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Fourteen
When his doorbell rang Friday night, Gavin didn’t expect to find a woman on his doorstep, so the sight of two of them momentarily threw him.
“Hallie,” he greeted. “Ruby.”
“Hey, Gav.” Ruby was smiling as she strode in. “I won’t be long. I wanted to drop off my invoice.”
“In person, no less.” When Hallie would have passed by, too, he snagged her waist, outfitted in a slim black dress, and placed a brief kiss on the center of her lips. “Hi.”
“Hi.” She blushed prettily, but the moment was interrupted by Ruby’s voice calling from the kitchen.
“I was in the neighborhood. Planned on leaving this on your doorstep but then I saw Hallie and I had to say hello.” There was a pause and then, “This looks yummy. I’m interrupting.”
She was referring to the charcuterie plate and bottle of wine for two Gavin had arranged. Much as he liked Ruby, at the moment, yeah, she was interrupting. Nevertheless, he said, “Thanks for stopping by.”
“No problem.” Ruby flashed him a knowing smile. “Anyway. I’ll be going. Oh, and I appreciate the referral to your friend Mark.”
“No problem.” He didn’t hesitate to refer her to his friends. Ruby was incredible at her job.
Her eyes flitted across the room. “The chair came in!”
“It looks better than I thought,” Hallie chimed in, following Ruby into the living room, where they took turns stroking the fabric.
“This is my favorite part—the final walk-through,” Ruby told Hallie. “To see how all we’ve imagined came together. Have you seen the rest yet?”
Hallie bit her lip before admitting, “Only the kitchen.”
He remembered the kitchen, too. Their frantic need for each other, the high keening sounds she’d made when she was coming. The ice cream after, and how delicate she’d looked, dressed in naught but his shirt. Yeah, he needed to usher Ruby out of here.
“I’ll come back at a more convenient time.” Ruby gave Hallie a quick hug.
“I hope I’m here when you do,” Hallie told her. “I would be so fascinated to hear your take. You really have an eye.” Her face fell the slightest bit, which made him reconsider. Yes, he was anxious to have Hallie to himself, but he would have plenty of time for that later.
“Why not now?” Hands in his pockets, he gave Hallie a small smile.
Ruby’s eyes went to the spread in the kitchen and then narrowed on Gavin. “You sure?”
“If it’s okay with you.” Hallie grinned at Ruby before sending Gavin a pleased smile.
“Of course it’s okay with her. She lives for this stuff,” he said easily as he crossed to the kitchen island—not the one he and Hallie had christened, that one was sacred—and poured two glasses of wine. “I showed Cash around, but I haven’t taken a close look. We mostly drank beer and bitched about work.” Not entirely true, but he wasn’t about to bring up how Cash had cornered him about Hallie and marriage and kids.
He delivered a glass to each of the women in his living room. Gavin’s gaze shifted to Hallie, and she nearly took his breath away. He had no clue how he’d confused her for Hannah. They were so different.
“I’m excited to see the bedrooms,” Hallie said. Ruby hoisted her eyebrows and Hallie added, “I mean the uh, the um...wall art we talked about in particular.”
“Is that what arrived today?” He pointed out a flat cardboard package leaning against the stairs. “I didn’t know if I should open it or not.”
“Avoidance. I’d expect that from him,” Ruby quipped. “Hallie picked it out.”
“You’ll like it,” Hallie promised.
“Let’s check out this floor first.” Ruby looped her arm in Hallie’s and headed for the hallway. Gavin popped a piece of cheese into his mouth, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and followed.
Throughout the tour, he learned a lot of things he didn’t think he cared about, but Ruby’s and Hallie’s excitement was weirdly contagious.
Hallie knew his taste and his style. Yes, he’d opened the door for the furniture delivery guys and showed them to the rooms where they’d placed the various pieces of furniture, but until Hallie and Ruby were chattering about the style of the headboard on the guest bed and the reasoning behind choosing an electric lamp that resembled an oil lamp, he hadn’t thought too deeply about it.
“They’re reminiscent of portals,” Hallie said, outlining the circles hewn into the wooden headboard with one finger. “Because you live on the water.”
