“Am I?” He touches the top of his head. “Well, would you look at that. Don’t even remember putting that on.”
“You’re ridiculous,” I say as we reach the wood-covered boardwalk that runs the perimeter of the beach. It’s made of wooden slats that need to be refurbished, but every time I bring it up, the town says it would be a waste of time and resources. I beg to differ, but what do I know?
“Anyway, you’re doing the floors. What does that entail?”
“Well, I have to sand them down to remove the varnish and all the imperfections and splinters. Then the cleanup is tough because you have to make sure to get all the dust off the floors before you stain them again. I’m just hoping to break through all the sanding tonight, but we’ll see. It’s a big project and I have a few jobs I have to do around town today.”
“What kind of jobs?” he asks, genuinely curious.
“Mostly plumbing, and then some odd things like hanging curtains and pictures.”
“I’d act surprised that people hire people to do such tasks, but I know for a fact that my parents have hired others to hang things for them. Hell, my parents hire people to clean and fold their laundry. They’re sure as hell not hanging their own curtains.”
“Have you ever done your own laundry?”
“No, but Rupert has, thank God. At least he says he has. Maybe it’s something I’ll look up on YouTube, just to make sure. I don’t need these nice new shorts getting hurt by his haphazard laundering.” He bumps my shoulder. “Unless you want to teach me. Could be a fun moment where the energy between us starts buzzing again, especially when you catch sight of my knickers.”
“Flirting, Theo.”
“Stating facts…Gossy.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Because you need a nickname. I didn’t think Goose was appropriate since you pointed out that one guy who already has the name, so I went with Gossy. Has a nice ring, doesn’t it?”
“I think it’s ridiculous.”
“Well I think it’s ridiculous that we’re about ten minutes into this walk and you haven’t given me one note about where we are or the history of these wooden planks we’re walking on. What kind of host are you?”
“Not a host, you’re just tagging along on my walks.”
“The least you could do is point out some fun facts.”
“If you want fun facts about Cape Meril, sign up for a tour, because you’re not going to get them from me.”
“Morning,” Theo says as he comes bounding down his steps wearing navy blue shorts and a dark gray top. His hat is backwards this morning, and he has a water bottle with him. “The fucking humidity is eating away at my soul.” He pauses in front of me and sucks down a large gulp of water. “I was suffering from a headache yesterday. Were you wondering where I was and why I wasn’t texting you?”
“Not even a little,” I say as I start walking down the sidewalk.
“Seriously? It didn’t make you curious that I didn’t text you or that you didn’t have a visitation?”
“Nope,” I say, even though that might be a bit of a lie. When I was sanding down the floors yesterday, I did think that it was odd that he didn’t come into the store after the questions he had about renovating the floors. He didn’t even send a text, butI didn’t let myself think about it too much because I don’t care what he thinks.
“Guess I know where I stand if I happen to fall off a cliff one day; you won’t miss your betrothed.”
“You’re not my betrothed.”
“Yet,” he says. “‘Yet’ being the key word.”
I just shake my head, because once again he’s pushing his luck with the flirtation.
And sure, I do find it somewhat entertaining, the things that come out of his mouth—and that’s something I’d never tell him—but I’m not going to fall for it.
“So, Gossy, how did the floors come out? Are they drying right now?”
“Drying?” I ask, brows up. “You think I stained them yesterday?”
“Well, yeah, isn’t that what you talked about?”
