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I polished off the wine bottle between our glasses and brought them to the living room after I gathered the list that I had made for Peter. I stood in the middle of the room and glanced around. The room was weathered and aged. My mom hadn’t changed anything in here in years, and I wondered what Peter thought of it.
I wandered over to a shelf and picked up an old photograph. It was my prom picture, and it included Peter and his date, Sarah. Peter had his arm around Sarah, but his shoulder touched mine. There was a gap between him and Sarah. There was also space between Jeremy and I. Was it odd that I had never noticed that before? Was I making more out of it than what it was?
I jumped when I felt his hand on my lower back, and he laughed. “Wow, that was a long time ago. Did your mom still have that up?”
“Mom hasn’t changed anything in this house in twenty years. She just added more,” I said with a laugh.
He grinned down at the picture. “You know it almost looks like you and I were going together with as much room as there is between us and our dates.”
My face snapped up. “I just thought the same thing. I never noticed it before.”
“Neither did I,” he said as he handed the picture back to me and then went to sit on the couch. “Okay, where is that list?”
What happened to taking that kiss back up? Had he changed his mind? Probably. I shoved my disappointment away and handed him the list.
“Okay, the fireplace flue needs to be cleaned. That’s easy enough and not that expensive. The roof leaks into the master bedroom. How bad?”
I winced. “Pretty bad.”
“I’ll look at it later.” I went through the rest of the list. There were ten items in total, and some of them were extensive and were going to be expensive. He told me I could keep the costs down if I would let him do most of the repairs and just cover material costs. I just wasn’t sure about that.
“So, what do you think?” I asked.
“I think you have a lot that needs to be done. Some of these are serious, like the pipe in the basement, the gutters, and the roof leaking. Those all need attention immediately. They are also the most expensive ones, except for the oil burner. That one is going to be costly too.”
I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face. “I know.”
Peter took one of my hands as I dropped them away from my face. “Faith, did neither Jeremy or your mother have life insurance that could help with this?”
I barked out a laugh and then groaned. “My mother’s was just enough to pay for her burial and the back taxes she owed on the house. As for Jeremy’s, well, that’s a whole different story.”
“Tell me the story, Faith,” he said softly.
“Peter, you don’t want to hear this, because if I’m going to tell you part of it, I have to tell you all of it.”
He shifted closer, and took my other hand in his. “Then tell me all of it. I’m here for you, Faith. Tell me what happened.”
Did I dare? Did I dare tell Peter all about his best friend? It would either ruin his image of Jeremy, or he wouldn’t believe me. Part of me was more concerned that he wouldn’t believe me. “If I tell you this, Peter, you can never unhear it. There are days when I wish I could forget it all, but you won’t be able to. I’m afraid that if I told you, you’d think differently of me, or him.”
He contemplated that for a moment. “What did he do to hurt you, Faith?”
“Man, that is a loaded question, Peter.”
“You need to tell me, Faith. There is nothing you can tell me that would make me feel differently about you.”
How did he feel? I wanted to ask him, but I couldn’t bring myself to. After a moment, Peter cupped my cheek again. “I will do everything in my power to take the sadness out of your eyes, Faith. Talk to me, sweetheart.”
My heart sighed at his endearment, and my body drifted toward him again. This time I knew we wouldn’t be interrupted, and butterflies crowded in my belly.
“I know this is probably wrong in so many ways, Faith, but I need to kiss you.”
“Please,” I replied breathlessly.
Peter brushed his lips over mine once, and the butterflies exploded into firecrackers. My body vibrated as they blasted outward, and any fears I had vanished as he deepened the kiss.
Chapter Six
Peter
