Home Improvement (A Pajaro Bay Short Story) (4 page)

"Did you think I wouldn't have stopped and listened if you told me how you felt?"

"I just couldn't find the right time. At first you were grieving, and you just needed a friend. Then afterwards, your friends had you dating everybody in town except me." He frowned. "And why didn't they fix me up with you? Don't I qualify as an eligible bachelor?"

"You? Mr. I'm-Not-Serious-About-Anyone?"

"I'm serious about you," he said simply.

"I thought you weren't interested in settling down. Everybody thought that. So why haven't you?"

"How could I get married when the woman I loved was married to my best friend?"

She sat back in the chair with a loud creak of the old wood. "Wow. I never knew."

He looked embarrassed. "Of course not. You and Bryce were happy. I couldn't say anything. I was happy the two of you had each other. I wouldn't have wished for you to lose him for anything."

"I know that. But when he died you still kept your mouth shut?"

"I couldn't hit on you when you were in pain. You needed me to be a friend, not to put pressure on you."

"And you were a friend." She thought about the last few months. "You did everything you could to help me through it."

He leaned forward and took her hand again. "I never wanted to rush you. But suddenly there you were, looking for someone, and I was invisible."

"You were there all the time. And I was too dense to realize it." She got up and came around the table to stand in front of him. She held his head in her hands, noticing the dark curls, the hazel eyes, the deep laugh lines in his face, the roughness of the dark stubble on his cheeks. How could she have not noticed him? She bent down and kissed him softly, just brushing his lips with hers, trying it out to see how it felt. It felt right. Totally right. Like losing everything and then finding a new home waiting for you, its door wide open, beckoning you to enter.

"You were right there, all along," she whispered.

"Just waiting for you to be ready."

"I'm ready now."

"Yeah." He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her, his arms resting gently around her waist, holding her safe and warm.

She came up for air and smelled the steak. "So how about dinner?" she asked, her voice raw with emotion—joy, sadness, some combination of both.

"Dinner," he said dreamily. "I guess we could do that. But didn't you call me because you needed something repaired first?"

"You can always fix the tub. You'll be around for a long time."

"A lifetime," he said, and kissed her again.

~*~

The End.

~*~

If you enjoyed this little taste of life in Pajaro Bay, you may want to read the first novel in the Pajaro Bay series,
The Honeymoon Cottage
.
Readers have called it a "magnificent read!" with "excellent characterization." They praised it as "adorable, lively and like a warm hug," with a "well-developed plot" and a "surprise ending."

Learn more about
The Honeymoon Cottage
at:
http://barbaracoollee.com/?page_id=790

~*~

Every Pajaro Bay story includes a recipe. The recipe for
Home Improvement
is:

Robin's Healthier-But-Still-Indulgent Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mix 1/2 cup real butter, 1/2 cup mashed avocado, 3/4 cup sugar, and 3/4 cup brown sugar with electric mixer until smooth.

Add 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon baking soda, and mix in thoroughly.

Add 2 and 1/4 cups
King Arthur Organic White Whole Wheat Flour
and mix until smooth.

Add 1 cup
Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate Chips
and mix by hand until blended in.

Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake in 375 degree oven for ten minutes. Take out and let sit on pan for 5 minutes to set, then remove with spatula and let cool until you can't stand waiting anymore and you have to eat them. Don't burn your mouth on the melted chocolate.

~*~