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His smile was charming, and she needed to keep things friendly between them. Throwing another wrench into the chaos that was her life wasn’t exactly smart… and she sure didn’t need to throw herself at him, especially if he wasn’t interested in her.
“I like the blue,” he began, reaching for a fry and grabbing three of them, taking a bite of them, pinched between his fingers. “The blue has almost a fun, airy, whimsical appeal to it.”
“I was going for classy and relaxing,” she countered flatly, reaching for a fry… only to hear him snort before he chuckled.
She liked his laugh. It was open, honest, and outgoing just like him.
“… Blue does not strike me as classy,” she continued, smiling softly as she heard him laugh a little harder and looked at him. His eyes were dancing as he chewed, covering his mouth to be polite, and looking completely amused.
As he swallowed, he laughed a little more openly and smiled at her genuinely, causing her to hesitate nervously as she felt the keen yearning in her to see him tickled with merriment once again.
“Time to pivot, Miss Mattingly,” he teased, grinning, and reaching for another fry. “Pivot and make an about-face.”
“Blue,” she muttered, trying to make her voice sound stern as she looked around and realized that it really did brighten the space.
Instead of going with sedate or calming? She could do whimsical, and it might suit her a little better, allowing that wild-child she’d buried deep inside to come out and play…
“Extraordinarily blue…” Kyle smiled easily at her. “This is nice.”
“What?” she asked, glancing at him nervously – only to see him look away quickly as he became flustered.
“All of this… the blue… the counter… the food. I was really hungry and it’s just nice, you know. I didn’t mean anything by it, just my brain rambling on. I hope the light isn’t something ‘relaxing’,but rather something that can work with a new theme… or I can paint it all again for you,” Kyle strangled out, stammering a few times, and looking decidedly nervous as he focused on his sandwich, taking another large bite as if to shut his mouth.
“I wouldn’t make you paint everything again,” she countered quickly, as she realized he was afraid she’d do just that. “This is my fault and I’ll fix it somehow… and yes, the light fixture is very pretty but it will work – I think.”
“I can wire in the light,” he mumbled, chewing, and not looking at her.
Reyna gaped in surprise at the unexpected offer.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’m here for the full day, remember? I was going to work on waxing the counters next, but it would be easier under a bright light,” he began, before glancing at her and taking another bite of his sandwich.
“That would be incredible… if you don’t mind?” she whispered, stunned, and touched by the offer.
It was more than she expected, and this was all going so quickly that she would be able to clean, decorate, and start getting the licenses together to operate next week.
“My hands are… I like working with my hands,” he choked out and then coughed slightly, covering his mouth apologetically. “Wrong pipe…” he choked out again, thumping on his chest as he coughed.
Reyna stood up and leaned over the table, slapping him on the back… only to catch him staring wide-eyed at her shirt that was gaping forward. His bright hazel eyes nearly popped out of his head as he suddenly choked even harder.
She wasn’t sure what he could see, but knew it wasn’t much because of her tank top… but the fact that he was looking?Yeaaaah. She thwacked him hard between the shoulder blades, causing him to nod as he held up a hand, coughing, and looked away.
“Get a good view?” she questioned flatly, glaring at him.
“Huh? Oh… that,” Kyle replied nervously, his face turning an alarming shade of red as he looked away. “Sorry, just… yeah. I’m very sorry – and no. I didn’t see anything.”
… And he’s back to being uninterested,she realized, sighing heavily.
“I think I’m finished,” he volunteered, wrapping up the last bite of his sandwich in the paper before putting it on the table. “Is the light fixture in your car? I’ll get it.”
“Yes,” she replied, wadding up her own remainder of the large sandwich and putting it in the bag that had held the fries, before picking up his wrapper, depositing it inside too. “I’ll get the door and we can haul everything in together.”
4
An hour later, the massive box for the toilet sat on the floor in the distance with the caulk and wax ring sitting on top of the box, waiting. The floor was littered with crystals, wires, and chain, as Kyle read the directions – sitting cross-legged nearby.
Reyna was stringing the crystals to hang from the fixture silently and couldn’t help glancing at him a few times… only to catch him watching her once or twice.
