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She nodded and turned her stare to the ceiling, not wanting to fall apart this early on a Saturday. She’d been doing so well lately.
“Hey, it’s okay. We can walk.”
“How will we get the supplies back here?” Even if they had a wagon, it infuriated her that she couldn’t even pretend to be normal for a day. “You should go. I can paint my house another day.”
“No way. We had a deal. We’re painting your living room today, one way or another.”
“But—”
“It’s nice out. We’ll walk and I’ll run back and pick everything up afterward.”
That seemed the least efficient way to get an early jump on the morning. “You don’t have to do that—”
“Hey, I want to.” He turned toward the door. “Besides, I need to get my ten thousand steps in. You’d be doing me a favor. Go get your pillow. I’ll meet you outside.”
He left before she could argue that this was silly. If she wasn’t so embarrassed, she would have smiled. The sound of his truck engine silenced, and a tear tripped down her cheek, not because she was sad but because Ryan was one of the kindest, most understanding people she’d met in a very long time.
He didn’t bring up her emotional baggage on their walk to the hardware store, which she appreciated. Instead, they talked about all the renovations needed at his house. Ryan was working on his basement—some sort of man cave.
“Does that mean girls aren’t allowed?”
He laughed. “I can probably make an exception in your case.”
She shrugged. “We’ll see. I might not want to hang in your boy fort.”
“It’s not a boy fort. It’s a man cave. There’s a bar and I’m getting an enormous flat screen TV for game days.”
“Football?”
“Football, hockey, baseball, soccer, I like it all.”
“Steelers or Eagles?” she asked.
He stopped walking and stared at her, appraising her the way she appraised him. His answer could make or break this friendship. “I don’t want to say.”
“Say it. It’ll come out eventually.”
“Do you have a preference?”
She scoffed. “Yes.”
He hesitated. “I really don’t want to be your rival.”
“Then pick the better team,” she said through gritted teeth.
He laughed. “Oh, you’re really into football.”
“I never miss a game.”
He met her stare, drew in a long breath, and blurted, “Eagles.”
She grinned and lifted her chin. “Good. Then we can stay friends.” And with a swish of her hair, she kept walking.
He hurried after her.
When they reached the hardware store, they split up to peruse paint samples. “Who names this stuff?” he asked, flipping through the various swatches. “Baby Wrist? Is that a thing?”
She scrunched her nose and glanced at the pale pink swatch. “That’s not going in my house. I want something tranquil with a much less creepy name.”
“So no Severed Thumb?”
She gaped at him and snorted when she realized he was kidding. She held up a teal sample. “Do you like this?”
“I don’t think that goes with your new furniture.”
“No, I meant for your man cave. It’s Eagles green—unless you want to go old school.”
He came closer and pulled another sample of the teal swatch. “That’s pretty spot on.”
“Well, there you go.” She dropped the swatch in the basket. “You could do one wall in teal and the other three in something lighter. Do you have a lot of light down there?”
“No, just two small egress windows.”
“Then you might want to counter it with a neutral.”
He pointed to the gray in her hand. “What are you doing with that?”
“I like it for my living room.”
He held the teal close to the gray. “They complement each other.”
They did look nice together. “Well, that makes it easy. We can share.” She tossed the swatch in the basket.
They loaded up on brushes, rollers, tarps, and other supplies. Ryan threw a few candy bars in at the register as well. She paid for her items and he paid for his. When he explained that he’d be back to pick up the order it wasn’t as awkward as she’d dreaded, since they had to wait for all the paint colors to be mixed anyway.
Once back on Main Street, he asked, “You want to stop for breakfast? I need to eat before we start working.”
She looked down the strip of stores and recalled the delicious scone she had. “Want to hit the café?”
“Perfect.”
Maggie searched for scones once they were in front of the glass display but didn’t see them. She debated between a blueberry and chocolate muffin.
“Hey, Ryan! What are you doing here?” A beautiful woman with long blond hair and flawless olive skin appeared from a curtain behind the counter.
“Hey, Mariella. Just grabbin’ some coffee and breakfast.”
The woman smiled, showing off perfect teeth and full lips. “We’ve got beignets today. My mom made them.”
“Oh, hell yeah. We’ll take a dozen.” Then, as if remembering she was there, he turned to Maggie and asked, “You like beignets, right?”
