More Than She Expected

“—but now that Mother Nature’s finally stopped with the schitzo routine, I’ve been working on it, little by little, to make it my own. Well, to make it look more like my grandmother’s yard, which I loved. Hers was bigger, though. Much bigger. This is just right, though. For me.”

“Your grandmother’s something else, isn’t she?”

“That’s one way of putting it.” She grinned. “You better watch out—she likes you.”

“I know, older women can’t keep their hands off me,” he said, grinning back. “It’s a curse.”

“I’ll bet,” Laurel said, inwardly sighing as Tyler handed her the tablet and she got another whiff of hot, damp male. One who did not—thank you, Jesus—douse himself in man-stink cologne.

“I was playing around with some design ideas last night, this is what I came up with. But nothing’s set in stone,” he said, then groaned at his own lame joke.

She chuckled then forced her attention to the designs on the screen. “I think...this,” she said, pointing to the top one, all one color except for two rows near the top, where the dark and light blocks alternated, checkerboard style.

“Yeah? Me, too. And you know what else would be really cool, right over there?” Leaning his elbows on the table, Tyler nodded toward the middle of the wall. “A fountain. Like you’d see in an Italian garden. Or English, maybe.” He grinned at her, his mouth adorably lopsided, his hair adorably messy. She could say the feelings surging inside her were more of a maternal nature, but she’d be lying. “You know, where the water’s coming out of the lion’s mouth or something?”

“And where would I get one of those?”

“Actually there’s one at the shop—”

“Of course there is.”

“No, hear me out. It was part of a huge haul from a property over in Weehawken, from like a year ago. If you like it, I’ll let you have it for really cheap.” He winked, and she laughed—because the flirting, it was absurd, really— before, with another smile, he reclaimed the tablet. “Here, let me show you...” He scrolled through his photos, then turned the screen back around.

“Oh, my. That’s quite lovely, isn’t it?”

“I know, right? And it would look perfect there, with some rosebushes and sh—stuff planted around it. You can’t really tell much from the picture, though, you should really see it in person. If you’re interested, I mean.”

“Well...I suppose that depends on the price?”

“Like I said, it was part of a huge haul, we’re already in the black with it. So...twenty bucks?”

“You can’t be serious?”

“Too high? Fifteen?”

“No! Tyler! For heaven’s sake...you can’t tell me you’d normally price something like that so low. Why on earth would you basically give it to me?”

He got quiet, then said, “It’s a really cool piece, for sure—at least, I think so—but to be honest, it looks like it’s a hundred-plus years old. Part of the lion’s nose is missing, and it’s got a lot of dings and cracks. It works fine, but it’s not...perfect.”

“But isn’t that what gives it character?”

“You would think so, yeah. And it’s not like we haven’t sold stuff in worse shape. Far worse shape. I don’t know why this guy hasn’t moved. Unless...” He looked at her from underneath his shaggy hair. “Unless he was waiting for his right home.”

“And you think my wall is it?”

“Could be,” he said with a shrug—and another wink—before getting up again, grabbing the tea to finish it off. Laurel sighed.

“What?” he said, twisting the cap back on.

“Are you even aware you’re flirting with me?”

He actually blushed. “Sorry, I... No. I mean, that’s just me.” Which was exactly what she’d thought. “Didn’t mean to offend you or anything—”

“Oh, I’m not offended at all. Amused, perhaps. And I was going to say flattered.” She sighed. “Until you made it clear it’s not personal.”

“It’s not. I mean...please don’t take this the wrong way, but—”

Yes, that was the story of her life, wasn’t it? And again, exactly as she’d figured. “S’okay, I totally get it. Really. But you might want to pull back on the flirting thing. Because someday, somebody is going to take it the wrong way. And that wouldn’t be good.”

“No, ma’am, it sure wouldn’t.”

Thirty-five, and already ma’amed. So sad.

“So. Anyway,” he said, “I’ll get the footing poured tomorrow. Once that’s set I can start building the wall in the evenings. I don’t intend for it to take too long, though—I miss my dog too much.”

“Oh, that’s right—where is Boomer?”

“At my brother’s. Matt’s Newfoundland and Boomer are best buds—”

“A Newfie? Wow.”

“Wow, is right. Alf’s paw’s about the same size as Boomer’s head.”

Laurel stood as well, the breeze messing with her loose top. “So you have a brother?” At Tyler’s puzzled frown, she smiled. “I’m an only. The idea of siblings always intrigued me.”

With a slight snort, Tyler grabbed the shirt, yanked it over his head. “Actually, I’ve got two. And two sisters.”

“Seriously? Kudos to your mom.” Little Bits started up with his jazz routine, but Laurel stopped herself from laying a hand over her tummy. Even though she had no idea why, it wasn’t as if this was a secret. “That’s a lot of babies to push out.”

“Actually, she didn’t. Except for Abby, the youngest, the rest of us were adopted. And there was always the occasional foster, too—”

“So your family is the one Gran was talking about!”

“Excuse me?”

“When I told her your name, she wondered if your dad was Preston Noble.”

“That’s him, yeah. He—they—adopted me when I was ten.”

“She remembered briefly meeting him and your mom, when my grandfather was still alive. So, years ago. How are they?”

“Pop’s doing okay, I guess. But Mom...she passed away several years ago.”

“Oh...I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, it was rough on the old man. And Abs, she was only fourteen, fifteen, something like that.” He paused then said quietly, “It’s rough, losing your mother when you’re still a kid. Which I guess you know all about, huh?”

“Yeah.”