Keeping the surprise for Dean under wraps had been easier than Renee thought as it had seemed he had forgotten that some jerk had burnt down his business not too long ago. Dean had enjoyed staying at home with the kids but Renee knew that he was a hard worker who wanted to get back to doing what he enjoyed and what also made him happy, so it was only fitting that her and the others did something very special for him. He had woke up one day to find Renee sitting a cup of coffee on his nightstand beside him as he sat up and laid against his pillow.
"Morning," he said.
"Morning!" Renee gave him a long kiss on his lips and sat next to him on the bed. "I have a surprise for you today!"
"Which is?"
"You'll see." Renee handed him his cup then leaned across his legs. "You'll really enjoy this surprise."
"Let me guess: handcuffs, whipped cream, cat whip, and your black pumps?"
"That's later, horn dog. But for now, you'll really enjoy the surprise I have in store for you."
Dean didn't expect to be told to be on a blindfold halfway through the ride back into town but he did as Renee told him and relaxed until he felt the car come to a complete stop somewhere. Renee helped him out of the vehicle, guided him to some random spot, and then told him to take his blindfold off his eyes. He did just that and was blown away by what he was seeing before his two eyes.
"SURPRISE!" the family said.
Daisy walked up to Dean with a small yellow flower in her hand and gave it to him as she smiled up at him.
"Love you," she said.
"I love you, too," Dean said.
He picked Daisy up as he started to cry at the sight of his parents, in-laws, friends, Renee, the children, and Miss Laura all standing in front of Dean's newly repaired business that shined bright like a diamond and it looked as if no one had even touched the store a month ago as it looked the very same when Dean first opened it a year ago. Boy was he happy to see it restored to its glory again. Daisy took her hand to wipe the tears from her father's eyes as she continued to smile at him.
"No cries," she said.
"Papa is happy, he's not sad," Dean said. "I just can't believe you guys did this for me."
"Well," Renee said. "You deserve it." She kissed Dean on the lips and smiled as she watched him take in the wonderful sight.
Everyone in the family had helped rebuild Dean's business while he was at home and boy was it a bit tough to get him to stay away but a few white lies here and there did do the trick to keep Dean from snooping around. Once Dean stepped inside, he felt as if he was at his second home again as everything looked the exact same with everything organized the way he had it the first time. The women took special care to organize all of his paperwork as they knew Dean was quite forgetful along with Moe, Cody, Greg, and Aaron so it was easy to politely ask the men to do the work of organizing the tools and the shelves while they worked on other things.
"Dad, I want you to see something!" Destinee said.
She lead him into his office to show him the handprints that her, Renee, D.J., and Daisy had put on his wall to make their little family tree. She had painted a brown tree trunk on the wall and had everyone's handprints serve as the leaves to the tree.
The only leaves missing were Dean's.
Dean put Daisy down so he could get his hands painted green then put his handprints directly next to Renee's as hers were above the children's.
"There," he said. "All done."
"It's wonderful," Renee said. "Now, let's go out to eat and celebrate shall we?"
"Yes ma'am, I am famished! But I'd like to sell at least one item first before I leave."
"C-can I h-help you?" D.J. asked.
"Of course!" Dean said.
After everyone had stayed a while longer to make sure Dean was alright and settled in, they had left while Moe, Cody, and Greg stayed behind with him to get business running up again. The kids, with the exception of Daisy who was looking to get into some shit, were mesmerized as Dean had showed them how it is to run a business. Renee grabbed ahold of Daisy before she started to climb the shelves and rocked her back and forth in her arms as she watched Dean at work which warmed her heart to see, mainly because of his wonderful chipmunk smile that had lit up the entire room. It lit up even more when Miss Laura had offered some of her homemade carrot cake to Dean which he happily accepted.
Renee knew that this was a day that Dean was going to remember for a very long time and as long as Dean was happy, she was happy.
Flashback:
'I'm taking a risk by doing this but it's something I've always wanted to do. My construction job is great and all but I want to move on now. I hope I don't fail at this…'
Dean's thoughts had been racing a mile a minute as he withdrew the money from his bank account to purchase the empty building in the shopping area so he could open up his own business. It was surreal to him that he was doing that but he had seized an opportunity to make his own rules, his own schedule, call something his for once and did have a fallback plan in case this didn't work. He then started thinking of what Renee would say about him opening up his business.
Would she be supportive?
Would she be opposed to it?
So many questions continued to run through Dean's mind like runners in a marathon as he drove to meet the man who sold him the building. Once he shook the man's hand, the building was Dean's.
Present:
Renee took a flat iron and straightened out one her client's long dark hair and repeated this until the woman's hair was nice and straight. She snipped some of the ends off to make it a bit more even then ironed it again until the client was satisfied with the end results of her hair and promised to always come to Renee as she was one of the best hair stylists in at the hair salon. Renee was appreciative of the kind words but was more than happy to finally take a seat at her station as she had five clients back to back and all she wanted to do at that point was relax. One of her coworkers brought her some yogurt with granola which she happily ate as she checked her phone to see if Dean was on his way.
"Look outside." His text to her read.
Renee looked out of the window of the shop to see Dean's truck right outside which meant he was sure about to make his grand appearance.
"I see that someone's lovely husband is here to visit them," Fran said with a wink.
"Oh, Fran, hush." Renee finished her yogurt and got up to throw trash in the trash can near Fran's desk. "And it's not what you think."
"Uh huh. Remember that one day when you and Dean had gone off to lunch and you guys had been gone for a long while. You came back with your hair all over the place, your blouse had been hanging off your shoulder a bit, and Dean came back in with his zipper undone. I'm not nosy but I do observe things."
"That day was quite fantastic because we got quite freaky."
"I'm sure you guys are quite the animals in bed."
"You're not wrong." Renee shrugged as she smirked at Fran.
"I know." Fran winked at her then pointed at the window. "Husband alert!"
Renee greeted Dean at the door as he walked in to give her a kiss.
"Hello there," she said. "How are you?"
"I'm fine. I brought you some flowers." Dean gave Renee a small bouquet of red flowers. "For you!"
"Aw, thank you!"
"Where's mine, Deano?" Fran raised an eyebrow at him as she wagged her finger at him.
"Here." Renee took a flower out of her bouquet and handed one to Fran.
"Yay!"
"Well, now you don't feel left out," Dean said.
"I don't! How are you today? How's business going?" Fran asked.
"It's doing great! That's what I wanted to talk about because it was busy as hell today but we made some good damn money."
"Did they ever catch the asshole that burnt down your shop in the first place?"
"They did. It was some weirdo that decided to do something he shouldn't have but he didn't break my spirit. Thanks to my loved ones and my loving wife who always stuck by my side through thick and thin, even when I was being a prideful jackass, I'm back on my feet now."
"That's great to hear. And no pride because pride isn't a good thing. It looks like it's time for Renee to get out of here now. Okay, lovebirds: CHOP CHOP! Out of here and go home!"
Dean waited for Renee to get her purse and said bye to Fran as he held out the door for Renee and walked her to the truck. They drove home and were happy to finally go to bed after a long day of work but they had more things to do as their work wasn't done just yet.
Their new objective was to transfer the kids to their new school and get Daisy enrolled into a daycare before the summer was over.
Oh, responsibilities.
