Big & Beautiful 7: Husky & Hot

A party was just what I needed to get out of my funk. I walked through the doors to the brand new XD Home Restoration building, shaking off my long week, and even longer month, ready to be thrilled for my friend.

I smoothed a hand over my flirty green skirt and took a deep breath. My black tank top with the lacy back was just right for the heat of June in Winterville, New York, especially when there were tons of people in one space. I fluffed my wavy brown hair and rolled each of my ankles in the black heeled sandals I’d worn. The party was a launch party, which meant it was not a jeans and t-shirt type of thing like I craved after a long week. Still, I felt good and knew I looked good, and dressing up always helped shake a bad mood.

I didn’t know what to expect from a home restoration company, but the office far surpassed my wildest fantasies as a lover of old spaces made new again. From the outside I admired the worn brick and oversized windows that stretched from what appeared to be fifteen-foot ceilings almost to the ground. Inside was just as stunning, perfectly showcasing what Xander and his new partner, Drew, were capable of.

I’d been to Xander and Mandy’s house a few times and knew he’d restored it, but just looking around at the concrete floors that gleamed under the fresh stain, the exposed brick walls with patches of cracked plaster, and sloped ceilings with worn beams offsetting the soft gray color, I knew Xander and Drew had designed their new offices as a showplace of what they were capable of.

Bright chandeliers illuminated the entire open space, allowing me to see from the entrance, where I stood gaping, to the other side of the grand room. Charcoal couches and matching chairs were set up on one end, facing the rich wood windows to showcase the view of Winter Ridge. A desk was closer to the door, most likely for a receptionist. Lucky person. For the party, there were other tables scattered around with finger foods and drinks.

I wondered what the place would look like without so many people there.

“Hey Carrie,” a voice said from behind me. I turned and saw Mandy Carlson, Xander’s wife, approaching me.

I pulled Mandy in for a hug. We’d only known each other about a year, but I really liked Mandy. She was funny and sassy, and she had everything I’d ever wanted—a husband and a baby on the way.

“Hey Mandy. This looks like a great party. How’s Xander doing?”

Mandy sipped her drink and nodded. “He’s so thrilled. He and Drew were worried this wouldn’t go well, but they have a better turnout than any of us expected.”

“That’s great news. I know you’re proud of him.”

“I am. He’s been wanting to do this for so long. He was anxious to take the leap, but once they signed the papers for the building they couldn’t turn back. Even with the little surprise we got.”

Mandy patted her tummy. She was a bit overweight, like I was, but she was only starting to show. At three months pregnant she was thrilled to finally be out of her first trimester, at least that’s what she kept telling us.

“How is the pregnancy going?”

Mandy sighed, a grin pulling her lips up. “I’m doing good. Everything’s been so busy getting XD going, but I’m doing well.”

“Are you going to keep working?”

“Definitely. I know I’m going to love being a mom, but I really want to keep working. With Xander starting this place up, I’m hoping his schedule will get a bit easier, but who knows. If things keep going this way, I might not ever get a break. Oh, I need to introduce you to Drew. I can’t believe you two haven’t met yet. Don’t leave until I find him, okay?”

I nodded as Mandy headed toward the back of the room. She’d been telling me for weeks she wanted to introduce us. At first, I thought she was going to try to fix us up, but there was no reason for Mandy to wait until the party for that. She insisted she just wanted us to meet since I was the only one of our group of friends who didn’t know Drew.

Left alone again, I wandered through the crowd. I smiled at a few people as I walked past, but I didn’t know any of them. The rest of our group of friends was somewhere, but I wasn’t in a hurry to talk to them. I needed a few minutes to decompress from my week.

And prepare myself for the happiness that would surround me when I met up with the others.

I loved them all, but I struggled feeling like I really fit in at times. Charlie, who owned Bite Me!, was the only other single one in our group of eight women. Well, if you considered not married single. Charlie had been seeing someone lately, but she insisted they weren’t really serious. Still, it was more than I had.

Wandering around, I ended up near one of the walls and found old-style photographs. I realized, when I recognized Xander and Mandy’s house, that they were pictures of projects Xander and his friend, Drew, had done together. They’d been restoring homes together for years. They went to college together, then worked for the same construction company for a while. On the side, they would remodel older homes and dream about being the ones to call the shots.

They finally were getting that chance.

It was exciting for them. I had no fantasies about ever owning my own business, but I thought it was pretty cool that so many of my new friends did. If I ever wanted to branch out, I knew I’d have a lot of people who could point me in the right direction. Too bad my dreams came with no income but all the reward in the world.

