“Hmm?”
“Why the sudden need to clean up the study? We’ve taken three boxes of donations to the thrift shop already and we’re only halfway through the shelves. I thought you hated doing this kind of thing.”
He laughed and spun his chair a bit so he could look at her. “It seems like I’m finally tired of listening to your mother and your aunts getting on me about the condition of this house. This summer I’m going to work on a few small projects to get them all to leave me alone.”
“Oh,” she said, smiling with surprise. “That’s wonderful!”
The grunt he responded with told her he was fully in agreement.
“The roof needed to be done but I was told it didn’t count toward the kind of fixing up they all want me to do.” He paused and glanced around his study. “We’re going to do some repairs on the pier, the deck, and the boathouse.”
“The boathouse? But…why? There’s nothing wrong with it! It’s in perfectly fine condition!”
Okay, defensive much, Mal? She chided herself.
Taking one of her hands in his again, he gave it a gentle squeeze. “That one’s going to be your call.”
“What?”
He nodded. “It just needs a bit of TLC. There are some rotting boards around it and some water damage, but I’d like to get some new furniture for it and I’d like you to be the one to do it. I know how much you love that old shack. Never understood why…”
Mallory’s heart beat wildly in her chest. So many times she’d envisioned redecorating the old boathouse to her own style and now she could! Not wanting to sound overly-anxious, she asked, “So, um…when will that project be starting?”
Pops shrugged. “You can start shopping any time. I imagine it will take a couple of weeks before all the work’s done. We’re not changing anything structurally so you can work with the space as-is.”
Ideas began to swirl in her head – vibrant colors, a big comfy couch, sheer curtains…Oh, it was going to be lovely. Of course it would have a beach vibe, but very chic. There was a great little shop downtown where she always found cute little knick-knacks and it would definitely be the place to go get the final touches. Although…they did have some interesting pieces of furniture for sale there too…
“…and that’s all going to start on Monday,” Pops was saying and she realized she had zoned out.
“Wait…what?”
Before Pops could answer, there was a knock on the front door and whoever it was, decided to let themselves in. Mallory was just stepping out of the study when Jake came strolling down the hallway.
And her heart kicked hard in her chest.
He instantly halted and looked around nervously, stuffing his hands into his front denim pockets. “Um…is Zeke around? He asked me to stop by.”
“He’s in the study,” Mallory replied, hating the slight tremor in her voice. Motioning behind her, she stepped aside and let Jake walk in. She was about to leave when Pops called her back in.
“Some of this pertains to you too, sweet pea,” he said with a small wink before shaking hands with Jake. “Why don’t the two of you sit down?”
There were two large leather wing chairs facing the desk and Jake let Mallory take a seat first before sitting down. They both looked at Pops expectantly.
“I was just telling Mallory how she’ll be responsible for decorating the boathouse after the repairs are done,” he began, looking at Jake. “But I would appreciate it if you could lend a hand should she need it with disposing of the old furniture and moving the new stuff in.”
Jake gave a curt nod.
Then Pops looked at Mallory. “Jake will be taking care of most of the repairs himself. With him leaving for college in a little less than two months, I thought it might be nice if he had the opportunity to work close to home rather than driving to a construction site every day.” He paused and smiled at Jake again before returning attention to his great-granddaughter. “He’ll be helping with the study, too. That’s why I needed you to give me a hand with decluttering a little. He’s going to sand these old shelves down and repaint them and even put a fresh coat of paint on the walls.”
“Have you decided on a color yet?” Jake asked, not looking at Mallory at all.
Waving him off, Zeke said, “Nah. What does it matter? This used to be white paint on the walls and now it looks yellow. Any color will fade over time.” Then he looked at Mallory. “What color would you recommend?”
“Me?” she squeaked, nervously glancing at Jake and then back to Pops. “Oh, I wouldn’t know where to begin…”
“I’d go with a nice soft gray,” Jake said, interrupting her. “It’s neutral, but it would look great against the white trim. Which – I think – we need to think about replacing some of. There are some cracks in the crown molding that would be smarter to replace than repair.”
“Normally I’d say we need to keep as much original material as possible,” Zeke said thoughtfully, “however, this was all added about twenty years ago so it’s not original to the house. Good call, Jake.”
Mallory fought the urge to roll her eyes.
“Why don’t the two of you go get some paint samples – maybe even think about the color you want on the walls of the boathouse, Mallory – and we’ll talk about this more tomorrow?” He slowly came to his feet and yawned. “It’s about time for my afternoon nap. I’ll see you both later.”
Speechless, Mallory let Pops kiss her on the cheek before he walked out the door. There was no way Jake was going to take her anywhere with him so it wasn’t like that even required a thought, but…
“Mind if we take your car?” he asked.
Her head snapped around. “Excuse me?”
He laughed softly. “Your car. Mine’s full of work supplies and I’d have to clean it out for both of us to ride in it. I just figured yours was closer and cleaner.”
“Where are we going?”
Frowning, he replied, “Uh…the paint store. Didn’t you just hear…?”
“I heard him, but I didn’t think you’d actually listen to him. I thought you’d just go and do it on your own.”
And dammit, the tremor was back.
And she sounded a little needy and pathetic.
Double dammit.
His smile was patient and it made her feel even more awkward than she already did. “Look, I think we’ve known each other long enough that we can put what happened this last week behind us and…and do this for Zeke.” He paused. “Right?”
She’d been brutally honest with him thus far so…
“I’m not so sure.”
“Oh,” he said quietly, looking at the floor. “Okay. I uh…I guess I’ll go do my thing and you go do yours and…”
“Yeah,” she said, although she didn’t know why. “I guess I’ll just see you around.” When she went to turn and leave the room, Jake’s hand on her arm stopped her. But she didn’t turn around. She couldn’t.
He moved in close and Mallory had to fight the urge to lean against him.
“I’d really like for us to do this, Mal. For Zeke.”