by B J Phillips
“Wow. That sounds great. I hope we’ll be seeing more of you, then,” Shawn said.
“I sure hope so. I’d like to think that you might be happy to come to my house to visit sometimes.”
Kelly hadn’t said much of anything so far in the conversation. At first, she’d been speechless, preferring to listen and watch. Now she decided to chime in. “I’m sure we’d all be happy to come visit you whenever you’re here. I’m assuming you’d use it like a vacation home?”
“Actually, I’m thinking of making it my home.”
“But what about your gallery and all that?” Carrie said. “How can you run it from here?”
Andi laughed. “You’ve heard of the internet, right? Plus, I have a couple of great people on my staff there. They took care of things while I was down here taking R and R with Aunt Elise last fall. I’m thinking of branching out and finding another place in Fort Myers or Naples for another gallery. I’m doing the research now.”
“Again wow. I’m surprised,” Kelly said. “I had no idea you were that serious.”
Andi smiled at Kelly. “Now you know how serious I am. I love it here. Plus, I’d love to be closer to my aunt after she moves down here. I’m not saying I won’t be going back to New York on a regular basis for business. I’ve already discussed this with Aunt Elise and she’s fine with me using her place while I’m there so I don’t have to maintain two homes. She plans to keep her place there because it’s perfect for Christmas entertaining and she still loves to be in the city for the holidays or to visit friends off and on. Who knows, though, she might decide to spend part of the holidays here if I’m here.”
“Well, well. Looks like we’ll be seeing more of you soon. I’m looking forward to that, for sure.” Carrie patted Andi’s arm.
“Me, too,” Shawn said.
Everyone looked at Kelly, who was still looking a bit dazed. “Me three. I hope you find what you’re looking for here.”
“I do, too,” Andi said, looking into Kelly’s eyes. “I have high hopes.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
DINNER WAS OVER AND the bottle of wine emptied.
“We need to head home.” Shawn patted Carrie’s arm. She stretched as she and Carrie stood up. “Carrie has to be at work early tomorrow morning.”
Carrie nodded. “Yeah, I promised Rich I’d call one of our German clients in the morning, their time. That makes it very early our time with that six hour time difference.” Carrie hugged Andi as they were leaving. “I hope we’ll be seeing much more of you now. I want you to know you’re welcome at our home any time, with or without Kelly.” She handed Andi a business card. “The office info is on the front, and here’s my phone number on the back if you need anything. Anything at all.”
“Thank you,” Andi said. “I hope to see lots more of you guys, too. By the way, Shawn, I’ve made some of my friends jealous now that I’ve met one of their favorite authors.”
Shawn grinned. “Thanks for the compliment. I’m glad they enjoy my work.”
Shawn and Carrie both hugged Kelly, then they were gone, leaving Kelly and Andi waving to them at the door. Kelly was struck with how natural that felt. The evening had the same feel as that dinner at Shawn and Carrie’s months ago, with everyone relaxed and chatting away about whatever. It’d felt like those months had melted away.
“You could stay for some coffee if you’d like,” Kelly said as she shut the door.
“I’d like,” Andi replied, putting her hand on Kelly’s cheek. “But first, there’s something else I’d like.”
Andi’s lips were soft, yielding, and oh yes, as wonderful as that night on the beach. Kelly felt her arms move around Andi, pulling her close as the kiss deepened and their bodies melted into each other. Kelly ended the kiss, keeping her arms around Andi.
“I…” Kelly started. “Wow. That was nice.”
“It was. I’ve been wanting to do that since I got here.”
“I’ve been wanting to do that practically since I first saw you. Well, not right away, but soon after we met. You are one luscious woman, Andi. I just never seem to know what to make of you.”
“Ah, I’m a mystery woman. Interesting. I don’t think I’ve been that before. I always thought of myself as boring.”
“You? Boring? Not a chance.”
