Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Gwen smoothed down her hair as she walked up to the front entrance to Little Clams. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and although she felt a little jittery, her spirits were high. She was excited to spend the day painting, something she enjoyed, and even more than that, she was looking forward to going out on the boat with Isaiah when their work was done. She’d been thrilled when he’d started texting her the night before, and even though she’d had to wrestle with herself before agreeing to go out on the boat with him again, by that time she was feeling great about her decision.

She stepped inside the cool, dim building and began to make her way toward the classroom where she knew they were planning to start painting. As she turned down one of the hallways, she froze.

“What on earth?” she muttered, staring at the line of paint cans that was stretched along the wall.

She continued to walk, her confusion growing as the line of paint cans just kept going. She followed it all the way to the classroom where she was planning on meeting Isaiah.

He was already inside, whistling as he scrubbed the walls of the room, preparing them to be painted. He appeared perfectly calm and cheerful, something she couldn’t understand considering the army of unwanted paint cans that was marching down the hallway.

“Good morning!” he said, his face lighting up into a grin when he saw her. “How are you this morning?”

“Confused,” she said honestly. “What on earth is all the paint for?”

He laughed. “Well, we asked people to donate it, didn’t we?”

“But—” She shook her head, feeling a wave of frustration over how inefficient their plan had turned out to be. This was why she always liked to plan things carefully! Because otherwise, things like this could go wrong. She should have thought more carefully about the whole situation once she’d realized how much paint was being donated. “This is too much. It’s extremely inefficient. What are we going to do with all this extra paint?”

He shrugged, grinning at her. “We’ll think of something.”

“But—in the meantime, there’s paint cans all over the school! Those will have to be cleared out, and we need somewhere to store them before we can find somewhere to donate them, if anyone could even possibly want that much paint?—”

“Well, we do. We want lots of paint.”

“Not this much!”

“Hey,” he said, smiling at her reassuringly. “It’s okay. The townspeople have been really generous. That’s still a good thing! They’re being supportive of the kids, and I think it’s sweet.”

Gwen opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment, someone stepped through the classroom doorway behind them.

“Knock knock,” said a smiling man with a shaved head and a dark brown beard. “I’m here to make a paint donation.” He held up a can of paint that had a splash of yellow painted on the lid.

Isaiah grinned gleefully, clearly amused by the way Gwen was trying to repress a groan.

“That’s awesome, thank you so much, Daniel,” Isaiah said, striding forward to take the can of paint and shake the man’s hand. “We appreciate you helping out the school like this. Gwen, this is Daniel Ryan, who co-owns Sandy’s Grocery with his wife. Daniel, this is Dr. Gwen Dunaway.”

“I’ve heard great things about you and your practice,” Daniel said, shaking her hand.

“Thank you,” she said, feeling pleased by his words—but her feathers were still ruffled about the paint situation. “And thank you for donating,” she added, forcing herself to say it.

“Of course! I want to make sure you have all you need to make the elementary school great for the kids.”

She smiled a bit awkwardly, still feeling a little thrown by the whole situation and not knowing what to say in response to him. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Isaiah grinning from ear to ear, barely able to hold in his laughter.

“Well, I won’t keep you,” said Daniel, smiling warmly at them both. “Best of luck with painting.”

“Thanks, Daniel! Appreciate you!” Isaiah called, waving to the other man as he left the room.

The second he was gone, Isaiah doubled over with silent laughter. Gwen hid a smile of her own, unable to keep from finding the situation amusing—and the way Isaiah was laughing gleefully like Peter Pan was endearing.

“You should have seen your face,” he said at last, wiping away tears. “Oh boy.”

She shook her head, chuckling a little. “I have no idea what to do with this. I might have made a plan for what to do with this many paint cans if I’d had any inkling things could have turned out this way. I’m not used to people being overly generous. In my experience, it’s usually the opposite.”

He grinned at her, gesturing around them. “I know it seems like way too much, but we can sort through everything later. This is a good thing in the long run, because it opens up so many possibilities for the classrooms. This way we can choose whatever colors we want from our vast resources, and we can even spruce up areas that weren’t on Olivia’s original list. Remember that room we’d decided to give that burnt orange accent wall, and we all thought it was a little too dark for a kid’s classroom? Well, now we get to paint it a mint green, thanks to these new donations.”

