Ava sighed. “Thank God. Curiosity can often take a hateful turn. I know how nosy and sarcastic some people can be. So how’s the roof?”
He was watching the way her mouth shaped words, wondering how they would feel against his lips, when it dawned on him that she’d just asked a question.
“I’m sorry… What did you say?”
“I asked, how’s the roof? Are you going to have to replace it?”
“It looks okay, but it’s old. I think to get top dollar on the house, it needs a new roof. That kitchen floor is probably going to be the biggest repair. I think I’ll replace the cookstove in the kitchen and put in a new sink and countertops after we paint.”
Ava nodded. “I love the location of this house. I was always jealous of the fact that your backyard was basically the whole park.”
Hunt thought of his run the other night and realized what he’d taken for granted.
“I never thought of it like that, but I guess you’re right. We went straight out the back gate and into the park every day when we were kids. I seem to remember pushing you and Ray in the swings a time or two.”
Ava shook her head. “Not a time or two. Almost every day… especially if your mom sent you out to babysit us.”
“You remember all that?” Hunt asked.
Ava grinned. “Oh, I remember everything about you…I was in love with you forever, remember?”
Hunt took a slow breath. “Want something to drink?”
“I do if you do, and whatever you’re having,” Ava said, then followed him to the kitchen.
They sat down to iced Coke in glasses and a package of cookies between them.
“If your mom was at the sink, she’d be telling us not to eat more than two or we’d ruin our supper,” Ava said.
Hunt smiled. “Even though nothing ever ruined my supper.”
“Or mine,” Ava said, and took a bite of the cookie.
“Can I ask you something?” Hunt asked.
“Sure,” Ava said.
“Birdie said you didn’t date, but she doesn’t know everything. Is there anyone here you date? Someone special, I mean?”
Ava chewed, swallowed, and smiled. “You mean besides you?”
Hunt didn’t smile back. “I’m serious,” he said.
Ava’s heart skipped a beat as the smile slid off her face. “Maybe I am, too. How would that fit into your here-today, gone-tomorrow life?”
Hunt felt the world starting to spin around him. It had been a long, long time since he’d felt this alive.
“I don’t know. What’s old with you is new to me. You were a kid to me when I left,” he said.
Ava was afraid to hope…afraid to wish.
“I accept that, but what am I now? Curiosity?”
“No. But knowing you haven’t been married, or are engaged, and you don’t have a special someone in your life…and after running into the jerk who hurt you before, it makes me think you might not want one. I guess I’m just being careful.”
She took a deep breath. Saying this now was baring her own secret. It was scary. The rejection would be devastating, but he was worth the risk.
“Maybe I don’t have anyone else because I didn’t want a second best. Maybe I knew my heart long before I was old enough to speak it. Maybe I’m one of those women who only loves once.”
Hunt felt like he was flying. There was no wall, no boundary around him, only the truth on Ava’s face, and all he had to do was say yes.
“Fifteen years and a war can change a person. What if you don’t like the man I became?” he asked.
“Try me,” she said.
He grinned. “Will you go to dinner with me tonight?”
“Early dinner, because I have to be at work at 7:00 a.m., yes, and thank you.”
His smile widened. “Then we’ll keep it in town, too. Granny’s okay? Unless you’d rather do barbecue or—”
“Granny’s is perfect. Pick me up at six. That will give me time to get all gorgeous and stuff.”
He sighed. “You’re already gorgeous…and stuff.”
She picked up her Coke and took a last sip before putting it back on the table.
“Now that I have totally disrupted your life, I guess I’ll be going.”
Hunt got up and circled the table, then pulled her into his arms.
“You haven’t disrupted anything…yet. But I have a feeling you’re going to.”
Then he kissed her.
Lightly.
On the lips.
He heard her sigh.
Felt her yield to the pressure.
And knew he would never be the same again.
She was the first to pull away, but she was not unmoved. There was a film of tears in her eyes. Her voice was shaking.
“I have been waiting for that my whole freaking life, Hunter Knox. Don’t you dare break my heart.”
And then she was gone.
“Holy shit,” he mumbled, then shoved his fingers through his hair, trying to remember what he’d been doing.
Oh yeah, he’d been on the roof, but he wasn’t going back up there again. He was so high on life right now, he might try to fly—without wings.
Since he was waiting on a plumber and a roofer before anything else could be done, he grabbed a scraper and headed for the back bedroom, the one that had been Emma and Birdie’s room.
There was only one bed in it now, and it was going to be sold in a yard sale because he needed the furnishings to be gone when he got ready to paint the walls and ceilings and refinish the old hardwood floors.
The paint looked gray, but as he began to scrape and saw an undertone of blue, he remembered the walls had been robin’s-egg blue. He kept working, but with one eye on the time. He needed a little time to get all gorgeous and stuff, too.
* * *
Birdie had taken the whole day off, and needed it. Even though the services were over and she was home, she was still shaken by the finality.
She put on her oldest sweats, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a thick pair of socks, then went to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee.
She was still thinking about her mama’s message from the grave and what she was going to do about it. The whole thing hinged on getting all of them together without revealing why. Maybe they’d gather at the old house to go through Mama’s things. That would be a logical reason to gather, and Hunt had already told them to feel free to get what they wanted in the way of keepsakes.