Love Finds You on Christmas Morning (26 page)

Huh. It wasn’t
their
bites she was worried about.

She stepped in and headed toward the kitchen. Just being in here now, under these circumstances, made the loss feel so acute. She clenched her jaw to keep from getting too emotional. She reminded herself that she would still have her memories even if she didn’t have the house.

As she reached the kitchen, she heard one of the men say, “Hey, listen, I have an appointment. You go ahead and lock up when you go. Maybe give me a call tonight and let me know how long you think it will take to gut the kitchen.”

Gut the kitchen! Granny’s kitchen?

She heard his steps as he spoke, and he walked out of the kitchen and nearly collided with her.

She didn’t know who looked more shocked, but Drew’s expression was definitely full of surprise and utter confusion.

“Nikki!”

“You?” She struggled with the disorientation of seeing him here, when she’d pictured him at the soda fountain, possibly waiting for her.

He broke into a grin. “How did you know to find me here? I was just about to head for the soda shop.”

And finally it settled in on her. “You!” She tried to tame the anger in her voice. “You’re the one who’s buying this house?”

She watched confusion cloud his expression.

“Uh, yes. I actually closed on it yesterday. It’s a great house, don’t you think? I was going to invite you to come see it after coffee. Is—is something wrong, Nikki? You okay?”

He was so clearly proud of the place. And he wanted to share his new homeowner’s joy with her. With a jolt, she got a heaven’s-view picture of her outraged heart, and the heat in her face was suddenly more about shame than anger.

“I, um, yes, I’m fine. I knew the house had been sold, and I—I was curious about who the new owner was. You’re right. It’s a terrific house.”

He looked away from her and took in the big, empty place. “I know there’s a lot of work to be done. You know, repairs and remodeling. But there was something about the place that caught my attention right away. I’d love to restore it to its original charm.”

She released a resolute sigh. How could she fault the guy? Yes, he had stolen her dream, but only because it was the same dream he had. Kind of.

A quick prayer passed through her thoughts.

Lord, please help me to be gracious here. It’s not Drew’s fault that I lost the house. Well, it is, but he didn’t mean to rip my heart out. I’m sure he’d feel awful if he knew. No point in both of us feeling awful. But I definitely need You to step in here and keep my mouth shut for me. Truth be told? I’m fighting the temptation to spoil his joy just a little bit.

Nikki was right. Ashworth’s did remind Drew of those soda-fountain scenes from
It’s a Wonderful Life.
He was glad to sit across from her in the booth so he could look directly into her deep brown eyes—except for the fact that she immediately focused her attention on what was happening outside the window.

“Sometimes I come in here on my own just to relax. I like to sit and watch the people go by.” She tucked her long dark hair behind her ear, and he noticed a small scar at the edge of her eyebrow. He felt an odd relief at that small imperfection.

She sipped her coffee and gave him a comfortable smile before she glanced back out the window. “I always see the same small group of people at work. This is a nice change.”

The day was working its way toward sunset, and a peach-colored light filtered through the window and warmed the color of her face. He liked how delicate her features were. And her short, frilly dress made her look like a dancer. She had a classic beauty about her, but he loved her artistic bohemian flair too.

She turned and caught him staring at her. He started speaking right away to try to cover that. “People-watching. Yeah, I can imagine you’d get stir-crazy working in someone’s house like that.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that.”

“No, not stir-crazy, that’s not what I meant—”

“It’s a huge house, after all,” she said. “So no, not stir-crazy.”

“Bored. You get bored.”

She frowned, and he did too. They both chuckled uncomfortably.

He shook his head. “Ignore me. I blurted the first thing in my mind because you caught me staring at you. I didn’t want you to think I was some, uh…”

“Weirdo?”

He laughed. “All right. Let’s go with that.”

“I guess if you’re concerned about seeming like a weirdo, you’re probably
not
a weirdo.”

He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Ah, so my plan is working!”

Yes, delicate features enhanced by that smart, sardonic smile.

