Lost Along the Way(71)

“I’m glad you aren’t totally against it,” Steve said. Meg turned to look at him and saw that he was falling in love with it, too.

“It could be a great house,” she said as she grabbed his hand and dragged him into a small bedroom tucked in the corner. “For now it could be an office, but this room would make a nice size nursery.” Meg’s eyes glazed over as she squeezed Steve’s hand and got lost in a daydream where there was a mobile hanging from the ceiling, a crib tucked in front of the window, and a rocking chair in the corner. “What do you think?” Meg asked.

“I think we’d like to make an offer,” Steve said as he pulled her toward him. Meg tried not to let the fact that he blatantly avoided her question bother her.

“Fantastic!” Nick said. “You guys will be very happy here. I can sense it. Plus, I think you’ll be able to get it for a steal.”

One month later they owned the house and soon after began renovations. They left the closing and Meg reached over and hugged Nick, unable to squash her bubbling enthusiasm for this major milestone in their life. “Thank you so much, Nick.”

“It’s my pleasure. I hope you guys are very happy here. Oh, I almost forgot!” he said. He walked over to his car parked on the side of the road, and removed a bottle of champagne from the front seat. He handed it to Meg. “Congratulations, guys. If every client was as easy to work with as you were, this would be a very different job,” he joked.

“Why don’t you let us take you to lunch before we head back?” Steve asked. “We’re going to be doing a lot of work out here, and I’d love your recommendations on who we should use. Would you mind if we picked your brain a little bit over lunch?”

“Are you guys sure?”

“Of course!” Meg said. “We insist.”

Two hours later they were still at lunch, more than a little happy from celebratory drinks and the fact that it was Friday and no one had to go to work the next morning.

“Are you married?” Meg asked as Nick sipped his beer and popped fried clams into his mouth.

“Nope! I’m just a lonely bachelor. It’s tragic, isn’t it?” he joked. “I have a dog named Sebastian. He’s the only man I have in my life at the moment.”

“Oh, you’re gay?” Meg asked. “I was going to try to set you up with a friend of mine from work. Damn.”

“I’d love to meet your friend one day, but yeah, I won’t be interested in her,” Nick said.

“I teach with a very cool guy, actually. I don’t want to play matchmaker, but if you’re ever interested in meeting someone, let me know. I’ll set it up!”

“We can double date!” Meg added.

“Do you think that’s a fair trade? I find you a house, you find me a boyfriend?” Nick joked. “Most people just send flowers or bottles of wine. You guys are really awesome.”

“Just happy,” Meg said. “So we like to see other people happy, too. We’ll set it up. I promise.”

The date never happened.

Lots of things didn’t.

“He was our Realtor, that’s all,” Meg answered. “When we met him I was just hoping he’d be able to sell us a house. I never in a million years would’ve guessed that he’d become one of my closest friends—my only friend for a while, actually—or that I’d end up living in the house alone. It’s crazy the way things turn out sometimes,” she added sadly. She couldn’t shake the melancholy that had descended on her since spin class. For some reason, today was one of those days when the memories refused to leave her the hell alone.

They entered the hardware store and Meg waved to the stock boy, Tyler, who was busy trying to fit a coiled-up garden hose onto one of the shelves.

“God, I love the way hardware stores smell, don’t you?” Cara asked as she followed Meg through the aisles.

“What? You do? I never knew that! They kind of smell like dirt, don’t they?” Meg asked, surprised.

“Not at all! It smells like rubber and sawdust and testosterone. You know, when I was younger I always thought that hardware stores were a great place to meet guys.”

“Name one guy you ever met in a hardware store!” Meg laughed.

“I’m not saying I ever met one, I’m just saying it’s a good place to look around.”

Meg glanced over and noticed the two burly men perusing the barbecue tools. Maybe Cara was right.

“If we were young and single, I’d come back here before I went to a bar, that’s all I’m saying.”

“Good to know.”

They made their way toward the back of the store, where the kitchen equipment was located. Meg was fishing through the pans when Cara grabbed her arm.

“Oh, speak of the devil! Look, there’s Nick. Who’s he talking to? She looks familiar.”

Meg glanced over at the girl with her arms wrapped around Nick’s neck and sighed. “That’s the girl from the coffeehouse. The one you threatened to sue.”

“That is her!” Cara said, stifling a laugh. “I’d rather not have to see her again—can we just stand back here until she’s gone? That was not one of my finer moments.”

Meg allowed Cara to pull her behind a rack of paint cans. Nick was at the register, buying new dog bowls for Sebastian.