“Why are you talking about this?”
“It’s stuff I keep meaning to share with you.”
“Share?” Truly one of the scarier words in the English language.
“Yes. Share. And tonight seems like a good time for sharing, given the situation.”
“There is no ‘situation’ and tonight is not a good time.”
“Ella used you. Get over it. Don’t miss out on something great because of one crappy experience.”
“Are you done?”
“For now?” Karin frowned like she had to think it over. Finally, she gave a slow nod. “Absolutely.” And for a moment she was blessedly silent. It didn’t last, though. “Coco keeps asking if she can go over there.”
“Tell Coco to chill.”
“All right—and come on. I’m only trying to help.”
He chuckled in spite of himself. “Just tell me what Scarlett O’Hara would say.”
“Fiddle-dee-dee.” And she stuck out her tongue at him.
* * *
By Thursday, Madison still hadn’t given him any kind of signal that she was ready to make up. He almost marched up the stairs to her back deck and pounded on the slider until she got sick of the racket and let him in.
But that would definitely be pushing and pushing was what had gotten him in the dog house with her in the first place.
He went to Larson Boatworks and helped out emergency rehabbing a shrimp trawler that the owner/operator wanted back in the water yesterday or sooner.
Then, home again, missing the girl next door way too much and at a loss as to how to proceed with her, he decided to get back to work on the shutters that would increase the curb appeal of his two-bedroom flip.
It was a perfect day for working outside, overcast and cool, but no rain. He got lost in the soothing, uncomplicated process of measuring and cutting and didn’t even look up for over an hour.
He’d finished with the saw and turned it off to start laying out the pieces and assembling what he’d cut when a husky voice said, “Hey.”
He glanced up and she was standing right there at the edge of the concrete pad that extended past the roll-up door of his shop. She wore loose khakis and a gray T-shirt. No big sunglasses, no wig, no floppy hat. He took off his safety goggles and dropped them next to the saw. God, she looked good. Just Maddy, her streaky hair loose on her shoulders, a sheepish expression on her amazing face.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “You were only trying to give me a little nudge in the right direction and I was a complete bitch about it.”
Something happened in his chest. A tightness. And yet, a lightness, too.
She caught her upper lip between her teeth, nervous. Adorably so. “So, maybe, when you’re through here, you could come over? We could talk?”
He really couldn’t get enough of just looking at her. She was such a welcome sight.
“Sten. Would you please say something?”
“I need maybe five minutes to put this stuff away.”
Those dimples winked at him. “Okay.”
He started hauling everything back into the shop. She pitched in, carrying the shutter pieces and stacking them inside.
In no time, they were walking side by side between the houses. Her hand bumped his. He caught it and she let him.
Fingers entwined, they went around the back of the cottage and up the steps to the deck.
