Page 7 of Once Upon a Holidate
The corners of his mouth turned up. “Maybe I like shopping.”
“Oh, please. If you did, you’d have more stuff in your house. Most guys don’t like shopping, which I’ve never understood. All you have to do is pretend you’re hunting. You stalk, you pounce, you strap it to the car and take it home. A total win, but men don’t see it that way.”
He chuckled. “There are a lot of gross generalizations in those few sentences.”
“I’ll admit that’s true, but how many of them are wrong?”
“Not as many as I’d like.”
She smiled. This was nice—being with Garrick in the not-quite close confines of his SUV. He had a very commanding presence she found appealing, along with the subtle scent of freshly showered man that she’d been missing in her life. Today would be a great opportunity to figure out if they had any kind of chemistry and if there was any “there” there. Of course given her sucky personal life, there was every chance she was going to end up being ready to try a little kissing action about the time he was ready to head home and watch the game.
“What’s Hunter doing today?” he asked.
“Hanging out with a friend. He couldn’t believe I was letting him out of his Sunday chores.”
“That would be a sweet victory. He’s in what, ninth grade?”
“Uh-huh. Ninth grade is middle school in Happily Inc, so he’s in high school next year. I can’t believe how fast he’s growing up.”
“They do that. Enjoy every second while he’s still living at home.”
“I do my best.”
She pointed to the off-ramp for the outlet center up ahead, and Garrick moved into the right lane of the freeway. They quickly found a parking space and walked into the furniture store. Wynn headed for the dining room and kitchen tables, Garrick keeping pace with her.
“No one needs this much stuff,” he said as they wove their way through a massive display of sofa and recliners.
“Maybe not, but people like choices. What if your sofa had only come in purple?”
His cool gray eyes shifted to her face. “Was it a toss-up between saying purple and pink to get your point across, or did you go right for the purple?”
She grinned. “I went right there. It’s not too girlie, but there’s a message.”
He surprised her by laughing. She liked the sound of his amusement, the way he relaxed when he laughed. Something stirred to life low in her belly, reminding her it had been a very long time since her last relationship and that she would very much like to be in one again. The boy-girl kind, she added, just to be clear. With lots of touching and kissing and naked time.
But that wasn’t on the schedule for today, she told herself, pushing the whisper of anticipation to the back of her mind. Shopping and getting to know Garrick came first. She would enjoy her fantasies about her neighbor later.
They circled the dining room sets and headed for the morecasual kitchen tables and chairs. Wynn stopped next to a round oak table with four chairs.
“It’s very classic,” she said. “And wood, which you seem to like. What do you think?”
Garrick walked around the display a couple of times before picking up one of the chairs and studying the underside. “They’re not very well made and the style is kind of boring. Let’s see what else they have.”
“The alcove is big enough to take a table for six, if you want to do that,” she said. “I don’t think the shape of the table will matter, so if you want square or rectangular instead of round, we can do that. I have the measurements with me, so we’ll be able to double-check that it fits.”
“A table for six might be better,” he said. “I’m hoping Joylyn will have some friends come by to keep her company. She doesn’t know anyone in Happily Inc, and I don’t want her to feel isolated.”
They walked around the various displays. Garrick spent time studying a simple rectangular table and chairs in the Shaker style, then surprised her by stopping next to a round glass-top table with a wrought-iron base. The pedestal base was made up of curving iron bars that wove around each other, almost like a braid.
“That one?” she asked, not keeping the surprise out of her voice. “But you’re all into wood and handcrafted.”
“I know, but this one is interesting. I like that there aren’t fifty like it in the store.”
“I think it’s great. The glass top keeps the look open, and it’s easy to clean. They have chairs over there. We could go find something fun to go with the table.”
They carried several chair options back to the table. Garrick considered plain wooden chairs painted black, several chrome and suede styles.
“None of these are right,” he said. “The table needs something more.”
