Sweet Nothings (7 page)

Before going outside she tipped the bottle to pour a couple more fingers, raised her glass to Nick in a silent toast when he chuckled softly under his breath, then grabbed her coat and headed for the front porch and the silence she knew she’d find there.

She wasn’t disappointed. The only thing greeting her were the sounds of the few insects out in the late winter night and a lone dog barking from somewhere off down the road.

Within minutes of sitting, Caterpillar came around the side of the house and crawled up into her lap. The big orange fluffball settled down as if he did so every night, and she tilted her head back and took another drink.

What a day. She felt as if her emotions were running as wild as all the teenagers’ she’d witnessed the day before—first from Nick and the tension she felt just being in the same room as him, and now as the memories of the past and long-forgotten dreams consumed her. She knew she would sell the house. There was no other option. She didn’t want to live there anyway. Yet no matter what renovations they did, selling wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d always thought.

The door squeaked and Nick stood in the shadows, with the light from inside the house at his back.

“Come on, I’ll take you home,” he said. He held a foil-covered plate in his hand—her remaining dinner, she suspected—and motioned with it to the glass she held in hers. “I’ve plied you with too much alcohol, and wouldn’t like myself if I let you drive out of here.”

She nodded. That was probably for the best. Though she couldn’t blame the drinking on him.

She followed him to his truck and climbed in as he held the door for her. He watched her until she had her seat belt fit snuggly around her, set her dinner on her lap, then slammed the door and headed to the other side of the truck.

After telling him which house she rented, she realized she was still carrying her glass. She drained it, her eyes watering with the quick gulps, as she went back over the pros and cons of letting Nick make all the renovations he’d drawn out.

Pro: The resale value would be higher; the house should sell fast.

Con: Nick would be around even more than she’d anticipated. And being around him made her want to do things that weren’t wise.

Pro: It would make the area stunning instead of an eyesore.

Con: It would still be outside of town, so who would see it?

Pro: She would not only be setting her grandmother up in good financial care, but leaving a legacy, as well.

Con: She would have to watch a dream she hadn’t even realized existed come to life only to sell it and move on.

A lump settled behind her breastbone and she turned to watch the dark night go by, blinking back hot tears as they drove down the quiet street. Seeing the Barn reinvented would be both exciting and heartbreaking at the same time. Because yeah, she’d once wanted the house and all the assumptions that came with it, even if only in a small child’s world.

Before she’d realized how out of her reach dreaming for the world could be.

Nick pulled up at her house and turned off the truck, and she sat quietly taking in the barren front porch with the lone dollar-store lawn chair parked in the corner. She sat out there most nights, if only for a few minutes to unwind from the day, and it had never occurred to her to get anything other than the small, foldout chair. Nick had been in town for all of two days and had already put rockers on GiGi’s porch.

“Thanks for bringing me home,” she said. She opened the door and by the time she jumped to her feet Nick was there to walk her to the house. She put the empty tumbler on his seat and turned back to him with the covered plate in her hands. She couldn’t remember when a man had ever fixed her a to-go plate before.

“You’ll make a decision soon?” When she looked at him, he added, “On the renovations?”

“Oh.” She nodded, then smiled as she realized how light-headed she was. She had the urge to lean against him as they walked. “Yeah, I’ll think about it this weekend.”

The streetlight caught the glint from his eye as he took her arm and led her to the porch. “I’m beginning to see why you said you shouldn’t drink. You’re a lightweight.”

She nodded, then laughed softly. “I get relaxed easily.”

“I’ll have to remember that.”

She glanced at his mouth as he led her up the steps. He had the best mouth. “Are you really going to let me help do demolition?”

His bottom lip curved and she smiled along with it. “No, sweetness, I was just teasing. I’m not letting you anywhere near a sledgehammer.”

She frowned. “I’m sure I would be good at it.”

“No doubt you would.” They reached the porch and he slid his hand down the outside of her arm as he released her. “But I think I’ll let you stick to packing up the place. You have a lot to take care of there.”

She made a face. “I know. My grandmother was a collector of many things. Wait till you see what’s stored in the attic.”

The thought of everything she had to go through in the coming weeks was overwhelming.

“Joanie.” Nick’s voice was soft, and she pulled her mind from the masses of junk awaiting her at GiGi’s and focused on him. It was harder to do than she’d thought. That had been good whiskey.

“What?” she whispered.

His hand touched her jaw and she tilted her face up, leaning forward at the same time as if he were reeling her in. She glanced at his mouth again. She’d bet he’d be a really good kisser.

A passing car stopped at the corner, its lights landing on Nick’s face, highlighting that his gaze was on her mouth, too. Which was no good at all. She couldn’t be kissing him.

Their eyes met and time stood still. Then she took a small step back and broke the moment. He exhaled.

“Thanks for bringing me home,” she said again, turning her back to him to open the door, only to find it wasn’t locked. She’d forgotten to lock her door again. She glanced over her shoulder, unable to walk in without looking at Nick one last time. “I’ll uh… bring dinner or something next time.”

“Sounds good.” He looked past her into the dark house. “Was your door unlocked?”

“I forget to lock it sometimes.” She could tell he was going to suggest he check to make sure no one was inside, so she turned to him once again and put her hand to his chest and pushed. He didn’t budge. “Go home, Nick. It’s Sugar Springs. If anyone came in while I was out, they probably just cleaned the house.”

His jaw had hardened, and it took several seconds before he shifted his gaze back from the living room to her. “You’re an odd one, Joanie.”

That was one of the more polite adjectives she’d heard over the years.
Flaky, flighty, unfocused
. “It’s one of my biggest charms.”

