“Well, hello,” he crooned, approaching her for a kiss.
She scowled and pointed a finger in his face.
“Don’t even think about it. We don’t have time.”
“You’re no fun,” he said, swatting her on the bottom. He turned on the water in the shower stall and adjusted the temperature. “I bet you won’t even join me.”
She whipped her head around and looked at him as if he were crazy.
“I’m straightening my hair, Leland.”
Lee dropped his shirt on the floor and unzipped his pants.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever.”
When he stepped under the near-scalding shower stream, his muscles turned to soup. He grabbed his shampoo bottle and got to work. If he stayed in the hot shower too long, he’d be good for nothing but bed.
“How was your day, Marce?” he called.
“It was good. I got the job on Beverly. We’ll start tearing out the parquet floors next week,” she said, hardly pausing to breathe. “I can’t wait to tackle the bathroom. Of course, I need to find a new plumbing sub.”
“Congratulations. You sound excited,” Lee said, rinsing his hair and grabbing the soap. At twenty-seven, she’d already made a name for herself in interior design. They’d met more than eighteen months ago when she headed up the kitchen renovation at his dad and Barbara’s house.
“I am. I’d love to snap up a few more clients in Bendel Gardens,” she said. “If fix-up fever takes hold there, I might need to get an assistant.”
Lee did a final rinse and turned off the taps.
“So, why are Tom and Barbara coming with us? Did they call to see what we were doing tonight?” he asked.
When she didn’t answer, Lee raked open the shower curtain to find that he was talking to an empty bathroom.
“Marcelle?”
“I’m in here. It gets too steamy in there when you come out of the shower.”
He couldn’t help himself. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Lee heard hertsk.“Imean,it’s too humid. It’ll frizz my hair.”
“Why don’t we call my dad and Barbara for a raincheck, and I can find another way to frizz your hair.”
“Leland!”
He chuckled and scrubbed the towel over his head. Then he wrapped it around his waist and turned on the hot water at his sink.
“You have exactly twelve minutes to shave and two minutes to get dressed,” she scolded.
“SO, WHY AREthey joining us?” he tried again. Lee had found an empty seat at the bar for Marcelle, and he’d squeezed in to stand next to her.
She sipped her cosmo before answering. “They missed seeing you on Sunday, and your dad wanted to know how it went at the Health Clinic Auction." Marcelle looked over his shoulder and beamed. “They’re here!”
Lee turned to see his father and stepmother enter the crowded restaurant foyer and wave to them. Barbara pressed a kiss to his cheek before folding Marcelle into her light embrace.
“Hello, my darlings!”
He felt a slap on his back, and he turned to shake his father’s hand. “Hey, Dad.”
“I think our table’s ready,” Tom Hawthorne said by way of greeting, and the four of them followed the hostess to one of the half-booths that lined the wall opposite the sushi bar.
