My exhaustion was coming back in full force so I simply nodded again, heaving it up when he said three. I was pretty sure he was taking most of the weight because my arms didn’t hurt as much as I expected them to, and in a few seconds, he’d slid the shelf onto the brackets and we were done.
Facing me, he studied my face. “Can we leave now?”
Again, I just nodded.
He strolled out into the open area in front of the counter.
I went into the kitchen and grabbed my things from the big island. Coming out of the kitchen with one arm in my jacket, I struggled to get the other one in.
Jack was rolling down his sleeves. “You don’t have anything else heavy that needs to be moved, do you?”
Frowning and trying to think as I watched him, I shook my head. “No. That was the last one, I believe.”
Then he put his suit jacket back on, and he looked just as he had when he’d showed up earlier, minus the tie.
“You look like you’re about to crash.”
He wasn’t even looking at me—how did he know?
“I think I can make that happen.” Feeling a little silly after his comment and about the fact that I was still struggling with the other jacket arm, I cleared my throat. “The crashing, I mean.” He came forward and, with a long-suffering sigh, pulled the jacket off, freeing my arm. Then he held it up for me and I felt myself blush as I successfully got both arms in.
“Thank you,” I muttered quietly.
“I’ll call Raymond so he can park out front.” He was looking down at his phone, but then his eyes met mine for a brief second. “You look worse than you did last week.”
I opened my mouth then decided to close it. I looked down and noticed that my knees were covered in dust. Nice touch, Rose. Really nice touch. I gently dusted myself off, all the while thinking who knew what other substances I had on my face or what said face actually looked like. Jack apparently did know, and it so happened to look worse than it had the week before. No biggie. Every husband made comments like that to their wives…I thought. Essentially, we were settling into married life. I thought he was broody male perfection, and he thought I was…well, to be honest, I was too scared to ask and hear his answer.
I sighed and looked up so I could meet his gaze. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m actually starting to consider keeping you around as my husband, permanently, Jack. I’m really liking these compliments so far, but I’m warning you, you can’t blame me when all these pretty words start to go to my head.”
I thought I imagined his lips pressing together in an effort to hold back a smile, though maybe it was a lip twitch. I would never know, but I squinted to make sure I was seeing right. Then again, my eyesight was still kind of blurry, so I was almost certain it had been just a trick of my eye.
When he commented in his businesslike tone, I knew for sure there were no smiles involved. “Would you like me to lie to you instead? I’m not sure I can be that guy for you.”
“Oh, no. I know you’re not that guy. Like I said, I’m content with my choice of husband right now. We’re settling into married life. When I ask you if I look fat in my jeans one day, I will always count on you to give me your honest answer. I’m sure it’ll come in handy.”
“If you have everything you need, we can leave. Raymond is waiting out front.” After pocketing his phone, he met my eyes. “You’re not fat.”
And right when I thought he wasn’t even listening to a word I was saying.
I grabbed my handbag from the counter where I had left it while I was struggling to get into my jacket then I followed Jack outside.
“I could lose a few pounds, actually—ten, maybe fifteen. Chocolates are great for your soul and happiness, but they don’t tend to be good for the hips. You know how the saying goes, right? A moment on the lips, forever on the hips.”
He stepped out onto the sidewalk as I turned off the lights and set the alarm.
“If you can’t give up chocolate maybe you can work out more.”