Was he playing his games again? She was constantly amazed at how he and his other computer coworkers could get lost for hours in tracing codes to find a problem. It sharpened their diagnostic skills. Dominic was a natural at it—with an intuitive concept of problems. She was fascinated with the way he thought.
She ate, and put Dominic’s portion on a plate in the fridge to be heated when he got home. Going to the den when she’d finished, she drafted a list of friends and relatives she’d invite to the party. Knowing she’d have to cut down on entertainment for a while afterwards, she listed more people than she could handle with a buffet. So this one would be only a cocktail party, with hors d’oeuvres. Leaving the names on the desk for Dominic to review, she went to bed.
The next night when Dominic didn’t come home before she was ready to go to bed, Annalise was fed up. She packed up a few items, left him a note and headed for the house. If he didn’t want to spend time with her, she’d show him what a trial separation was really like. It might bring him to his senses.
It could backfire and she’d find he loved being on his own. But that was a chance she’d have to take. After making love so ardently earlier in the week, she knew there was still that spark of attraction between them. Maybe Dominic needed to pay more attention to that than dwell on the past.
He did not call on Thursday.
Friday, Annalise woke excited at finally beginning work on the house. She made coffee and heated bagels, and was eating the small meal when she heard Randy pull into the driveway.
It was cold, and threatening rain, but to Annalise the day was rosy with promise. She would begin actual renovations today! She hurried out to meet her new helper.
Annalise had rented the floor sander, which had been delivered yesterday afternoon. It sat in the center of the living room.
“Know how to work that?” she asked Randy when they entered that room.
“Sure.”
In no time he was sanding the scarred wooden floors, while she hand-sanded the woodwork around the windows. By lunchtime her hand ached from holding the sander, and her shoulder hurt from the repetitive motion. But the windows were ready to be primed. She only had the mantel around the fireplace to finish and this room would be ready for paint. Randy was almost finished with the large floor in the living room.
“I’ll make a sandwich run,” she said, rotating her shoulders to try and ease the ache.
“Works for me. I’ll be finished here soon, and ready to do the dining room after lunch. And then the entry hall. Stairs will have to wait.”
“I think I’ll carpet them, so we don’t need to redo,” she said, studying the stairs. Carpet would make it quieter, so not to hear the clatter of children running up and down. She planned to carpet the upstairs rooms for the same reason.
After a congenial lunch, they resumed their tasks. Once she finished the mantel, she vacuumed up the grit and washed everything down to minimize the dust. She wanted the floors to be silky smooth. Randy had told her they needed to get all the dust up and wait for it to settle out of the air. Then do another sweep with tacky cloth. Tomorrow they’d be able to begin staining.
Randy left around six, and Annalise ate another sandwich for dinner. She went shopping for more groceries afterward, and then watched a silly show on television before going to bed. She wondered how Dominic was enjoying Annapolis. She was hurt he hadn’t called to see how she was doing. Maybe leaving had been a mistake.
Saturday, she had breakfast ready when Randy arrived. They ate quickly and she put the dishes in the sink, running hot water over them. She’d clean up later. Now they needed to get started on the final wipe-down and staining the wood. She was excited to see the room transformed. Randy had been right. It would be gratifying to have one completed so soon.
Randy showed her how to brush the stain on the wooden floor in the direction of the grain and then wipe off the excess, repeating until she got the perfect shade. When the stain dried, they’d seal it, and the floor would be beautiful for many years to come.
It was easier than Annalise had anticipated. She chatted with Randy, learning more about his sister. Did he believe Sean was serious? They discussed jobs he’d worked on, finding a house she’d sold a couple of years ago had been one he’d renovated.
When they were halfway through the living room, Annalise heard a car in the driveway.
“Who can that be?” she murmured. Darn, she didn’t want to stop.
CHAPTER SIX
FOOTFALLS sounded on the porch, then the front door opened.
“Annalise?” Dominic called.
“Oh,” she said, looking at the floor. She was on the left side of the room, with Randy on the right. They were halfway through, and wanted to complete it by lunchtime.
“Friend of yours?” Randy asked, still working.
“Husband. In here, Dominic,” she called.
When he reached the archway, she sat back on her heels and looked at him. “Don’t come in. We’re staining.”
He looked at Randy, then at the floor that had been stained.
“I thought you went to Annapolis,” Annalise said. What was he doing here?
“I came home last night.” He looked at Randy again.
“Randy, this is my husband, Dominic Fulton. Dominic, Randy Hawthorne. He and I are staining the floor,” Annalise said, hoping to defuse the tension that seemed to be growing.
“I can see that,” Dominic said, not taking his eyes off the construction worker.
“Hey, man,” Randy said with an easy grin. “I’d get up to shake hands, but don’t want to interrupt the rhythm.”
“Annalise, can I see you a moment?” Dominic asked.
“I’m kind of busy right now. Can it wait another hour or so? We’ll be finished by then.”
Ignore her for three days and then expect her to jump when he said so? Not by a long shot, she thought, annoyed he’d shown up when she was in the middle of a project.
