13. Measuring Stick

13

MEASURING STICK

T he doorbell rang at seven and Easton walked to the front of the house to get it.

Laurel was standing there looking unsure of herself, but he wasn’t feeling so confident either.

He put it in her court and wasn’t begging anyone for anything. He didn’t with his ex who he dated for four years and wasn’t going to do it with someone he’d only gone on two dates with.

“Thanks for agreeing to see me,” she said.

“I’m only working,” he said. “Come in.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I thought you’d be done by now.”

“I am for the most part. I’ll be going to bed soon. I’ve got international projects going on right now so I’m dealing with time zones. I’ve been up since two.”

“That stinks,” she said.

“I’m used to it. It helps working from home.”

“And helps with your cousin’s business too. I bet you can take a few hours off to do what he needs to be done.”

“That is a benefit,” he said. “Did you come over here just to talk about that?”

“No,” she said. “I wanted to say I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said what I had about your career. I was going to be surprised regardless because I thought one thing when it ended up being something else.”

“Which happens in life.”

“I always thought I was good at pivoting. I didn’t this time.”

“You had your reasons,” he said. “It’s not for me to say they are wrong.”

He’d never be that person. No reason to be.

“They aren’t right either. They are just mine. In the few dates we’ve had, we’ve said a lot about our lives. I opened up more to you than I do most. I felt as if you did too.”

“I did,” he said. “Which is why I had to make sure you weren’t still assuming something that wasn’t true.”

“And I appreciate that. I could have avoided all of this if I just searched for your name. I’ve done it before with men.”

“Which is common. I’m surprised you didn’t.”

“I was trying to be open-minded. We met the old-fashioned way. It’s not like I thought you had a wife there with you. I haven’t seen any other cars coming or going to see if there was a woman. I assumed—which is wrong of me—what your career was. There didn’t seem to be any reason to do a check on simple facts right in front of my face.”

“Only they weren’t so simple,” he said.

“Nor right in front of my face,” she said. “I’m embarrassed over the way I behaved when you told me. You didn’t lie to me. My past experiences with men shouldn’t be used as a measuring stick for the future.”

“Yes, they should,” he said. “Come in. Stop standing there like you want to bolt and do a lap around the living room.”

He moved to the side and walked to the back of the house where the family room was where they’d spent most of their time growing up. He’d set his office up in Abe’s space on the first floor and was staying in his old room upstairs.

It felt odd to be in the double bed, but he wasn’t going to stay in Abe’s room either. That didn’t feel right.

“Thanks for saying that,” she said. “You’re right. We use what has happened to us in the past to avoid it in the future.”

“Which is why I told you what I had.”

“You had someone that only wanted half of you. Or not all of you. Can I ask what you meant by that?”

“Sit,” he said. “Do you need a beer? I don’t have wine.”

“A beer might go down well.”

He moved into the kitchen and got two of them out of the fridge, then poured them into glasses and came back to hand her one.

He’d been watching for her headlights to return home, which might have been twenty minutes ago. He was guessing she hadn’t done more than change her shoes. She’d said she wore boots to work, but now she had sneakers on her feet with a pair of loose fitting jeans and a navy sweater.

“My ex loved my career and what I did. She didn’t like my background and that what you’ve seen of me on our dates is who I am. It’s who I’ll always be. If I put a front on in my life, it’s my job, and even then it’s not a front. I’m just more professional. I dress the way I’m supposed to like anyone who might have to wear a uniform.”

“But she liked you in that suit looking powerful?” she asked.

He grinned over her comment. “You think I look powerful?”

She snorted. “You look better the way you are right now to me.”

He looked down at his green socks with purple stripes. His jeans were a few years old. He did have a button-down shirt on because he’d gotten off a call ten minutes ago and hadn’t bothered to change, rather came to look in the kitchen to see what there was to eat for dinner.

“Which is what I like to hear,” he said. “But what I’m wearing doesn’t change who I am.”

“No,” she said. “It doesn’t. Any more than what I wear and how I talk or act or what my job is. That’s the funny thing. Maybe it was a lot of shame I felt last night after you left. Exactly what you’re saying to me about your ex is what I went through with Philip.”

“You told me that,” he said. “I think I thought you’d understand.”

“I do. I should have. What I get paid for and how I dress or act for that isn’t a testimony to who I am outside of that setting. How I am with my family and friends and those I consider close to me. It’s a job that pays the bills. Though I don’t feel as if it’s just a job here.”

“I know what you’re saying,” he said. “And I agree. But you were adamant the other night about your feelings on it.”

“Again, wrong of me. And I can see that if you wanted to tell me more, you might not have thought it was the right place. I would have kept it in. I did with Philip when he got his ring back. I didn’t scream and yell and throw a drink in his face. But, boy, did I want to.”

Easton grinned. He could almost picture that magnificent sight in his mind and started to grin. “I think you would have gotten more applause had you done that.”

“Most likely,” she said. “And it brings us back to this and us. I thought we had the start of something good and hate that my behavior, thoughts, and actions set it back.”

“Those things happen in life.”

“They do. I told my boss that I was sick of swallowing crow but needed to do it.”

“Your boss knows about this?” he asked. He wasn’t so sure he liked that. “Who?”

“Lily. She said you went to school together.”

“We did,” he said. “I liked her. She got picked on a lot. She and her sisters. It’s a small town and they had a hard life.”

“I hadn’t meant to say anything to her. She won’t say a word. I trust her. But I was a little off today and she noticed. She said some nice things about you. The funny thing is, I’m not one for opening up. Last week after I helped you with the pavers, I was a bit sore at work. Poppy was picking on me and wanted to know if a man caused the soreness.”

“Not the way I would have liked,” he said, smirking.

She grinned. A big one that moved to her eyes. They definitely were going to be able to get back on track.

“She brought up men and dating. If I had said your name, she would have known and told me what was going on. She’s the one who knows the most.”

“Poppy is a client of Abe’s. She absolutely would have said his name and you would have gotten your first clue.”

He’d seen the client lists and knew Abe was reaching out. The crew would be going to the McGill estate next week to start work. It was a big project and he’d have to be out there to oversee things too.

“That will teach me to be so private. It doesn’t matter. It’s probably better it worked out this way. Now you get to see one of my flaws.”

“Pushing your ex off the front porch wasn’t a flaw?” he asked.

“That was restraint,” she said. “And I didn’t even use more than one finger.” She held her pointer finger up and bent it a few times.

“I was smiling all night thinking of that when I first saw it. Told myself someone that looked like you and acted like that had to be taken.”

“Nope. I’m not.”

“You could be,” he said. “If you want to give it a try. I don’t share.”

“You know my feelings on cheating and lying. I date one man at a time and it’s been no one since Philip. What about you?”

“No one since Rachelle.”

“Which was six months ago?” she asked.

“Give or take.” He stood up and moved closer to her where she’d been sitting on the couch and put his hand out to pull her up. “Are we good?”

“That was going to be my question to you,” she said.

His mouth slanted against hers again before she could say another word.

He wanted to see if they still felt that heat and burn they had days ago.

For him, it was only hotter.

When her hips pushed into his, he had his answer.

“I’d say we are great. How about some dinner? I haven’t eaten.”

“I’m starving,” she said. “What do you have to eat?”

She moved out of his arms and into the kitchen, then started to move things around.

“Not much,” he said. “I need to run to the store. I was going to do it today but got held up.”

“I can go next door and get ground beef and a jar of sauce if you want to start boiling water. A quick ragu over pasta can be done in about twenty minutes.”

“Sounds like the best meal I’ve had in ages,” he said. Because he was going to do it with someone rather than for them.