“She told me your attic stairs are sticking and thought I might be able to help with that. I’m actually in the neighborhood. Mind if I stop by and take a look?”
The unexpected request caught her by surprise. She hesitated before saying, “Uh, sure. That would be nice. Thank you.”
“Great. I have the address. See you in ten.”
“Okay. I’ll be here.”
She hung up. That was odd—sweet of Pam, but strange. Still, Steven worked in the family plumbing business. No doubt he’d been raised to be handy. If nothing else, he could explain how big the job was going to be and what she should expect to pay when she hired a handyman. At least that way she wouldn’t have to worry about being screwed by someone.
She scrambled to her feet and called for Mason. Her cat was lying in the sun and didn’t bother so much as flicking an ear in her direction.
“I know you heard me,” she told him. “Let me be clear. I won’t be letting you in the house fifteen seconds from now.”
The tip of his tail curled slightly. She had a feeling that was feline for “No one believes that. Least of all me.” Sadly, he was probably right.
Zoe went into the house and wondered what she should do to get ready. The stairs were where they always were and it wasn’t as if she kept a bunch of stuff in the small hallway. Steven would have clear access to the attic.
She knew Pam was behind his offer to help. Talk about a sweet mom-thing to do. Jen was so lucky to have Pam in her life. Zoe allowed herself a couple of minutes of missing her mother, before hearing a knock at the front door.
She opened the door, prepared to greet Steven. After all, she’d known him for years. He was her best friend’s brother. She knew Steven was a couple of years younger than Jen, worked in the family business and that he always had a different woman on his arm. Beyond that, she didn’t know much of anything about him.
Now, as she looked into his blue eyes, she realized that what she’d apparently forgotten was how good-looking he was. Had he always been so tall? So muscled? Had his smile always been so sexy?
“Hey, Zoe. How’s it going?”
She was aware of the sunlight kissing the top of his head and way he filled her until-this-moment-perfectly-big-enough doorway. He had on jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. She was in ratty cutoffs and an oversize T-shirt that might or might not have stains. Dear God, she hadn’t even bothered to comb her hair! Or shower!
“Um, good,” she said as she stepped back to let him into the house. She’d always been on the short side and next to him, she felt positively dainty. As he moved past her, she caught a whiff of something yummy—like soap and pine and man. Her stomach clenched, her heart rate increased and she had the strangest need to start babbling.
She was saved from the latter by a very loud meow emanating from the back of the house. Steven glanced in that direction.
“Someone’s unhappy.”
“It’s Mason. Let me go let him in.”
She headed for the kitchen and reached for the screen door on the slider. Mason looked up at her and meowed again, his tone implying he’d been trapped outside for days.
“You’re not as charming as you think,” she told the cat.
He sauntered in and headed directly for Steven. Most men she knew didn’t like cats. Chad had always avoided Mason as much as possible and had complained about the ever-present cat hair. By contrast, Steven held out his fingers to be sniffed. When Mason rubbed the side of his face against Steven’s hand, Steven scooped him up and held him close.
“Hey, big guy,” he said, offering chin scratches. “How are things in the cat world?”
“You like cats?”
Steven smiled. “I like all animals, but cats have that cool factor. Dogs are all about the pack. Cats make you earn it.”
“And Lulu?” she asked, her voice teasing.
Steven shuddered. “I don’t know what to make of her. It’s not the weird spots and wild hair I mind so much as the wardrobe. My mom spends way too much time planning what that dog’s going to wear.” He set Mason on the floor. “I’ll admit it. I’m a guy who doesn’t get dog fashion.”
“A forgivable flaw.”
“I’m glad you think so.” He nodded toward the hallway. “Want to show me the problem stairs?”
“Right this way.”
She started to get the step stool so she could pull them down, but he waved her away. “I can reach.”
He drew down the stairs, and then pushed them up in place. After doing that a couple of times, he ran his hands along the edges.
“The wood is warped,” he told her. “Probably from age and a couple of our wet winters. When wood swells, it doesn’t always go back to its original shape when it dries out. A little sanding should take care of the problem. I can do it for you, if you’d like.”
“Really? That’s all it is?”
She was aware of them standing close together in the narrow hallway and did her best to keep from nervous babbling. And failed. “I’m so happy to hear that. Did your mom mention I got trapped in the attic when the stairs slammed shut? I didn’t have my cell phone with me and kept thinking I was going to die up there and Mason would eat my liver. I would end up being one of those sad stories you read about on the internet.” She made air quotes. “Single woman dead for eight months before anyone noticed.”
Steven pushed the stairs back up into place before he turned to her. “Single? I thought you were involved. With that guy you were always with. What was his name?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Chad. We broke up a few months ago.” No way she was going to mention the stupid sex. It was one thing to confess all to Pam, but that wasn’t the sort of thing one admitted to a guy like Steven.
“You still dealing?” he asked.
