Even though she should have seen the question coming, she didn’t have an answer for that. Not one that she cared to share, anyway. “It’s for...my book. Yeah, for writing. I like to put notes up on poster board sometimes so I can see them.”
“There might be some in the shop room. Sometimes Mom uses it to make signs for the store, so if we have any, that’s where it would be. Jack and Eli haven’t really hit science fairs yet, though I know it won’t be long before there are last-minute poster board and wine runs in my future.”
“Thanks.” Going back up the stairs—at least being home was good exercise—she went to the small room next to the master suite.
It was a weird space, too small to be a bedroom, but too big to be a closet. Gwen had vague memories of clunky shelves in the back of it, and they assumed it had been a monster linen closet during the house’s time as an inn. Her dad had installed modular shelving at some point, so it had new shelves and a few drawers, along with a clothing rack down one side. A small table with a stool were centered in the middle, and her mom used it as a place to store and prep items for the thrift shop that were dropped off with her at the house, or that the family was looking to get rid of.
Much to her delight, she didn’t find poster board, but she found a whiteboard that would be even better. In a plastic bag taped to the back of it, she found a fat black dry erase marker and an eraser, so she had everything she needed. She’d have to remember to stick an IOU in its place—which they were all supposed to do if they took something from the shop room—but for now she turned off the light and took the whiteboard back to her room.
He shouldn’t have embarrassed her. Case thought about the sign he’d put in his bedroom window the entire time he was cooking his dinner, and around the time he dumped the pasta from the strainer to his plate, it hit him that Gwen might not take the friendly ribbing in the way he’d intended. It was teasing. A joke. She had to know that.
But what if she didn’t? Or maybe she saw the joke, but didn’t find it funny. He should remove it and hope she hadn’t seen it. He should also remember to close his curtains before he stripped down to take a shower.
Leaving the plate of pasta on the counter, he took the stairs at a jog, Boomer on his heels. The Suttons were probably eatingtheirsupper, he told himself. There was a good chance they were all gathered together in the kitchen and she hadn’t seen the sign yet.
But when he yanked the cardboard out of his window, a glance across the street told him he was too late. There appeared to be a large whiteboard in Gwen’s window and he had to squint a little, but he could read the block letters she’d used to write her response.
I’ll throw you a dollar, but I want a quarter back.
It took a few seconds for her meaning to sink in, and then he laughed so suddenly he startled the dog. Boomer gave him a quizzical look that made him laugh harder.
He was going to have to up his teasing game, because not only did Gwen Sutton definitely have a good sense of humor, but she had a bit of a mean streak, as well. He liked that about her. He liked it so much, as a matter of fact, he smiled the entire time he ate his spaghetti, even though the pasta had gotten clumpy while he was upstairs because he hadn’t put the sauce on it yet.
Case wouldn’t have thought anything could distract him from goopy noodles, but apparently he liked thinking about Gwen Sutton that much.
She even kept him company—mentally, anyway—while he cleaned up after supper and threw a load of dirty clothes into the washer, including the ones he’d just stripped off in clear view of the woman’s window.
It had been an accident on his part. He’d been working with an exceptionally sap-covered stand of trees and if he didn’t get those clothes off, every strand of dog hair in the place—and Boomer was a shedder—was going to be plastered to him. And he might stick to his furniture.
He just wanted out of the clothes, and he hadn’t given any thought to dropping the blind. And Gwen had slept in that room so seldom over the years, it never crossed his mind she might be standing in her window, looking through his. But then—through the corner of his eye, so she might not have even realized he’d seen her—he caught her watching him.
He’d been in the process of dropping his pants, so there wasn’t a lot he could do about it in that moment. By the time he’d gotten the jeans to his ankles, ready to kick them off, another quick glance told him she’d disappeared, which was a relief. He hadn’t been sure how much she’d be able to see above his windowsill if he stood up again. After yanking the jeans back up, he went to close the blind, but then he got the idea of making the sign just to tease her a little.
Boomer made a woofing sound that caught his attention, jerking him out of his thoughts of Gwen. The dog was standing on the couch, his front legs on the back of it so he could see out the window.
“You’re not supposed to do that,” Case reminded the dog as he knelt next to him so he could see who was out there. Definitely not a squirrel, since Boomer’s squirrel bark was much higher pitched and tended to include some half-ass attempts at howling. “Who’s out there?”
It was Gwen. Not coming up his sidewalk, naked under a trench coat, unfortunately. But she was walking from the Suttons’ porch toward the carriage house, and Boomer woofed again.
“You want to go see Gwen?” Case asked, and the dog was off the couch and sprinting to the door. Case didn’t move quite as fast, but he felt the same as Boomer on the inside.
Gotta go see Gwen!
By the time they crossed the street, she was already inside the carriage house, and he tried to manage his expectations. For all he knew, Gwen was joining her family and he’d walk through the door only to find all four Sutton women inside. While his goal was to sneak a few minutes alone with her, he didn’t want to get his hopes up too much. Well, any higher than they already were, at least. He’d been hoping to kiss her again since the first time he kissed her.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he stepped inside the building and found Gwen alone. Or maybe the sigh was his breath leaving his body at the sight of her on her hands and knees, looking under the worktable for...something. The yoga pants she was wearing hugged her butt in a way that made his own clothes feel too tight below the waist.
Boomer bounded over to see why she wasn’t standing on her two legs like people usually did, and luckily his tags jingled, so she knew he was coming. Case would have felt bad if they’d startled her into smacking her head on the underside of the worktable.
“Boomer!” She backed out from the under the table and stood, brushing off her knees. Then she gave his fur a good tousle, causing his wagging tail to become a joyful blur.
“Did you lose something under there?” Case asked as she greeted his dog.
“We’re on a hunt for Jack’s left earbud. He was out here earlier, so I volunteered to check since it was better than listening to everybody yell at him, asking where he’d left it, and him yelling back that if he knew that, it wouldn’t be lost.”
“He’s not wrong.” He noticed she was looking everywhere but directly at him, and her cheeks were slightly flushed. Maybe it was from crawling around on the floor, or maybe it was because he’d caught her watching him take his clothes off. “Did you bring my dollar?”
Throwing it out there so directly made her flush darken, and she gave him an arch look, but at least she was looking at him now. “Did you bring a quarter?”
