Page 35 of Now and Then

Her green eyes sparkle when she looks at me, the corners softening.

“All the time,” she whispers.

“Good.” I grin, those three words music to my ears. I dip my head to the right and run my nose along the slope of her cheek and whisper in her ear, “Then why did you join a dating app?”

She jerks away, eyes practically bulging out of her head. “Who told you?”

“Chris.” I tuck my hands into my pockets. “Apparently, half the guys in town are forming a queue to ask you out.”

“Thanks, Navy.” She mumbles something else, but it’s inaudible as she whirls around and disappears inside. I step over the threshold, unable to take my eyes off the way her slacks hug her body. She quickens her pace, her bare feet slapping against the wood floors as she stomps into the dining room.

One of her sketchbooks and a bag of pencils are scattered over the table. I approach the chair that’s pushed back and turn her notebook toward me. Each page is filled with sketches of room designs and even a rough blueprint of a kitchen. My kitchen to be exact.

“What’s all this?”

“Just some sketches. It was raining, and I couldn’t really leave. I was just messing around.”

I smile and turn the book toward her. “This is my kitchen.”

“It is.” She runs her fingers over the page.

“You actually going to take me up on my offer?”

“About that.” She eases into the chair and folds her arms on the tabletop. “I might have told the Weeks that you hired me to remodel your house.”

“So, you’re agreeing to do it then?”

“They’re really interested in this property.” She gestures around us. “But they have hesitations on tackling a remodel. I might have mentioned I’m getting into design and that you hired me. Then I offered to help them turn this place into a B and B.” She puffs out her cheeks and releases a breath. “They’re going to think about it and let me know Monday.”

I settle at the table on her right and flip through the sketchbook again. One thing Sutton’s always had is an eye for transforming something battered and forgotten into something beautiful and timeless. There’s sketch after sketch of my master bath and bedroom, guest rooms and baths, and even the beginnings of the great room. A sudden surge of pride flares through my body, seeing her visions for the house.

“Sutton, these are incredible.”

“You think so? I wasn’t sure if you’d like them, so I just . . .”

“You just what?” I cover her hand with mine.

She smiles, but won’t look at me. “I just pretended like it was my house too.”

I return her smile. “I hope someday it is.”

“What about Rachel?”

Her question explodes like a grenade between us.

“Rachel?” I’m completely confused. “What about her?”

“I saw you two on your date last weekend.” She rubs her hands over her face and smooths back some fly-aways. Her eyes refuse to meet mine.

I shake my head, gathering her hands in mine. “That wasn’t a date, Sutton. I told you I lost a bet.”

“Must have been some bet.” If jealousy had a color, it’d be the same that flares in her eyes.

I don’t know where all this is coming from. She didn’t mention anything about Rachel that night or the next day. Hell, it hadn’t even been a thought in my mind that this was running through hers. Is this why she’s been MIA this week?

“Sutton, you know as well as anyone, I haven’t been on an actual date since before summer.”

“It looked like one.”