“I’m serious.” His sternness startled me.
“I-I won’t come back,” I promised.
We sat in a heavy silence as Giles drove us to our next destination.
He finally sighed and glanced over at me. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I’ve never considered some of these people from an outsider’s perspective. Earl is harmless when you can handle yourself, but…I wouldn’t want him taking advantage of you.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Excuse you. You don’t think I can handle myself?”
“You’re too polite.”
“So?”
“So. He would push you. Take advantage of that. You’ve got to be harsh with guys like him.”
“Giles, I’m nice, not stupid. I know how to handle guys like that.”
He glanced at me and then back to the road, clearly not believing me.
“I’m serious. You don’t think we have creepy men in Florida? I can handle myself.”
He still looked unconvinced as we pulled into our next stop. It was an old house that had been converted into a thrift store.
“If you say so,” he said, slamming his door.
Inside, old shelves were lined with every knickknack imaginable. Ceramics, glassware, art pieces. In the back, I spied rows and rows of furniture.
I was already planning on painting the existing, worn-out chairs black, but I still needed to pick up a couple of tables to create more seating. Some wall art would also be nice. Bev had given me a very modest budget, but I was confident I could make it work.
“What about this one?” I ran my fingers over a long wooden table. It must have been fifteen feet long. “We could do open seating and fit a ton of people here.”
Checking the price tag, I winced.
“Scratch that. This alone would take up the entire budget.”
Giles waved off my concern. “Don’t worry about the budget.”
“Bev told me specifically—”
“I said don’t worry about it. I got it.”
“Giles, you don’t have to do that.”
He shrugged. “I want to. It’s my place, too.”
Gazing at the table, he absent-mindedly started tracing the grain in the wood. There was sadness in his eyes, but I didn’t dare bring up his parents again.
“Well, I think we should get it, then.”
He nodded. “It’s perfect.”
We continued to browse the store as I selected paintings and decor of various sizes.
“Look at all the stuff we’ve found.” I admired my pile of collections.
Giles snorted next to me. “You mean the stuff you found.”
“Add something to the stack then.”
