He chuckled. “Why wouldn’t everything be okay?”
I shrugged. “I don't know.”
He glanced inside. “May I come in?”
I stepped off to the side. “Be my guest.” I ushered him into the living room and was about to offer him a mug of three-hour old coffee. But, the determined look on his face had me much too curious. I closed the door behind me. “Something wrong?”
He clasped his hands behind his back. “I’d like to temporarily hire you for a job.”
I grinned. “I already have a job that keeps me pretty busy.”
“I’ll pay you time and a half at the rate Bart is currently paying you. But, I need a bit of help, and you were the first person who popped into my mind.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “Have you heard from him, by the way?”
“Bart?”
I nodded. “He was supposed to land, like, three hours ago. And I told him to call me when he arrived in Houston, but his phone keeps shooting me to voicemail.”
He snickered. “His phone is probably dead. Bart is terrible with charging that thing, and flights make him tired. He’s probably at his place taking a nap.”
That’ll have to be good enough. “All right. What’s this job?”
“I just got done meeting with the interior designer for the bank, and I want to go ahead and get furniture orders placed.”
“Is that the part you need help with?”
He shook his head. “I need help haggling prices a bit. Some of the stuff throws us a bit over budget, and those little ‘bits’ add up to about five grand over budget.”
I whistled lowly. “That’s a good chunk of money, considering the snag the bank just ran into.”
He blinked. “What snag?”
I sighed. “A Mr. ‘Braumhan’ or someone called me not too long ago, saying there was a burst pipe behind the southern-most wall?”
“Oh, boy.”
“They have to clear out the rotted wood and re-insul—”
“Oh, boy.”
I cocked my head. “So, we might want to make the savings on this furniture and design a cool seven grand.”
His eyes widened. “The new fixes are gonna cost two more grand?”
“Don’t worry. I can easily save you that in furniture costs, and we might not have to haggle as much as you think. There’s plenty of furniture out there that looks professional and comfortable and presentable without paying top-dollar for it. I’ll make sure you save that money, okay?”
He nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Are you free tomorrow morning?”
I shrugged. “I’m free right now if the stores are open on Sundays.”
He smiled. “Then, by all means, let me drive.”
Will led me out to his truck, and we climbed in, but I still kept checking my phone. Even with Will’s explanation, it had me really worried that Bart hadn’t called me yet. I shook my head and kept my hand on my phone, just in case it started vibrating.
And as we pulled into the first furniture store parking lot, Will turned to face me. “Can I give you some advice?” he asked.
I whipped my head over to face him. “Huh?”
He nodded at my phone. “With Bart. Can I give you some advice with Bart?”
I furrowed my brow. “Why would I need advice?”
His face fell. “No one’s stupid, Luna. We see how you two dance around each other. How you two look at each other.”
I felt my cheeks flushing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m gonna give it to you anyway. If you really want to be with Bart, then go for it. But, this dance you two are doing is only going to prolong things and possibly sour things if one of you doesn’t make the first move.”
I slid my phone into my pocket. “We should get going inside. This place closes in an hour and—”
Will reached out for my wrist and grabbed it. “He’s been unhappy in Houston for a while now.”
I slowly looked back over at him. “He has?”
He nodded. “He hasn’t said it in so few words, but he has been calling Bryce and me more frequently lately to rant and bitch about things. I think getting out of town as a young man wasn’t what he thought it would turn out to be.”
My heart ached for him. “Do you think he wants to come home.”
Will slid his hand into mine and squeezed. “I think it wouldn’t take much to make him move back home at all.”
I felt hope blossom in my chest as Will released my hand. And together, we started into the furniture store. While Bart staying in Conroe for me sounded romantic and wonderful, I also didn’t want to be the sole reason he returned. I mean, what if he came back and didn’t like living here, either? He’d blame me for that. I’d seen that plot pan out too many times on television and too many times in real life with high school friends of mine to think that this scenario would be any different.
If I were the reason he moved back and shit went south, I’d be the first person he’d blame.
Maybe he’d even regret me in the process.
The thought made me nauseous, but I swallowed hard as Will opened the door for me. I raised my hand toward one of the store workers, and they waved at me before holding up their finger and going back to the client they were talking to—which, of course, gave Will more time to water the seed of hope I wished he hadn’t planted.
“Just get out of your head and go with the flow,” he whispered, “life’s too short to try to control all of it.”
I shook my head. “Can we talk about this later?”
“Will you willingly talk about it later?”
I shot him a look. “Do you have pictures of the furniture you’re looking for?”
He handed me a small envelope. “All we can do sometimes is be tugged out to sea with the current that’s sweeping us away. And honestly? Swimming against a current is almost a fruitless endeavor anyway.”
I took the envelope from him. “In the ocean, though, swimming out of a current can save one’s life.”
His eyes lingered on my profile. “Do you feel like you need saving, Luna?”
I turned his question around in my head before I sighed. “No. I don’t.”
He patted my back. “Then, you’ve got your answer. Now, let’s get this furniture ordered and get the hell out of here. I’m starving.”
17
Bart
“Shit, for real?” I hissed.
I pulled out my phone to call Luna after I landed, and of course, it was dead. I cursed to myself as I booked it out of the airport and flagged a taxi down as quickly as I could. I dug around for my phone charger, hoping that the taxi driver would let me use their cigarette lighter to charge up my phone.
But, I couldn't find the damn charger.
“Are you kidding me?” I murmured.
“Sir?” the driver asked.
I sighed. “Can you pull over at the next pharmacy? I need to run in and get a phone charger.”
“What about an electronics store?”
“If we come across one of those, great.”