Everly glanced down at the striped black-and-white shoes. “Thanks. I’m a bit of a Converse addict.”
Chris stepped into her, putting his arm around her shoulder with a sweet familiarity that made Grace’s heartstrings tug sharply.
“There are definitely worse habits,” Grace said.
Noah’s gaze burned into her skin. Feigning a nonchalance she did not feel, she looked his way. “Good week?”
He nodded. “I got a lot accomplished. I’m waiting on the list of office furniture you owe me.” His gaze sparked with amusement. She wondered if he’d told his brother about their bet.
“I have it. With some sketch ideas.”
She felt curiosity from Chris and Everly.
“You’re in design school, right?” Chris asked.
“Just finishing up.” Normally, she didn’t mind idle chitchat, but everything about talking to Noah, with his family no less, made her feel like simple conversations could go sideways.
Chris looked at his brother with an overly wide gaze. “Aren’t you looking for a designer?”
“Chris.” Noah all but growled the word, making Grace’s back stiffen.
“No luck?” she asked with more of a bite than she intended.
“Something will work out,” Noah said.
Cue awkward tension. She was planting herself firmly in the “don’t like him” camp at the moment.
“Sorry, just to clarify, you’re a designer; Noah, you’re looking for designers, and Grace is doing your office for you?”
“That’s right. Grace is doing my office because all it has to do is be functional and because she lost a bet. I’ll be going with a professional firm for the rest of my house.”
Did he realize how insulting he sounded?
“You sound like a dick,” Chris said.
Grace coughed to cover her laugh. Well, he knows now.
“What?” Noah looked completely confused. “What did I do?” He stared at Grace.
“Nothing. Just stop saying I’m only doing your office because you’d trust a blindfolded toddler to do it. It was your idea. Maybe you’re just too lazy to pick out your own furniture, I don’t know. It might surprise you to know, but I have serious skills. I’m top in my class.”
His frown deepened. “That doesn’t surprise me. I wasn’t slighting your skills. I didn’t mean to.”
Noah’s genuine tone shifted the tide in his favor. What was it about this guy?
“This is why you have to think about what comes out of your mouth,” Chris said, teasing. Everly leaned into him, rolling her eyes adorably, because clearly she was beyond smitten, even when the brothers acted like this.
Noah ran his hands through his hair. Something he did when he was nervous or unsure. “We’re going to BBQ some burgers. Why don’t you come over and join us?” Noah said.
Exam. Painting. Planning her life. Plenty of reasons not to. A girl’s gotta eat. “I need about a half hour. Can I bring anything?”
“Just you,” Noah said, stepping closer to the fence.
She looked at his brother and Everly, noting the way they stared curiously. “You sure?”
“Join us, please,” Chris said.
She could drop off his office ideas, double-check the room, and get a meal out of it. Those were her reasons. Not because you’re curious about him and his family. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
She heard their murmurs behind her as she let herself into her house. She wouldn’t show up empty-handed. Inside, she changed, praised herself for picking up wine and not drinking it, and started to tidy up before leaving. Her mother’s letter slipped out of the pile of papers she was moving. She stared at it, tapped it against her palm.
She could take Noah’s offer and cut ties to her past. Her mother wanted a piece of what her grandparents had left despite wanting nothing to do with them when they were alive. Grace looked around the kitchen. It needed updating, new appliances. She wanted to put in a barn door to separate the laundry/mudroom area. The irony was, if she took Noah’s money, she could make the house exactly what she wanted.
You’ve never needed the quick fix before. The truth was, she liked coming home to this house. She felt like she belonged here in some sense. Even if her mother felt like she hadn’t. She set the letter down.
She’d worked her ass off, gotten out of the trailer, away from her mom’s life and toxic brand of parenting. She’d done all of that without Noah’s help. It might take a lifetime but she could make this place her own. Make her own path in the design world. Hell, she’d even found a way to make corporate badass Noah Jansen back off on asking her to sell. From what she’d read, that was a contradiction to his sharklike business nature. She didn’t need to sell to grow. She needed to plant roots.
* * *
Grace got caught up in Chris telling stories with the sole intent of embarrassing Noah. Over burgers, salad, and ice-cold colas, Chris did everything he could to turn Noah’s cheeks red.
“He did not,” Grace said, glancing around the table for confirmation.
Everly shrugged her shoulders. “It wouldn’t surprise me.”
Noah’s scowl deepened. “Next time, I’m only inviting you, Everly.”
Chris tossed his napkin onto his plate. “Don’t be a suck. He absolutely did, Grace. Instead of admitting he didn’t study for the exam, he went ahead with the experiment and set the chem lab on fire.”
Her laughter started all over again. “Your stubbornness knows no bounds.”
“Says one stubborn person to the next,” Noah said, poking her in the shoulder with his index finger.
He did that now and again when they were together—simple touches that suggested he maybe liked her more than he meant to. The simple graze made her wonder about more. Because you aren’t confused enough about all the things you’re chasing in life? You want a fling to complicate it. Her only thought after that was … Maybe?
