* * * *
If the two day drive to California was their baptism of fire, Justin felt they got through it pretty unscathed. They had to stop regularly to let the kids stretch their legs, and for bathroom breaks and to change Scarlett, and the kids got overtired and short-tempered an early way in, but they managed. In the hotel room in Reno, with all the kids tucked up in one bed, Justin and Del watched TV with the sound down, and then Del massaged Justin’s aching shoulders. Justin arched into his touch, eyes closed, and couldn’t wait until they had a room to themselves again.
The next morning they got another early start, after breakfast at a Wendy’s that necessitated a change of clothes for both Scarlett and Wyatt, who managed to wear most of their breakfast.
“Lucky we brought you a few spare shirts, hey,” Justin said as he wrangled Wyatt into a fresh T-shirt in the bathroom. “Otherwise the ants would carry you off.”
“Ants,” Wyatt agreed with a nod, and stuck his fingers in his mouth.
Wyatt wasn’t usually messy, but he was overtired from yesterday. He cuddled into Justin as Justin carried him out to the car, and made an unhappy noise when Justin tried to set him down in his seat.
“It’s okay, buddy,” Justin said. “You try to nap in the car, and this afternoon when we get to the house, you can see the horses.”
Wyatt grumbled as Justin fastened him into his booster seat.
Del and Justin took turns driving, watching as the landscape slowly changed. They made good time, and it was just after five when they finally turned into the driveway of the new house. Justin turned around in his seat to announce it to the kids, but only Scarlett was awake. Both Harper and Wyatt were sleeping.
“I can’t believe it’s ours,” Justin said as they drew up to the house. “I mean, I know it is, but I still can’t believe it.”
Del smiled broadly. “I know. It’s amazing.”
They pulled up out the front of the house, and a teenage girl came out to meet them. Leo’s daughter. She gave them the keys, and wished them well, and even helped carry some of their luggage inside.
“It’s a great house,” she said to Harper and Wyatt as she left. “You guys are going to love growing up here.”
Harper and Wyatt immediately raced off and began to explore, while Justin changed Scarlett and Del unpacked their cooler to see what he could put together for dinner.
“Del!” Harper yelled. “Del, there’s no furniture in this house!”
“I know!” he yelled back. “The truck doesn’t get here until tomorrow and we all have to buy new beds anyway! We’re all camping out on the living room floor tonight! Have you and Wyatt picked your bedrooms?”
“You’re gonna start a fight,” Justin warned him.
Del laughed. “They’ll figure it out. As long as they don’t try to claim ours.”
A moment later Wyatt raced back downstairs and tugged on Justin’s shirt. “Jus’in?”
“Yeah, Wyatt?”
“Not green.”
“What’s not green? Your room?”
Wyatt nodded worriedly.
“That’s because we had to wait and see which one you picked,” Justin said. “In a few days we’ll go to the paint store, and you can pick exactly what sort of green you want, and then we’ll paint it ourselves. Okay?”
Wyatt beamed and raced upstairs again.
* * * *
They ate sandwiches on the living room floor, and then Del went and got the air mattress from the car and blew it up. It’d be a tight squeeze for everyone, but Justin didn’t mind. It was fun, an adventure like camping, and it was only until they went furniture shopping in the morning. Then the real work could begin. The kids’ bedrooms would be painted, and Del didn’t love those tiles in the kitchen. Also, he wanted to update the kitchen anyway. It looked fine to Justin, but Del wanted a proper chef’s kitchen with a proper walk-in cold room, so he was going to remodel the whole thing. And during the week at some point, when Del was looking for contractors who could do the kitchen, Justin would have to contact the local elementary school and get Harper enrolled, and see about enrolling Wyatt in the new school year. He hoped that Ridgeview Elementary would be more diverse than the school at Enterprise had been, and that Harper wouldn’t feel as out of place here.
“Okay,” he said, carefully standing up from the floor. He still got twinges in his gut sometimes, and he was mindful of how he moved. He wondered if those cautious habits would stick even when he’d been healed for years. “It’s getting dark, so I’m going to put the horses in the stable. Who—”
“Horses!” Harper screeched, her sandwich forgotten as she pelted toward the door.