Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
O ver the next week they settled into a nice routine. Except the nights.
Paige woke up screaming every night, and every night Blake raced down the hall to wake her up. Her night terrors were epic. They never talked about it during the day though.
He barely saw her during the day anyway. He’d discovered a shed with all kinds of gardening tools and he lost himself in her yard. She said she had a kid who mowed, but the landscaping was a mess. The weather was too nice to stay indoors and the work was therapeutic for him. Maybe it was time for him to get his own house with a yard.
Most days he spent in the yard, though occasionally he went for drives to explore the area.
But they always had breakfast together and she always read him both his and her horoscope.
So far, the horoscopes had told him nothing. Though he mostly ignored her when she read them, Paige managed to find truth in them every day.
“Ooh, it says you should start writing down your dreams. They might be prophetic.”
He chuckled at that. She regularly appeared in his dreams—he couldn’t help his subconscious thoughts—and she probably wouldn’t appreciate it if he told her what they were.
“Mine says I’ll meet the love of my life.” She snorted. “Maybe you’re right, and these are just a bunch of hooey.”
“Who says you can’t meet the love of your life?” He’d never heard her being skeptical of anything supernatural before.
“Because I’m never dating anyone long-term again. Once was enough, thank you very much. The love of my life could waltz into this room today, and I’d tell him he gets a summer fling. That’s all.” Blake found that attitude a little depressing, but truthfully unless the woman was Debbie, he basically felt the same way.
Blake sneezed, and Paige’s eyes widened. “Are you sick?”
“No. It’s just allergies. I’ve got Zyrtec up in my room.”
“You shouldn’t be taking that stuff. It’ll just make you more allergic to other things. I’ll put a diffuser in your room with eucalyptus oil and get you a bottle of lavender and sandalwood.”
He gaped at her. “What are you talking about?” She’d mentioned this craziness before, but she’d never tried to force it on him.
“Essential oils treat everything better than pharmaceuticals.” There she went again.
He sniffed. “Remember, I work for pharmaceuticals. I’ll stick with my Zyrtec. I don’t need that snake oil.”
She sat up taller, her face scrunched up. “They are not. They are far better for you than the chemicals your industry feeds us.”
The doorbell rang, before he could argue, and Paige jumped up.
It was probably that blasted UPS guy again. Blake had tried to answer the door a couple of times, but Paige always shooed him away. He didn’t know why he cared. If she wanted to flirt with the UPS guy, that was her business.
Paige rushed for the foyer. Tria stared up at him. “I don’t know what you’re looking at me for. You know I don’t feed you from the table.”
Tria dropped her snout and whined. She was learning bad habits here. Paige constantly dropped things from the table “accidentally.”
A squeal came from the door followed by loud voices. Blake got up to see what the fuss was all about. Paige had her arms flung around an older woman, and a young man stood behind them.
The woman let go of Paige and caught sight of Blake.
She giggled and approached him. “Who’s Muscles here?” she asked, squeezing his bicep.
Paige kissed the young man on his cheek and rolled her eyes. “That’s Blake. My brother insisted I have a bodyguard this summer.”
The woman looped her arms through Blake’s. “Ooh, a bodyguard, I bet you have good stories.”
“I’m not a real bodyguard. I’m just staying here with Paige so she has company and a driver. I’m good friends with Lukas, and he didn’t like Paige out here all by herself, and I needed a place to stay for the summer.”
“Sure, likely story. I’m Ida, by the way. That’s my husband Phil,” she said with a nod to where Paige and Phil were talking animatedly.
Blake hoped his face didn’t reveal his surprise. There had to be at least thirty years age difference between them.
Ida eyed him suspiciously. “Go on, ask the question. I know you want to.”
Blake patted her hand. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Ida let out a laugh. “Paige, I like this one better than Emery.”
Blake met Paige’s eye, worried that this might hurt her feelings. The blood had drained from her face. Paige hadn’t so much as mentioned Emery to Blake, but he knew that was her dead husband. It was a little insensitive of Ida to say anything at all.
Phil rushed forward and stuck out his hand. “I’m Phil.”
Blake took it, extracting himself from Ida. “Nice to meet you. I take it you’re the snowbirds next door.”
Phil chuckled. “Yep, my Ida is the most temperature-sensitive person I’ve ever met. Can’t stand anything under thirty-two degrees or over eighty.”
“Well, this is the right place right now. It’s gorgeous. I don’t know how anyone stays indoors.”
