"You doing all right over there?" he asked, that lopsided grin still playing across his lips. His eyes shone with mischief as he stopped his spinning and began to move toward them. Lacey had no doubt that twinkle was due to his playing with Jade, but seeing that look in his eye as he approached made her feel like a caged animal. She jumped about a foot in the air, and when she started talking again, her voice was far higher-pitched than it should be.
“I’m fine!” she squealed, earning herself a smirk from Trevor and a dubious look from little Jade. “I’m just starting to feel a little too cooped up in here. What do you guys think about going into town and getting some supplies?”
“Sure, we could do that,” Trevor answered slowly, watching her closely as he spoke.
“Good. Excellent, actually. And before we do anything else, we can get me another tea. I’m driving.”
Lacey snatched up her purse, almost spilled all of its contents onto the floor, and marched resolutely for the door. She was reasonably certain that a person couldn't die from embarrassment, but if it were possible, her current case would be fatal.
8
Trevor watched Lacey scramble for the front door, a bemused smile on his face. He'd had his fair share of women over the years, but none of them had been anything like Lacey Cameron. He should think her innate awkwardness would have driven him crazy—at first, it absolutely had. During their time together working on the bed and breakfast and getting Jade comfortable, though, something had shifted. Now, he wasn't sure what to make of her. He kept asking himself what his impression of her had been when they were young and growing up alongside each other, but he couldn't seem to recall anything at all.
Not necessarily a knock against Lacey. Plenty about his childhood was hazy or just plain missing from his memory. The one memory that stood out, trumping all others, was being sixteen and determined to finally get to the bottom of what made him so different from his brothers. He remembered going through his father's desk and finding the proof that what he’d always suspected about himself was true. He was not his parents' son—not really. He was adopted, and they had never bothered to tell him. It was the driving moment of his life, and after that, things were faded for him until the day he left home for good.
“Hey, whatcha thinking about?” Jade asked, grabbing him by the hand and tugging on his fingers.
“Nothing much, baby girl,” he answered, smiling down at her and pushing the thoughts of his past into the back of his mind where they belonged. “What do you say, want to go to town with Lacey?”
“Dunno where my shoes are,” she answered, looking doubtfully at her oversized unicorn slippers.
“No shoes, no problem,” he chuckled, scooping her into his arms and walking them both out the door. “That’s my motto.”
“No problem!” she crowed triumphantly.
Trevor strapped her into her safety seat and slid into the passenger seat beside Lacey, who was acting as if she couldn't wait another second for them to get going. Truth be told, he was glad for the break. He was tired from the all-but-relentless physical labor, but that wasn't it. He was used to working hard. He couldn't remember a time when some part of his body didn't ache.
This was about Lacey. The two of them had been spending most of their waking hours together as of late, and it was getting under his skin, but good. More time in that cozy house of hers meant more time for him to speculate about the attraction he felt steadily building between them. Assuming it wasn't one-sided, that was, that it wasn't all in his head, a result of too many changes in too short a time.
They rode without speaking to each other as Lacey steered them into town, only the soft sounds of America’s greatest oldies and Jade chattering nonstop from the back filling the cab. It wasn’t until they pulled up in front of the local hardware store that Trevor turned in his seat to look at his chauffeur.
“What gives? I thought we were making a tea stop before anything else?” he asked, trying not to smile. She looked a little too on edge for him to give the impression that he was poking fun at her.
"Yeah, I know, but on second thought, I think I might have had enough caffeine to last me a while," she laughed, sounding nervous. He saw her glance at her hands, still gripping the steering wheel tightly, and noticed they were shaking. Whether it was from the caffeine she was blaming or something else, he couldn't know. For both their sakes, though, it was best to take her words at face value.
“Point taken,” he nodded. “Hardware store sounds like a good idea to me. We’ve got plenty of things that need picking up. How do you feel about dividing and conquering?”
"Sure, I can do that," she answered, smiling and seeming herself for the first time since spilling her tea. "I'll handle the grout. You take the paint. Deal?"
“Deal,” Trevor said with a chuckle.
He took his time perusing the shelves of the store, breathing deeply of its smell. This was his place, much more so than taking care of a kid. He was growing to love Jade, despite his best efforts to keep her at arm’s length, but that didn’t mean the idea of getting closer to her didn’t scare the living daylights out of him. The scent of varnish and paint, of wood being cut, the sounds of clanging forklifts and wood saws—places like this made him feel peaceful, although he’d never admit as much out loud. He was so taken in by the whole experience that he almost didn’t recognize Lacey’s voice.
"I understand," she was saying to a salesperson as Trevor rounded the corner. "But this really is…"
“No,” the guy interrupted her with a pompous look and an even more condescending tone. “Believe me, that’s not the grout you want. It’s the wrong brand, for starters, and the grain is all wrong.”
“I’ve worked with it before,” Lacey said, showing amazing reserve. If somebody had been speaking to Trevor that way, he had no doubt that voices would already be raised.
“Well then, somebody told you the wrong thing, lady,” the man said with a smirk and a shake of the head. “Fortunately for you, I’m here.”
“Lacey knows lots of stuff,” Jade piped up from her place close beside Lacey, looking up at the sales guy with unmistakable dislike. Her little face scrunched up, looking as if she was seriously considering sticking out her tongue.
The hardware store employee frowned down at the child, his dislike easily discernable. “If she knew this stuff, she wouldn’t be asking for my help, now, would she?” he said, his tone more condescending than ever.
"She didn't ask, you just told her," Jade shot back. Now she did stick out her tongue, and Trevor nodded in approval. He also took a step forward, ready to intervene where needed.
“Little girl, that’s not how you treat your elders,” the man snapped. “And while we’re on the subject of what’s appropriate, you shouldn’t be in here without proper shoes. Slippers are for home, not out in public.”
Jade’s sweet little face first fell, then crumpled. In less time than it would take Trevor to snap his fingers, she began to cry.
Trevor clenched his fists and started toward the little trio in earnest. He was just about to open his mouth and put the guy in his place when Lacey beat him to the punch. "I'm sorry, but just who do you think you are?" she demanded. Her voice was calm, but her face reddened considerably, and Trevor could tell that she was good and mad.