Dominic looked at his wife and the man, working diligently on their staining. They had accomplished a lot already. The trim around the windows had been stained the same color as the floor. The carved wooden mantel looked as new as it had eighty years ago. The floors would turn out nice. No slacker here.
But he didn’t like the idea of Annalise working closely with this man. If he’d been fifty and balding, maybe. But Randy Hawthorne looked young and fit and too friendly by half.
“I’ll wait,” he said.
“We’re doing the dining room after lunch,” she said, carefully applying the brush and then wiping away the excess stain. Already ignoring him.
With another glance at Randy, Dominic asked, “Got coffee?”
“Some instant in the kitchen. We drank the other already.”
He walked through the dining room, noting how nicely the floors had been sanded. Not Annalise’s work, he knew; she wasn’t skillful enough to sand a floor so evenly. He reached the kitchen and put on a kettle. Looking in the cupboard for coffee, he noticed the dishes in the sink. Two sets. How cozy.
Dammit, she was his wife. What was she doing eating meals with another man?
When he’d suggested a separation, he’d expected her to fight tooth and nail to stay together. Seemed as if she was doing just fine on her own. Didn’t she miss him?
He missed her like crazy. He’d come here today to talk some sense into her. She had made her point. Now she could come home.
And not a moment too soon if she was taking her meals with some stranger.
Probably part of the pay for this construction worker. Whom she wouldn’t have needed to hire if she hadn’t bought the damn house.
Or if he had helped. He’d worked in construction for six summers, from high school through college. He knew enough about building to manage this place. And what he didn’t know he could learn—a lot easier than Annalise.
But he didn’t want to work on this house. If it hadn’t been for the house she would have gone with him to Annapolis. It was as if sh
e had a split personality—the woman he’d married, and a stranger bent on having babies and renovating old homes. He wouldn’t encourage her to fix the house up. That would have her even more determined to live in it. Their flat had all they needed.
Except a nursery, came the unbidden thought.
He clenched his jaw at the reminder and gazed out the back window while the water heated. He did not like the yard. Sure, they could hire a gardener, but he still didn’t like the idea of being responsible for a lawn and a garden.
He disliked the idea of his wife turning to someone else even more.
He fixed the coffee and wandered back to the archway. Annalise was on her knees, and when she leaned over her sweetly rounded rear rose in the air. Randy worked beside her, so he couldn’t see, but Dominic didn’t like their camaraderie, either.
Get used to seeing her with another man if you leave, he told himself. And hated the very idea. Annalise was his.
Randy was telling Annalise about a fishing trip he’d been on, and she was laughing at his story. She knew enough about the subject to discuss lures and flies with him. Dominic leaned against the doorjamb and grew more frustrated as the minutes ticked by.
“You do much fishing?” Randy asked over his shoulder to Dominic.
“Sea-fishing in the summer, sometimes.”
“One of my brothers has a boat, and we go out with him,” Annalise explained.
The man nodded. He was almost finished with his portion of the floor, and undoubtedly would be helping with Annalise’s side when he’d done.
They bumped into each other. Dominic could tell it wasn’t intentional, but it still made him want to reach out and grab the man.
“I have some vacation time coming. I could help here,” he said. Almost as soon as the words were out he wished he could recall them. He did not want to work on this house—he would be giving mixed messages if he did. Annalise would think he was softening in his stance against the place. But he sure wouldn’t tell her it was because he was jealous of the smiles she gave that man.
Randy looked up and grinned. “Hey, man, that’s cool. With three of us working we can get this place fixed up in no time. I was telling Annalise her ideas are terrific. This is going to be a showplace. I can’t wait to see it, can you?”
“I can’t wait,” Dominic said. So Randy had bought into Annalise’s scheme. Or was he just saying what his employer wanted to hear?
Annalise rocked back on her heels and looked at Dominic. “I thought you didn’t want anything to do with this place.”
“Well, I changed my mind.” His look challenged her to argue. She was so pretty, even in old clothes and with brown stain on her fingers. He wanted to snatch her up and take her to the bed upstairs. Hardly likely with Randy around.
“Fine. We can use the help.” She resumed the staining.
“I’ll go home and change clothes and be back this afternoon,” he said a moment later. “Shall I pick up lunch?”
“Get yourself something. I have enough for me and Randy,” she said.
Dominic almost told her Randy could go out and find his own food, but he held back. Things were too tenuous between them to give vent to how he really felt.
Driving back to the flat, Dominic acknowledged he was jealous of the man working so well with his wife. He’d never minded her colleagues at the real-estate office or the men she knew in finance and banking. But none of those had ever represented a threat in Dominic’s mind. Randy liked her idea of the house. That was heady stuff when her own husband was so against it.
Randy was also young and good-looking. Dominic suppressed the anger that rose at the thought of him coming on to Annalise. She wasn’t going to be distracted by some guy, even if he was good-looking. Unless she felt neglected by her own husband. Which of course, she did. She’d made overtures last week and he’d rebuffed them.
Now it was his turn. He hoped she would be more generous.
