Page 59 of Say the Words
Light danced in her eyes as she looked over at me. “I’m surprised you remember that.”
I remembered every conversation we’d ever had. I’d tucked them all away to treasure long after she moved on. Her voice, her smile, her soft words. All of it.
“I listen,” was all I told her.
“I guess you do. Kim got a job offer in Houston not long after things ended with Bret.” She winced at that pair of bad memories. Her year had been a lot rougher than she let on. “It was more secure than starting a new partnership would be, so she went for it.”
She looked out at the storm clouds beyond the kitchen window. Thunder still broke in the distance, and rain came down in sheets, but it sounded like the hail had let up.
“So where does that leave you?”
“I still want to start a company. It’s just a lot more daunting doing it on my own.”
“You’ll get there.”
She turned to me, doubt written in her eyes and tugging at her mouth. “You think?”
“Sure. I believe in you, June. You can do anything you put your mind to, no question.”
Her eyes brightened, the gloom gone. What I wouldn’t give to make her shine like that every day.
One of her shoulders shifted as she pulled the warmed lasagna and bread from the oven. “Anyway, my job is flexible enough that I can still decorate my cousin’s wedding, tend to a cantankerous rancher’s horses,andtend the cantankerous rancher. I think I’m in a pretty good place.”
“Cantankerous?”
She grinned. “Doesn’t it fit?”
I frowned at her, but my scowl disappeared in the face of her teasing. I was no match for that. Never had been. Add it to the list of June’s unwitting weapons I had no defense for. Her open heart, her fiery determination, her stubborn streak as wide as the day is long—I might as well lay down my arms now.
“So,” she said as we started in on the lasagna. “Are you ever going to tell me who you hired to help remodel this place?”
“You have a real knack for not letting things go.”
“I’m just curious. This is what I do, you know. And I’m not criticizing, I’m complimenting. It’s really good.”
“You like it?” I couldn’t keep the interest out of my voice. I wanted to know.
“I love it. It’s exactly my style. Remember that time you asked me about how I’d decorate my dream house? I’m pretty sure I described exactly this. I told you all about the oak floors, the Craftsman trim, the—”
She stopped like she’d been distracted by something. Or realized something. I scowled down at my plate, but her eyes were heavy on me, daring me to look up. So of course I did.
Just like that, she figured me out. I wasn’t sure how much I should be around her now that I couldn’t hide a damn thing from her big blue eyes. I didn’t have many secrets, but she would know them all in another day or two. And then where would that leave us?
“Oh.” Her soft little exhale killed me.
That day when I’d asked her about her dream house, I hadn’t been fishing for information—I’d just been interested. Like all our other conversations, I had filed it away, another memory of June to look back on.
Then last fall, I’d finally had enough of living with Gram’s old pastel walls and puke-green cabinets, and I remembered the vision she’d described. June’s dream house plans hadn’t been grandiose or even that elaborate, they had just taken a little time and effort. I never thought she would recognize her fingerprints all over my house, but then, I had never really thought she would beinmy house on the regular to see the results.
Even if, somewhere deep down, I’d hoped.
She still stared at me, surprise and wonder flitting across her face.
“Just tell me what I owe you.” The words came out too rough, as if I could shake her look of recognition, like she had seen into the deepest part of my heart.
That furrow I knew so well appeared between her eyebrows. “What you—what?”
I turned back to my plate. “Your consultation fee. It’s not right for me to pick your brain and use your ideas for free.”
