Free Fixing Ashley by Melissa Gardener Page A

noticed how I’d snuck these out of her office. I’m not sure she would’ve minded. After all, everything she draws up, I end up having a hand in building.
    Nowadays, the offices for Evans Interiors are located on the second floor over James Construction . We converted my old loft space into Ashley’s office. This way, it makes it easier for me to consult with her and her clients.
    Together, we’ve been able to take on extra workers. Brad already had a thriving business, but he now works for us more than anyone else.
    Laurie can’t be trusted with anything design-wise and she certainly can’t build for shit, but she can schmooze like nobody’s business. She answers the phone and keeps our busy asses organized. The customers seem to love her, so we keep her around. No more serving drinks in a bar that plays non-stop, shitty country music. I still shudder at the thought of having to step inside that place.
    All in all, it’s been a wonderful couple of years, filled with a bunch of ups and downs.
    Ups being when I convinced Ashley to keep the house because,not only was it her dream house, it was also mine. I’d only worked on the property for six weeks and had fallen completely in love with it. I couldn’t imagine being in Ashley’s shoe s — working on something for over a year and then having to sell it.
    I want her to be happy. Always.
    I had to promise her I’d help her out with maintaining it. It was difficult at first. We barely knew each other. I mean, who does that? Who moves in with someone they’ve only known for a few weeks?
    I guess us...because that was exactly what we did. Once I finished all the renovations and professed my undying love for Ashley, it was inevitable I move into this house with her. She was moving out of her apartment and into the house to keep it from deteriorating until it sold, and I wasn’t going to let her live all the way out here on her own.
    Of course, the perspective I had when out on the lake and the view I got when watching Ashley lay outside in the sun surely helped, but neither eclipsed what lay deep inside my heart. I fell in love with her and all her silly Post-it notes, during those first weeks; and nothing could take what I feel for her away from me. Nothing. She’s my other half and it’s that simple.
    We may have done things backward, hell, we’re still doing things ass-backward, but it works for us, nonetheless.
    Those downs I mentioned? They came when we’d been together for about a year. I asked her to marry me, and she said no.
    Not because she doesn’t love me. She loves me with her whole heart and soul. She’s said it and I feel it whenever she’s around. The way she looks at me or treats me, or even in the little things she lets me get away with. It’s undeniable. The heat between us has never flickered. Not once. Not even when I broke one of her beloved antique vases.
    No, her answer has always been due to the fact she didn’t want to go through it all again. Divorce is tough on everyone. I couldn’t blame her. So we settled on being perpetually engaged. It worked for a while. It was us and I was oka y — am oka y — with it.
    She’s still mine, completely, and always will be. We’ll just wait until she’s ready for that extra step, and if it never comes... I’ve come to accept that wholeheartedly.
    Right now she’s off with her sister and my brother’s wife. The three of them are really scary together.
    Laurie and Ashley instantly took Eliza as sort of a long-lost extra sister.
    Eliza and Mitchel have a couple of little ones now, Riley and Jace, which made Laurie and Ashley instant aunties. You know, that whole incestuous thing Ashley and Laurie teased me about, they’ve both jumped into it feet first and have never looked back. I can hardly remember what life was like before any of this happened, but I’ve never regretted one thing.
    Oh yeah, and I will never forget how Laurie and Brad got married within a few months of dating each