Page 48 of Always Be Mine

ChapterTwelve

“No peeking!”Meri clutched tightly to Lucy’s hand. The little girl insisted on showing Lucy her new room despite the fact that she’d seen it many times before and knew exactly what it looked like. Still, she played along.

“I won’t peek.”

“Are you ready? You’re going to love it.”

“I’m ready.”

“I think you’re going to like it.” Meri released her hand, and Lucy heard the snick of a doorknob. “Okay,” Meri said. “Open your eyes.”

Lucy had expected to see the spare room the way she’d seen it earlier: a glorified storage space. What she hadn’t been expecting was to see that the space had been completely transformed.

The curtains were open, letting the late afternoon spill in, making the space look much larger and more inviting than the first time she’d seen it. The boxes and clutter were gone. The queen-sized bed was freshly made with a bright-blue comforter with white and red tulips splashed all over it. There was a large white dresser on the far end of the room, and a little desk tucked into the corner. A vase of tulips sat on the desk, completing the look.

“Oh.”

“Does that mean you like it?”

She turned to see Craig behind her, watching her with an expectant look.

“I know it isn’t much, but I wanted to make it a cozy, inviting space for you. I didn’t have much time. But if there’s anything you don’t like or want to change, we can?—”

“It’s perfect.”

“You like it? Dad let me pick out the bedspread. I told him you liked tulips.”

“I especially like the bedspread.” Earlier in the week, over some coloring pages, they’d talked about flowers, and she’d mentioned that tulips were one of her spring favorites and already blooming in Vancouver. “Thank you for remembering.”

“I remembered ’cause they’re my favorite, too.”

Lucy winked. “That’s right.”

She walked farther into the room and ran her fingers over the dresser top before turning around to face them together. “Thank you. Both of you. This is really nice.”

Craig put his hand on Meri’s shoulder. “We just want you to feel welcome, Lucy. I know this has all happened really…well, a little strangely.”

That was an understatement. She’d hardly had a chance to wrap her head around the situation and it had been less than twenty-four hours since Craig had sprung the situation on her. “You must have been really busy making this happen so quickly.”

He shrugged. “Let’s just say that I’ll have to spend some time organizing the garage soon.”

“Daddy dumped everything in there.” Meri offered the explanation with a nod of her head that made Lucy laugh.

“Anyway,” Craig pulled the conversation back, “I think I speak for both of us when I say that we’re really glad you’re here.”

“And Garfield, too!”

Craig groaned.

Meri had been thrilled to learn that Garfield and Lucy were a package deal, while Craig had been less than excited with the idea of having a cat in the house.

“Why don’t we let Lucy and Garfield get settled.” Craig steered Meri from the room and returned a moment later with the cat carrier Lucy had wrestled the large orange tabby into earlier, along with her duffel bag. “I’ll bring the rest of your things in for you, too.”

Their arms brushed as Lucy reached for the bag. She froze, and Craig sucked in a breath. He looked at her, with an unreadable expression in his eyes, but then she blinked and it was gone. Lucy grabbed the bag and quickly looked away. “Thank you. I’ll start unpacking and let Garfield get used to his new home.”

What was happening to her?She wasn’t supposed to have any feelings for Craig. Sure, he was ridiculously handsome, amazing with his daughter, and quite possibly one of the kindest men she’d met in years, but none of those things mattered because, he was her boss. Period.

She’d gone there once before and it hadn’t turned out well, to put it mildly. Mixing business with pleasure was the entire reason she was in her current situation. There was no way she was going to do it again.

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