How to Love Your Neighbour(70)

“Are you okay?” Grace stepped into him, settling both hands at his waist.

“Yeah. I don’t know. Something about this place really reminds me of my grandparents. It’s hitting me funny. That’s all. It’s a gorgeous piece.”

“We can go,” Grace said, her brows furrowing in concern.

He shook his head. “No. You were right about this store. It’s great. Let’s get the mantel. We’ll have it shipped with the coatrack.”

“You sure?”

“My grandmother would love you,” he said.

Grace’s surprise showed in her eyes and the way her mouth dropped open. “She’s still alive?”

“Yup. She’ll outlive us all.”

Grace grinned. “Let me take a picture of the mantel with you in front. You can send it to her. I bet she’ll get a kick out of that.”

She would. She absolutely would. Somehow, Grace made him feel more connected with little pieces of himself he’d closed off. He didn’t know if that should worry him or make him happy. For now, he’d go with happy. He knew how fleeting those moments could be.

When they got back in the truck, Grace looked over, her gaze clearly expectant.

“What?” He started the truck.

“Admit that Pottery Barn’s got nothing on Mi Casa.”

Grinning, Noah pulled out of the parking spot. “I don’t think it’s fair to compare the two. It’s like comparing a show dog to a mutt.”

“Did you just call my favorite store a mutt?”

He wasn’t sure how he walked into these ridiculous conversations, but they amused the hell out of him. “Not intentionally. I think they cater to very different tastes. One for show and one for feel. Hungry?”

“Nice deflection but good description. Yes, I’m hungry. Where are we eating?”

“Can’t tell you. Top secret.”

She leaned back in the seat. Unlike a lot of the women he’d spent time with, Grace was entirely fine with silence. It was refreshing. It made him relax, feel more like himself.

“Have you talked to Josh?”

Switching lanes, Noah thought about it. “Texted a couple times today. Why?”

“Did he say anything about him and Rosie?”

“No. But we don’t gossip and braid each other’s hair.”

Grace shoved his arm. “Sexist. I braided my own hair.”

Noah gave her a smile. “It’s sexy as hell. I look forward to undoing it later.”

The heat in her eyes sidetracked him. “Don’t look at me like that while I’m driving, Gracie. I’d like to get to our destination safe and sound.”

“Then don’t say things that make me look at you like that.”

Gripping the steering wheel with both hands, he returned them to the conversation. “Josh?”

“Maybe I shouldn’t tell you. It’s gossip. Though, not really since it’s true. You really don’t talk about stuff outside of work?”

Noah cringed. “Other than the time I asked him out, no.”

Grace’s laughter rang out over the music playing in the background. “Oh my God. I forgot about that!”

Noah laughed along with her, remembering how awkward he’d felt.

“I wonder if he told Rosie.”

“Are you going to tell me the gossip or what?”

“They’re moving in together.”

He nearly slammed on the brakes. “What?”

She nodded. “That’s what I said. But hey, they’re grown-ups.

They make each other happy and as Rosie told me, not everyone has a mapped-out plan of how life is supposed to happen. She said they don’t want to waste time when they both know.”

He bit down on his lip to keep from asking the cynical question that popped into his brain: How could anyone actually know? They couldn’t. There was no way. Moving in together wasn’t like buying a great piece of property. It wasn’t something someone just did with the security of knowing if it didn’t work out, there’d be plenty of others available.

“It’s okay if you’re skeptical,” she said softly.

“Aren’t you?”

She was quiet a moment. “Yes. But then I think, I’ve spent my life being cautious, weighing and measuring my feelings so I didn’t dive headfirst into cement. Now I’m almost thirty and single. When I was little, I thought I’d be married with kids by now. What I’m saying is, there’s no one right way, I guess. If they’re all in, they’re all in.”

“That’s a hell of a gamble. Nothing wrong with weighing your choices. Thinking things through and being sure.”

He felt her gaze on him. He focused harder on the road, flipping the visor down to block the streaks of sunset shining in his eyes.

“Haven’t you ever just gone with your gut? On a deal? A place you wanted to buy?”

He thought about the warehouses he’d purchased through his father’s company. The ones he was currently trying to off-load to get his money back because his father wasn’t willing to see Noah’s vision.

“Sure. But that’s different.”

Grace’s laugh didn’t hold the same humor it had earlier. “Right. A deal is just millions of dollars.”