Page 57 of Kiss the Girl
He caught on and clasped his hands behind his back, so now my hands were “his” hands. For some reason, he decided to use a high-pitched lady voice.
“The first thing you’re going to do is fold your round paper once, and then fold it again.”
Evie giggled.
“Is that supposed to be me?” I whispered.
“Trust me, I’m nailing this impersonation.”
I stopped folding long enough to pinch his side. There wasn’t much to grab onto. How was that possible with the sheer number of snacks he consumed at game nights?
He cleared his throat and continued, “Then you put the paper on your head like a silly hat.”
I stuck the paper on his head, and Evie laughed. I snatched it off and stuck it in his mouth, which forced Noah to narrate around the paper.
“Ren oo ut it in oo mouf.”
“Yucky, Unc!” Evie shouted gleefully.
He spat it out. “A little bit yucky.” He straightened his arms behind him to put pressure on my arms, demonstrating his displeasure.
But this was too much fun, standing there with my arms around his waist, my front almost touching his back, so close I could feel the heat from his body and smell his soap.
I plucked at the neckline of his T-shirt and tucked a coffee filter into it.
“Then you need to put one of these papers in your shirt to warm it up,” he said in his Grace voice. But his hands grabbed at my toolbelt and pulled me against him. It was a warning, but all it did was make me wish I didn’t have the toolbelt between us.
I reached up to pluck at the front of his shirt with one hand and dab at his forehead with a filter.
“It’s getting kind of hot out here,” he said despite it being a crisp November morning.
Yeah, it was.
But the whole thing worked to distract Evie, who settled into making paper snowflakes with Noah while I finished setting up.
Once the boys arrived, we fell into the routine of overseeing their work—today it was painting—while breezing by Evie every few minutes to make sure she was okay. She made about twenty snowflakes before she got bored and switched to using scrap wood as building blocks.
It also meant that Noah and I put on our show for the team, only it felt less and less like a show. His touch was becoming so familiar as he would put his hand at the small of my back to follow me into the workshop or give my hand a quick squeeze as he passed by. It was the kind of PDA that was totally appropriate in front of high school boys, and it never felt like enough.
And just like every Saturday, when it was time for the boys to pack up so I could head over to the store, I wished we could work for another hour to see what kind of flirting Noah would try next.
Even going into the store wasn’t a big deal on Saturdays anymore. Noah would take Evie out to lunch and a park to keep her busy for the last two hours of Paige’s shift, then drive them home. The last couple of weeks, I hadn’t felt like I had to hit the ground running anymore when I walked in on Saturdays. Paige made everything run so much more smoothly.
She’d not only stepped up our display game, but she was also a whiz on the register and learned very quickly. When she didn’t know what someone needed to fix a problem, she’d get me or Gary, listen to the explanation, and then she’d know the next time someone asked for the same thing.
Today when I walked in, Paige looked up from the endcap display of antifreeze she was rearranging and smiled. “Thank goodness you’re here. Today is Stump Paige day and I’m losing, big-time.”
“Go ahead and run the register,” I told her. “I’ve got it from here.”
I was organizing a section of drawer pulls when someone cleared her throat behind me softly, and I turned to find Lily Greene standing there. “Hey, Miss Lily. What can I help you with today?”
“Thanksgiving, actually.” She smiled like that was all I needed to know.
“Sure. Do you need a deep fryer for the turkey, or maybe a smoker? We have one left of each.”
She waved her hand. “No, no. I mean that Brooke told me you declined her invitation to come for Thanksgiving, so I’m here to extend it again so you’ll know you’re truly welcome. I would love to see the whole Winters clan there. I hear that means Noah and his sister and niece too?”
“That’s so nice of you, Miss Lily, but we wouldn’t want to put you out.”
