Page 20 of Colby (Tucker’s Pride #5)

“I would hate to have to come home to a dusty house with all our things lying about. Wouldn’t you?

” She told him that she didn’t want to have to cook every night either.

It was hard enough when she was on the road to cook herself a meal.

“If not for the clients eating on the boat, I don’t know what I’d do about cooking.

The galley is small compared to the kitchen we have now.

” He put things away since she’d been the one who put the food together.

“I don’t care for chips; however, I do like a good veggie tray once in a while. What about you?”

“I love chips, but not too often. I don’t buy a big bag because once I have my fill of them, I don’t want any more for months.

They usually go stale before I ever get back around to them.

Having a cook is all right with me.” He agreed with her and helped her break down the boxes that the appliances came in.

“Another thing that I don’t care for is a salad with fruit in it.

You know, like those salads that you get with chicken and strawberries in it? I don’t want fruit in my lettuce.”

“I have to agree with you on that one. I don’t want meat in my salad either.

Just salad things.” They were laughing with each other, talking about their likes and dislikes.

There wasn’t a lot of food that he wouldn’t eat, but there were things that he’d eat if necessary, but he didn’t have to enjoy it.

“I love chili, but I don’t understand the people who drink chocolate milk with it. I want soda with my chili.”

“I love chili in the fall. White chili is my favorite.” She explained to him what that was, and he thought that he could enjoy that too. White chili sounded really good. “With cornbread, too. Or those cheesy crackers. I love them smashed up in my bowl.”

When things were put on the counter like they wanted them to be, they decided that the washer and dryer would indeed fit in the slots made for them, and they took the boxes out to the garage.

That’s where they’d been putting things that they brought by the house that needed to be put away.

He couldn’t wait until things started to arrive and be put away.

He wanted to stay at the house in the worst sort of way.

With everything being delivered over the next couple of days, they figured that they could be living in the house full-time in a few days.

The only thing that they might not have was staff, and they were both willing to forgo that so long as they were home.

He was going to get with Denver and see if he could put an ad in the paper for one for them.

“We’ll need a cook as we said, but staff? I don’t know what to do about them. I wouldn’t even know what to call whoever comes in and dusts the house for us.” She said she thought they were called domestics. “That’s not a nice word to call someone, is that?”

“I don’t know where I heard that from, but I’d take my cues from Taylor and Jack.

They have a full staff all the time, including a butler.

I’m sure we don’t need one of those, do we?

” He said that he didn’t have any idea, but thought it was a good idea to ask Taylor, as she’d had staff her entire life.

“Good, I’ll talk to her tomorrow.” She leaned against the wall where they were standing, looking at the washer and dryer area.

“I’m exhausted, Colby. How about we go to our homes and start again tomorrow?

Once things are put into place, we’ll have a better idea of what else we’re going to need for the house. ”

“I agree. And as much as I’d like to spend the night with you here, there is only a small mattress up on the second-floor bedroom, and that’s not even big enough for me.” She leaned against him and yawned. “All right. Let’s get you home before you fall asleep standing up. Neither of us wants that.”

He was tired himself and couldn’t wait to go back to the condo and get some sleep.

He’d not been sleeping well on the boat, and he thought it had a lot to do with the fact that he was in flux right now.

They didn’t have a house, nor did he particularly care for the condo anymore. He just wanted things settled.

After dropping off Emma, it was all he could do to let her go into the house alone; he went to the condo.

He didn’t even call it home anymore as he realized that a house was a home for him.

Getting a shower was first on his list, and after that, he fell into his bed.

He’d not set an alarm but was too exhausted to get up and take care of it now.

Colby was usually an early riser and hoped that he would be tomorrow, too.

~*~

Taking a shower, Emma tried to get her sore muscles to cooperate with her in getting ready for the day.

She’d helped unload a little bit of her truck yesterday morning, and she was feeling it.

If just moving a few boxes had her that sore, she was going to have to hit the gym a little bit so that she wouldn’t be feeling like this again. Her shoulders were very sore.

Colby had called her and woke her up, telling her that he was running behind.

Well, so was she. Usually an early riser, too, she couldn’t believe that she’d slept until nine-thirty when she was normally up by six.

Getting out of the shower, she heard someone in the kitchen with her mom and decided that it had to be Colby, and rushed through dressing herself with magic so that she could go out and see him.

It wasn’t Colby, but Jack, and he was there to talk to her.

“Sometimes I have a few leftovers at the restaurant, and I wondered if you might like to take them with you on runs? I can have it wrapped up and ready for you to go if you want them. Otherwise, they just go to waste.” She told him that it would be fantastic.

“Great. I even got you a couple of lunch taker things that I can fill up for you. You can put them in the freezer, too.”

“That’s great. Mom usually makes me something with her leftovers, too, and to be frank, I’m sick of sandwiches.

I can eat them, but a real meal is what I crave.

It reminds me of home.” Jack said that he had a couple in the car right now and would get them for her.

On his way out, she asked him if she could talk to him, too, about staffing.

“We know that we’re going to need them as we both work full time, but we’re not sure how much we might need.

Not to mention, what we would call them when they do work for us. ”

After putting the food in the freezer—they were fried chicken and mashed potatoes in one, and the other had meatloaf with the same side dish that she could have with a roll or a couple of slices of bread as a sandwich.

She was about as excited for those as she was for anything she’d eaten on the road before.

“We have a cook and butler. There are other staff members around, but I couldn’t tell you what they’re called.

A gardener, which I recommend because you guys have a yard the size of ours, and if you’re working, you’re not going to get to it.

Also, we have all the land around the house that you guys won’t have to mess with.

There are gardens that are worked year-round that keep the house self-sufficient.

” She said they weren’t at that point yet.

“It’s a long process that needs to be put in place if you plan on not ever going to the grocery store.

But I love it. I’ve been using some of the excess in the restaurant, and it’s been great. ”

She asked him if she thought that Taylor might be able to help.

He looked relieved. Like, having to help her was too much for him to do.

She laughed at him when he thanked her several times for not making him name everyone who worked for them.

He was only just getting around to getting their names straight.

“I do know that someone comes in and does the beds for us. I hate making a bed, so it’s nice to have it done up daily.

There is someone, too, who cleans the bathrooms. They could be the same person, but as I said, I’m only just getting used to having people around me all the time.

Taylor is used to it, as that’s what she grew up with, but not me.

I just know that I couldn’t do it without their help behind the scenes, so to speak.

And I make sure that I thank them every time I see them.

” Colby showed up just as she was sitting down to the breakfast that her mom had made for her.

Colby joined her as he’d missed getting anything to eat, as he’d been without milk for two days now.

“That’s another thing that I love. I don’t have to ever worry about there being nothing to eat around the house.

I don’t know if they do it because of me, but whenever I go to the fridge to get something to snack on, there are sandwiches that I can take without bothering the staff. ”

They talked about the staffing issue that they might run into, but Jack said to them numerous times that Taylor would know what to do. But it was funny to see how embarrassed he got when he talked about never seeing them walking around when something was suddenly taken care of.

“I don’t know that we’ll need all the staff that you have, but we’re going to start out right on this.

Knowing what we will need will be half the battle, I think.

” Jack said that he was learning the gardening aspects of the house so that he could incorporate things into the restaurant, too.

“I know that’s something that you’ve always wanted. To have fresh for your patrons.”