Remi was looking down at the keyring in his hands as he struggled to fit a key onto it. He smiled at her as he pushed thekey into place on the ring and held it up toward her. “For you,” he said.
Cristie walked over to him, and reached her hand out for the key. “What’s this?” she asked.
“A key. To my house.”
“Thank you! That’s actually what I was coming to see you for this morning. The furniture store is scheduled to be here,” she looked at her watch,” now!” she said. “It’ll probably help if I had a key to let them in so they could unload your furniture.”
Remi smiled at her. “Great minds,” he said, tapping his temple.
“I wanted to thank you for breakfast and lunch yesterday. It was very thoughtful of you. And the tea… you even made the tea I love,” Cristie said, looking up at him as she still clutched the key in her hand.
“You’re welcome. But you don’t have to thank me. I just wanted to make you smile.”
“You did. It was so thoughtful.”
Remi smiled at her. “I guess I should get back to work. I told Richie I wouldn’t be long.”
“Yeah, and I need to get over there in case they show up sooner rather than later. They said anytime between now and 11:00, so it shouldn’t be too long.”
“Make yourself at home, help yourself to whatever you want,” Remi said.
“Thanks, Remi.” She walked toward the front door of the store and pushed it open. She turned back to Remi and held up the key he’d given her. “I’ll bring this back as soon as I’m done getting your stuff all set up.”
Remi shook his head. “No, that’s yours. Hold on to it. You never know when you might need it.”
Cristie stood where she was, half in and half out of the door, her eyes locked on Remi’s.
Remi remained where he was, everything he felt and everything he wanted reflected in his eyes as he refused to break eye contact first.
Cristie nodded slowly. “Okay. I’ll hold onto it then.”
“I’ll see you later.”
Cristie nodded. “Don’t work too hard.” She winked at him and let the door close behind herself. She glanced back only once, to smile shyly at him.
“She’s a lucky lady,” Casey said enviously, watching Cristie cross the highway and head toward the trailer park.
“She deserves every good thing there is,” Remi said, his own gaze following Cristie as she crossed the highway and walked past the animal hospital on her way to his house next door.
Chapter 18
It was after dark by the time Remi closed down the restaurant, got everything prepped for the morning shift, and headed home. The thunder and heavy rain made him glad he’d driven his car over rather than just walking to work that morning. He set the alarm, stepped outside and locked the door behind himself, then quickly got in his car. The short drive to his house barely took a minute, and then he was pulling up behind his house, parking beneath the carport attached to his back porch. He took his time getting out, locking his car door and finally heading inside. When he unlocked his back door and stepped inside, he smiled at the scent of spaghetti permeating his home.
“Hi!” Cristie said, from where she stood in the living room, watching him walk into the kitchen.
“Hi,” Remi said, looking around his kitchen. In addition to what he assumed was a pot of spaghetti sauce on the stove, the place mats Cristie had bought a couple of nights before were on the table and there was a vase filled with wild flowers in the middle of the table as well. His gaze went back to Cristie and he noticed right away the new dark oak blinds in his windows, the white Battenburg lace edged curtains, the new camel colored sofa and the throw rug she’d chosen for the middle of the room.
“What do you think?” she asked.
He laid his keys on the kitchen counter top to his immediate left, then started toward her, really taking in all the changes she’d made. “It’s nice. It really is, you did a good job, Cristie.”
“Thank you,” she said delightedly. “I hope you don’t mind, I also brought over some vases and knickknack's to fill your shelves until you get around to it with your own things.”
Remi looked over at his shelves. There were some glass trinkets, a couple of small decorative statues, a crystal candy bowl, and books scattered across the entertainment center his television sat on. Everything on his shelves belonged to Cristie, except the photo of his family, which she’d made sure to place front and center of everything else she’d displayed there.
“It looks really, really nice, Cristie. You made it look like a family lives here instead of just me. It’s warm and inviting now.”
Cristie smiled happily. “That’s what I wanted.”
