herself what was really going on, she blurted, “You stole my house.”

He at least had the decency to cringe. He walked over to the firepit and placed the open wine bottle in a wire stand spiraling from the ground. After putting the wine glasses in convenient little slots in the arms of the chairs, he wiped his hands on his pants and came toward her.

She hoped he was sweating because she needed him to make a mistake here.

“I had to show you I was wrong. I had to show you I believe in your idea, and I had to show you I can see your vision too.”

“Let’s go back to the wrong part,” she said.

Felicity looked at the fire, and over to the mailbox, and back to her home. It felt like a dream.

“I was an idiot to think you could hide who you were on the inside. I was wrong to jump to conclusions and not ask you why you were at that gala. But you were wrong too.”

She turned at that.

He reached out for her, but closed his fists rather than touching her. “You were wrong that I couldn’t understand. You were wrong that I couldn’t figure this out. And you were wrong that I couldn’t change my mind. You forced me to look at what I was doing with my life and what I was giving up to live like I was. I don’t need the fancy job or the fancy apartment, because it means giving up the ability to share it with you.”

“But you stole my house.” He’d stolen it and made it more perfect than she’d ever thought possible. “Are you trying to woo me by stealing my house?”

He looked around and slapped his legs. “I just thought I’d show you I know this place is yours. I wanted to show you you were meant to be here.”

“Through grand larceny?” She tried to keep the smile from her face, but failed miserably. Lightning bugs began to float up from the grass. The magic around her was seeping into her soul, and she couldn’t stop the sides of her lips from tipping up. Or the tears from gathering in her eyes.

“I
was
going for a
grand
gesture.”

She laughed. She couldn’t help it. “I don’t know what to say to that.”

He hurried over and grabbed the bottle. After filling the glasses, he handed one to her. His hand closed around hers and her eyes drifted shut. Heat slid up her arm from his touch, and she felt the tenderness that went into everything he did here.

He pulled her forward and forced her eyes open as they went toward the fire. Standing where they were, she was under the pergola with fairy lights above her, fire in front of her, and a dream world all around.

“I’m moving out of my apartment tomorrow.”

She turned to him and stared. “You’re what?”

“I’m renting it out for income. I’m going to need it now that I quit my job. Think I could buy a house here?”

“You are going to have to back up a minute.” Felicity dropped his hand and took a step back. “You quit your job?”

“I’d rather do something else. I was hoping to help you on this project. Candice and her mother seem like great people, and I can see why you want to help them. I want to do it with you.”