The question surprised her. “No. It was my idea. I realized I’d wasted way too much time on him.”
“Good.”
A single word, but there was something in the way he said it. Or maybe it was how close they were standing or how tall he was. Zoe was once again reminded of her lack of Lulu-like fashion and possibly uncombed hair.
“I can fix the stairs,” he told her. “Go back to my place and get a sander. It won’t take long.” He smiled. “Or we could go grab a drink and I could get my sander another time.”
Her bare toes curled just the tiniest amount. “A drink would be nice. Give me five minutes to change.”
She darted around him and headed for her bedroom. Once the door was closed, she allowed herself a three-second victory dance, then ripped off her shirt and shorts.
She stared at the choices in her closet. Since working at home, she hadn’t had to worry about what to wear. She mostly wore jeans or shorts with a T-shirt. She didn’t want to put on any of her sensible teaching clothes, which left her eyeing her date dresses.
“Not a date,” she whispered. “But still nice.”
She settled on a red short-sleeved dress with a flattering V-neck. The style was simple—a modified A-line that followed the curves of her body. The color was deep and good for her. She slipped it on, then raced into her bathroom.
She applied mascara, blush and lip gloss, then brushed out her hair. She had a natural wave to her dark hair. Most of the time she fought it, but right now she didn’t have time. She added a little volumizing spray, then went back into the bedroom where she put on hoop earrings and slipped into four-inch taupe heels.
She walked back into the living room and found Steven on the sofa with Mason. The cat was stretched out, kneading a pillow while Steven rubbed his face. Both males looked at her. Mason gave her that slow I-love-you blink while Steven quickly rose to his feet. His eyes widened slightly.
“You look great.”
“Thank you.”
“That was fast.”
&
nbsp; “I didn’t do that much.”
He motioned to the door. She picked up her bag and led the way, carefully locking the door behind her.
“Olives okay?” he asked.
“Sounds perfect.”
Olives was a martini bar near the business district in town. While tourists sometimes wandered in, the place was mostly frequented by locals. Zoe hadn’t been in ages. Back in the day, she and Jen had often gone there for drinks and to talk.
Steven parked his Mercedes SUV and walked around to her side to open her door. The polite gesture surprised her until she reminded herself that not every guy was Chad, and wasn’t that nice to know.
Once inside, they found a small corner table. Their server came over. Zoe ordered a lemon drop while Steven chose a vodka martini.
“You didn’t say shaken, not stirred,” she said when their server left.
“Bond and I are different kinds of guys.” He leaned forward and smiled at her. “What are you up to these days? Last I heard, you were teaching at the same school as Jen, but you left.”
“I did. I’d been working part-time as a manual writer. They offered me a full-time position after a particularly difficult week of teaching, so I said yes.”
Which was all true, if not the complete truth. She’d also quit her teaching job on the foolish assumption that she and Chad were going to be married and starting a family. Working from home would have given her time to be a stepmom to his kids. But none of that had come to pass and she was living her post-Chad life now.
“What’s the best part about what you do?” he asked.
“Good question.” She thought for a second. “That I help people. Most consumers never read the instructions, but a few do and every now and then someone really needs to understand how to work an appliance or troubleshoot it. When they do, I’m going to help them.” She smiled. “Some of my work is for medical equipment manufactures. I’m guessing those people really do read the whole manual.”
He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “You do realize that no man is going to read the manual.”
She laughed. “I’m very aware of your gender’s many flaws.”
“Hey, that’s not a flaw. We’re born with intuitive knowledge.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?”
Their server returned with their drinks and the small plate of bruschetta they’d ordered.
“What’s the part you like least?” Steven asked.
“I’m by myself all the time. I didn’t realize how much I would miss people, but I do. I want to wander down the hall and talk to a coworker. When I was a teacher, I felt like all I did was talk to people, but now, there’s no one.” She sipped her drink. “Mason can be very charming, but he’s not much of a conversationalist.”
“I got that vibe from him. He’s the strong, silent type of cat.”
She smiled. “He’ll appreciate that you got that.”
“Any regrets on leaving teaching?”
She had plenty of regrets but they were mostly about Chad. “There are things I miss, but I’m not sure I want to go back. I like my job—I just wish it were different.” She looked at him. “What about you? Do you like what you do? You’re in the family business, so I’m not sure you could leave, but still.”
“I’d always known I was the heir apparent and I was okay with that. I just didn’t expect to have to take over so soon.”
Right. Because his dad had died. “I’m sorry.”
“Me, too. I miss Dad every day. He was a great guy. For a while I wasn’t sure I could do it—run the company like he did. Then I figured out I wasn’t supposed to. That I had to run it like me. Either we made it or we didn’t.”
“You made it.”
His dark gaze settled on her face. “You can’t know that.”