Kelly took a deep breath as she released Andi and reached for her hand. “I do think we need to take this slow. You make me nervous.”
“I think I like this.” Andi grinned. “I make you nervous? Why?”
“I’m not quite sure. Let me put the coffee on and let’s sit in the kitchen.”
A few minutes later, coffee mugs full, they were sitting at the kitchen nook table. “I need to say some things to you.” Kelly put her mug down and reached for Andi’s hand. “I’ve been thinking. I do want to see if this will work between us, somehow. I have a question for you first.”
“Fire away.”
“I know I want to be with you. No doubts. Yes, you do make me feel safe. You also make me feel wonderful. You make me feel warm all over. You make me smile. You make me feel things I haven’t felt in a long time. So yes, I’m very sure.”
“I had to ask. Look, I know it won’t be easy for either of us. If you’re really planning to spend more time here, maybe it will work.”
Andi reached with her other hand to cover Kelly’s. “I’m making the plans now. I want you, Kelly. I care very much for you and I’m trying so hard to prove to you that I do.”
“I can see that. I guess Shawn and Carrie could see it. They never leave that quickly after supper. I’m sure they figured we needed some time alone.” She smiled. “Maybe we do. Need some time alone, I mean. I’d always tried to avoid being alone with you for very long. I never wanted you to think that I was pushing you for anything more than friendship. Despite all that, I started caring for you more than I should have. I had no idea you felt the same way.”
“What about that wonderful kiss on the beach?”
Kelly shook her head slowly. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Why not?”
“Afterward, I felt like I was out of line. It was an impulse. I looked at you, and…”
“And what? Didn’t I look like I wanted you to kiss me?”
“Well, yes, you did…”
“I really did want you to kiss me.”
“I felt bad afterward, though. Like I shouldn’t have.”
“Kelly, I dreamed about that kiss for months. I held onto that kiss. I relived that kiss over and over and I’m so glad it happened. It felt wonderful. It felt right. I wanted more, but I didn’t have the right to involve you in my problems back then. That’s why I had to leave. Believe me I never stopped thinking about that kiss.”
“I had no idea. I thought I’d overstepped and was mistaken about what you were trying to tell me. I thought you left because I chased you away or because I was solely someone to have fun with and playtime was over. I even imagined that you might have gone back to Jo.”
“Oh, my God, no!” Andi held her hands up in a stop motion. “That was never going to happen.”
“Well, I went over so many scenarios in my head, so many reasons why you might’ve left like that. I had no information to base anything on other than you left the morning after I kissed you.”
Andi hung her head, sighed heavily, and then looked back into Kelly’s eyes. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know how I can ever make that up to you. At least now you know what happened even though I was totally in the wrong for leaving like I did.”
“Well, yes you were…” Kelly put her elbow on the table, her chin in her hand, eyes locked on Andi’s.
“And I was totally wrong for not telling you anything and not answering the phone or returning your texts.”
“Yes, you were.”
“And I so want to put that all behind us. I know you said you forgave me, so now I’d love to see where this leads for us. Can we do that? We could stay in and watch television or watch a movi
e together or go dancing somewhere if you’d like to do that. I have very simple wants and mostly I want to spend time with you.”
“I enjoyed lunch yesterday even though I was a bit nervous. It was fun, I have to admit. You even drank that grog stuff.” Kelly grinned, picking up her coffee mug and took a sip.
“Yes, I did. It wasn’t that bad.” Andi laughed, then she took a swig from her mug as if she was drinking the grog again. “Oh, by the way, you do make good coffee.”
“Thanks. I’ve never gotten around to showing you the rest of the house, have I? Would you like to see it now that it’s finished?”
“I’d love to. I noticed the last time I was here that the bannister was installed. It’s beautiful. Lots of hands will enjoy touching it on their way up and down.”