“So what prompted you to walk into my house today?” he asked. “That was such a pleasant surprise.”

The smile wilted. It was followed swiftly by a frown and finally replaced by a wide-eyed innocence that didn’t look altogether genuine.

“I was…curious. I knew the house had been on the market for quite a while, and when I saw people there, I just wanted to see if the new, um, owner was there.”

“Small world, huh?”

She gave a little cock of her head. “You have no idea.”

He wondered if she was referring to the fact that he kept showing up where she was—at church, in the various parks around town, in front of her house…. He really could be giving her the wrong impression, he supposed. Except in the case of his house, he was there first, so she couldn’t blame him for that one.

“So, you’ve noticed the house before, huh? Have you lived in Cary for long?”

She nodded and still looked a bit on guard. Maybe she had her awkward moments on first dates too. “Yeah, I’ve lived here my whole life. Well, except for when I left for college—”

“At?”

“Johnson and Wales. In Charlotte. A small private university. So I still wasn’t terribly far from home, really. And then I worked for Armand in Charlotte for several years—trained under him, actually. Armand Gaudet. Ever heard of him?”

“Sorry, no.”

She shrugged. “It’s an industry thing. I’ve probably never heard of the titans in the engineering field either. Or even the small fry.”

“Ah, the small fry.” He gave her a casual salute. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

She laughed. “So you’re the small fry?”

“Mr. Fry at your service.” He put out his hand as if to shake hers.

She played along and took his hand. He wasn’t sure, exactly, who was in charge at that particular moment, but neither one of them released the other all that quickly. At once, the friendly gesture felt intimate enough that they both reacted. Judging by the heat rising up his neck, he figured he reddened as much as she did. But he was as pleased as he was embarrassed.

“You all need a warm-up over there?”

They dropped each other’s hands and turned to face the woman behind the soda counter. She held up a coffeepot, the picture of innocence.

Drew slid from the booth, his mug in his hand. “Thanks. Hang on, I’ll bring them to you.” He looked to Nikki. “You need warming up?” He took great care to keep his expression almost neutral.

And there was that playful scorn in her smile again. She had obviously recovered from any shyness their hand-holding had brought on. “You’re too kind.” She handed him her mug.

He was certain, by the time he returned to the table, that she was having fun so far.

“So who else is on the live-in staff there in that big old mansion?”

She counted off on her fingers. “Jackie is the housekeeper, and she helps me sometimes when Harvey has big groups over for luncheon meetings and things like that. And Edward is Harvey’s valet slash chauffer. Laura is his personal assistant. That’s it!”

“No butler?”

She smiled. “It’s a big place, but Harvey’s not a terribly formal man. Jackie’s usually the one who answers the door unless another of us is nearby. And there are other employees there during regular office hours—employees of Harvey’s companies, I mean. They’re just not part of the live-in staff. Harvey has outside services that come in for a lot of the other work around the home too. A big housecleaning crew, a landscaping company, that kind of thing. We live-in employees are really there just because the house is too big for Harvey to navigate on his own. And I think he likes the company.”

Drew nodded. “That last part sounds a little sad.”

“Yeah.” She tilted her head. “I think so too, sometimes. I can tell he really misses his wife. She passed away the year before I started working for him. But he tries to keep upbeat and lively. His grandson and his family dote on him. He doesn’t seem to lack for visitors. He’s well-liked. And respected.”

“You really like him, don’t you?” Drew studied her. “I can see it when you talk about him.”

She sighed. “I have fond memories of my great-grandparents, William and Lillian. Sometimes Harvey reminds me of Grampa William.”

“Did they live around here, then?”

Her wistful expression dropped away as if she had just remembered something bothersome. She straightened and got that same wide-eyed expression he saw before.

“Yes, but enough about me. Time to switch places. What’s the story about your family?”

He chuckled. “You haven’t actually told me about
your
family, you know. Just your work family.”

“Right, right.” She waved the comment away. “We’ve talked enough about me for now. We’ll switch again later.”