“I kind of can.” She held up one finger. “Jen would have mentioned if you were destroying the company.” A second finger went up. “You don’t strike me as the kind of man who would let himself fail. Not with something so important. It’s more than your family’s business. The company has what—a couple dozen employees? You certainly weren’t going to put all those people out of work.”
He looked both proud and a tiny bit uncomfortable. “Yeah, well, things are moving in the right direction.”
“Your dad would be proud of you.”
“That’s what my mom tells me.” His expression turned serious. “When he died, it was a shock for all of us. I wasn’t surprised by that, but I didn’t expect his passing to change me as much as it did. I guess I’d taken him for granted.”
“It’s a kid thing,” she pointed out. “We assume they’re always going to be there for us.”
He nodded. “When I was little, I was happy that my parents were so connected. They were a unit. There was no playing one against the other. As a teenager, I was embarrassed by how close they were. It wasn’t cool. But later, it was the best. How they loved each other. Jen, Brandon and I worried that Mom wouldn’t be able to go on, but she’s pulled it all together.”
“She has. Pam is amazing.”
“If I agree, you have to promise not to tell her.”
Zoe laughed. “Because she can’t have too much power?”
“You know it.”
“I will keep your secret, but you owe me.”
“Will fixing the stairs make us even?”
“It will.” She lightly touched his arm. “I really appreciate you helping out with that. I have to tell you, when I got locked in the attic, I totally freaked out.”
“Sure. Who wouldn’t?”
He was nice, she thought happily. Honorable. When his family had needed him, he’d stepped up—even though he’d been suffering himself.
“Handyman skills and you like cats,” she said, her voice teasing. “Why isn’t there a Mrs. Steven Eiland waiting for you somewhere?”
He sipped his drink. “Charming answer or real answer?”
“Real answer.”
“I was pretty popular in high school and college.”
“Ah. Why have one when you can have them all?”
“Pretty much. It got to the point where Mom wouldn’t let me bring a girl home. She didn’t want to start to like her only to have us break up in a week or two.”
“You lasted a week? That is so impressive.”
“You’re mocking me. Here I am, baring my soul, and you’re making fun of me.”
“I am.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “Deal with it.”
He chuckled. “My folks kept bugging me to settle down. Or at least go out with someone for a month, but I never saw the point. Then my dad died and everything changed. At first I didn’t have time to date the way I had, but when things calmed down at work, I found I didn’t want to. I want what my parents had. The kind of love that lasts.”
He looked at his mostly untouched drink. “Sorry about that emotional dump. I want to blame the vodka, but I haven’t had enough. Either you’re really easy to talk to or I’m turning into a woman.”
“Do I get to pick?”
“Sure.”
“You’re not turning into a woman.”
“I’m glad,” he told her.
“Me, too.”
For a second they simply stared at each other. Zoe found herself wanting to scoot her chair closer to his. She certainly wanted to keep talking to him. He was nice, kind, funny and he had a heart. Oh, yeah, there was the really sexy thing, too. Talk about the perfect guy. Was it possible her luck had changed?
“I’m having a—”
“Would you like to—”
They spoke at the same time. “You go,” Steven said.
“I’m having a barbecue this Sunday. A few friends, nothing too formal. Want to come?”
“I wo
uld.” He smiled. “I was going to ask if you wanted to stretch drinks into dinner.”
She smiled back. “I would.”
They stared at each other. She felt the tension crackling between them—something she hadn’t experienced in what felt like forever.
“I should probably warn you that I also invited your mom to the barbecue, along with my dad.”
“Parents. Interesting. I can handle it if you can.”
“I’m up for the challenge.”
Chapter Five
Jen backed out of Jack’s bedroom and quietly closed the door. Later, just before she and Kirk went to bed, she would open it again, so she could hear him if he started crying. A backup plan, in case the baby monitor failed.
Instead of joining Kirk in the family room, she took a quick detour to their bedroom where she brushed her teeth, combed her hair and made sure the light makeup she’d applied earlier hadn’t gotten all smudgy under her eyes. She debated changing into something provocative, but wasn’t sure what to say if Kirk noticed.
Not that she didn’t want him to notice. That was the point of her carefully planned evening. She’d been unable to stop thinking about what her mother had said a few days ago—about Jen and Kirk having a healthy sex life.
The truth was they didn’t. Since Jack had been born, they rarely made love. She was usually so stressed she couldn’t summon the enthusiasm, and in the past few months, Kirk had stopped asking. That was the part that made her the most nervous. How much of it was his being busy with his new job and how much of it was Lucas talking about his twenty-two-year-olds? Not that she was going to ask. Instead she would deal with the problem.
She went into the family room and found Kirk already sitting on the sofa, watching a basketball game. Instead of sitting in her usual seat at the other end, she settled closer to him. He smiled at her.
“Jack asleep?”
“Uh-huh. I start the music box and he’s usually out in seconds.”
“Best baby gift ever?”
She laughed. “Certainly one of the top ten.”
A Million Little Things--A Novel Page 6