“Thanks, I worked hard on it. Since you can see it from the front door, I thought of it more as a design element than simply something to hold onto for safety. I’m glad you appreciate it. Bring your coffee and I’ll give you the fifty-cent tour. You’ve already seen the kitchen and living room, now I’ll show you the little extras I put in to make them special.”
Kelly opened the lower kitchen cabinets and demonstrated the slide-out drawers inside the doors. There were two large drawers under the cooktop for pots and pans and the like.
“How did you come up with the drawers? That’s a wonderful idea.”
“I got tired of trying to reach back into the cabinets for stuff. Open either of those two cabinet doors.” She pointed to the upper cabinets near the stove.
Andi opened one of the indicated cabinet doors. “Wow, built-in spice racks. Nice touch”
“Beats having them all jumbled up in the cabinet or taking up space on the countertop. This isn’t a very large house and keeping things tidy will make it look a bit bigger.”
“Very true. More surprises upstairs?”
Kelly just grinned. “You’ll see. Come on. I think you’ll like it.” She led the way upstairs, with Piper at first trotting along behind then running ahead and disappearing at the landing.
Andi climbed the stairs, running her hand along the bannister. “Wow, I might have to hire you to make my new house as great as this one.”
“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Okay, now I’m looking forward to…” her mouth dropped open as she reached the top of the stairs and Kelly stepped aside. “What a wonderful spot!”
The stair landing led into a small sitting area with bookshelves on two sides and a round, paned, stained glass window looking out into the back yard. The stained-glass design was simple—a lighthouse on a sandy beach. Kelly had placed an overstuffed chair and a small round table with a lamp and room for a cup or glass on it right in front of the window. The seated person could look out the window or down the stairs to the front door. Piper had jumped into a little dog bed next to the chair. A small hassock sat at the ready on the other side of the table.
“What was this space before you transformed it? It’s very cozy.”
“Oh, it was a storage area, believe it or not. Semi-useless unless someone wanted to plumb it and put in a washer and dryer. Now it serves a purpose. I’ve sat up here a lot since I did this. Piper and I like to read up here. Well, I read and Piper snoozes.” Kelly laughed. “She doesn’t mind if I read out loud to her, though.”
“I bet she doesn’t. It’s probably a soothing sound. I was just thinking that if this is an example of what you do to all the houses you renovate, I’m sure you have no problem selling them as soon as they’re done.”
“Not usually. I use the same realtor each time and she knows what kind of work I do and how to point out each house’s unique details to prospective buyers. On the last one, there was a bidding war and I got more for it than I hoped. That sure was nice. Want to see the rest now?”
“I’m ready. I’m sure there are more surprises in store.”
“You’re right, there are.” Kelly opened the door to the left off the hall revealing a small bedroom. A flick of the light switch lit up a lamp on the chest of drawers. “I always think of this as the guest room because it’s so tiny. The way the house is laid out, I couldn’t enlarge it without moving the staircase or the like. That would’ve been way too much trouble and energy. Instead, I made it into a little garret room that a guest or two would find fun to stay in for a short while.”
“It is quite small.” Andi stood in the doorway. “What was this area before you remodeled?”
“It appeared to be more of an attic than a room at the time I bought the house. It’s over the carport. I only had room to put in a pocket-sized closet, so I doubt someone would want to live in here long-term.”
While Kelly stood in the doorway, Andi walked in to find a double bed with wicker headboard, white painted bead board on the walls and light blue ceiling. The bed, which took up most of the room, had a pale blue chenille spread on it which appeared to be a shade slightly darker than the ceiling. Tiny wicker night stands topped with glass, one on each side of the bed, and the small chest of drawers were the only other items in the room.
“I love this. It’s perfect for company. You might have a hard time getting them to leave, in fact. How did you come up with painting the ceiling blue?”
“I don’t know, it simply came to me. The room was rather dark. I didn’t want everything white in here and I thought it might look like the sky.”
Andi walked around the room, running her hand along the plush chenille bedspread. She stopped at the chest of drawers, touching it in an almost caressing gesture. “You made this, didn’t you?” she asked in a near whisper.
