Page 40 of Kiss Me Now
Her eyebrow rose. “You love tiling floors?”
“It’s my favorite. So relaxing.”
She rolled her eyes. “Your gran talks too much.”
I grinned. “So can I help?”
She hesitated for a minute. “I can handle this by myself.”
“I brought fresh coffee. Letting me help will be like letting me get free therapy.” I extended the mug.
She accepted and stepped back. “All right, if it’s really going to make you happy.”
“Wildest dreams come true, I swear.” That earned me another eyeroll, but this one came with a laugh.
“I’m tiling the stupid downstairs bathroom. It’s tedious. I don’t know how it can do anything besides frustrate you completely, but sure, jump right in and swear at the grout with me.”
“Wait, can I see the library before we start?”
“Sure,” she said, turning toward it. “I like how it came out.”
“It’s pretty great,” I said from the threshold, admiring her progress. Bookcases now lined the walls, though only one of them had any books in it yet. Several boxes sat in front of each bookcase bearing labels like, “Cooking,” “History,” “Fiction,” and other genres. A large, overstuffed striped chair sat in the corner beside an end table holding a blue glass lamp. “This isn’t the kind of space I would picture when I think of a home library, but this makes me want to curl up and read and the kind I would usually picture doesn’t.”
“That’s the goal,” she said. “I wanted a quiet place for reading. Cozy, comfortable.”
“You nailed it.” The bookcases were white against the soft neutral walls, and the reading chair was teal cotton instead of leather and brass tacks. The light and airy vibe felt like Brooke, like she’d translated her personality into the room.
“Thanks. But there’s no rest for the wicked. Or dummies who buy old houses. Come on.”
I followed her to the bathroom, noticing the other changes she’d made since I’d last been inside. She was obviously leaving the small foyer for last. It still sported old wallpaper and outdated light fixtures, but the walls leading upstairs had been freed from the faded floral wallpaper and given a coat of the same paint from the library. The room opening off the right of the foyer already had new paint, baseboards, and refinished flooring too.
“What will this space be?” I asked, pausing at the doorway of the empty room.
“Not sure yet. Maybe an office. I’m not big on formal living rooms, so I’d just as soon have any company come visit me in my TV room or the kitchen.” She moved up the hall leading out of the foyer and paused. “This is the guest bathroom. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but I think if I climb into the tub and work from there, we should be able to both fit.”
I joined her at the doorway and realized immediately that she had been humoring me when she’d allowed me to join her. The space was too small for both of us to work comfortably. I’d be underfoot, but I didn’t want to give up and go home. Not after I’d imagined a day of working with her in the house. Making up for my suspicion of her. Getting to know her.
“I’m not going to crowd you into the bathtub just so you can give me something to do. Is there anything else you’ve been wanting to tackle? I want to help for real, not get in your way.”
“Anything else I want to tackle? That’s a long, long list,” she said with a sigh.
“Give me the most annoying job on it, the one you’re dreading doing.” I’d much rather hang out where she was and work, but I liked the idea of being useful somewhere in her house more than going back to Gran’s to get spoiled while Brooke overworked herself alone.
“I mean, they’re all the jobs at the bottom of my list for a reason,” Brooke said. “They’re the worst jobs that I haven’t been able to force myself to do.”
“I’m game,” I promised. “Send me in, coach.”
She cast a doubtful eye at me. “I mean thereallybad jobs.”
“You know what I do for a living, right? I dig up the worst kind of dirt on the worst kind of people. There is nothing in this house that can be worse than that.”
“Oh, really? How about removing wallpaper?”
“Tell me what to do. I haven’t done it before, but it can’t be that bad.”
Brooke answered with a snort. “Wait here. I’ll get the stuff. You just uttered famous last words.”
She disappeared down the hall and I heard the back door open. I Googled “how to remove wallpaper” while I waited for her. The process didn’t look too complicated. And I hoped she would assign me the foyer and hall. That way we’d be working next to each other.
