Free Against Me (Cedar Tree Book 3) by Freya Barker Page B

"Show me the way to the food, but I'm warning you, if I get any fatter, I'll need a sumo wrestler to wheel me around."
    The dead silence should've been an indicator that my joke doesn't go over too well.
    "I need a word, Katie," is my only warning before my chair gets pulled around and pushed back outside. Okay then. Next thing I know, Caleb is in my face with his eyebrows scrunched up.
    "Please don't do that."
    "What did I do?" I know, I just don't want to admit it.
    "Tell me honestly," he asks, "is who you are so wrapped up in what you look like that you think it’s all anyone sees? ‘Cause I'm not buying it."
    I shake my head because it's not. It really isn't, but insecurities pop up and spill out all over the place, unattractive as they may be.
    "Aside from the fact that 'fat' is not an adjective that should ever be used in a description of you, it's a load of crap. You want it straight? You have gained weight, rounded out and softened up. You have flesh my fingers want to sink in and my body wants to rest on, but I'd have taken you any way – thin, firm, soft – ‘cause the only place you can find ugly is on the inside."
    I nod. Shit, what else am I supposed to do? It's beautiful, what he says. I don't want to take anything away from that.
    "Let's go eat."

    I'm eager to show Katie the place I've bought. It's not looking like much yet, but the location is beautiful and the building is large and full of potential. The contractor is starting with reinforcing the structure next week, and then we'll slowly start building from the outside in. The drawings have been approved, I just need some of the details worked out. I would love to do as much as possible myself, I did grow up the son of a contractor and know my way around a building site, but it all depends on this current case, and Gus is eager to have me back to Shiprock the day after tomorrow. I want to make sure I have Katie involved in my plans for the house first; want to give her something to believe in, even if she's not quite ready to believe in me yet.
    We just left Gus and Emma's after a mind-boggling breakfast spread over which we discussed plans for the immediate future, including Katie's move to Cedar Tree and all that entails. Katie's residual irritation at having been excluded from the initial planning quickly dissipates when she hears the lengths to which we have gone to prepare for her arrival. When I explain we had wanted to give her options instead of uprooting her without discussion, as I was forced to do, she seems to finally embrace the thought of Cedar Tree as a more permanent solution. Especially when Emma eagerly informs her that the therapist who has made great headway with Faith, Seb's disabled sister, is available to come and work with Katie, and Gus lets her know he really needs some help running GFI from here. That leaves my plans for the future still under wraps, but those are not something you discuss over breakfast and in company, which is why we are taking a drive right now.
    "Where are we? I don't think I've been this way before," Katie inquires, her eyes scanning the quiet surroundings on this side road about two miles out of town. 
    "You'll see in a minute."
    Beyond the next turn in the road, on the left side is the obscured driveway onto the property. Lined with trees, you only get a glimpse of what lies ahead; standing alone, with trees flanking the right side, is a huge, old beautiful barn. The wood is still in excellent condition and it was built on a solid concrete foundation. The inside is a structure of massive beams and posts that have all been incorporated into my plans. I feel a small pang of pride of ownership every time I drive up here, not quite believing I am this close to realizing a dream I've had since childhood.
    "Oh my God! This is gorgeous! What is this place?" Katie has rolled down her window and is hanging out, taking in the building and the surrounding fields and woods.
    An unconscious weight slides off my