LPOV

I woke up before Sam. I had slept on top of him all night. He was so gorgeous, sleeping under me like that.

I gently lifted myself off of him, trying not to wake him. I went to the kitchen and put away the rest of the groceries, then started on breakfast. I decided on banana pancakes. Pancakes were extremely economical for how delicious they were, especially when made from scratch. Of course, putting blueberries and chocolate chips in them would cost more, but not bananas.

I had a hot stack ready when Sam came out of the bedroom. He looked at me lovingly, then rage crossed his face. "You put away all the groceries?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I wanted to do that for you! And you made me pancakes. Baby, I don't deserve you!"

The rage was gone from his face and he was standing behind me, wrapping himself around me, kissing my neck.

"Why did that make you so angry?"

"You weren't supposed to notice that." He said, half-kidding, but, I think, really hoping I hadn't noticed.

"Well, I did notice it. So why were you so angry?"

"Because I wanted to do it for you, because I'm ashamed that I brought you here and I want to make everything nice for you. Yet here you are, making it nice for me and making me pancakes and I love you and I wanted to show you and instead I slept."

I turned in his arms so I was facing him. Then I yelled at him. "You just spent over eight grand on a house and groceries and pots and pans and shit and you… you think I'm too good to live here with you? Sam! Are you fucking kidding me? I am so proud of you. I am so proud of this place. Yeah, it's not much now, but we're going to make it into something great. So just fucking cut the crap!"

He was looking at my eyes and then my mouth and then my eyes and then my mouth. He was deciding between telling me off and fucking me. I made the decision for him. I crashed my lips to his and pounced on him. He had me against the wall, pushing into me, the best send off for a long day at work.

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SPOV

I quickly ate all of the burnt pancakes as soon as I was done pounding Leah. She wasn't going to touch pancakes that burnt while I was fucking her. Then I cooked up the rest of the pancake batter and made her eat the fresh ones as I cooked them. One thing I loved about Leah is that she was not ashamed to eat a big meal in front of me.

Once she was out the door, I got started on the house. She had brought cleaning supplies so I gave the whole house a quick dust and sweep first. The yard was a mess but we hadn't picked up any gardening tools. My first priority was a kitchen table and chairs. I scoured the tool shed and poked my head into the tiny attic. There was nothing I could turn into a table and chairs. No scrap wood I could find, nothing.

I called my mom. She had a bunch of scrap wood and tools in the basement from before my dad left.

"Have at it." she said, "I'd love a cleaned out basement, too."

"Ma," I tried not to sound frustrated with her, "I'm just going to build the furniture and bring it to the house. We don't have room for all the tools and junk down there. Maybe someday, though. But can I borrow the lawn mower too?"

"You can borrow whatever you want as long as you keep mowing my lawn. I don't want to hire anyone."

"It's a deal, ma. I'll be over in a few minutes."

I decided to make a picnic table and benches. Then we could bring them outside when we got a real table. It took me less than an hour to put it all together, then I ran it through the woods, table first, then benches on a second trip.

I came back for the push mower. I mowed my mom's yard just a few days ago so it was fine for a while. I mowed the whole acre of our property in about forty minutes. I was slowed by the mower's speed, unfortunately. That alone made the place look less abandoned. I put on a backpack and ran the mower back to my mom's. I filled the backpack with tools that I thought I could use to fix a few things up. I also grabbed a rake. I'd run it back if my mom needed it, or if she needed me to rake, more likely.

I walked around the house, straightening shutters and making a mental checklist of what needed to be done. The outside had vinyl siding which was in good condition, but it needed a good hose down, and a good scrubbing in some places. I found the hose outlet and there was still a hose attached! I hosed and scrubbed and hosed and scrubbed and it was beginning to look better.

I went inside and changed all the dim, old light bulbs for the newer, brighter ones that Leah had picked out. Now I could see the problems more clearly. The house wasn't dirty like the people before had been messy. Instead, it was dusty. But on the humid coast of Washington, untended dust turned into a grimy film on everything. I started with the bathroom and went floor to ceiling scrubbing every surface.

Then I moved to the kitchen and did the same. Now I really wished Leah had let me put away the groceries because I had to pull everything out to clean all the cupboards. I did the same for the fridge and freezer.

Finally I entered the bedroom with the unmade bed on the floor. When I say unmade bed, I mean, we slept on a mattress on the floor last night. I had forgotten to assemble the bed today. It was about fifteen minutes before I expected Leah home. I could do this. I moved the boxspring and mattress against the wall and started sliding the bed pieces together. I slid the mattress into place as I heard the door open.

I jogged out to meet her. She was looking all around as she asked, "What did you do to this place? I thought I had the wrong address. Did you make a table?"

"And benches. We can move it outside when we get a real table."

"It is a real table, baby." She was kissing me sweetly.

"I'm glad you like it. I wanted to start supper, but I didn't know what you wanted."

"What were you doing in the bedroom?"

"Uh, I wanted to finish cleaning it, but then I realized I forgot to assemble the bed, so I did that. I haven't gotten around to cleaning it properly. What do you want for supper, Lee-lee?"

"It's lame, but I just want pasta and tomato sauce."

"That sounds perfect. I'll get the water started. Can you start the sauce while I finish cleaning the bedroom?"

