Page 12 of The Focal Point

Liam’s gaze lit up as though he had been expecting me to pitch a total redesign, thus rendering the home unrecognizable.

“Can you do that?”

“Of course.”

“I would like that.” His bright smile became something softer, something appreciative, something else I couldn’t name.

“Okay, that’s a great place to start. And it will give me a clearer picture of what I have to work with and around. Let’s start with the furniture—”

“Why don’t we start with dinner.”

My head snapped up, my mouth opening, but no sound came out.

“I can’t concentrate because I’m hungry. I didn’t have time to eat lunch today, so I’m starving. Why don’t we continue our meeting there?”

Oh. I had to shake my head to turn my thoughts around and force a smile. “Oh, yeah, that sounds good. I can do that.”

“Great.” Liam was out of his chair in a second, leaving me scrambling to collect my things and follow.

He grabbed the keys hanging by the door to the garage on the kitchen’s opposite wall. “I’ll text you the address. I don’t want to pressure you into driving with me since we barely know each other.”

“Oh, sure, thanks.”

As Liam escorted me to my car before disappearing into the garage, I reflected on how much I appreciated his thoughtfulness, even though the meeting had been as strange as I had expected.

And yet, I couldn’t help but admit that I had also enjoyed myself—despite the quirks, or maybe because of them, I had enjoyed being around Liam.

Chapter 5

Liam

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I SAW BAILEY’S GAZE searching the façade of the diner with its row of windows and neon sign. However, her expression didn’t tell me what she was thinking, though her lips were thin, and she had sunk her teeth into her bottom lip.

The plan to take her somewhere for dinner, a date without it actually being a date, a chance to get to know her better in a more relaxed setting, had suddenly popped into my head. The rumble in my stomach had been the inspiration—I hadn’t been lying about skipping lunch. The day had turned out to be packed, and I’d had to scramble to finish everything in time for the meeting with Bailey. I absolutely refused to reschedule it.

We had been together for only five minutes at the most and exchanged maybe a paragraph. But I hadn’t been able to get her out of my head since that moment in Tom’s office. I had to see her again, even if it was just for a design meeting and nothing more.

That didn’t stop me from wanting to stretch the time out, however. I loved how Bailey looked with her mind running behind her open expression, the delight and creativity nearly bursting from her, visible in the shine in her intensely blue eyes and expansive movements as she asked about this piece and that corner and a specific window. Seeing someone so immersed and in love with what they did was deeply attractive, and I fell deeper with every word and movement.

I had to get to know her better.

But the fact remained—I didn’t know her beyond design aspects. The idea had been to take her somewhere casual, somewhere they knew me, somewhere without the pressure of a carefully designed menu and pricy food.

Had I miscalculated? Was Bailey someone who preferred that to this?

“Is this okay?” I asked. “I thought someplace casual would work best to finish our meeting, but we can go somewhere else if you—”

“No, no. This is completely fine.” Bailey flapped her hand to dismiss my worries. “I was trying to remember if I knew this place or not. It seems familiar.”

Relief flooded through me. “They were featured in the Sacramento Daily a few months ago.”

A lightbulb seemed to go off for Bailey. “Oh yeah. That’s it. I knew I’d seen it somewhere.”

“Yeah, that was a big deal for them. I’m happy, but it means more people have been coming in. Which is great, don’t get me wrong, but—” I shrugged.

“But you kind of wanted to keep it to yourself?” Bailey asked with a gleam in her eye.