“I did. How did you guess?” Kelly leaned against the door jamb and took another sip of her coffee.
“It feels like you made it. It seems to have some of your spirit in it.”
“You’re not going all metaphysical on me, now, are you?”
“No, the way the wood feels gave you away. Your pieces have a very…well…smooth feeling, for lack of a better word. They’re very tactile. They don’t just look good, they beg to be touched. Whoever ends up with this house might want to keep that chest.”
“I’ll probably offer the house with or without the furniture. I’ve sold some of these houses to snowbirds and they like buying places with nearly everything there, ready to move in…turnkey, if you will." Kelly motioned toward the door.
“I love what I’ve seen so far. Lead on.” Andi raised her mug in salute, then drained the last of her coffee. Kelly took the mug from her and placed their two mugs on the small hall table.
Piper had been watching them from her hallway vantage point. Now she got up and followed them across the hall, then trotted ahead into a much larger room which was obviously the master bedroom. As soon as Kelly flicked the lights on, Piper made a well-practiced leap onto the bed and laid there with her face on her paws, watching them.
“This used to be two smaller bedrooms,” Kelly explained. “I combined them and made a bathroom out of part of one of them. You may have noticed the other door in the hall—the bathroom opens to the hallway as well. There wasn’t room to put in two bathrooms up here, so if a guest is staying across the hall, they have to share the one and only on this floor. There’s a compact bathroom with a shower downstairs and a small room with a twin bed connected to it. A single guest could stay there and have their own bath. Or a new owner could use it as a small office. I slept in there for quite a while during the upstairs renovations and it was fine. This, however, is much nicer to live in.”
This room also had the white bead board on the walls as wainscoting, giving it a bright, airy feel. Kelly had painted a very pale coral pink above the wainscoting and on the ceiling. Instead of a bedspread, a quilt with various coral, green, and blue tropical prints in it covered the antique-looking iron bed. The decorations were spare, obviously well thought out. A comfortable chair and small table sat under the window at one end of the room.
“I love this room, too,” Andi said. “You definitely have
an eye for decorating as well as building things. It’s very relaxing and it’s warm and welcoming, too.”
Kelly smiled, watching as Andi walked slowly around the room—first looking out the window then running her hand along the footboard of the bed. She stopped at the dresser.
“You didn’t make this one. I can tell it’s not from a store. Is it something precious to you?” Andi asked.
“You do have good instincts. My grandfather made it for me before he died. That goes where I go, obviously. Whoever buys this place will have to get their own dresser for this room.”
“Of course.” She reached for a drawer pull, looking at Kelly for permission to open it. After Kelly nodded her approval, she pulled the drawer open a few inches to look at its construction. “It’s beautifully made. This piece could stand as a work of art as well.” She shook her head and pushed the drawer closed. “I can sure see where you get your talent.”
Grinning, Kelly walked over to the dresser and pulled one of the drawers all the way out. She lifted it above Andi’s head and told her to look at the bottom of it. There on the underside of the drawer was burned a message.
Andi read it out loud, “’For Kelly with love from Grandpop Bradley June 1997.’ Was that a special occasion?”
“The year I turned twenty-two. I had recently graduated from college and I guess he figured I needed some real furniture. I’ve moved it with me ever since.” She slid the drawer smoothly back into the dresser. “What do you think? Is this livable for a young couple or an older couple that can still climb stairs?”
“Anyone would be happy here unless they had a big family. This whole house is perfect. I love everything in it.” Andi moved closer and put her arms around Kelly, her head on Kelly’s shoulder as Kelly’s arms went around her. “You’re amazing,” she said into Kelly’s shoulder
Kelly felt her heart pounding. She had wondered what it’d be like to see Andi here in her bedroom. To kiss her here. Andi felt so good in her arms. She felt so right. Taking it slowly sounded so…slow…now.