It Was Always You

A Fresh Start

After the sheets had burned to ashes, I could tell we were both getting tired.

"I feel good now. I think I'm done with the fire." I said

"You have another box, Olive." He said in a fake serious tone.

"It's all decor about true love and finding your person. I can probably sell it all."

He chuckled and said "I'll carry it into my house and you can come get it in the morning. Just wait here and I'll be right back." Lucas lifted the box and went towards his house. After a few minutes of watching the fire, Lucas came back holding up 3 keys on a key ring.

"What are those for?" I asked

"They're your house keys. Owen knew they'd probably go to bed early so he asked me to give them to you." He said, dangling them up as the remains of the fire reflected off of them.

"But there's 3 of them." I said, obviously confused. He laughed at me and said "The blue one is my house, the red one is your brother's, and the yellow is for yours. We all have keys to all of the houses in case of any emergencies."

"Wait, my house?! You mean I'm not moving into Owen's house?!" I said, probably with a little too much excitement.

"Owen didn't tell you about the guest house?" He asked as he laughed at my excitement. "I built it a few years ago as a side project, but no one ever comes out to visit over night. So it's yours! Follow me, I'll show you the way." He picked up the box of 'perfectly good sheets' and headed down a little path lit with solar pathway lights. We walked in silence past his house and into the trees. As soon as we passed the tree line, I saw a small house with the porch light on. We walked up the steps and he signaled for me to grab the keys and open the door.

As we turned the handle and walked into the house, I realized that the dark was very deceptive. This house was huge. Lucas set down the box and turned on the lights. I picked my jaw up off of the floor and looked at Lucas.

"This place is HUGE Lucas! Why didn't you move in here?!"

"It's too big for just me." He said, while rubbing the back of his neck.

"And it's not too big for just me?" I asked with a laugh of disbelief.

"Nothing could ever be too good for you, Oli." He said with a wink.

Damn, there goes my heart again and this time I could feel the blush rising into my cheeks. He had always been a little flirty, it was just his personality. But one of two things were going to have to happen. I was going to have to remember how to ignore it as I had always done, or he was going to have to stop. Seeing as he'd been like this for years, the latter didn't feel like much of an option. 'He's. Off. Limits.' I said to myself and I began to walk around my new home.

"I can draw up a plan and build a home, but I'm not much for furnishing. Sofia stepped in on that department. So if you hate any of it, take it up with her." He jokingly said.

"No, it's perfect." I replied, with tears in my eyes. This was it. This was my new life and I couldn't be more grateful.

"Tears again, Olive?" I turned to look at him smiling at me. A little disappointed in his use of my full name.

"They're happy ones this time." I said with a grin. He gave me a quick side hug before saying "I'll leave you to get settled in and unpacked. The primary room is at the top of the stairs, take a left and it’s the only door at the end of the hallway. I'll be back in the morning to show you around the part of the farm you haven't seen yet and talk you through a little bit of the work. I'll let you sleep in a little while as I know today has been hard on you, but try to go to bed soon. I'll be back around 10." He let go of the hug and showed himself out, leaving me alone in the fully furnished living room surrounded by boxes.

The first floor was all open concept. When you walked in, you were greeted by a staircase on the right headed upstairs with a small 1/2 bath under the stairs, if you walked straight in, to the left of the staircase you’d find yourself at the back door. The living room was on the left, the dining room and kitchen were on the right. All with 2 door ways, creating a circular track between the rooms. I always appreciated Sophia’s taste. The walls were all a soft cream colors. The living room had a beautiful sage u shaped couch with a gold coffee table in the middle. there was a large tv on the wall between the doorways. Shelves full of trinkets covered the walls on either side. I saw a door in the back corner and opened it to reveal a modest library/study room. I excitedly made my way around to the kitchen. I loved cooking. Feeding people was my way of showing love. The kitchen was fully stocked with every pot, pan, and appliance anyone could ask for. I guess that was another box I could put aside for selling. My stuff wasn’t nearly as nice as this. I ventured my way upstairs and poked my head into all of the rooms. On the right, there were 2 smaller rooms with a shared Jack and Jill bathroom between them, a stand alone room, another bathroom, and an empty linen closet. All of the rooms had an unmade bed and a small bedside table, but they were bare of any decorations. I made my way to the left side of the hallway, where there was one singular door, just as Lucas had said. I opened the door and saw that two lamps had been previously turned on, awaiting my arrival. It was gorgeous. This room had been fully furnished. The bed had been made with beautiful sage sheets and a heavy cream comforter. There were two matching night stands with very simple, yet elegant lamps on either side. I turned to find two massive closets to the left of the door and an en-suite bathroom off to the right. I walked in to see a glass encased shower, his and hers sinks, and a massive soaker tub nestled in the corner. I caught a look at myself in the mirror and quickly found myself embarrassed that Lucas had seen me like this all night. My long black hair was usually curled to perfection, but tonight it was in a knotted nest of a bun, my eyes were puffy from all of the tears and yesterday’s mascara had landed just underneath my eyes, causing my dark circles to look worse than normal. I usually didn’t care what I looked like around Lucas, but tonight was different. This was rough. I quickly shook myself out of the pity party I started to have and looked at my surroundings. I couldn’t believe that all of this was mine. There was no pity party here.

I ran down stairs and found the boxes with my clothes, shoes, accessories, and toiletries and made the necessary trips up and down the stairs to haul them all into my new room.

The excitement in me kept growing as I filled the racks in the closet with my clothes and the little boxes with shoes.

I quickly got my boxes unpacked and sorted and looked around the room. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was midnight. I could easily get plenty of sleep if I called it a night. As I got undressed to change into my favorite pajama set, I heard a small thud and looked down to see the beautiful engagement ring on the floor. I picked it up and set it on the dresser. I have no idea what I’ll do with it, since Tyler wouldn’t take it back. I decided to let it be tomorrow’s problem, so I climb into the most comfortable bed I’d ever laid in and I instantly drifted to sleep.