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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
In a very Carine-like fashion, Carine rearranged the wrap around the bouquet to make the edges crisp, and the corners sharp once more. Then she cradled the roses against the nook of her left arm and stood. “Gonna have to find a vase to put these in. Putting them into a Shora model home vase won't feel right because that stuff’s all fake and arranged, not for romantic things.”
She tossed the earplugs into the trash and closed out the session on Clay’s tablets.
“I hope you didn’t plan on getting any more romantic than this. I don’t have room for things.”
“I have room.”
“Is that your way of inviting me home with you?” Carine’s tone had been bright and energized, but it had suddenly reverted to the less confident phrasing of earlier in the encounter.
Heidi had said what she’d needed to. She’d laid out her logic like the receipts she prepared for the tax accountant every quarter.
Carine had neutralized her concerns.
Her hesitance could only mean that she didn’t know what was supposed to happen next. She was relying on Heidi to tell her what they were going to do.
“You don’t need an invitation, Carine. You can have whatever you want.”
Carine cast Heidi a wary look out of the corners of her eyes and fondled the edge of the silhouette screen. “Anything?”
“Anything.As long as it doesn’t involve me jumping off a yacht into freezing cold water.” It’d taken Heidi’s nipples two days to fully thaw after that holiday card photo adventure. While she had no doubts Carine would cooperate in suckling warmth back into her body if needed, the ordeal simply wasn’t one Heidi wished to repeat.
Carine’s ginger eyebrows lifted like her mood as she angled her body more toward Heidi’s. “Do I get to be on the card picture? Are we greeting-card-official now or just our-toothbrushes-share-a-cup official?”
Laughing, Heidi looped an arm around Carine’s waist and started them toward the door. Carine needed a vase for her roses, and Heidi had amassed quite the collection of decorative glassware over the years Dowd Wave Cruisers had been in business. Vendors buttered Tim up with steaks and baseball game tickets. Heidi got floral arrangements. Always floral arrangements because, apparently, cofounding ex-wives didn’t like steaks or baseball.
“Greeting card, for sure. I actually think that would be hilarious.” Heidi opened the hallway door and nudged Carine toward the back stairs. “We can do the whole messy bunch of us. Kalimah will be hugely pregnant by then, and Olivia will certainly be crawling. I can knit the most darling elf hat for her. In fact, maybe we can go to one of those department store photo studios and really camp it up.”
Carine snorted and gripped Heidi’s arm tightly as they descended the steps. “Heidi Dowd does camp? I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“I’m appalled by how little faith you have in me. I can do whatever I set my mind to.”
“Set your mind to remembering what you said back there, then,” Carine murmured somberly.
“Iwon’tforget. I won’t leave you dangling again. We’ve come to a new understanding, haven’t we?”
“That Heidi Dowd has a girlfriend? Yes. And Heidi should marry her so the senior community can put her on the list to visit Ms. Eunice whenever she needs to.”
“Heidi intended to marry her girlfriend for other practical purposes, but she supposes that reason is as good as any.”
Clay was at the bottom when they landed with his robe cinched and his arms folded over his chest. “Y’all gonna tell me about my room?”
Carine balked. “You meannow?”
“That there was a premium service, Carine. Actually, you should pay me for the sneak peek.”
“Go shake down one of the newbies for ducats. And you can wait a day or two. Heidi’s taking me home so we can brainstorm a campy Christmas card.” Carine’s brow furrowed. “And what my name will listed as on it. Ohshit. That might be weird.”
Even with her being as meticulous as she was, Heidi hadn’t thought that far ahead. There was a greater than zero possibility that there could be three Mrs. Dowds in the same generation by the end of the year. She’d never had any intention of reverting to her maiden name because Dowd was her son’s last name. Dowd would also likely be her grandchild’s last name. She liked the continuity and the way names linked people.
Tim would probably think the sudden boom of Dowd matrons was hilarious.
Clay hadn’t yet caught on to the point of Carine’s concern.
“Can I be in it?” he asked.
Someone could have knocked Heidi over with a feather at the fact Clay sounded genuinely interested in the scheme.
