The Maverick - By Jan Hudson Page 0,42
Sam. Mom told me. I think she and Aunt Min fell in love with him.”
Cass took another big swallow of tea. “Did she also tell you how much he looks like our father?”
Sunny shook her head. “She neglected to mention that little fact.”
“Hmm. I thought her eyes were going to pop out when she first spotted him. He already had an advantage before he turned on the charm—and he turned it on full blast. You could have bottled it and sold it for clover honey.”
“I think Mom is actually considering meeting other members of the family.”
“Fantastic,” Cass said.
“I’m not sure she’s ready for the whole mob at once, but maybe one of us could take her and Aunt Min down to Wimberley sometime and have lunch with Belle and Flora. Maybe visit Flora’s art gallery.”
“Good idea. Perhaps we turned down Belle’s invitation for Sunday too soon. I think the only ones coming from Naconiche are Frank and Carrie. Want me to call Belle and reinvite ourselves?”
“No. Something tells me to leave it as is.”
“Okay by me.” Cass drank the last of her tea and stood. “Let’s get the bank bag, and I’ll be off.”
CASS STARED AT THE color swatches taped to her bedroom wall, trying to decide which tones would be best for her living room. To get some ideas, she’d watched several episodes on HGTV. Several of the decorators were painting rooms gray or some shade of purple. She wasn’t a fan of either color.
Maybe she should hire a decorator to help her. Trying to make so many decisions made her brain hurt. It was so much easier if you had a yellow wall to begin with and had to find things that would coordinate, rather than decide the color of the wall so you could find things to coordinate with it. She wanted to scream in frustration.
Luckily, she was saved from a meltdown when the phone rang.
“Hey, gorgeous, what are you doing?” Griff asked.
“I’m about to have a screaming hissy fit.”
“Sounds serious,” he said. “What’s up?”
She told him about the houses and her frustration with color chips. “It’s running me crazy, and I’ve barely started.”
“Why don’t you hire a decorator?”
“I considered it, but not for long. I love decorating.”
He was quiet for a moment. “Cass, that doesn’t compute.”
She chuckled. “My frustration will pass, and once I get some basic selections, everything else will be easy. What’s all that noise?”
“I’m at the airport.”
Her heart sped up. “Are you on your way back to Austin?”
“I wish,” he said. “I’m on my way to Miami. I have some business there I must take care of. I’m not sure how long it will take. Hopefully, only a day or two. It may be the first of the week before I can return to Austin. Cass, I have to go. My flight’s being called. I’ll try to get back with you tomorrow or Friday for sure. Love you. Bye.”
Cass sat there, stunned, listening to dead air.
Chapter Seventeen
The news Griff was flying off to Miami didn’t startle her nearly as much as his last words. “Love you,” he’d said. Was that a casual farewell or did it mean something more?
And why was she obsessing about it? The L word hadn’t been mentioned before. Cool it, Cass, she told herself. Don’t rush things. Take it slow and easy. In the first place, she might have misunderstood him.
No, she hadn’t misunderstood. She’d heard what she’d heard. Loud and clear. And it wasn’t three little words. It was two. Unless you counted “Bye.” And she didn’t.
Oh, cripes! Forget it. Concentrate on the color chips.
Concentrate!
When she’d finally selected colors for the outside of her house, she began to laugh. She’d picked the exact same hues as Sunny’s house. Oh, the chamois shade she’d picked might have a tiny bit more gold, but basically they were the same. Would Sunny mind?
She’d have to ask, but knowing her sister, there wouldn’t be a problem. No wonder Cass had immediately loved Sunny’s house.
For the other house, she picked a soft gray trimmed with white, with a yellow front door. People were supposed to be drawn to yellow doors. By the time she went to bed, she’d selected wall colors for the entire interior of both places. All the paint was eco-friendly, and she was putting down bamboo floors everywhere except the kitchens and bathrooms, which would be tile. Greg Gonzales had promised to use reclaimed lumber wherever he could, and to think green in other ways.
Cass was really getting excited to