She nodded and I went back to scrubbing. Of course I finished first. The bedroom was just walls and the furniture we brought. There weren't any nooks and crannies and shelves like the other rooms. It had a closet, but that was it.

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LPOV

As I watched the sausage simmering, it dawned on me what I had done. I had moved out of my parents house into a home where I am the only woman. Would I be cooking breakfast and dinner for the rest of my life here? I felt all sorts of things: excitement mixed with remorse and maybe even shame.

Sam swaggered in with his sponge and cleaning spray. He put the cleaner under the sink, then cleaned the sponge under the faucet. He looked in the pan at the simmering sausage, kissed my cheek and said, "It smells great." Then he set the table for two and leaned on the counter next to me. "I'll chop the garlic and onion and pepper, ok?"

"We didn't get pepper." I said, "You can put it on the list for next time."

"Do we have a list?"

I laughed. "No, we'll need to make one."

"Hmmm, I'll chop first. Do you like peppers in tomato sauce, Lee-lee? I don't think we've ever talked about it."

"I do. I like mushrooms, too. I like mushrooms a lot. I wish we had gotten mushrooms."

"Why didn't we?"

"Because I didn't have a menu planned and they go bad quickly and they're expensive for what they are."

"Baby, we're not poor. This place is only going to cost us $500 a month for fifteen months, then it's ours, free and clear. We can afford mushrooms and peppers, but I'm just as happy without them if they make you nervous."

He tipped the garlic and onion into the simmering sausage. I got out the tomato paste. He got out the seasonings.

"I need sugar, too," I pointed to where I put the sugar away.

He put it on the counter with the spices. It was nice, cooking with him. I'm not sure we had ever done it spontaneously like this before. There were some times where we did it for our date night, but not like this.

He opened the lid on the water. It was boiling. "What noodles do you want?" He asked.

"Medium shells, is that ok?"

"Of course it is." He dumped them into the water and stirred. "Did we get a pasta strainer?"

"No," I giggled. "That should go on the list, too"

"Do we have paper, baby? Or pens?"

"No!" I was giggling uncontrollably, now.

Sam was laughing too. "Maybe in some of the boxes from my room. I mean we boxed everything from my desk. There's got to be something there." He started rummaging through the boxes that littered the living room. "Got it."

He brought back a lined piece of paper and a pen. He wrote mushrooms, peppers, and pasta strainer.

"Can it go on the fridge?" I asked.

"Yep. The fridge has several magnets. They came free with the house."

"What a deal! So how are we going to strain the pasta tonight?" I asked.

"I'll do it with a plate. I've got the wolf healing, so I'll be fine if I get boiling water on me."

When we sat down to eat, Sam had his serious face. "I want you to know, Lee-lee, that I'll be ok if you decide to stay with your parents sometimes, especially during the school year, or in the winter. Or anytime you just need space from me or just want to be with your family for a little bit. I don't want you to feel trapped. That's the last thing I want, ok?"

I nodded. "I was thinking about that earlier, Sam, how we kind of moved in here on an impulse. We'll need to work out the division of labor. But I was thinking that when we've got things in order here, when I have a day off and you don't, I'm going to want to make a weekly Seth Day."

"That's an awesome idea."

"Do you think you'll stay with your mom sometimes?" I asked.

"No, my bed is here. But this all went much faster than I was planning. I don't regret it, but I regret not being able to plan it better. And I don't want you to be embarrassed about being a high schooler and married."

"Why would I be embarrassed about that? You are the hottest guy on the rez. Everyone's going to be jealous."

"I don't know." He tilted his head. "Some people might think it's trashy or something."

"They can suck an egg."

After supper, we started unpacking. He let me have the prime closet space since he either wore just shorts or his construction uniform, which was jeans and a t-shirt. He set up his desk for me to do my school work. We set up our bookshelves in the living room. The living room was sparse with only the desk and shelves.

The whole house was sparse. The only seating areas were the table and the bed. Sam brought his TV but he wasn't able to get any channels. He would fiddle with it another day. There wasn't much to do for entertainment.

So we laid in bed and took turns reading aloud to each other. It was pleasant.

"I remember when you used to read to me because you learned how first." I reminisced.

"Ha! For like a month! You were so mad that I learned how first. There was no holding you back." He squeezed me tight and rocked my body a little.

"That's how it's been with everything. You got to do everything first because you were older and you're the boy."

He made a face. "I think it's just because I am older. What did I get to do first because I'm a boy?"

"I don't know. It'll come to me."

"Uh huh," he said with a little sarcasm. "And there were a lot of things I couldn't do until you were ready, like kissing and fucking." Ke kissed the side of my head when he said 'kissing.'

"Are you saying I held you back?" I asked him testily.

"Never! I'm saying we were side by side in the important things. Even reading, you caught up with me so quick and then we were fighting for dominance for years, comparing reading scores and shit. It was pretty awesome."

"I guess it was pretty great. Thank you for teaching me how to read."

"You know I wasn't trying to! I was just trying to impress you and then I turn around and you're reading to me. I was like, damn, how am I going to impress her now?"

"I was impressed today, Sam. I know the house still needs a lot of work but it looks so much better."

"I'm glad. A lot of the work ahead won't be as visible, replacing rotten boards and sheet rock. Some of it will even make a mess. So I'm glad you came home to it looking nicer today. It won't always be that way."

"I understand. As long as we're moving forward."