She decided, watching the two of them interact, that having a sibling could definitely have improved her life.
One day, you’ll marry someone who has a family and you’ll be part of that one. Morty’s words came back to her. Family is what you want it to be.
When they’d cleared the table, she pulled out her sketchbook. “Did you want to see the ideas I had for your office? I have three sketches based on price line. You can mix and match if you want unless you have a preferred store. I figure if Josh buys your groceries, you could get him to order these things since that wasn’t part of the bet.”
“Wow. She has you pegged,” Chris said.
She wasn’t sure what to make of Noah’s expression. His gaze was suspiciously blank when he met hers. “Pretty sure I can handle ordering online.”
Nerves ran around in her belly, but they were the good kind. She felt good about what she had to show. The three of them pored over the designs she’d sketched. She’d gone high-end with one, figuring he could afford it. Sleek furniture that hid its efficiency was expensive. The room would be masculine but subtle, closed cabinets giving the feel of more space but opening up to create a usable work space.
“This is gorgeous,” Everly said, tapping her finger near the first design.
“It should be for what it costs.” She looked at Noah. “But since you insist your office is a throwaway room, it isn’t what I’d choose.” She set down the second design. It was the middle line between the three. Functional and efficient but also homey. It would be her choice if she had the money. As it was, she couldn’t even afford sketch one.
“This is really great,” Chris said. “I like the functionality paired with personality in this one.”
Everly grinned at him but Grace laughed, her surprise obvious. “Taken some design courses, have you?”
Chris’s cheeks went a soft pink. “I just like what I like.”
Noah laughed, nudged his brother’s shoulder. “I like this one, too. The other one feels too stark. Even with the darker colors.”
Grace smiled. She liked this.
No, she loved this. She loved making people’s ideas come to life, and she’d pictured Noah choosing this one. Design, probably like in his business, involved reading people.
“You want high quality with function and a homey feel,” Grace said.
“I want that in every room of my house,” Everly said.
“There’re only three rooms total in your house, babe,” Chris said.
Everly nodded. “True. But one day…”
The way she let the words trail off, the way the couple looked at each other, as if they could feel the unsaid words between them, made the longing twist inside of Grace like a sharp stitch.
“Okay,” she said a little too brightly. “Last one, all function, low budget.”
Chris’s smile grew. “Grace, you’re skilled.”
She gave an awkward laugh. “You can’t know that based on a few sketches.”
Noah stood straight. “Judging people’s skills with little background information is one of my brother’s specialties.”
“It is. Just like Noah’s is knowing when to press and when to idle.”
She shared her smile with both of them. “What does that even mean?”
“For me, I’ve been in lots of positions where I’ve had to take someone’s measure, if you will, with not a lot to go on. You get good at it. For Noah, he’s able to gauge a client’s interest like a pressure point. He eases up at just the right time to make them want more. Makes them think what he wants is their idea.”
A little buzz hummed in her ears as she thought about those words.
Everly added to the conversation, but Grace didn’t hear what she said because she was too busy thinking about how odd it was that as soon as Noah stopped asking to buy her house, she’d seriously considered selling it to him.
“You were making a power move, not being kind,” she said, more to herself than to any of them.
“What’s that?” Chris asked.
All gazes landed on her.
“You okay, Grace?” Noah asked.
“You won the bet.” She pointed to the sketches. “You didn’t have to let me win, too.”
Noah’s smile was phony. It was too wide. Too happy. It didn’t touch his intense brown eyes. When it did, she felt like she could fall into his gaze. “You didn’t win. I did.”
“But you said you’d stop asking,” Grace said, her stomach tightening.
The silence said everything. He didn’t do it because he felt the connection growing between them or because there were more check marks in his “I like her” column than his “She drives me nuts” column. He’d made her think it was her idea, therefore almost getting exactly what he wanted.
“It’s manipulative,” she whispered. For some reason, she thought of Tammy and how she never wanted Grace around when she was. But the second she was gone … different story.
“Maybe we should go for a walk on the beach, Ev,” Chris said. The two of them stood, but Grace was already backing away.
“Grace, I wasn’t manipulating you.”
Even his tone was phony, or maybe she’d just gotten through his shell enough in the last couple of weeks that she could tell he wasn’t being truthful.
“You were playing me. It’s all a game to you.” She spread her arms out, looked around the kitchen he could make state-of-the-art without one care for cost. “It’s all a game to you. I read about you. Your family. You guys are business giants. You say you want to settle in this house but it’s just walls and wood to you. You have no idea what it means to have something mean something to you.”
Everly and Chris started for the door.
“No. Please. Don’t go. I need to go.” She stared at Noah. “Don’t ask about my house again. I won’t sell it. Because I don’t want to. Because it matters to me. I get that you don’t understand that but you will respect it. No more games either. You won the design from me but no more fence fixing or trading off. Stay away from me.”
She wasn’t even sure she meant that last part and maybe she was being irrational but her emotions were tangled like shoelaces and if she didn’t get out of there now she was going to trip on them.
She’d fallen flat on her face in front of this man enough for one lifetime.
