“A gift from my dad,” he said. “We need someplace to store stuff while the renovation is happening. You can get rid of it later if you want.”
“Are you kidding? I might have to live in there,” I said.
“What, and leave our glamorous apartment?”
I laughed, but that got me to thinking. No matter how this turned out, I probably would leave his apartment. I couldn’t deal with his polite distance when I just wanted to kiss him all over, and I knew I shouldn’t kiss him all over because of my disastrous history with men. Or man. One man who had destroyed my faith in the rest of them.
Anyway, the shed was starting to look like a good idea.
My artist friends were almost done setting up their scenes in the mansion, and they agreed to give Landon and I a run-through once the sun went down.
“Penelope says it will look stupid in daylight,” Millie told me as she went through one of her checklists as we stood on the porch. “And Alex picked up the tab for the caterer for Friday.”
“Wait. What? I didn’t ask him to do that.” Did this mean he was officially an investor now? Because I hadn’t decided on bringing in a partner yet. I wanted to see how the fundraiser did.
“He says since the art museum is technically a co-sponsor, it was the least he could do. Trust me, Kayla, he wants to do this. He’s thrilled this place is finally getting some TLC.”
I bit my lip and tried to push my anxiety back down into my gut, where I kept it with the leftover pizza and excessive amounts of iced tea. I had to admit, I felt a tiny bit of relief, too. That bill was going to hurt. “OK. How are VIP ticket sales doing?”
“When we announced the famousJace Edisonwould be leading the tours for the VIP night, they jumped. We are very close to selling out. And he’s agreed to have his photo taken with guests for an extra donation.”
“What a great idea!”
“I’ll be buying one of those for sure,” Millie said.
I giggled. “Heisthe hottest thing since tiki torches.”
“Talking about me again?” came a voice behind me. It was Landon, coming up the porch steps, shooting the Fireworks at both of us. Was it me, or did he look happier since we started this project? He was finally doing the kind of renovation work he loved. But I couldn’t take advantage of his love for the work once the fundraiser was over. He had a job to go back to, and I had some decisions to make about how to move forward.
“We’re talking about Jace,” Millie said. “He’ll be leading the VIP haunted tour, and he’ll do the run-through tonight with you guys.”
“Excellent,” he said. “And I’m treating all of you to a round of drinks at The Junction Box afterward.”
“You can’t do that!” I exclaimed.
He raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”
“Because this is my project. I mean, it’s my house. You’re the man when it comes to the project, but this is my responsibility. I’ll buy the drinks.”
“Don’t be silly. You can’t afford to buy a seltzer water at this point.”
Ouch.The truth hurt.
He saw my expression and his Fireworks vanished. “I’m sorry, Kayla. I didn’t mean anything by that. I’m having a great time, you know.” Millie quietly slipped into the house as he continued. “I can afford it. It’s no more than I would’ve spent on a night out any time before this project started.”
“You don’t know how these people drink.”
He laughed. “That’s why I said one round. Are you OK? Do you really mind?”
My eyes felt weirdly wet, and my nose prickled. “I — I don’t mind. It’s just that I feel responsible. I feel like I should be doing this by myself, and yet everyone is being so nice and helpful. And you — my God, Landon, you’ve given up your whole life for this project.”
He looked down at me with those sweet brown eyes, soft and warm now. “I haven’t given up anything.”
I found myself leaning subtly toward him, and he gently grasped my arm, pulling me closer.
A horrific scream from inside the house jerked us apart, and we dashed through the door and up the stairs toward the sound. Then up one more flight to the tower, since no one seemed to be lingering on the second floor.
Duncan and Thea were sticking their tongues down each other’s throats in the tower room amid a spaghetti tangle of dangling white paper cutouts, gauze and crepe paper.