She found her smile widening as she listened to his words. Not only was she encouraged by what he was saying, but she couldn’t help being delighted by the way he was so focused on good things, instead of letting himself get frustrated by their problems. She found herself admiring his positive attitude.

“How do you always manage to focus on the best scenario?” she asked. “You’re so optimistic. It blows my mind.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say always,” he said, his expression shifting suddenly into a slightly nervous one. “I don’t always focus on the best scenario.”

She looked at the tips of his ears curiously—they seemed to be slightly pink. “What do you mean?”

“Well, like last night,” he said, laughing breathlessly. “I wasn’t feeling optimistic at all. After I asked you out, I kept telling myself you were going to turn me down. All I could think about was how nervous I was that you were going to say no.”

Her heart skipped a beat, and her eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Oh. Well… um. Last night I kept telling myself you weren’t really asking me out a date, and it was just a friendly boat ride.”

“Oh,” he said, his shoulders drooping visibly. “You—oh.”

For a few seconds, they stood there staring at each other and neither one of them spoke. She felt breathless all of a sudden, and she had to make an effort to get her next words out.

“Because I was also feeling pessimistic and I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much,” she said, smiling shyly at him. “So you were asking me out? Like it’s a date?”

“Yeah,” he said, looking her right in the eyes and swallowing. “I really like you, Gwen.”

“Okay.” Her heart was hammering, and she had a tingling feeling all over her, like her blood was suddenly rushing faster. “Then yes.”

“Yes? Yes, it’s a date? That’s what you want?”

She swallowed, and then she smiled. “Yes. Yes, it is.”

He grinned, looking relieved. “Well, okay then.” He let out a laugh, which she found adorable. “Great. A date it is.”

She smiled at him, feeling butterflies dance in her stomach. She felt dazed. She’d had a moment of wondering if he’d been asking her out when they were texting, but she’d quickly told herself not to be silly and that he was just being friendly. The revelation that he had been asking her out—and he’d been so nervous to do it—made her feel as if she was suddenly walking on the clouds.

“We should get to work,” she said, feeling as though she might be blushing and wanting to distract herself a little. “Are those the right cans of paint over there?”

“Wow, right to the grindstone, huh?” he teased, his lips curving upward.

“Well, we’re here to paint, aren’t we?” she said, unable to keep from smiling at him despite the way she felt flustered. “I want to make sure I’m doing my job.”

“I think part of our to-do list can be getting to enjoy each other’s company,” he said, almost shyly. “After all, you’re a volunteer. You don’t have to take our tasks all that seriously.”

“Mm, clearly you don’t know me that well yet.” She laughed, opening a can of paint and starting to mix it carefully.

“Well, I’d like to.” He smiled at her, and she felt butterflies dance in her chest.

They began to paint the walls of the classroom a beautiful sunshine yellow. She enjoyed the work—the way they were transforming the room felt satisfying and almost exciting. And she was enjoying getting to work alongside Isaiah—she admired the way he moved quickly but not sloppily. He seemed to be focused on his work, and he hadn’t been lying about the fact that he was very good at painting. Since she was as well, it was clear that they were going to complete each room they worked on together in excellent time.

She couldn’t stop herself from glancing over at him now and again as they continued to paint. They kept bantering and teasing each other on and off, but even when they weren’t having a conversation, she felt drawn to look at him. She felt curious about him in a way that excited her. She found herself wondering all kinds of things about him, and looking forward to having her questions answered.

She thought about her conversation with Heidi, about embracing the unexpected. She hadn’t planned on becoming interested in someone romantically when she moved to Blueberry Bay, but it was certainly happening.

He’s so good-looking , she thought, glancing at him again and biting her lip. And more than that, he seems like such a good person. He’s challenging me to see the world in a new way.

She told herself that she was definitely going to have to learn to embrace the unexpected, since she was discovering that the unexpected could be wonderful. She couldn’t think of anything that was more unexpected than this man stealing her heart and showing her how to think about life differently.