“I’ll walk you out.”
Roman gives Dolly a hug. She gives Daniel another vise-gripper right after. They use the facilities once more before I lead them out the front again. I stop on the top step of the porch just as Roman takes off for the tire swing again. Daniel stops in the grass and turns back. “Thanks for the bathroom.”
“Anytime.” I lean against a column and cross my arms over my chest. “Sorry about the water situation. What a nightmare.”
“It will give Roman a good story to tell his friends. How he roughed it over the summer without indoor plumbing.” He laughs, but I’m not sure he found it that funny by the tone. After checking on Roman over his shoulder, he turns back to me with a foot parked on the bottom step. “Tell me something.”
“I’m an open book.”
That has him grinning with his eyes locked on mine like he might change his mind and stay. I’ve been on the fence since the cottage. This feels fast. Not that we can control broken pipes. That part feels more kismet if I believed in such things. It’s okay to want nice things, and Daniel Sutton is a very nice thing.
“Who chose the pink?”
I burst out laughing and gallop down the stairs to take in the same view as he is. “Truth? Spring. It was her ninth birthday, the first after . . .” I don’t say it and pretend I didn’t stumble into the story that still hurts just thinking about it. “All she wanted was a pink Barbie house.” I glance at him while he studies the architecture of the house. Our Victorian has some interesting features that I’ve not seen inothers locally—a turret and trim that others removed long ago to modernize their homes. Holding my arms out wide, I say, “We surprised her with a Barbie pink house she could live in.” I point toward the roof. “Winter chose the green gingerbread trim, and Fall wanted blue shutters.”
“What did you choose?”
I stare up at the circular third-floor window tucked into the roof. I still feel closer to my parents when I see it, which isn’t as often these days since I don’t hang out on the top floor much anymore. “The stained glass design in the window. It’s two lovebirds. My parents used to call each other “lovebird,” so it felt like a way to hold on to the memory and honor them.”
Glancing up at it again, he says, “It’s beautiful. I think it completes it.”
I nod, unable to speak words with the lump in my throat blocking them. Daniel wraps his arm around me, and though it’s only a side hug, I feel safe in his arms.
“Dad?”
“One minute, bud,” he calls back to Roman.
I swipe under my eyes and slip out from his arm. “No, it’s okay. He needs you.” The time to part feels heavy between us. I take a breath that feels freeing from being around him. “You’re sure about tonight?”
“I’m sure. Thanks, though.” He walks backward with a rogue grin lifting his expression. “You have a good night, Summer, okay?”
It’s only evening, but I nod as if it wasn’t rhetorical. “You, too, Daniel.” Daniel . . . my summer tenant, my short-term neighbor, my friend. And if you asked me how much I’d bet that there will be more with the handsome Mr. Sutton, I’m going all in.
As soon as I shut the front door behind me, I leanagainst it, closing my eyes while imagining him in my head, and smile.
“You’re in so much trouble.”
I pop open my eyes to see Spring standing on the stairs. I push off the door and start toward her. “I’m in no such thing.”
She laughs. “Keep lying to yourself, but I’ll bet dishes for a month that you sleep with him before the Fourth of July.”
I take four steps past her and turn around with my mouth hanging open. “That’s in . . .” I calculate from today’s date, and my jaw hits the floor. “That’s three and a half weeks, Spring.”
“And the problem is?” she asks, batting her wide eyes.
“There’s no problem, but?—”
“Exactly. Thereisno problem. Don’t overthink it. He’s hot, and you can’t ask for anyone more convenient.”
There’s that “convenient” again. I don’t know when convenient meant automatic sex with someone, but I’m feeling out of touch with how things work nowadays. You’d think I was decades older than twenty-six. “Why is my little sister all up in my business?”
“Because your business is going to cobweb over if you don’t get out there again.” She trots down the stairs but stops at the bottom to look back at me. “It’s time, Summer. Don’t let something good slip away because you’re worried about what others will think.” She turns the corner, leaving me on the staircase, and calls, “Dolly?”
I trudge up the remaining steps and down the hall to my bedroom. It’s cracked open because my sister was obviously “borrowing” something I told her I wouldn’t loan out. I close it and sit on the edge of the bed. Falling backward, I let my arms fall wide open and stare up at the ceiling. I never find any answers there, but it doesn’t stop me from trying.
My sister did a good job of making me question what I should do about my sexy neighbor. It wouldn’t be professional to sleep with him. But I have no doubt it would be fun.
The man is pure sex appeal. Add in that smile of his and a sense of humor, and I’m surprised I’m not already naked. But I know as well as he does that having sex with each other would be a terrible idea. Not only is his son staying with him but I’m sure there’s something in my contract for this job about behavior.
