When he bent to drive the screw in, Nick was so close to her, Lucy’s body tingled with the awareness if she just leaned a little to one side, they’d be touching.
She didn’t because she knew just enough about building things to know you didn’t startle a man running a power tool, but she wanted to.
Nick hadn’t tried to kiss her again since the night he’d finished the smaller bedroom and given her the tree that, outside of her notebook, was probably her most prized possession. And she hadn’t tried to kiss him.
But judging by how often she caught him looking at her, his gaze dropping to her mouth, he thought about it a lot. Maybe even as much as she thought about it.
Things were so good between them, though, that she was afraid to reach for more. If things blew up between them, she’d have to leave. She’d promised Gran she wouldn’t leave Wayward Harbor before she got home, but she certainly couldn’t stay with her sister without blowing up Taylor’s life. She knew Willow would take her in, but it would be hard in the studio apartment she’d made over the bakery.
“You can let go of that, you know.”
Startled out of her thoughts, Lucy realized Nick had not only finished fastening the railing, but he was about five feet away. She laughed and stood, stretching her back.
“I just wanted to make sure your workmanship would hold up,” she teased.
“My work speaks for itself,” he said, and then he looked up at the sky. “It’s going to rain soon, so I guess it’s time to quit for the night.”
“Do you think it’ll be done before Gran gets home?”
“It’ll be done,” he said, but his jaw was tight again.
As she helped gather up the tools they’d managed to strew around the entire backyard, Lucy wondered what had triggered his inner grump again. He had to know Gran wouldn’t care if the deck wasn’t totally finished when she got back.
But then she caught him watching her from across the yard, seriousness of his mood apparent in his expression and the way he held his body. Once Helen came home, there would be no place for Nick here.
Lucy wanted to see her grandmother so badly. She wanted that squeeze hug, and she imagined them sitting on the porch wrapped in blankets, catching up on everything that had happened while they were apart.
Now the reality set in that, when that happened, this would end. Nick wouldn’t be the first person she saw in the morning and the last person she spoke to before bed anymore.
Was Nick just wondering where he was going to sleep once Helen returned, and going through lists of people with comfortable couches? Or was he also remembering this life they’d made together was only temporary?
And the clock was ticking.
* * *
Nick had gotten three weeks of blessed peace, not having to keep a secret from Lucy anymore. And now here he was, keeping another one.
On Saturday, Beck and the kids had moved back into their own house. Nick could have gone home two days ago, but he’d said nothing about it to Lucy.
Nick didn’t want to go.
He knew he’d have to soon. Helen would be home in less than two weeks, if everything stayed according to plan, and she was going to want to sleep in her own bed. Short of sleeping on the couch, which would be uncomfortable and also very hard to explain, he’d have to go home.
While it would be nice in a lot of ways, especially considering his mattress was a lot firmer than Helen’s, he was going to miss this. He would miss this bubble he and Lucy had been living in together, and he couldn’t bring himself to pop it.
They made it inside mere moments before the sky released a deluge of rain, and Nick left his tools by the door. He’d put them back in his truck later, though he pulled the battery from his drill to recharge.
Since the rain derailed their plans for the grill, they made BLTs for supper, cheating and using precooked microwave bacon. They both loved bacon, but they also both hated cleaning up bacon grease, so he hadn’t protested when she brought it home from the market. It wasn’t bacon like Pete made it, but it got the job done.
“We really need to get started on that shenanigans list,” Lucy announced while they were eating, and he glanced at the note on the fridge.
Sunrise on Cadillac Mountain.
Go out on a boat.
Visit Dinghy Doodads.
Play football on the beach.
