CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“ S o, you think the green?”

Willow tipped her head from side to side as if it would change the look of the color samples in front of her. “Honestly, I like them both.” Brianna threw a few more color cards on the table, and she inwardly groaned. “Okay, now my brain is going to explode.”

“See. This is impossible.”

Her friend slumped back in her chair. Willow smirked. For three months, Brianna had been deciding on paint colors for the outside of her house. This wasn’t their first review of the damn color swatches she wanted to burn. Not the first, not the third, and not the fifth.

There had been progress today, though: Brianna had decided on a version of white. Seriously, how many kinds of whites could there be?

The answer was millions, apparently.

Looking for something to say other than please poke my eyes out , she landed on: “What does the painter say?”

“I fired him.”

She choked on her glass of lemon water. “He hasn’t even started painting yet.”

Brianna nodded slowly. “That’s right,” she said, as if the reason was obvious.

Willow shook her head. “You fired him because he hasn’t started?”

“No, because he was disagreeing with everything I said before we even got started,” she replied, as if she was being completely reasonable. “So clearly, it was never going to work.”

Willow stood up and refilled her water.

“You know what, I do like the green. No, wait, the blue. Except it’s so...”

Willow tuned out.

Bri had been planning the paint job with her deceased husband, and had an unhealthy attachment to the task. She had to let her work through it on her own.

One glance out the window and she saw it was getting late. It was the first night since meeting Brayden that she was unlikely to see him, and she felt odd. Like she had a hole in her chest. In another week, he’d be gone, and life would be back to normal.

“Are you staying for dinner?” Willow asked.

Brianna shook her head. “No, I’m meeting the twins, so I should get going. Hey, why don’t you join us? They’re off on holiday next week.”

The twins were two hunky gay guys they’d befriended a few years ago. They were a bundle of laughs, and after Brianna’s hubby had died, they’d all formed a kind of family unit.

Right now, Simon and Mark were both single, so it would just be the four of them. Willow hadn’t seen them in nearly a month, so after a quick glance at her phone to see there were no messages from Brayden, she decided to join them.

“Sure. I’m in. Text me the restaurant details.”

Brianna tilted her head. “Everything okay?”

“Oh yeah, I was just trying to recall if I had any deadlines tomorrow. All good.”

It was a stupid thing to say, given it was Saturday, but she occasionally worked on the weekend, being a freelancer, so fortunately, her bestie bought the little white lie. A quick hug, and Bri was gone, taking her evil paint samples with her.

Willow looked at the phone again and sighed. She really shouldn’t be getting this attached, but she was. In truth, she felt she was falling for Brayden.

A night apart to clear her head was a smart idea. She quickly showered, threw on a white sundress with a blue blazer and matching heels, and stepped out the front door.

And right into a tall, muscular warm body who caught her in his deliciously strong arms.

“Going somewhere, gorgeous?”