I’d missed that. And maybe I’d specifically missed working with Sam. He’d always made me feel heard and valued in a way that had been new for me.
This time, it brought back a tumult of bittersweet memories.
I could hardly wait to hear Sam actually speak, and to watch the pride in Pat and Charlotte’s expressions as they listened to him talk about how greatly matched they were.
Until then, I would do my best to keep my mind on other things. There was plenty of wedding still to think about!
Chapter Eleven
Sam
Going to Helena for help with my wedding speech was both the best and the worst idea. Over the weeks following, we’d worked on it a couple more times. By now, there was a confidence in me that felt a lot like the time Helena had helped me figure out Of Mice and Men. Helena had always been good at making me feel confident in areas I couldn’t even imagine feeling confident about.
It was strange to think about how that hadn’t changed in ten years. She was still encouraging, still listened to what I said and helped me figure out how to express myself best.
There had been a lot of supportive people in my life since Helena, ex-girlfriends and friends. But there was something about the way Helena did it that just felt... different. More genuine in some way.
But I was old enough to recognize that it was a dangerous line of feelings I was walking. So obviously, the best way to address that was to throw myself fully into helping with Pat’s house. It took us about three days to get the tiling done in the kitchen. Helena had been right, the colors went extremely well.
The more we worked, the more the house was starting to come together. Not a moment too soon; the wedding was approaching surprisingly quickly. It hardly felt like I’d been home for over two months already! The summer for me seemed to be filled with building.
And maybe, a little bit, with Helena.
Today, though, was all about building.
“Thanks, guys, I really appreciate you coming out to help me and Pat,” I said, genuinely meaning it. When I had asked the team if some of them wanted to come to help me build a house, it had mostly been a joke. To have five of them actually make time to come meant a lot.
Will gave me a wide smile, slapping a hand against my back. “Well, technically Pat’s our brother, too, since he’s your brother,” he joked.
“Yeah! And besides, I heard there’d be beer?” Felix pointed out. “There better be beer. Do you know how hard it is to find a dog sitter for four dogs?”
Chase laughed. “That’s your own fault for getting four dogs, Felix!” he chirped. Felix scowled, but we all knew he wasn’t really offended. Owning so many dogs was very much his choice, he couldn’t hold anyone else responsible.
“Will’s just lucky he’s got Lacey to look after Teddy,” our captain added. The fact that Luke had come up to help me explained why so many of the team had followed his lead. He was, after all, great at motivating us all to work together. “I don’t know how you find a sitter for a dog that’s bigger than a person!”
We all laughed. The fact that Will had accidentally ended up with what felt like the world’s biggest dog was a great amusement to everyone. His Newfoundland was so huge that we’d even teased that Will had had to get an extension on his house for him. It was probably more to do with Lacey; she came with a dog, too.
In the past few years, quite a few of the Pumas seemed to have settled. We hadn’t had many wedding bells just yet, but I was sure they were coming. That was one of the things that made it so nice that they’d all come out to help me now. Apart from Felix, the other guys were all in relationships, yet they’d sacrificed a weekend with their girlfriends for me and Pat’s house.
“So as the resident house-building expert,” I said, turning to Chase with a grin. “Are you going to be the building supervisor?” Chase helped to build houses for charity but I had no idea what that actually meant. This summer, I had learned that there was a lot of stuff you did when building a house.
“Naturally,” Chase answered. “How could I pass up a chance to actually boss our captain around for once?” Luke laughed, holding up his hands to show he had no intention of challenging Chase’s leadership.
It was good to know someone with a clue was in charge!
“I talked to your brother,” Chase added. “He says the kitchen’s pretty much done, but he wants to put up bookshelves in the study. Will, after all that Lacey’s taught you, do you think you can handle that?”
Much to everyone’s amusement, Lacey was surprisingly good at handling power tools. She’d helped Felix set up a television cabinet only a few weeks before I left Salt Lake for the summer.
“Wait,” Felix said with a frown. “Is it too late to get Lacey to come out?” he asked. Will smacked his arm.
“Yes, it’s too late. You’re stuck with me, how sad for you.” The chirping made us all laugh and Will shook his head. “I can probably manage some shelves,” he promised. “I even know how to use a spirit level now,” he informed us, a claim that was met with many ‘oohs’, only some sarcastic.
Chase nodded before proceeding to give the rest of us little jobs, too. I was assigned to help him and Luke in the bathroom. That ended up being more