I shook my thoughts aside when I noticed Sam and Brady waving at me. I headed over and hugged them both. “Glad you could make it,” Sam teased. I was late for everything except work. Well, most of the time.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve been wandering around for a few minutes. Plus, work sucked and I almost didn’t come at all. Are the drinks good?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“You sit here, I’ll get you a drink. What do you want?” Brady asked, getting up from a way too comfy looking couch.

“Whatever. No dark liquors, something fruity.”

“Great,” Brady said wryly, “I’ll tell the bartender I want something fruity.”

“As long as he doesn’t offer up himself I think you’ll be okay, babe,” Sam teased.

Brady shook his head at her before turning toward the bar at the back of the room.

“Is everything okay with you?” Sam asked once Brady was out of earshot.

I wrinkled my nose and shrugged. “I guess. I’m just in a funk. It sucks being single, and I hate my job.”

Sam nodded, sipping her blue drink. “I remember the single part, but I can’t relate on the job front. Have you thought about getting another job?”

“All the time. Honestly, I feel like I don’t know what I want to do. It sounds so juvenile, but I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up.”

Sam laughed, like I knew she would, but I was completely serious. I’d always imagined I’d be a stay-at-home mom by the time I was 27, but I wanted my career to matter until I had kids. Working for Beth the Bitch was not doing anyone any good, especially me.

“I think a lot of people struggle with that,” Sam said. “What’s your degree in?”

I snorted. My college degree was the biggest waste of time and money of my entire life. “I wanted to teach home ec when I went to college. Once I realized that they never hired anyone straight out of college for those jobs, I changed my major to business. Is it bad to say I always imagined I’d be a wife and mom and thought business would be a good way to meet the man who’d make that possible?”

“It’s good there are people like you out in the world. If I ever get pregnant, I’m pretty sure Brady and I will have a complete meltdown. We’re nowhere close to ready to be parents.”

I hated that Sam felt that way. I’d gotten to know her and Brady over the last year and knew they’d make amazing parents. Any kid would be lucky to have them, but besides that, I was a bit jealous kids could be an option for them and they weren’t interested. I knew it was better they didn’t have kids if they weren’t ready, but I wanted kids so bad that I struggled to accept that others didn’t feel the same way.

Pushing aside my jealousy and irrational annoyance, I changed the subject. “This is a pretty great place Xander has here. Did he redo this space himself?”

Sam was closer to Mandy than I was since they went to college together and had stayed close. I knew she’d know what was going on.

“Yeah, he and Drew did. This place was a wreck when they bought it, but they’ve worked hard to make it so amazing. Mandy gave us a tour earlier. I’m sure she’ll be happy to show you around, too.”

I nodded, excited for the chance to wander such a beautiful place. I’d always loved old buildings. If I could afford it I would have bought a small fixer-upper and redone the whole thing. Instead, I was living in an apartment that needed to be fixed up, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

Brady returned with two glasses and handed one to Sam and one to me. He pulled a bottle of water out of his pocket and twisted the cap off before taking a long swig, draining nearly half the bottle. Brady was big and muscled, but never had any effect on me. As the owner of a gym he stayed in great shape, but he wasn’t one of those cocky assholes you sometimes found at a gym. He won the respect of all of us when he kicked out a bunch of guys who told Sam she was too fat to be there.

He became her knight in shining armor that day, and pretty much stayed that way.

Charlie came over and asked if I could help her. Bite Me!, Charlie’s cupcake and muffin shop in downtown Winterville, where we lived, was one of my favorite places in the world. Her cupcakes were like a dream come true, but they certainly didn’t help the extra weight I carried around. Not that I cared. I was pretty comfortable with who I was and how I looked. And if someone didn’t like it, they could kiss my oversized ass.

Charlie led me to the dessert table and I immediately recognized her handiwork. “Why didn’t you ask for my help?” I accused her. Whenever Charlie had a lot of extra work she asked me to come in for a few hours and help her out. I wondered why she didn’t ask that time.

Charlie wrinkled her nose. “You looked so tired at girls’ night Tuesday and I just couldn’t put this on you too. I agreed to do this for Xander so I wasn’t going to make your life more miserable because of it.”

“Oh, Charles, you know I love this stuff. Hell, it probably would have made my week better.”

Charlie shrugged. “I just didn’t want to burden you. You still look exhausted. Is everything okay?”

