Restoration [Shawn Mendes] AU

Chapter 19

By the following Thursday, Michelle had packed boxes and plastic totes full of the clothing she would taking with her to the loft, but she left plenty of outfits for her to wear for the time being, as well as toiletries and what she would be packing to go to her parents' house in Montreal for the holidays in the next few weeks.

She had also gone to a few carpet stores that week, searching for the perfect color of gray carpeting to match the carpet in her new bedroom. She decided to just go to Wholesale Carpet Co. in Charlestown, where she could purchase remnants from larger carpet rolls that had been used for bigger jobs. She found the color she wanted and had it cut to the sizes she needed for the living room and entry hallway. She had them sew binding around the edges to give the rugs a finished look and would also keep them from fraying. She took the rolled up rugs that were wrapped in plastic and put them in the back of the Jeep, along with the items packed in boxes and plastic totes. She was going to begin moving things into her new place later on in the day, when her brother arrived to help her.

Michelle had also decided to take a few bags of canned and dried goods to put in the pantry as well as her toaster, KitchenAid mixer, Ninja blender, the Keurig, coffee pods, all of her favorite teas, sugar, Swiss Miss hot chocolate packets, microwave popcorn, her strawberry filled Pop Tarts that she still ate even if everyone made fun of her love for them, canned soup, crackers, cereal, honey, some condiments to put in the refrigerator, and a loaf of whole wheat bread, peanut butter and jelly. Grocery shopping would have to wait until she was completely moved in. She was taking a lot of kitchen items, most of her dishes, mugs, glasses and silverware, cooking utensils, pots and pans, foil, Saran wrap, food storage bags and containers, a couple rolls of drawer and shelf liner, and cleaning products.

As she was just finishing putting some of the last boxes inside the Jeep, Stefan pulled up to the curb and came running up to her, out of breath. "Sorry sis, I swear I would have been here sooner, but my fucking paper that I just finished this morning wasn't going through when I was trying to submit it to my English Lit prof. Technology is great until it isn't. But anyway, I'm here now. What else do you need me to take? Do you want me to pack boxes into my car too? We can take more stuff in two cars if it's ready to go. Is that what you want to do?" he asked.

"No, just get the last two big totes over there by the door. Wait. You know what? First, let's take the car seat out of the back and we'll have enough room for all the stuff I have packed to go today. We won't need to take your car then," Michelle replied, as the familiar pang of grief hit her heart when she thought of Beau, sitting in his carseat singing and laughing as she drove with him while running errands. God, she missed the sound of her baby's laughter.

"Don't worry, I'll get it. Just go get your purse and whatever else you're taking and don't forget your keys to the loft. I'll put the carseat inside by the front door and get the rest of the stuff to put in the car, then we can go."

"Alright, I'll be right back. I'm just going to do a once over to make sure I didn't forget anything I was planning on taking today," Michelle replied as she walked back up the stoop to step inside the brownstone.