Another side of Heartland

Chapter 66

-Mallory-

After breakfast Soraya left and I went over anything I needed to know with Lou. "I had told the girls that we could paint their rooms whatever colors that they wanted but I'll make sure to tell them we can do that later" I shook my head. 'That's silly, it'll be much easier before all of their stuff is in there. I'll be happy to help them paint them.' Lou started to protest "I can't ask you.." I held up my hand. 'You didn't ask. I offered. Besides in a few months I'll need all the help I can get. You can return the favor of you think you need to.' Lou hugged me and handed me a credit card for the paint and I pinned the list of important phone numbers on the fridge. We walked into the living room and Lou told everyone goodbye and she headed out. When I saw her drive through the overhead I clapped my hands together and turned to Georgie and Katie. "Shall we go to the hardware store and pick out some paint?" Georgie's eyes lit up 'mom said that we would have to do that some other time...' I shook my head. "No sense in doing it after all your stuff is in there." I turned to Caleb and Badger. 'Can you guys get the cows fed and put out any hay that needs to be put out and we will bring lunch home with us?' Caleb nodded and kissed my cheek. "Take my truck so the paint can ride in the bed, love you" 'love you too' I went to the kitchen and grabbed my purse. "Okay guys. Ready to go?" They jumped up and we headed out the door. I drove us to the hardware store. "Georgie you can pick out whatever color you want. I'm gonna help Katie" Georgie nodded and wondered up and down the paint samples. "What color are you thinking Katie?" ' purple' I nodded and we went to the purple section. "How about this one for the walls" I picked up a nice lilac color and Katie nodded. "And this one for the trim?" I held a royal purple next to the lilac color and Katie was thrilled. 'Yes! That's my favorite color!' "Perfect, let's go get some supplies while Georgie is picking colors." We went and gathered up paintbrushes, rollers and trays and brought them to the paint counter. Georgie brought over a sage green sample and maroon sample. 'Sage green for the wall and Maroon for the trim.' I nodded and when the man came up to the counter I took the samples. "Hi, we need a gallon of these two colors and we need a quart of these two colors. All in one primer and paint please" 'alright I'll be right back with your paint.' I turned to Georgie "why don't you go next door and order lunch. We will come help you tote it to the truck when we're done here." Georgie nodded. 'What does everyone want' I gave Georgie mine and Caleb's lunch orders and Katie told her what she wanted. "So Badger is the only one I'm not sure about." Georgie's face flushed a little 'I know what to order him' I smiled and nodded, I handed Georgie some money and she walked outside. The gentleman came back with the paints and rang Katie and I up and we toted the stuff out to Caleb's truck. My hands were full and Katie was struggle to open the tailgate. "Help is on the way dear! Help is on the way!" I turned to see Josh jogging across the street to where I was parked and he opened the tailgate for us. 'Josh, it's good to see you. Thanks!' Josh took the boxes out of my hands and sat them in the bed of the truck and then he turned to Katie and took the things she had in her hands and added them to the pile of stuff in the truck. "Is your house far enough along to be painted?" I laughed. 'Oh no, this is for Katie and Georgie's bedrooms. Lou their mom is moving back to heartland with them and she had some things to take care of so we are going to get their rooms all ready.' Josh seemed to read between the lines. "Well, I happen to be free this weekend. You think an extra set of hands would be helpful?" 'I'm sure Caleb would love having another set of Man hands around. He's a little out numbered.' Josh chuckled and closed the tailgate. "Don't worry, I'll most likely bring Jade with me so we will still be outnumbered" I laughed. 'That sounds great' "So we'll be over around 4?" I nodded. 'Sounds great and if you need to bring the horses there's plenty of room.' Josh said something I didn't quite catch as he was walking back across the road so Katie and I made our way into the diner and helped Georgie grab the food and bring it out to the truck. We drove home listening to Katie tell us how excited she was to paint a room just like she wanted and I couldn't help but smile listening to her.
When we pulled into the yard Badger and Caleb were stacking firewood in the rack on the porch. Caleb walked over to the truck and helped us sit all of the painting supplies on the porch and when we went back to grab the food. "So Josh texted me and said they would get pizza for the painting party? I didn't know what was going on so I just agreed so I hope you do." I laughed. 'I ran into Josh in town and he asked what we were doing with all of the paint. I told him and the next think I know he's saying that him and Jade are going to come for the weekend and help.' I shrugged and Caleb laughed. "That's Josh. Always there to help, and have a few days out of his parents house." I nodded in understanding and we all went in to eat lunch. Katie turned the TV on and picked a Disney move and I grabbed some drinks from the kitchen and took my seat next to Caleb. We passed the food out and dug in watching Pocahontas.