Page 55 of Promise Me Ever After
After we’d been in the shop for almost an hour, I was prepared to do a total U-turn and run out of the place screaming so I could chain smoke the pack of cigarettes in my bag.
I had absolutelyno ideadecorating could be so stressful.
We consulted the list Alex had made on his phone, selecting the essentials: brushes, dust sheets, rollers, paint trays, masking tape. He’d tried to persuade me I needed a pair of decorator’s overalls, but I politely declined.
Choosing tools for the job was easy. When it came to choosing paint colours, the vast choice made my head swim. All I knew — from watching decorating shows on the television — was that light colours made rooms seem bigger, and if I wanted a feature wall, darker colours were the way to go. Faced with a choice of around eighteen shades of white, my mind exploded.
“Which of these do you like best?” Alex held up two cards, which to all intents and purposes looked to be identical shades of blue.
“There’s a difference?” I took the cards from him, held them at arm’s length and squinted. It didn’t help.
Alex laughed. “You’ve never done this before, have you?”
I hadn’t. When Russ and I had moved into our apartment, it was a new build and didn’t need anything doing to it. Sure, we’d furnished it and put up a few pictures, but we’d lived with the original same shade of magnolia from the start. Before that, I’d always lived in rental properties where the landlord hadn’t allowed any changes, even if the damp and mould on the walls dictated they should.
He stepped towards me leaning over my shoulder, his breath tickling my neck. “The one on the right would be perfect for the feature wall in the second bedroom.”
A bolt of electricity shot down my spine. I shouldn’t get this turned on talking about paint colours, but Alex’s closeness was intoxicating.
Moving away and turning my back on him to stop the sensations fizzing around my body, I said, “Yeah, I agree.” I picked up two tins of the paint and added them to the trolley, already overflowing with stuff I’d probably use once then stash in the shed until I moved. My bank balance flinched at the cost.
I turned back to Alex, hands on hips. “How much more have we got to get?”
Alex scanned the list on his phone. “Not too much more.”
“Thank God,” I breathed.
“But then we need to go to the furniture store and get a bed. Not sure my back could stand sleeping on a bare mattress.” He winked.
Testing beds with Alex was sure going to be fun. “Why did I agree to this?”
“I get the feeling you’re not digging this shopping trip as much as I am.” He smiled, then shook his head.
“I’m clearly not the manual labour type.”
He held up his hands, waggling his fingers at me. “And these delicate hands are far more used to creating culinary masterpieces than slapping paint on a wall.”
His delicate hands were definitely not so delicate over the last two nights we’d spent together. There was magic in those fingers. I grinned. “You shouldn’t underestimate yourself. You won’t know until you try. It might be fun.”
“What? Like in those rom-coms where I splash paint on you, then you chase me around the room trying to get me back and we end up falling onto the dust sheet kissing?” Alex let out a chuckle.
My mouth fell open, not least because I’d probably pictured something like that happening. It was almost as if my life was turning into an episode ofFriends. “Haha, as if.”
Alex walked off towards the laminate flooring section, pushing the trolley in front of him. “Don’t ruin all my fantasies though.”
Shit, I really needed a cigarette.
Almost three hours later,we arrived back at the house, the back of Amber’s car packed to the gills with all the purchases. Thank God she had a hatchback, we’d never have got the bed frame in otherwise. Once we’d got everything inside and stacked in the living room, I flopped down on the sofa, already exhausted from the day.
“Are you okay?” Alex asked.
“It’s all pretty overwhelming. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“Me either.”
I wondered whether he was talking about decorating or something else.
“Why don’t I pop down to town and get us some food? Then we can crack on. Neither of us is working tonight and unless you’ve got a hot date you haven’t told me about, then we’re stripping,” he suggested.
