Page 6 of A Lesson for Laurel

“I tend to keep to myself,” he said. “I don’t watch much going on around the neighborhood.”

“Unlike me,” she said.

“Nah,” he said. “You saw me out the back window. Makes sense. I’ve been in your house before. There used to be a little table in the kitchen by the driveway too that looked over here.”

“Still there,” she said. “I’ve got the shades closed. I don’t like looking out or people looking in and knowing my business.”

“Unlike having it exposed on your front porch.”

She squinted one eye at him. He was smirking at her. “Not planned.”

It was the roll of her eyes that had him laughing. “Can I ask what you saw in him?” He paused and then frowned. “That’s wrong of me. First glance of you on the front porch, I could see you together. He looked like a pretty boy and you...”

“Can come off as high maintenance and now I’m not. You don’t know what to make of that, do you?”

He laughed again. “It’s not for me to make anything of it,” he said.

“But you’re curious?”

“Like a cat,” he said. Easton picked up a new stone and laid it down. “I’ve got a pattern I’m going to follow.”

“I can just hand you the stones if you want to save yourself from bending down and picking them back up.”

“Sure,” he said.

He’d see how long she lasted before she tired out.

She picked a paver up and handed it over, then before he was done placing it, she had another in her hand.

“I’m surprising you, aren’t I?”

“Seems to be the day for it for both of us,” he said.

“A pleasant one now. Unlike Philip ringing the bell. And you asked what I saw in him? I guess I’m not sure. He approached me first.”

“I could see that,” he said.

They had a nice rhythm going. “It took some work on his end for me to go on the first date.”

“Do you normally take a lot of work?” he asked.Not his type at all!

“No,” she said. “But he was a little prettier than I’m used to.”

He snorted and almost dropped the stone. “I wasn’t close enough to see, but if you mean in a soft way, that makes sense.”

“Lots of ways,” she said. “I’m normally drawn to men that are a little rough around the edges. That don’t iron their shirts just right and make sure a pocket square matches their tie. That don’t have a shoe collection more extensive than mine.”

He was smirking when he reached for the next stone. “Then how did you end up on a date with him?”

She shrugged when she went to pick up another stone. “Thought I’d give it a try. I didn’t want to be judgmental and all.”

“By the sounds of your little exchange maybe you should have stuck with what you are used to.”

“Tell me about it,” she said drily. “We had more in common than I thought. He liked pretty things. Didn’t care for my job all that much or that I could change a tire and he couldn’t. Fix a leak or even stack firewood. He grew up with Daddy paying for all of that to be done.”

“Ahh,” he said. “So the money drew you in?”

“No,” she said firmly. “That was the big turnoff, but it was his family’s money, not his. His father has a big law firm in New Haven. He wasn’t smart enough to pass the bar even though he has a law degree. I’m positive his father paid someone to make sure he passed and graduated with it.”

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