Salvation (Joseph Seed)

21. Moving in

The next morning Evelyn woke up in the unfamiliar but comfortable bed, she untangled herself from the royal blue sheets and left the bedroom. She could hear sounds coming from downstairs so she padded down the stairs and into the kitchen. A smile appeared on Evelyn's face when she saw Joseph moving around the kitchen, humming softly to himself.

"Morning Joseph" Evelyn smiled, getting his attention and letting him know that she was there.

"Ah, good morning, Evelyn. I've made you breakfast" Joseph smiled as he turned around to face the woman, pausing for a moment to take in the sight of her. She was still wearing his sweatpants and tee shirt, which hung off of her and only made her cuter. Her hair was messy from sleeping, hanging over her shoulders perfectly anyway.

"You didn't have to do that" she sighed, shaking her head slightly but couldn't help smiling as he placed the plate down on the table.

"Stop saying that. I know that I didn't have too but I wanted too" he smiled kindly.

"Well, thank you" Evelyn smiled as she took a seat at the table, where the plate had been placed. "You aren't eating?" she asked, looking up at the man.

"I have to go and visit Jacob, I told him I would yesterday. John should be here soon to drop off your belongings, will you be alright?" Joseph told her, looking down at her with a slightly concerned look.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me" Evelyn smiled at him reassuringly, finding it extremely endearing that he was worried about her.

Joseph just nodded with a smile before leaning down and pressing a kiss to the top of Evelyn's head, catching her off guard before leaving to visit Jacob. Evelyn just smiled to herself before eating the breakfast that Joseph had made for her.

Sometime after Evelyn had eaten and cleaned up her mess, she heard a knock at the door. She tucked her hair behind her ears before hurrying over to the front door and opening it. The door opened to reveal John with some bags on the floor beside him, Evelyn was a little embarrassed to be opening the door to John while wearing his brother's clothes.

"Morning, Evelyn. Are you alright?" John asked, knowing that she might not be in the mood for a conversation.

"Yeah, thanks to Joseph and you, of course" Evelyn smiled. Yes, she was sad about what happened with her parents but she didn't want John to feel bad about it.

"Don't worry, I'm certain that Joseph will make you feel at home here" he assured her.

"He already has" Evelyn nodded, already feeling at home with Joseph. "I'm a little surprised that you didn't have Lonny drop my bags off" she chuckled slightly, looking down at all the bags around John's feet.

"Why would you be surprised by that?" John asked with a gasp, pretending to take offence from her comment.

"Lonny is your errand boy, isn't he?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I mean...kind of" John shrugged, Evelyn laughed and he laughed along with her. "Evelyn...if you ever need anywhere else to stay, for whatever reason, I have plenty of room a the ranch. You would be welcome there anytime. Jacob won't say it but you would be welcomed at his home as well. Just in case you ever need it" he informed her, his voice suddenly turning serious. Evelyn couldn't help but wonder what was concerning John.

"...thanks, John" she nodded, not sure how to take his words.

"Come on, let's get this stuff up to your room" John put a smile back on his face as he picked up some bags. Evelyn nodded as she picked up some as well, leading him up the stairs and showing him to the room that she was staying in.

"Hey! You're staying in my old room" John chuckled as they walked into the room, placing the bags down against the wall.

"This was your room?" Evelyn asked with a small smile as she placed her bags down.

"Yeah, Jacob and I used to live here with Joseph when we first moved to Hope County but then we got our own places to live" he explained as he looked around the empty room, as if he was remembering how it was once decorated.

John and Evelyn finished moving the bags up to the bedroom, John had offered to help her unpack and put everything away but Evelyn assured him that it wasn't necessary. She could do that another time, it would give her something to do.

Evelyn spent the rest of the day just lingering around the house, she didn't really feel like she could do anything. She knew that Joseph wouldn't get upset with her but she didn't want to overstep any boundaries. She was trying to keep herself busy by unpacking her things since she didn't want to think about her parents for too long.

Joseph returned home, walking into his house and something about it already felt ready. He walked into the living room smiled when he saw Evelyn sitting on the sofa, her hair freshly washed and combed, now wearing her own clothes. Joseph could definitely get used to coming home to Evelyn.

"How was your visit with Jacob?" Evelyn asked as she stood up, offering Joseph a warm smile.

"It all went well, it was just something he wanted to discuss about expanding" Joseph told her, deciding that he should share his plans for the project with her, he wanted to share that part (and every other part) of his life with her.

"Expanding? You want to expand the Project?" she asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.

"Well, hopefully. Our numbers are growing all the time and it would be nice to own a few more properties. John has the money and the know-how, so we can consider it" he nodded.

"This is going to be big, you know? The Project, I mean. I can really see it becoming something huge" Evelyn smiled and Joseph could tell that she was speaking honestly. Her words brought a bright smile to his face. Of course he knew that this was going to be big, the voice told him so, but it was nice to hear it from other people, especially Evelyn.

"I'm glad you think that. It means a lot that you believe that" Joseph smiled as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do you smell burning?" he asked, breaking eye contact with Evelyn to looked around the room for the source of the smell.

"Oh god!" Evelyn gasped before practically running towards the kitchen. Joseph watched her with a confused expression but followed her into the kitchen.

He knew that it wasn't a situation that should really make you smile but he smiled when he saw Evelyn pulled out a tray of burnt food out of the oven.

Evelyn let out a disheartened sigh as she placed the tray down and turned to Joseph with a small frown. "Oh, Joseph...I'm sorry. I wanted to make you dinner, to thank you for letting me stay here. I know it's not even close to enough but I wanted to do something for you" she explained, glancing down at her feet. 

Joseph just smiled before laughing softly, making Evelyn look up at him in confusion. "Do not apologise, this was very sweet of you" he said as he approached her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I really messed it up though" Evelyn sighed, she just wanted to do something nice for him. She was usually a decent cook, not great but better than this, but she had completely forgotten about the food and now here we are.

"Not a problem, we can make something else" Joseph assured her, giving her shoulders a comforting squeeze before dropping his hands. "What was it meant to be though?" he asked, glancing over at the burnt food.

"...coal apparently" Evelyn laughed and Joseph laughed along as he started to grab some more ingredients in order to make something else to eat.

Evelyn absentmindedly smiled at the Father as he grabbed the things he needed to make a meal, he wasn't watching her so she was able to admire him as much as she wanted too. She had no idea where they stood, they shared a few moments that could be considered romantic but Joseph said it himself 'our time will come', which means that their time was not now...Evelyn knew that it was for the best but it hurt her.