Happily This Christmas (Happily Inc #6) - Susan Mallery Page 0,3
would have pushed her over the edge.
“I’ll give you whatever advice you’d like,” she told him. “But my style might not be hers. That could be a problem.”
“No, you and Joylyn have a lot in common design-wise. You have a good eye for space and color, and she would like what you do.”
His words made her feel a little floaty, which was silly. She was in some serious trouble here—she hadn’t been this flaky even in high school. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to start flipping her hair and saying “like” in every sentence.
“If you’re all right with me adding fringe to every surface in your house, then I’m in,” she told him.
He chuckled. “Fringe would be a look.”
“But not a good one?” she teased.
“I’m not a fringe kind of guy.”
“Good to know. Tell me about Joylyn.”
Something sad flashed through his eyes. “I don’t see her much anymore. In fact, I haven’t seen her since the wedding. Like I said, we used to be tight.” One corner of his mouth turned up. “She was my best girl.”
“I’m sorry that changed.”
“Me, too.” He was silent for a second, then drew in a breath. “As I said, she’s married to Chandler, who is currently deployed. Alisha says he’ll be back before the baby’s born because first babies are always late.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe my little girl is going to be a mother. It all happened so fast.”
“Children grow up even when we don’t want them to. I’m figuring that out with Hunter.”
“He’s a good kid.”
“Thanks. I like to think so.” She wrapped her hands around her glass of milk. “I’m happy to help with whatever you need, and I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.”
“Thank you for the offer. As for the rest of it, I can see why you’d think what you did. In my own defense, I’ll admit it never occurred to me you wouldn’t know about my daughter, what with Happily Inc being a small town and all.”
“This might shock you, Garrick, but we don’t spend a lot of time talking about you.”
He stared at her in mock surprise. “Now you’re just being mean.”
She laughed. “We have our own lives we discuss.”
“But hey, it’s me.”
They smiled at each other. Wynn wondered if there was a way to ask about any other women that might be in his life, but figured she shouldn’t press her luck. She was going to help her neighbor, and in the helping, she might get a chance to probe into his personal life. If he was single, she would try to find a way to suggest they go out to dinner and get to know each other. Of course the more likely scenario was that they spent some time together, and then she discovered he was annoying. Because that seemed to happen a lot. Her friends said she was too picky, while she thought of herself as careful.
“When is she going to move in with you?” she asked.
“Next Saturday.”
“Then we should probably take a look at your house and make a plan.”
“When’s a good time?” he asked.
“I’m free now.”
* * *
“ME, TOO,” Garrick said, coming to his feet.
Wynn rose and smiled. “Let’s go.”
She picked up her cell phone from the counter and tucked it in the back pocket of her jeans, then led the way to the front door. He followed, trying to keep his gaze in the neutral position, which was tough. He kept finding himself checking out her long legs and her butt. She had a great butt—all curves with a little bounce. It was a butt a man could grab hold of for all kinds of reasons.
Down, boy, he told himself. Yes, Wynn had the requisite parts, and she was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen, but there was no way he was going to do anything about it. He didn’t do commitments anymore and doubted Wynn was the kind of woman who wanted anything else. In the year they’d been neighbors, he’d never seen her bring a man home. He had a feeling some of that was about her standards, and a lot of it was about being a single mom. She took her responsibilities to her son seriously.
Thinking about Hunter made him think about Joylyn. He was glad she was going to come stay with him, even for a few weeks. All these years later, he still didn’t know what had gone sideways between them when she’d been a teenager, but whatever