I let my tongue hang out of my mouth like a dog in the hot summer sun. “Work sucks. Beth the Bitch was particularly bitchy this week, sending me on stupid errands and not even giving me important work, not that it’s ever important. She had some high-profile clients in so I was getting coffee and bagels every morning, running for copies, and stayed late every night so I could type up the notes she took in the meetings. I didn’t get much sleep.”

Beth the Bitch, as I called her, was the CEO and founder of the marketing firm I’d been working at for years. She worked with major companies that wanted to get into markets like Buffalo, smaller markets that held people devoted to their favorites. It was hard in an area like Buffalo, and Winterville, to break in. Once people had their minds made up, it wasn’t changing. Beth worked to change minds and bring new products and people into the spotlight in Buffalo.

That week she had the owners of a new clothing company in. Beth never let me into her meetings, except to deliver food, but I typed her notes so I knew the company was new and stood for good quality staple pieces. Honestly though, it didn’t matter what they did, Beth would make sure they were successful.

It was the only thing I admired about my boss. She knew what she was doing and she was good at it. Scary good. People came to her first and she decided if she was willing to work with them. She had a list of interested clients longer than my arm and when she felt like taking on a new one she started interviewing them until she found one she liked.

She was pretty badass.

Of course I’d rather have a boss like Charlie, who was equally badass in my opinion, but wasn’t also a bitch.

“That’s exactly why I didn’t call you,” Charlie said. “If you were working breakfast through dinner you didn’t need to help me out, too. I handled it. What I do need now, though, is help with the display. I don’t do this often, and I need your eye to make sure it’s okay.”

I stepped back from the table, eager to help Charlie. Xander had clearly built a display for the cupcakes. It looked like a dollhouse, one I wondered if he intended to give their baby if it was a girl. It was constructed of solid wood and designed to be updated and modern. It was unlike any other replica house I’d ever seen, just like everything else Xander did.

Looking at the table I could see exactly what Charlie was talking about. Something was… off. Aside from the house for cupcakes, there were a few platters plus plates and napkins for when someone picked a dessert. Charlie had added a few cheesecake bites and some chocolate chip cookies for extra variety.

“Help me move this,” I said to Charlie. We grabbed the house and shifted it toward the edge of the table instead of being centered. I searched for something else we could add to the table and found a framed shot of the building we were in sitting on a table a few feet away. I snatched the photo and set it to the side of the cupcake house. A tall vase filled with crushed construction materials went behind that. In front, I spread out some pamphlets for the company and Charlie’s business cards.

The platters looked small and depressing with the big cupcakes house towering over them, so I elevated those with bricks I found around the room. A few cupcakes went straight onto the table, and plates and napkins hovered at the edge.

Charlie and I stepped back again.

“Wow. I don’t know how you do that, but it’s perfect now. Thanks,” Charlie gushed before she hugged me. I adored Charlie. Working with her during our friends’ weddings had been amazing. She and I got along well and liked to trade recipes. While her grandmother had been the baker in her family, in mine it had been my dad. Before he died, he taught me to love baking.

I hadn’t had anyone to share my love of baking with until I met Charlie.

“It’s a gift,” I told Charlie. Apparently, I had good vision when it came to laying things out. Of course, my job as a personal assistant had given me plenty of practice since Beth insisted on everything looking perfect, even the food.

“You’re a lifesaver. I’ve got to find Mandy, but thanks for your help. Your margarita ones are in the middle of the house,” Charlie said as she walked away. She always made our favorite cupcakes. That was just Charlie though, thinking about everyone else.

And just one more thing that showed my own childishness. I’d been in a shitty mood all night because I wasn’t happy with my life and I was focused on me. Charlie was worried about Mandy, about making things perfect for her, and even had time to ask me if I was okay. She took on the burden of the extra work this week because she didn’t want to bother me.

Yep, I was self-absorbed and selfish.

With the latest revelation about what a horrible person I was, I found a corner to sulk in. I didn’t want to be around anyone for a little while so I hid and watched people. Charlie bustled around, as much a hostess as Mandy. Mandy stuck to Xander’s side, smiling and greeting people.

Mandy worked as a Customer Service Manager for Western New York Health, a local insurance company. She always said she liked people but didn’t like being the center of attention. Watching her work the room I wondered why because she was very good at it. Men watched her and laughed at her jokes during every conversation. The pride and love Xander felt for his wife was clear on his face.

Damn, there went that jealousy again.

I needed a break.