Phil glanced at Paige. “You up for yoga again this summer?” he asked.
She grinned. “I’m always up for yoga.” He should’ve known she’d enjoy yoga. All that meditation and stuff was right up her alley.
Ida put her hands on her hips and glowered at Blake. “You know a good host always offers his guests a drink.”
“Of course,” Blake said. “We’ve got coffee.”
Ida winked at Paige. “Better make that an Irish coffee.” She turned back to Blake. “Of course, a bloody Mary would be perfect too.”
Blake’s gaze flicked to Paige, but she just grinned at him.
“Um, I’m not sure Paige has tomato juice. I can get you that coffee though.” He’d seen whiskey in the cupboard, so he could make that at least.
Blake made up a coffee for Ida, and Paige led Phil into her studio, chatting animatedly.
Ida hoisted herself up onto a stool. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said.
“What do you mean?” He was thinking Ida was a little over the top, but he still liked her. He couldn’t tell her that though.
“Phil and a pretty girl like Paige disappearing into another room.”
Well, maybe he was just into her weird art. His wife certainly was a bit on the unusual side.
“I suppose that is a little suspicious, but I just figured he liked art.”
“He does, and Paige is his best friend. I expect they escaped to chat about you. Don’t worry. Phil will fill me in when we get home.”
“How did you and Phil meet?” He had to get the attention away from him and Paige. He didn’t need meddlers this summer.
“He was my pool boy in Florida. It was love at first sight.”
Somehow that didn’t surprise him.
* * *
Blake made the mistake of inviting Phil and Ida over for breakfast the day after they arrived, and five days later, it had become a daily occurrence. Blake didn’t mind. He liked cooking, and breakfast was his favorite meal.
Today, the door creaked open, and Tria raced from the kitchen to greet the couple and get the treat Phil always brought. Blake shoved his breakfast casserole into the oven. He wanted to be able to focus on the conversation with Ida instead of worrying that he’d put too much vanilla in his muffins.
Ida entered the kitchen in a flourish. “Where’s my mimosa?”
Blake just shook his head and opened the fridge while Phil took his yoga mat to the space in front of the windows. He and Paige always did yoga while Blake cooked.
Blake grabbed the pitcher of mimosa that he’d prepped that morning and poured out two glasses, handing one to Ida and settling on the stool next to her. She took it from him.
“You must’ve gotten up early today.” She raised her glass to him.
He clinked it with his own. “I didn’t want to mess up the casserole, and you’re distracting.”
She flung her hair over her shoulder and batted her eyes at him. “Sorry, dear, I’m very happy with Phil. You definitely have a chance with that one though.” She nodded toward where Phil and Paige were doing yoga.
Blake didn’t even bother hiding his stare. All women were attractive in downward dog, but Paige especially so. She wore short shorts, and he totally enjoyed the view.
“Paige and I are just friends. If that.”
Ida snorted. “Hardly. I see the way you watch her and her you. If you aren’t sleeping in the same bed by the time the summer is over, I’ll be very surprised.”
Blake didn’t take his eyes off of Paige. She moved easily into a standing position with her hands raised high above her head.
“That won’t happen.” Though he wouldn’t mind. He could never be in a real relationship with her. They were too different, and she’d sworn off relationships, but she was beautiful. There was no denying that.
“Why the Sam hill not? Do you think you’re too good for her?” Ida glared at him.
“Hardly. There are a lot of reasons. For one, I don’t believe that the pharmaceutical industry is the devil. I like modern medicine.”
“Oh phooey. Do you really think that Phil and I see eye to eye on things? We vote the opposite of one another in every election. I go to church on Sunday mornings, and he’s an atheist. But we couldn’t deny our chemistry, and neither can you two.”
She had a point, but there was more to it than that. Lukas trusted him here with her this summer and he wasn’t about to risk that.
“It’s more than that. Lukas would kill me.”
“I suppose you have a point there, but don’t let him ruin your chance for happiness. You two belong together.”
“No offense, Ida, but you don’t really know me.” He pursed his lips. She had no right to stick her nose into this.
She raised an eyebrow. Maybe that was uncalled for. Ida had managed to extract information out of him in the last five days. Phil and Paige spent a lot of time together, so that meant he and Ida just talked, and Ida liked stories. Blake had tons of them from his time overseas and traipsing through jungles. But she was also good at getting more nuanced information—like how his parents died and what it felt like when Debbie left him.
“I know enough,” she said.
He wasn’t sure that was true, but he wasn’t going to deny it either.