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For fuck’s sake.
“Lady, you can have a deck.” Valerie made a note.
“Really?”
“Yep.” Valerie was probably going to get fired for overstepping her bounds, but she didn’t care. She was going to make that house makesense, even if she had to drive to D.C. and whack her boss on the nose with one of those dusty old blueprint tubes he kept in his office.
“Maybe we can…meet and talk about it?” Valerie said. “So you and your husband get everything you need.”And so I can pick your brain some more.
There had to be some secret sauce—some magic in play to make everything Mrs. Paulsen had possible. Valerie wanted that magic, too. She wanted that loud house, and the job, and…the husband to fall asleep by the front door.
Does Tim cut his own grass?
She notched her teeth into her lower lip, pondering the image. A napping Tim made a very warm image indeed.
“This could be thelasthouse we have to buy,” Mrs. Paulsen said wistfully.
“Exactly.”
“Tomorrow, maybe? My husband’s taking the boys on a scouting trip. I know it’s a Saturday, but—”
“Let’s do it. Meet me here in the office and we can figure out where to go from here?”
“See you then!”
There had been a note of genuine excitement in Mrs. Paulsen’s voice when she’d disconnected, and it put a smile on Valerie’s face. Solving problems was the most rewarding part of being an architect, but she rarely got to do it on such a personal level. She was going to push for those changes and throw her weight around if she had to. She was a seasoned, loyal employee of the company, and had a track record of getting things done.
They needed to let her, or she’d make sure they knew she wouldn’t be gettinganythingdone for them for much longer.
Valerie was at the deli sipping her third cup of coffee and making her fifth page of notes about the Paulsen home customization when a shadow darkened her notepad and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
Nikki Paulsen pushed up one dark eyebrow and looked over Valerie’s head at the newcomer.
Valerie closed her eyes, sighed, and set down her pen. She knew who it was. She knew his saltwater and aftershave scent, and maybe she even knew his energy, too. No one electrified her that way.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Tim said. “I saw this lady and wanted to say hello.”
“Hello, Tim,” she said without opening her eyes.
“How are you?”
“Fine.”Lonely. Confused.
“Glad to hear it. My folks are in town and I’m going to take them out on the boat.”
“Oh,” she said weakly. “Have a good time.” She opened her eyes and tipped her head back to look at him.
Big mistake.
It was easier to shove him to the back of her thoughts when she didn’t have to look at him. He always looked at her with such intensity in his stare. She couldn’t help but be completely enthralled, because she knew what that intensity meant. He saw her as something he wanted and that he would take such good care of, but she wouldn’t let him have her.
She wasn’t sure if she could yet.
“The weather looks good for the trip,” he said quietly and adjusted the brim of his hat. He looked away from her and extended a hand to Nikki. “I’m Tim Dowd.”
“Oh. I’ve heard of you.” Nikki put her hand in his and shook it. “I’m Nikki Paulsen. My husband’s been wanting to get a boat for years. I told him he had to wait until we got this mess with the house is straightened out. I said let’s sell the old house, take care of getting the new one built, andthenhe can think about taking out a boat loan.”
Tim’s eyes lit up. “Wait. Paulsen? Is your husband Dean Paulsen?”