She looked up at him then, liking that he still seemed to want to go inside and check under her bed and in her closets. “I’m safe, Nick. No one is here, and I guarantee no one snuck in to do my dishes while I was out.”

At that, he finally took a step back. “Okay, I’ll go. I’ll get Cody to help in the morning and we’ll bring your car back.”

She nodded, but didn’t move to go in. Instead, she continued watching him as if waiting for something else. Not a kiss, though. Thankfully she’d caught herself before letting
that
happen.

No matter how much she’d wanted it.

“I wasn’t trying to seduce you, you know?” Nick’s soft words were spoken into the night, his face tilted down to hers. “Back at the house.” He propped himself against the door frame and studied her when she didn’t reply. “Not that I would have a problem with it.”

Or that it would be too difficult
, she added silently. If she weren’t on guard for such behavior.

With great effort, she stepped back, putting one foot on the threshold of her door, and putting a breath of air between them. “Good night, Nick.”

“Lock the door,” he said. “So I don’t worry about you.”

She nodded, oddly charmed that he felt he might need to worry about her. Charmed all the way around, in fact. He had some strange effect on her.

She stepped inside and closed the door, then leaned against it as if her legs were no longer able to support the full weight of her body. He’d almost kissed her.

And she’d almost let him.

Had she learned nothing over the years?

A soft rap against the door had her jumping away from it.

“Lock the door, Joanie,” his low voice came through the wood.

Oh, good grief. She threw the deadbolt, fast, as if afraid he would come in if she didn’t, and then she caught the sound of his booted feet heading
in the other direction. Next, there was his door slamming, then the roar of his truck.

Finally, after he backed out of the driveway, she turned her back to the door and sunk down to the ground, her plate of food still gripped between her hands. She put the plate on the floor and stared into the darkness, terrified she was already in over her head, and knowing she’d gotten there by doing nothing more than thinking about kissing him.

What would happen after spending several weeks in his presence, working side by side?

Chapter Four

H
ey, Uncle Nick,” Kendra said as she came into the kitchen, holding her arm up in front of him. Cody’s black-and-white Great Dane, Boss, trailed her. “Did you see the present my boyfriend got me for Valentine’s Day?”

Her boyfriend was thirteen, and if Nick were to guess, on his last week with that moniker. The girl had gotten her first boyfriend only two months before, and already she seemed to go through them as if she had a quota to make.

“Sure didn’t,” he said. He grabbed Kendra’s arm and squinted as if he could barely make out the silver bracelet circling her wrist. “He give you a new freckle or something?”

“Oh, Uncle Nick.” She gave him a girl-slap. He loved being called Uncle Nick. “I don’t even have freckles. It’s the bracelet, goofy.” She shook her hand so the jewelry rattled. “Isn’t it the greatest? It has a charm with my birthstone, a heart for February since that’s when we started going out, and then a panda bear since that’s my favorite animal in the world.”

Her twin sister entered the kitchen behind her, and mimed shoving her finger down her throat. “All she does is talk about him. And she’ll dump him by next week.”

Nick was at Lee Ann’s house on a Saturday night, making a batch of chili for the girls and his brother, while their mother was out on the town with Joanie.

“At least she kept him long enough to get a gift out of him,” he said to Candy. He wondered if they were already learning that trick at thirteen.

Candy wore a horrified expression, but a follow-up one of acceptance, while Kendra merely smiled. The look of knowledge.

“I didn’t tell him he had to buy me anything,” Kendra pointed out.

“Words every man has heard at least once, but we all know where we’d be if we didn’t buy the gift.” He patted his leg and Boss came over. Nick took pleasure in rubbing the animal’s big head. He was a cat person himself, but if he were to get a dog, he’d want one the size of a horse, too.

Kendra merely shrugged and opened the refrigerator. “It’s how it works. I’m hungry.”

“Chili will be ready in twenty minutes. Think you can wait?”

She grabbed an apple from the bowl on the center island and tossed one to her sister. “Sure.”

They were gone, Boss along with them, as quickly as they’d arrived, and Nick was left standing in the kitchen alone. Cody would be back soon. He’d run up the street to get something from his apartment.

Nick pulled a tape measure from his back pocket and began measuring the length of the counters and jotting down notes, not noticing when he was no longer alone in the room.

“What are you doing?” Cody asked. With his arms folded over his chest, and a scowl on his face, he looked quite formidable.

If Nick wasn’t aware he would appear identical in the same stance, he might have been intimidated.

“Working on your wedding gift,” he replied, then moved to begin the process on the cabinets.

“What wedding present?”

“The one I’m giving you, idiot.”

Cody shot him a curious look. “We aren’t getting married for months. Why are you already thinking about a present?”

“So it’ll be finished before the wedding.” He pulled Corian samples from his front pocket, eager to discuss his plans with his brother. He could get everything ordered, and as soon as he had Joanie’s house finished, he could spend a few days here. “I’m giving you and Lee Ann a kitchen makeover. New counters, cabinets, floors. Even new appliances. I’ll do the work myself.”

Cody gawked at him, his features losing some of their sternness. “Have you lost your mind? You aren’t giving us a new kitchen.”

“Of course I am,” Nick said. “Remodels are what I do.”

Cody grabbed an apple from the basket and tossed it back and forth between his hands. “We can’t accept something like that.”

“We’re
family
,” Nick stressed. He made plenty of money, and had it to spend. He didn’t see what the problem was. “It’s what families do for each other.”

“A blender, dude. Buy us a blender. We’re family with or without a kitchen.”

Hell, nothing was going right. First he’d almost gone in for a kiss last night only to have Joanie reject him before he could make a move. And now his brother was being a pain in the ass about a stupid gift.