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“Look.” Deciding it was fruitless to dance around the truth any longer, Lia stripped all finesse out of her justification. “Ethan isn’t likely to judge me for living in a camper.”
“But you think I would.” Paul released her hand and stepped back. “Let me point out that you are the one jumping to conclusions about me. Which is ironic, considering I spent the last hour watching you read tarot cards and didn’t utter a single disparaging remark.”
“You’re right. I... I’m...”
“Sorry?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You should be. I’ve been pretty openminded about all the alternative treatments you’ve used on Grady. Meditation. Sound baths. Aromatherapy. I’ve never met anyone who believes in the sorts of things you do, but I’ve never tried to interfere with anything you’ve suggested.”
“You’re right,” she repeated. Lia bowed her head and accepted the scolding. “I’m not being fair to you. I know the things I’m into are completely foreign to you and you’ve been great about all the weirdness.” She paused and looked into his eyes, then said, “If you’re still willing to take me to pick up the Elsa costume, I’m happy to go for the ride.”
“Afterward we’ll go truck shopping,” he declared, his tone brooking no further discussion. “And then I’ll take you to dinner.”
“That would be very nice,” she said in a small voice, offering him a tentative smile. “Give me ten minutes to put the deck back in my room and get my purse.”
He nodded in satisfaction, but his expression had yet to relax. “I’ll meet you by the driveway.”
Seven
While Paul waited for Lia, he paced from his SUV to the edge of the driveway and back, made restless by his heightened emotional state. Gone were the days when he could summon icy calm and a clear head at will. Just being near Lia disrupted the status quo. The factual logic that had served him all his life was being defeated by things he couldn’t see, touch or prove existed. He was actually buying into all her metaphysical nonsense. His tarot reading had struck far too close to home. He’d like to put it down to sleight-of-hand card tricks and guesswork, but she hadn’t touched the tarot deck after he’d handled it.
He’d always viewed his suspicious nature as a fundamental part of him like his height and eye color. Innate and something he couldn’t change even if he wanted to. He could see how his skepticism created distance from others, but he’d accepted this as a matter of course. He had faith in those who were important to him. His family. Close friends. The rest of the world could go to hell.
But lately he was growing increasingly aware of how his distrust impacted Lia. She lacked the sort of armor those he usually dealt with wore. Her openness and upbeat take on the world displayed vulnerability that charmed everyone she met.
Which made her resistance to letting him see her camper all the more striking.
She didn’t trust him.
The revelation stung.
Worse was her blind faith in Ethan. Had she forgotten which brother had landed her in their current predicament? Ethan, not Paul, had been the one who’d perpetuated Grady’s incorrect belief that Lia was his long-lost granddaughter. More than any other member of the Watts family, Ethan was the one she should be most wary of.
“Ready?”
Paul had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t noticed Lia’s approach. She’d done more than grab her purse at the house. While he’d wrestled with his demons, she’d changed into a loose-fitting black-and-white-striped T-shirt dress and white sneakers. With her hair in a loose topknot and dark glasses hiding her eyes, she gave off a cool, casual vibe at complete odds with the turmoil raging in him.
Longing rippled through him. He itched to reach across the distance separating them and haul her into his arms. Instead, stunned by the willpower it took to keep his hands off her, he gripped the passenger-side door handle as if it was a lifeline and gestured her into the SUV. No matter how temptation swelled in him, this wasn’t the time or place to cross that line. Why was it so hard to do the right thing around her?
Forty minutes later, Paul drove through the security gate of a boat and RV storage lot and stopped his SUV beside a small vintage trailer painted white and mint green. From Lia’s doting expression, he gathered this must be the famous Misty.
“It won’t take me but a second to grab the costume,” Lia said, her hand on the door handle. “Do you want to wait here?”
After their earlier quarrel, he intended to prove that he wasn’t the judgmental jerk she’d branded him. “No.” And then hearing how abrupt that sounded, he added in a more conciliatory tone, “I’d like to see what she looks like inside.” He’d picked up Lia’s habit of referring to the vintage camper by the feminine pronoun.
“Okay.” She drew the word out as she exited the SUV.
Paul noted the matching mint-colored curtains framing the windows as Lia unlocked the camper and stepped inside. He followed her in, surprised that the ceiling height accommodated his six-foot-one-inch frame without him having to stoop.
“This is tiny,” he declared, at once shocked by the camper’s limited footprint and impressed by how Lia had made efficient use of every inch of it. “How do you live in such a small space?”
“Simply.” She flashed him a wry grin and gestured at the boxes piled up in the sitting area toward the back. “It’s not usually this cluttered. Normally I store all the costumes in my truck.”
“Do you like living with
so little?” Paul asked, shifting uneasily in the narrow aisle between closet and kitchen. He became all too aware of the inviting sleeping nook behind him with its extravagance of soft pillows.
“I find it calming.” She gave him a quick tour, narrating the camper’s history while assessing his reaction the whole time. “What do you think?”
“It’s cozy,” he ventured, glancing around. “And it suits you.”