15
Noah’s breath caught in his lungs painfully as he watched her go. He didn’t go after her. He had no right. She was right. He’d manipulated her. His brother had called him on it in the bakery. Because he’d seen her house as a target he wanted to hit. He’d been chasing after deals he could close, thinking it would make him feel something. He walked into the open area of his living room.
But what actually made him feel was the woman who just walked out the door. How was that for some fucking irony. Whether he was fighting or flirting with her, she made him feel alive. The way an amazing deal used to make him feel. He’d hurt her. Even at his worst, when he was just another corporate lackey for his dad, he’d never intentionally hurt anyone. Business was business. Grace was … pure and sweet and real. And he’d hurt her by being himself.
Chris and Everly joined him. “That got weird fast. Sorry for saying that shit about how you do business.”
Noah turned to face him, noticed Everly’s tight-lipped grimace, the pity in her gaze. “For telling her the truth? That I’m an asshole?”
“You’re not,” Everly said, her quiet voice emphatic.
Noah locked his fingers in his hair. “I’m him.”
“Don’t do that,” Chris said, his tone sharp. “You’re not Dad. Look, clearly you’ve got some mixed feelings for that woman. I’d say it’s mutual. There were a lot of heated looks I’m okay with never seeing between my brother and a woman.”
Noah gave him a wry smile. “Wouldn’t know what that’s like.” He winked at Everly, making her smile.
“You didn’t mention how much more this is than business,” Chris said.
“What are you talking about? She’s my neighbor. She’s fought me on most things since I got here.”
Chris smiled knowingly. “When you talk about her, you light up like you used to when you found a wicked property you could flip. Whatever the reason, this girl is lighting something back up inside you. I’m happy to see it. I’m tired of watching you pout, being wishy-washy about properties and companies.”
“Screw you, man.” He said it with a laugh. Wishy-washy. Whatever. He just hadn’t found anything to sink his teeth into.
Chris clapped him on the shoulder. “Let her calm down. Talk to her.”
“And say what? ‘Sorry for being a product of my father’? ‘Turns out I’m more like him than I thought. Business comes before people without me even realizing it’?”
Chris squeezed his shoulder. “It’s a choice, man. We choose who we end up being. Good or bad, you don’t get to blame him. He may have laid the groundwork but we’re paving our own path.”
Noah walked away, paced the empty living room. He needed some damn furniture. He needed to start his life here rather than choosing random jobs to chip away at. He needed to focus. To figure out what he truly wanted.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Everly tapping her fingers against her thigh. When he looked at her face, her lips were pressed into a thin line.
Noah sighed, his lungs deflating like a balloon. “What?”
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t say anything.”
His brother looked at his girlfriend, reached for her hand to thread in his own. A sharp pang hit Noah in the sternum. He didn’t want that. Did he? Chris got lucky when he found Everly but that kind of forever was absolutely not for everyone.
“You don’t have to. I know you’re thinking something. Tell me. I want to know.”
When Everly sat on the bottom step that led to upstairs, Chris sat beside her. “Chris’s right. It’s all your choice. Your father isn’t here making decisions for you. You need to trust yourself. Trust your feelings even if they surprise you. If you don’t like how you made Grace feel, change it. Let her see you. Not who you think y
ou have to be. There’s obviously a connection between the two of you. Whether you acknowledge it or not is also your choice. It sounds like you’re going to be neighbors for a long time. You don’t want this between you. You’ve been restless since you got here. Stop running in circles. Make things right with Grace.”
Noah shook his head, not sure whether to laugh or bang his head against the wall. “So, what? Follow my heart?”
She just laughed.
“You don’t say much but when you do, you make it count.”
She beamed at him. His brother was a lucky guy. “Back at you.”
They stood to leave, but something had been circling his brain for days—since the last time at the rec center. He looked at Chris. “You remember the park we used to go to?”
Chris nodded. “Sure. With Gramps?” He glanced at Everly. “Our grampa used to take us to this park. We’d go for walks, he’d tell us about his plans. He liked to get out of the boardroom, see the city we were part of. He wanted to build a community center at the entrance of that park. We’d stand in the spot he chose, listening to his vision. We stopped going when he got sick. Then we grew up and he was gone. I went back to that park when I was nineteen. Just to … walk.”
Everly put her hand on Chris’s back. “That’s a nice memory.”
Noah picked up the story from where Chris left off, painfully aware of the lump in his throat. “They built condos on it. It’s not a park anymore. I was in college when Chris phoned to tell me it was gone. We hadn’t been there in years but in the back of our minds, it was there when we wanted it to be. Until it wasn’t.”
He tipped his head back, closing his eyes as it thudded against the door. “I’m tired of slapping down money and walking away like what I bought doesn’t matter. I want something to matter. Like that rec center did. Like this house does.” Like Grace’s house mattered to her. The one he’d tried to buy just because he could.
“You’ll figure it out. Sounds like you already have for the most part,” Chris said.
Maybe. Now the question was, what did he do about it?
* * *
How to Love Your Neighbor Page 10