Cherie clasped her hands together. “I’m forgetting my manners. Would like something to eat or drink?” Reese stared at her under lowered lids. She noticed a hint of a smile tilting the corners of his mouth.
“What’s on the menu?”
She didn’t know why, but Cherie hadn’t expected him to take her up on her offer. “I’ve been experimenting with cooking, and today I decided to make meat loaf. “I just put it in the oven. Meanwhile, I can give you some loaded-baked-potato soup. I don’t know why I bought a five-pound bag of potatoes when I don’t eat them every day. They were beginning to sprout eyes, so I made potato soup and salad, and I plan to make mashed potatoes to go along with the meat loaf. You can’t have meat loaf without potatoes.” She realized she was talking too fast and too much, and hoped Reese didn’t think she was one of those women who liked to hear herself talk.
Reese’s dark eyes lit up. “You’re singing my song. Even though I’m a rice-eating country boy, I do like meat and potatoes.”
“What are you doing?” Cherie asked when he bent over to untie the laces on his boots.
“I’m taking off my shoes because I don’t want to track dirt over your floors.”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about that. I’m seriously thinking about replacing this bleached pine flooring with gray European oak in a herringbone design. I went online and found a store about thirty miles away that stocks what I want.”
“That would really complement the blue, green, and pale gray walls. By the way, I really like your house because it’s so zen,” he said.
“Thank you. You should’ve seen it before I had it painted. Everything was white and very sterile.”
“Do you intend to replace all of the flooring in the house?” Reese asked as he followed her into the kitchen.
“No. Just on this floor.”
“Before you buy anything, I’d like to go to the store with you.”
Cherie gave him a quick glance over her shoulder as she recalled Kayana mentioning Reese had come from a long line of master carpenters. “Do you want to go with me because you believe that, because I’m a woman, they’ll try to cheat me?”
“No,” he replied, “it has nothing to do with you being a woman. It’s just that I know a lot about wood and will be able to tell if what they’re calling European oak is the real deal. I happen to come from a long line of carpenters,” he continued when Cherie turned to face him, “and I was able to identify different types of wood before I turned eight. My grandfather was a hard taskmaster, and there were times when he’d give me a pop quiz about the supply of wood he had on hand in the shed.”
“I really appreciate the offer, Reese, but I don’t want to put you out.”
“You won’t be putting me out.”
She gave him a steady stare. “What about your job?”
Reese’s eyes crinkled when he smiled. “I do get days off. I’m off tonight and for the next two days.”
Cherie felt a swath of heat in her face. “I didn’t mean that you work twenty-four seven, but it’s just that I don’t want to take up your time when you could be seeing someone else.”
Reese crossed his arms over his gray sweatshirt. “Is this your way of asking if I’m involved with someone?”
The heat in her face increased. “Yes and no. Yes, because I don’t need some woman in my face because she believes I’m taking time away from her when her boyfriend is out with me. And no, because it doesn’t matter whether you are or are not involved with someone.”
“Well, I’m not, Cherie Thompson. I’m not involved with anyone on Coates Island, and the last woman with whom I found myselfthatinvolved I married.”
She blinked slowly. She hadn’t expected him to be that forthcoming about his relationships with women. “How long ago was that?”
“It was a long time ago. I’ve been divorced for twelve years.”
Cherie nodded. “That is a long time,” she said under her breath.
“To be honest, it should have been longer. I kept hoping it would get better, but it didn’t. What about you, Cherie?”
“What about me?” she asked.
“Were you ever married?”
Her eyelids fluttered wildly. “No. No ex-husband and no children.”
Reese took a step, bringing them less than a foot apart. “It looks as if we have something in common.”
