Mrs. McNulty cried ugly tears, but I couldn’t say that I blamed her. I probably couldn’t even imagine the amount of stress she’d been under, having her home burn to the ground. Dean McNulty cut the ribbon, and the members of the high school band broke out into song. Since the population of the towns and the high school were predominantly white, they weren’t playing any tune that I could recognize. Still, watching Mr. and Mrs. McNulty get a piece of their life back did cause tears to pool in my eyelids.
Many of the people in the crowd felt overcome with emotion. There were a lot of tears, a lot of cheers, and a lot of clapping. Bright handed Dean McNulty the keys, and the crowd erupted again.
The McNultys followed Bright into their restored home, while the crowd made their way to the tents and tables that had been set up by City Hall to offer breakfast pastries, coffee, and tea. Bailey grabbed me into a hug. “Your man did good.”
I hugged her back. “He did. And so did yours. I know he covered a lot of the cost of the restoration himself.”
“He covered some.” She nodded her head. “But there really were a lot of donations. He didn’t have to do too much. Hey, your man’s standing there by himself. Go love on him. Let him know how proud you are of him. Everybody deserves to have their good work acknowledged.” She paused. “Especially by the people who mean the most to them.”
“You’re right.” I walked away from her and made my way through the crowd until I was standing next to Jones in the driveway. “Hey,” I said to him. “You did good work, boo. I’m proud of you.” I gave him a hug.
He hugged me back respectfully, fully aware of the eyes on us and the way business could travel through town at the speed oflight. But after the hug, I laced our fingers together. I looked up at him, into his eyes and spoke. “You did good, Jonah Sumners.” He’d brought me by the night before and showed me the finished product. The house was everything. It was a modest home; it wasn’t a luxury build. But the home was modern, well thought out, warm, and well done.
“You think so?”
“I know so. Everything is top tier. You did your big one.”
He chuckled and looked at me with a sparkle in his eyes that made me smile at him. It was funny to me that we’d spent so much time together during the last few weeks that we could talk without speaking. I could read his facial expressions and even his eyes.
“It’s all right for you to be proud of yourself. You’re the homebuilding-shit, boo.”
“If you say so, then it must be true.” His gaze was so soft that I started to blush.
“Why’re you looking at me like that?” I brushed a few errant strands of hair from my face and tucked them behind my ear.
“Because I like the way you see me out here working my ass off, tryna match your fly. I wanna soar next to you. I don’t ever want you to feel like you’re pullin’ dead weight.”
Before I could respond, I heard a familiar voice. “Uh, people in the crowd are staring, pointin’, and whisperin’ about the two of you,” Perkins said, joining us.
Jones tried to disentangle his fingers from mine. I refused to let him. “You ashamed of me?”
He scoffed. “Hell nah. I just don’t want your name tied to none of my bullshit.”
“You’re off your bullshit, though, right?”
“You gotta ask? When do I have time for bullshit with the way I’m tryna live in your skin? I’m all about work and Church.”
Perkins pretended to gag. Honestly, I’d forgotten she was standing there. “So, you two are a couple?”
“I don’t know if she claims me, but I for damn sure claim her,” Jones responded.
“I claim you,” I told him.
Perkins’ eyes moved back and forth between the two of us. “Good luck. And good job on this project. It’s all I hear about at the salon. How the McNulty project is coming along. How nice the house is.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” She looked at me. “Churchy, I helped raise you, so I trust your judgment.” And with that, she walked away.
The holidays came and went,and soon enough, winter gave way to spring. In Jackson Falls, spring meantThe Stream Violet Festival. It was your average small-town festival that celebrated the turn in weather, and to a lesser extent, the Stream Violet—a popular flower in the area that, back in the day, alerted the residents that spring had arrived. The festival offered a carnival, a 5K run, craft booths, vendor booths, an outdoor concert, cooking contests, and a pet parade.
Though they each had their own responsibilities to attend to, I was thankful that Jones and Lex agreed to help Mari and me with our setup. Lex and Mari had stepped away, leaving Jones and me at the booth alone.
He wrapped his arms around my waist. Without even thinking about it, I wrapped my arms around his neck. “When does class start?”
After conversations with Bright to discuss where exactly he saw his future going, Jones decided to branch offfrom construction into safety consulting. With his degree in engineering and his experience in construction work, it was a natural transition. But before he could consider opening his own consulting business, he needed to be certified in safety.
“The week after next. I start with OSHA training, then I move on to—” He was interrupted by the chuckle of a male voice.