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“I’m not sure that’s necessary,” I replied, and we laughed, getting up to leave.
He offered his arm again, and I took it, feeling a little clumsy in my high heels. We made comfortable small talk on the way back to Sea View. I’d forgotten to leave a light on, and the little cottage looked forlorn and abandoned.
“If you’ll allow me,” he said, “I’ll install solar landscape lighting for you. Electronics are my hobby.”
“I’d love that. I don’t really have any landscaping yet, though.”
“I’ll do that, too, if you’ll let me. Gardening is also a hobby. I feel like I won a prize, dating a woman who owns a beach house.”
“Oh, I get it, it’s the location of my cottage that caught your eye, not me.”
“Um, a bit of both, if that’s okay.”
But he was teasing me, and we roared laughing as he pushed the side door open with his massive shoulder. The smell of drywall, dust, and paint blasted out at us.
“I might have to leave the doors open for a while because that stench is unappealing,” I said.
“Do you have heat?”
“Not really. Just a space heater like the old places had. I’m getting all new services in, AC and heat and electric. But I have a fireplace.”
“I’ll start a fire when we come in from our walk.”
I showed him the working half-bath off the hallway. “The first thing I did when I bought it was to have the bathrooms renovated. Since I’m not changing the floor plan, that was an easy decision. I’m kind of a germaphobe, but since I’m living in this mess, I guess I’m really not.”
“It’s fine, considering what you’re doing to it,” Will said. He took his bag and disappeared into the bathroom.
I went into my bedroom and changed into sweatpants and a long-sleeved University of Chicago T-shirt, sweat socks, and sneakers. We met back in the hallway and both barked out a laugh, pointing at each other, both wearing college T-shirts and sweatpants.
“Mine is about twenty years older than yours,” he said, grinning at me. “Jailbait.”
“Ah uh,” I said, flirting with him. “I just made it. Twenty-three.”
“Oh, ugh, try twenty-five years older than yours. Um, Laura, I’m not sure why our age difference wasn’t such a big deal twenty-four hours ago.”
“I knew how old you were, and it didn’t make a difference to me. How old did you think I was?”
“Older than twenty-three,” he said.
“Let’s get out in the fresh air, and age won’t mean a thing.” I reached for his hand. “Come on. We’ll have the entire beach to ourselves.”
I watched him, and it was pretty clear the man was uncomfortable with the age thing. I needed to address it because I didn’t want to lose him over something I had no control over.
“Will, I hope our age difference will not be a problem for you, because I really like you. Honestly, I don’t like many people, and I can’t stand most men.”
“I’m sorry about that. But I’m so happy you like me. I’ll work on the age thing. I’m not going to let it be a problem, if I can help it.”
We left the cottage, and he turned to the water while I locked the door. I slipped my hand into his, and he bent to kiss me on the lips. I didn’t hesitate, threading my arms around his shoulders and kissing him back. If he’d wanted me right then, I’d have taken him back into the house and done it. But I was letting him take the lead. He hugged me tight and took my hand again.
“Which way? North or south?”
“South we can’t go very far,” I explained, pointing out the lights of the marina. “North will take us all the way to the causeway and beyond to the state beaches. Where do you live?”
“On the other side of town,” he said. “Near the high school.”
“I don’t know my way around here yet.”
“Mine is just a regular neighborhood,” he said. “It’s not the beach. And I love the beach.”
