“Maybe I need to get over you first.” Before I could think of a response, she went for the pizza. “It’s getting cold.”
After Darcy left, I took the samples and headed to the bar. I hadn’t consciously thought of redesigning a home for Emma, but faced with the truth, I had to confront it. I didn’t know if Darcy was right about Emma’s favorite color. Though I’d avoided her this past week, Darcy had inadvertently given me a reason to see her now.
What I didn’t understand was the frosty stare Emma gave me when she opened the bar’s office door.
“Can I help you with something?” She stood in the open crack not letting me in.
What rumors were circling now? I tested the waters. “I could use your help,” I said.
Though she looked reluctant, she opened the door. “Sure, come in.” But I could tell I wasn’t exactly welcome.
She waved at the chair and I took a seat after her.
“So what can I help you with?”
I opened the bag Darcy had left me. “I wanted your opinion about color for my kitchen.” I laid each item out one by one.
She barely gave them a cursory glance. “It’s your kitchen.”
“I know. I hoped to get some advice from a friend. I guess I was wrong.” I stood and began to pick the tiles up to put back in the bag. This Emma wasn’t the one I helped a few days ago. Maybe she’d changed more than I thought.
“Wait.” She stood. “I might be biased. Blue is my favorite color. I assume you plan to do white upper cabinets and these blue as lower cabinets.”
“Or an island in blue and the other lower cabinets in white.”
She smiled then. “I like all blue lower cabinets. One day, you’ll have kids with sticky fingers, and you won’t have to follow them around with a sponge to clean every surface all the time.”
“Kids?” I asked.
She finally looked at me and her grin cooled some. “I imagine you’ll have kids soon enough.”
“You will too. I’m sure Evan wants a big family.”
Her gaze landed on her ring finger where one hell of an engagement rock sat. I’d noticed it before. Her change in behavior had me thinking about it more.
She didn’t answer my question. “Is that all? I’m sure you have plenty of other things to do.”
I couldn’t leave it alone. “Have I done something wrong?”
“Wrong? No. You’re just you.” I didn’t like the look on her face.
“And that’s apparently a bad thing. I won’t bother you.”
I shoved the wood panels back into the bag. When I picked up the backsplash tile, she said, “One more thing. I think if you have lower blue cabinets, you’d be better off with a white or grey backsplash or not all blue. It might be too much.” She grabbed the sample of the quartz for the countertop. “If you are using this, I’d say go with white, but if you don’t want that much white, definitely a light color like grey.”
“Thanks.” I plucked the stone from her hand. “Sorry to bother you.”
“Aiden,” she said.
I smiled or as much as one as I could and left before she could say more. Time for plan B.
Chapter 11
Emma
The door shut with a finality I hadn’t expected. I dialed Jessie straight away.
“Hey girl,” Jessie said.
“I did something really stupid,” I admitted.
“Oh no, what’d you do?”
“I went over to Aiden’s house uninvited to bring him chili I made.”
“Uh huh, sounds diabolical.”
“This is serious,” I complained.
“Okay, I’ll be serious.”
“He wasn’t alone.”
“Now you have my attention. Who was he with?”
“Take a guess,” I said.
“Come on. I have no idea—Darcy.”
“Exactly.”
“She didn’t waste time. But I thought she was messing around with the mayor.”
“Trust me. If she is, she’s messing around with Aiden too.”
“Okay. Now hit me with what you did. Did you bang on the door?” she giggled.
“No. I left. Went to see you.”
“Is that why you came by?”
“What? Can I not come to see you anymore now that you’re shacked up with the doc?” I jokingly whined.
“You know what I mean.”
“I know. I’m feeling pissy. Since doc hottie was there waiting for you, I ended up hanging out with Alana. She wasn’t surprised Aiden was with Darcy either... Anyway, he just stopped by the bar, wanting my opinion on a color scheme for his kitchen and I was such as bitch to him. I don’t even know why.”
“You’re half in love with him, that’s why. Not that I can blame you. He’s aged really well.”
“I’m engaged.”
“Are you really? I didn’t know that. I must have been blinded by that rock on your finger,” she teased.
“Come on, Jessie. I need some advice.”
“Pick one. That’s my advice.”
“You’ve met them both.”
“Evan was cool the few times we hung out. He could have been on his best behavior though.”
“For all I know, Aiden’s not into me or he’s not available. We haven’t really had that conversation.”