But he couldn’t seem to get by his feeling of history repeating itself. And he did not want that. He didn’t know what he wanted. That was the problem. Being in San Francisco without her had made him realize how much she was a part of his life. They enjoyed the same shows, books, movies. They liked to wander around historic parts of different cities. Their taste in food was similar. They had a good marriage. Two people who liked the same things.
Do you love me? The thought came unexpectedly.
He’d tried to evade the question, but it echoed in his mind. What was love?
Two people, two good friends, doing things together—only more? They had so much in common. He wouldn’t give up their intimacy for anything. Yet wasn’t he suggesting that very thing with a trial separation?
What was love? A yearning to be with a special person? He could ask her the same question. Only she hadn’t been the one to suggest separation.
When Dominic returned an hour later, wearing old jeans and a shirt that had seen better days, he heard laughter from the kitchen and walked through the now empty dining room to find Randy and Annalise sitting at the small table.
She looked up at Dominic, the smile lingering in her eyes.
He felt the flare of desire he always had around her. And a curious hunger for more. To know her thoughts, her fears, her hopes and dreams. And where he fit in each of them.
“I’m finished, if you want to sit at the table,” Annalise said. There were only two chairs.
“No, I ate as I drove. What’s scheduled for this afternoon?” He’d find a way to get her alone for a serious discussion. If he helped with the renovations, she wouldn’t need to hire another man.
“We’re going to stain the dining-room-window trim and the floor.” She held up her hands, dark brown from the color they were using. “I hope that’s the end of it. I’ll have to soak my hands in bleach for a month to get them clean again.”
“Naw, I’ve some stuff in the truck that’ll take that right off,” Randy said.
“Good. I’d hate to have walnut-brown hands the rest of my life.” She grinned at him.
Dominic drew in a sharp breath. He wanted his wife smiling at him like that again.
“Should you be working around these fumes?” he asked. He walked closer, put his hand on her shoulder. “She’s pregnant, you know,” he told Randy. It was primitive—like he was staking his claim. Which he was.
“No? Really? Bunny didn’t say. Cool. Congrats to you both. Wow, a little rug rat. Your first?” Randy seemed genuinely pleased with the news.
Annalise nodded, smiling. She threw a wary glance at Dominic.
Another notch against the man. He was as excited about the news as Annalise’s family was going to be. Obviously he didn’t have any of his own, Dominic thought cynically. Nor did he know what havoc babies could cause in people’s lives.
“I’m due next summer. I’m hoping to have the house finished by then,” she said.
“Cool. We’ll do it. Especially with your husband’s help. Annalise has bragged on you, man. Said you worked years in construction. Between us we should knock it out in no time,” Randy said.
“Cool,” Annalise repeated.
Dominic wanted to grind his back teeth. He put his hands in his jeans pockets and faced Randy. “I thought I could do Annalise’s shift on the staining, and she could do something easier, away from the fumes,” he said. He’d rather be paired with Randy-the-friendly than have his wife working with him all afternoon.
“I’ll get started upstairs,” she said, jumping up and taking the remnants of her lunch to the trash. She put the dish in the sink. “First I’ll do these dishes and start the crockpot for dinner.” She looked at Dominic uncertainly. “Will you be here for dinner?”
“Of course,” he said, before Randy could say a word. He was going to make sure the man knew his wife was off-limits.
Annalise looked at her husband in surprise. There was no of course about anything he did anymore. And nothing could have surprised her more than having him show up today and volunteer to
work on the project. And announce her pregnancy to Randy. She looked between the two men and wondered if something was going on that she was unaware of.
She grabbed some more sandpaper and walked up the stairs, wondering how long this offer of extra help would last. She’d take all she could get. But it was odd he’d waited until Randy had started.
It couldn’t be because he was jealous. Dominic knew he would never have reason to be jealous of anyone. She had loved him since she’d first met him. Even now, when he was being infuriating. She wished Randy would leave and Dominic would come up to the bedroom with the bed in it. Dreaming the afternoon away, she sanded until her arm was numb.
When she could do no more, she sat on the floor and dialed her sister Bridget’s phone.
“How would you like the wonderful opportunity to design a garden from beginning to end—design to planting?” she said, when Bridget answered.
“What’s the catch?” her sister asked.
“None. I’ve bought a house that has a disaster of a yard. I envision a lush lawn and colorful flowers, but haven’t a clue even where to start. You have always loved gardens. How many hours have you spent in Grandma Carrie’s garden? And your own? Here’s your chance to design one however you like—the only caveat is to keep it easy to maintain.”
“I heard you bought a house. When can I see it?”
“Anytime. I’m here this weekend, and as many weekends as I can manage.”
“I’ll come by tomorrow around noon—that work?”
“Perfect.”
“So what’s up with the parents?” Bridget asked.
“Nothing that I know of. Why?”
“Mom called earlier to see if I was free next weekend. I’m home, and she said she’d call back when they’d firmed things up. So I asked her what, but she just blew me off.”
“She hasn’t said anything to me. Maybe it’s something special for you.”
“It’s not my birthday, so what else could it be?”
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