Car Heaven (Book 2 - Katie Prentice, Ghost Interpreter)

Chapter Eight

Katie

Griff beat me out of bed again the next morning. By the time I made it downstairs in my running gear, Griff had made – and drank – much of a pot of coffee. "What time did you get up?" I asked.

"About two hours ago."

"Why so early?"

"Couldn't sleep. Got up and started to play around on the computer. Looked at design ideas for the bedroom. Picked out some potential colors that I wanted your opinion on and, if you like them, I'll get some chips from the store today so that we can finalize our color choice. We could the closet built after work today and tomorrow, and perhaps while you are helping my mother make jam on the weekend I could paint the bedroom and retreat area. If you are amenable to it, we could go furniture shopping after that."

"That sounds good, but don't think you have to finish your bedroom to make me happy."

"I don't."

"How much coffee did you drink? You sound like a hamster on a wheel."

Griff laughed. "Too much. I want you to help out with the renovations. From now on, this is your house, too." He reached up and stretched. "This will be fun." He grinned as he pushed himself back from the table and motioned me forward. He captured me into a hug and pulled me down on his lap. "What do you think of these colors?" he said as he pointed at the storyboard that he had created, with pictures of various aspects of the master bedroom that he wanted to include as well as color swatches of a slightly more taupe-y color than the bathroom. He had accented the room in eggplant.

"Impressive", I said as I scrolled through his design ideas. "If you ever get tired of being a cop, you could become an interior decorator."

Griff laughed. "It's just fun to play with. Maybe we could go antique shopping this weekend."

I got off his lap and went to pour myself a glass of juice. Things were moving a little too fast for me, but I was quickly finding out that the reason Griff was so successful in life was because when he wanted something, he went for it. And he wouldn't stop until he was satisfied with what he had. He was like that with his house, he was like that in his job, and he was like that with me – and he wanted me to move in with him. I had to admit that his single-mindedness was good for my ego. I can't remember the last time someone wanted to be with me, let alone was as focused on me and on making me happy.

My brain full, I said, "are you ready for a run?"

Griff smiled. "Just let me hit the washroom first", he said. "I have to get rid of some of this coffee."

"I hope I'll be able to keep up to you today", I said. "You're on a caffeine high."

Griff laughed. "Yeah, but the run will burn it off."

Griff

Katie was a little quiet after I showed her the storyboards that I was preparing for the master bedroom. Did she think that she wasn't being consulted enough? I hoped not. It was just that I was excited about the idea that we were moving forward on a space that was ours. I remembered my mother telling me once that, when I got a bee in my bonnet about something, there was no holding me back. I would ruminate about it until whatever I was thinking about happened or was solved. It was, I thought, one of the reasons I was a good police officer. I never knew how to leave the cases at the office. I was always thinking about work.

But Katie was so quiet that I thought maybe an apology was in order. So, after the run was finished and we were warming down, as we were leaving the running path and walking towards the house again, I said, "I'm sorry if I upset you. I was just so excited about having a space of ours that I didn't take your need to be involved into account."