Well, there was some promise of more time together in that, so he relaxed and sat back in the seat.

“No siblings. My parents are back in San Diego, where I grew up. Dad—also an engineer—had a heart attack last month. Not that that’s his defining feature, but it’s what I remember first when I think of him these days.”

“I’ll bet! That’s awful. And you were out here when it happened?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve been here for about nine months now. And they told me not to fly back. They did bypass surgery on him so quickly, I couldn’t have gotten out there in time anyway, and they were confident of his surviving the attack. Still, it’s hard to be all the way on the other side of the country, knowing he’s susceptible to another one. So I stay in pretty constant touch.”

She smiled. “You have a close family, then.”

“Very. I certainly had my own little form of rebellion in my youth, but I never went through that stage kids go through when they’re embarrassed to be seen with their parents.”

She lit up at that, tapping her chest. “Me neither! I know exactly what you mean! So many of my friends were like you said—they wouldn’t be caught dead hanging out in public with their parents. My sister, even. She’s just the opposite of me in that. I mean, not that she went through a particularly bad time in her teens, but even now she doesn’t seem to cherish family the way I do. I see it as appreciation, but she sees it as a lack of independence. Which is funny, considering she lived at home until she was twenty-four. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only…the only—”

“Weirdo?”

She laughed. “I don’t think that was the word I was looking for.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t looking for it earlier, but you were kind enough to help me find it.”

She had a twinkle in her eyes, but he saw her shoot a quick glance down at her watch.

“You don’t have to go already, do you?” He leaned forward. They had barely begun to get acquainted.

“No. I was just wondering if my stomach is ahead of the clock.”

“You’re hungry?”

She shrugged. “I’m definitely considering taking you up on your offer to be chivalrous and buy me a couple of hot dogs.”

Ah, that was more like it. He stroked his chin and gave her a suspicious look. “A
couple
of hot dogs, is it now? Hmm. I’m not sure you were clear I would run into that kind of financial outlay here.”

“I’m sorry. A promise is a promise. No snaking out of the deal now.”

“Hey, I have a better idea. Why don’t you let me take you out to dinner for real? Any reason we can’t do that? I’d need to swing by my apartment to walk Freddie first, but it feels too soon to call it a day.”

He watched her consider, and then they both smiled at her answer.

“Why not? We both need to eat, right? No reason we can’t do that together.”

All right, maybe she wasn’t swept off her feet. But she was still willing to spend more time with him, and he certainly wanted to spend time with her. They hadn’t even scratched the surface yet.

He was tempted to ask her what she thought of the house he bought, but he decided to wait on that. Probably better to talk about the things they had in common first. He didn’t want to bore her by discussing subjects she probably didn’t care much about.

Nikki parked her car at Harvey’s and joined Drew, who awaited her in his car. She experienced the strangest emotional juxtaposition around him. He was, after all, the man who had stolen her family home right out from under her. When she first saw him in Grampa and Granny’s living room, she’d struggled to keep from showing her anger with him.

But now she realized her anger had abated almost as soon as it arose. That irked her to no end.

Maybe she should have thought through that prayer for graciousness before she prayed it.

Of course, she knew herself well enough to suspect that she was giving him a bit of a break because he had charmed her with his humor, green eyes, and dark good looks before they crossed paths at the house. He definitely had an effect on her, which led to another emotional contradiction for her. One minute she was as comfortable with him as she was with any other man, and she felt confident and funny. And then when she wasn’t watching for it, something would happen to make her suddenly aware of him as a, well, as a man whose handsome face she really wanted to take hold of and kiss. In the past two hours with him, her body had undergone so many temperature fluctuations that she had newfound empathy for her poor menopausal mother.

Right now, for instance. His little Audi sports car was a stick shift, and even though he had the engine fully opened up and had stopped changing gears, he still rested his hand on the gearshift. Nikki became ridiculously aware of how close his very masculine hand was to her knee. She thought she could even feel its warmth.