SWNOVELS In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes: Chapter 50
AFTER LUNCH, we strolled back to the car, hand in hand, and an open house sign caught my attention.
“Do you want to go inside?” I asked him, biting my lip. My shoulders lifted in a shrug. “I like going to open houses for fun sometimes, just to see how they have everything laid out. It helps me get ideas.”
His mouth curled up into a warm smile. “I remember. Let’s do it.”
Oh, right. I had told him that back at the Juicy Taco night, all those months ago. Before I got to know him.
At the front door, the real estate agent greeted us and handed us a brochure before we wandered through the home.
The house was built in the seventies or eighties. We stepped into the living room and my mind whirred with ideas.
“What do you think?” I murmured to Holden, keeping my voice low so the agent wouldn’t overhear. “Mahogany hardwood? Or something lighter.”
“I think lighter.” He frowned, surveying the room. “Not enough light in the room for a dark wood.”
“Could add a few sky lights.” He snorted and I grinned up at him. “You know I love my sky lights,” I told him.
The second we stepped into the kitchen, I grabbed his arm with wide eyes. “This linoleum has to go,” I whispered, and he nodded at me. The main floor of the house had been divided up into rooms like older homes were, same as the inn.
“Could we remove the wall between the kitchen and living room?” I whispered. “It would open up this space so much.”
He studied the wall. “It doesn’t look like it’s supporting.”
“This kitchen would be amazing with an island right here,” I said, gesturing to the center of the kitchen. “With cool pendant lights, and some shelving storage here.” I pointed at the wall beside the breakfast area.
Holden peered through the sliding glass door to the back yard. “The yard is big enough for a deck.”
“Right. Like at your parents’ place.”
He nodded. His eyes narrowed as he thought it through.
All the worry from earlier in the day bled to the background as we tossed ideas back and forth about how to update this old home.
“Come on.” I beamed at him. My stomach fluttered with excitement. “Let’s look at the bathrooms,” I whispered in a sexy voice.
He wiggled his eyebrows at me, walking over. “Maybe the tiles will be brown.”
I gasped in faux-horniness. “Don’t get me all turned on in public.”
He snorted and wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we walked down the hallway.
Once we left, I gave his hand a squeeze as we walked down the street. “That was fun.” Flexing my creative muscles and tossing ideas around with Holden had put a bounce in my step.
He nodded and the lines around his eyes crinkled when he smiled down at me. “We’re good at coming up with reno ideas.”
I nodded and gave him another squeeze, bumping him with my shoulder. His gaze lingered on mine and my heart tugged.
On the drive home, the job with Claire trickled into my mind and I chewed my lip while I stared out the window. After spending so much time at the inn, redesigning restaurants and hotel lobbies didn’t seem so spectacular anymore. People didn’t live there, they were just businesses. They weren’t personal like the inn was.
I caught myself. Claire was my mentor. She made everything fun and exciting. She brought passion and purpose to everything she did.
Were restaurants and hotel lobbies my passion and purpose, though? Would her enthusiasm be enough for me?
It feels like my purpose, I had said to Willa when telling her about the inn.
I frowned. The inn was almost done. We had finished the floors and the secret library entrance yesterday. I had spent a week scraping wallpaper off the bedroom walls, but I couldn’t bear to fully remove it, even though it was hideous. I left a picture-frame sized square in each room. I’d mount a picture frame over it.
Katherine chose it. I liked that her memory stuck around with that tacky wallpaper. Besides, she would think it was funny.
The inn was almost over, so why was I clinging to this idea that renovating it was my purpose?
I glanced across the front seat of the truck at Holden, driving with a faraway look in his eyes, like he was also lost in thought.
It was time to admit to myself I didn’t want to leave Queen’s Cove, and I didn’t want to leave Holden. My knee bounced as the truth became clear.
If I stayed, what would I do for work?
In the cup holder between us, Holden’s phone buzzed and I watched as he glanced at the caller before ignoring it.
“You can take that if you want,” I said, watching his face closely.
He shook his head. “I’ll call them back tomorrow.” He glanced at me. “Next week, I need to have the drywallers come back to the inn for a couple days.”
I frowned. “For downstairs?”
He shook his head, staring out the windshield. There was a glimmer in his eyes. “For the window upstairs. It’s cracking and I want them to redo it. I don’t think they supported it enough.” He cleared his throat and shot me a quick glance before turning back to the road. “So you should give them some space to work. They’ll be there Monday through Wednesday.” His throat worked as he swallowed.
My stomach dipped again. “You’re acting weird.”
His gaze shot to mine, eyes wide. “Am I?”
“You’ve been taking a bunch of calls and it’s like you don’t want me to overhear.” I shook my head, dragging air into my lungs. Tension pinched me again. “I have a bad feeling.” My hands came to my cheeks and I winced. “I feel like this is Grant all over again. Holden, I’m freaking out. I’m feeling crazy.”
He blew a breath out. “Shit. Okay. I wasn’t thinking. Yes, I’ve been taking calls I didn’t want you to overhear.” He shot me a tentative glance. “I have a surprise for you, but it’s not ready yet.”
Oh. A few knots in my stomach loosened. A surprise. I cocked a grin at him. “Is it that you’re going to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from me?”
He snorted. “No. You already told me you don’t have any money.”
I laughed. “I don’t.”
His eyes were warm on me. “Honey. It’s a good surprise, I promise. Do you trust me?”
I dragged a long breath in, closing my eyes for a moment before opening them. His gaze alternated between me and the road. The tension in my stomach unwound by half. “Yes.”
He reached over and squeezed my hand. “Good.”
See? I told myself. I was overreacting. I had been burned and now I was searching for Grant in Holden, when Holden couldn’t be more different from him.
Holden squeezed my hand again and I squeezed back. A surprise, huh? I bit my lip with excitement as butterflies flitted around in my stomach.
“Can you give me a hint?” I asked him.
He laughed. “No.”
I sighed. “I had to try.”
I smiled out the window, wondering what my surprise could be.