Chapter Three
Hours later, I had to admit, the change to the guest room was dramatic, and it was the first room in the house to be done. The room looked amazing and with the right accessories, it would be worthy of a spot in Beach Home Monthly or something. I laughed at the absurdity. My best friend Beth would like it though. I snapped a couple pictures and sent them along with a few before photos. The difference was shocking.
“Lily, it looks great.” Her voice blared from the phone as I set it on the dresser while I wrapped up the roller and tapped the lid back onto the paint can.
“I really like it. I did the same colour scheme in the master bedroom, but I haven’t yet moved everything back into place.”
“Decided to go with my palette, eh?”
“Why not? You’re the best in the biz.”
Beth was a highly sought-after interior design expert. She’d been lucky enough to have been a featured designer on a couple of home renovation shows. After those aired, she booked months, if not years, in advance.
“I was analyzing the living room photos, and I really think you should paint the bookcases sea grey. It won’t stand out like a sore thumb, but it’ll look nice. I think if you put a nice panoramic above, but in a white frame, it’ll just add that something you need. Do you have a pano? You know what, never mind. I’ll send you some ideas.”
“Keep them reasonable in cost.”
“They’re from staging’s.”
From magazine shoots. The pictures typically stored in a warehouse, hung for a few photo shoots in local magazines and taken back. Beth got access to their inventory on the cheap and had a long list of things she could sell to her friends, myself included.
“Don’t go crazy.”
“Me?” She laughed. “Never.”
I slumped on the bed and admired my handiwork. Sure, it was only fresh paint on the walls, but it was amazing how much it changed the feel in the room. It no longer was the place I’d played with my Barbies, or the room I’d sneak out of when my parents started snoring. Now it had a grownup sense, sophisticated even, ready for a new beginning.
For guests.
For a possible new family in the fall.
“You can bring them out when you come for a visit.”
Beth scoffed. “Or you can come and pick them up when you come to your senses.”
And here we go again. “I know you and Dina and Amelia all think I lost my mind.”
“You did. You ran away. Take your little pity break, clear your mind and come home where you belong.” If I didn’t know better, it sounded like she just gave me a scolding, complete with a nagging whine.
“As I told you before I left, I’m staying the summer.” I flaked off a piece of dried paint from my finger.
“I know that’s what you said, but you’ll change your mind. Lily, I know you. You need all the modern conveniences you’re not going to find in your small hippie town. You hated that place, remember?”
“It’s not a hippie little town.” And I only hated it after the incident.
“Really?” Even over the phone, I heard her eyebrow rise.
“Fine. It’s hippie-like, but the beach is so relaxing.” I’d been here for a few days, and even though I was working hard painting and moving furniture, it had been oddly relaxing. The ocean scent, the salt in the breeze. Soon I was going to be splashing in the ocean.
“That’s my point. You’ll get some peace for a bit, relax, and unwind, and then you’ll tuck your tail between your legs, come home and face the music. You’re not thinking of having the baby there, are you? Oh god, Lily, please tell me you’re going to come home to modern medicine and have the baby in the hospital?” Desperation, mixed with a heavily pleading tone, oozed from her voice making her sound more like my mother than my best friend.
It hadn’t been something I’d completely worked out, but I supposed it was something else to add to my checklist. The nearest major hospital was an hour away, but there were clinics and outpatient facilities within an easy drive, and they were all modern. I still lived in a first world country, and I was having a baby, not major surgery, but still. I should be under someone’s care. At least that was a point I was going to take.
“Oh, Lily, you’re stalling. Please tell me you’re going to come home to have the baby.”
I shrugged. “It’s likely, okay?”
Her relief washed over the phone. “Oh, thank god. You haven’t gone bat-shit crazy.”
“I’m not crazy at all.”
“Completely, especially for going back there. After everything that happened. I still can’t believe that’s where you chose to run to. You wouldn’t catch me returning.”
My heart took a little beating. “You’re not going to come for a visit? I just painted your room.”
“You’re not going to be there long enough for me to need to come. I give it another two weeks. Tops. You’ll be home before then.”
“It’s going to take me more than a couple of weeks to ready this place.”
Sure, it was possible to list as it was, but I’d never get market price for it. However, put a little TLC into it, and modernise it, and well, I likely wouldn’t need to worry about cashflow in the short future.
Another voice whispered in the background.
“Just a sec.” A deep sigh breathed over the line. “Thank you, Courtney.” Her admin assistant. Once again, Beth’s voice became clearer. “Hey, Lil? Why is Parker calling me?”
My mouth went dry as cotton and if I hadn’t already been sitting, surely, I would’ve collapsed on the bed. “I honestly don’t have the faintest idea. He’s called me a few times.”
“So, you’ve talked to him?”
“Why would I give him the time of day? He left me, remember?” Which really, in hindsight, had been a blessing.
“Yeah, and I’ll never forgive him for that. But he can’t call my office, that’s unacceptable. We both know that shithead isn’t looking for an interior designer. He’s looking for you.”
Which was true. Parker had all the decorating sense of a seventeen-year-old comic boy. Swords and movie paraphernalia didn’t belong in the living room, and no matter how I tried to encourage him, he didn’t want to change. Good thing we did all the entertaining at my apartment.
“Deal with him before I have to.”
It wouldn’t end well for Parker if Beth spoke her mind. Since the moment we had started dating, she’s had her back up to him and they never got along. When he walked out on me, she was ready to tear him a new one, and if he kept calling her office, he was likely to get it.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Aren’t you the least bit curious why he’s calling?” The inflection in her voice told me she was.
“Not at all.” Although I was, however, it was more fear-based curiosity than anything else.
Beth cleared her throat. “Look, I have a meeting with a client in a minute. I got to go. Call me soon.”
“Love you.”
“You too.” And with that, the line went dead.