Chapter 580

• Wandering around, getting my bearings long after the men have packed up and gone for the day, helps this feel less like a dream. The tools are tidied away in piles against the hall walls, the masses of dust brushed to one side, and all that remains is the plastic protecting the floor and the canvas sheets covering delicate pieces of furniture from Jake’s apartment. The aura of moving in settling around me, making me grin in excitement.
• Jake is busy exploring the rooms and checking for things he wants to alter, being his usual commanding self while I wander this beautiful house, absorbing the feel of it, realizing that this will be our home from now on. It’s helping me, making me feel less like a guest in an expensive show house. It’s big enough that if Jake and I should ever need space, we could wander in two different directions with no hope of seeing one another.
• The house is eerily empty and silent. The staff is still away until all construction work is completed. For now, Mathews is living in the pool house while his self-contained annex is decorated, ready for the arrival of his wife. Jefferson is being allocated to the city when Jake flies back for business, and his cars moved here, so he doesn’t require a driver. However, Mathews will happily still chauffeur Jake when I don’t need him.