Reid held my gaze for a breath longer before clearing his throat. He leaned back on his heels before stretching to a standing position.
“So, uh, did you want to go hang those decorations?” His gaze shifted to the paper bags from the thrift store we’d abandoned on the floor next to his couch.
I laughed, wiping the last remaining tear from my cheek. “You’re actually going to let me put those things up in your pristine guest room?”
Reid scratched the back of his neck. “Sure,” he said, but the way he chewed on the inside of his cheek told me he was still reeling with uncertainty.
“I figured you were being polite and would just donate them right back,” I teased, hoisting myself off the chair.
He chuckled “Maybe it’s past time I let some chaos into my life.”
I tried my best not to beam. “I think chaos arrived the moment you agreed to meet me in that diner.”
“And I’m so glad I did.”
My voice caught in my throat. I forced my expression into something neutral, willing myself not to let his words sink too deep.
“Um, let’s do it,” I said, grabbing one of the larger bags that held some of the paintings while he grabbed the lava lamp that I was basically in love with. How I had made it twenty-five years without owning a single lava lamp was beyond me.
Once in the bedroom, I pointed to random spots around the room while Reid held up one of the pictures, waiting for my approval. Once I gave the okay, he pulled a hammer and a nail from a toolbox I hadn’t even seen him grab. I blinked. Wow—an actual hole in the wall instead of a sticky hook?Noted.This man was committing.
“Is there a method to your madness? Because the spots you’re choosing are random and not correlated in the slightest.”
“What did you expect? For me to map it all out like a blueprint?”
“Isn’t that the hack for gallery walls? I remember Meghan spending hours planning one out with painter’s tape at our old place.”
“The best method for a gallery wall is to build it slowly, not all at once. You get pieces as they speak to you, and youhang them until they take over the wall, slowly expanding until they form one giant organism. That’s what gives it character. You can’t just go out, buy all the pieces at once, and hang them in some preplanned way. That sucks the soul right out of the project.”
Reid squinted as he held up a nail to the wall and tapped the hammer lightly a few times. “I think that’s exactly what we did at our old house. She even ordered all the prints from the same website.”
I clutched my chest and staggered backward. “Ouch, that hurts.”
Reid laughed.
“It’s a good thing I’m here now,” I continued. “I’ll liven this place up if it kills me.”
After Reid hung the few pictures we’d purchased, he held up the lava lamp. “And what are we doing with this little number?”
I pointed to the bedside table. “Right here.”
He hesitated. “This is not a practical bedside lamp.”
“Why not?”
“It’s too dim. You won’t be able to read from it. You’ll strain your eyes.”
I had to bite down on my lip to keep from laughing. He looked so earnest. So deeply concerned for my eyesight.
“Reid, chill out. A lava lamp provides an excellent source of light.”
He did not look like he believed me but went ahead and plugged in the lamp anyway. I turned off the overhead light and told him to switch the new one on. When he did, the room was immediately cast in a pinkish glow. The globs of whatever it was inside a lava lamp began to bubble and move around.
“It’s perfect,” I said, clapping my hands, and moving to stand next to him by the edge of the bed.
“It looks ridiculous,” he said, craning his neck to take in all the additions.
He wasn’t wrong. The walls were stark white, and the ceilings were incredibly high. The few pictures looked almost comically out of place.
