Nailed - Opal Carew Page 0,51
don’t think we should chance that. It’s a nice day out. Why don’t we work out by the pool?”
Her automatic reaction was to resist his suggestion. But he was right. She needed to be careful about breathing in the chemicals and pigments. Fighting him would just be spiting herself. She agreed and selected the base, pigments, and glitters she’d be using today and put them back in the box, then tossed in the mixing utensils and bottles. He carried them outside.
He set out the opened polish bottles and she used a syringe to draw the base from the big bottle and fill ten of the little bottles, then she popped a little funnel in each and measured out pigment and dropped it in the funnels.
“Are you really going to do this a bottle at a time?” Will asked.
“Well, for now. I’ve never done a bulk set of polish before. I’m afraid if I mix it in a bigger bottle, it might not come out right.”
She handed him a toothpick. “You can push the pigment down. It tends to clump in the funnel.”
Will sat and poked the powder with the sharp wooden pick to loosen it while she measured some of the silver holo glitter and tossed it in on top, and then she added some fine peacock-blue glitter.
When they had all ten bottles done, she used her little hand-held mixer to blend everything, then Will dropped two steel balls in each and capped them. Finally, ten complete bottles sat on the table, glistening in the sunlight. She smiled, ridiculously happy that she had just made the first step in her growing business.
“Now just three hundred and ninety to go,” Will said.
“Actually, we still have another fifty or so over that to do,” she said as she assembled one of the flattened, divided boxes she’d bought to store the polish. “I plan to send several sets out to bloggers and YouTube vloggers for review.” She placed the full bottles inside.
Then she glanced his way, wondering if he would abandon her now that he’d gotten her started.
“Okay, well, we’d better get moving then.” He started setting out more of the small glass bottles.
* * *
Will enjoyed working with River. Her obvious joy at working with these colors and bright glitters made him smile. She seemed to genuinely appreciate his help, too, but he sensed something was off. Last night, they had gotten to know each other a little better and seemed to be forming a bond, but today she seemed tense around him. Whenever he got too close, like when they were putting away the groceries or when he accidentally brushed her arm when he was setting out the little bottles, she stiffened.
They spent the whole day filling bottles and mixing polish. She did a batch of several different colors and he loved watching the delight in her eyes when she opened a new colorant or glitter pouch.
Finally, when she showed no signs of stopping, Will leaned back in his chair and sighed.
“Time for a break. How about some dinner?”
“Oh, no, I don’t want to take up any more of your time.”
He was sure she was trying to get rid of him, but he was intent on finding out what had gone wrong between them.
“I insist. You’ve got some steaks in there. How about I show you how to use the grill on the stove?”
“Okay. Thanks,” she said reluctantly. She placed the latest box of finished polish on the growing stack, and then followed Will into the house.
Will showed her the various controls on the stove, and he spiced up the steaks while she made a salad. Soon they were sitting at the table with dinner and a nice red wine. When they were finished, he sat back and watched her sip her wine.
“So I notice you’ve been a bit uncomfortable around me today. Did I do something wrong last night?”
She gazed at her wine as she swirled it in her glass. “No. It was very nice of you to keep me company yesterday.”
“Okay, if it’s not that, then what’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “There’s nothing wrong.”
“I don’t believe you. Look, I’m Kane’s best friend … you’re his wife … I’d like us to be friends. If I’ve done anything wrong, I’d like a chance to fix it.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just … an awkward situation.”
“What is? The reason you and Kane are married?”
She pursed her lips. “The fact that I’m married to Kane, but that you two are …