17. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
S o, he did like her...
Two days later, Lily still found herself smiling. A lot. So much so that Tanya had asked her a couple of times what had her so happy.
She would have been even happier if her brother hadn’t interrupted them the other evening. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he stopped by at that precise moment on purpose. But as much as Neil could get on her last nerve, he didn’t hover.
Even though the kiss hadn’t happened—it almost had or it would have if not for her brother’s bad timing. And the knowledge that Tony did want to kiss her made her happy. A bit of giddiness swelled up in her until she found herself smiling all day long.
This thing that was growing between her and Tony was so new—so fragile—that she wanted to protect it. There would eventually be a right time to tell everyone about her feelings for him—when the relationship was a sure thing.
That thought was quickly followed by a sense of worry. When is a relationship a sure thing?
She’d thought it was with her ex, Randy. They’d been together for two years, and when he’d invited her to dinner to talk, she thought that was code for he was going to propose. She had never been so wrong in her life.
And yet everything felt so different with Tony. He was changing right before her eyes. He was relaxing. He wasn’t wearing those bowties that were just too old—too serious—for him. He was leaving the top buttons of his dress shirts undone.
He wasn’t always wearing that serious expression. And he was even bending on some of the rules. Who knew he was such a rule follower?
Tony and her ex were very different from each other. She had to believe that Tony would never intentionally hurt her. She trusted him.
The shop was now closed and she was home waiting for Tony. Her gaze strayed across her sketch pad. The truth of the matter was that she’d needed someone else’s opinion about what to paint for the competition. She wanted something that was true to herself.
And though a cityscape could be beautiful, she didn’t live in the city. She lived on one of the most beautiful islands in the world. She realized she might be a little biased, but that was beside the point. Bluestar was a part of her and always would be.
As she sat on a stool in her art room, she flipped through her sketch pad for the umpteenth time.
She had it narrowed down to a painting of a lighthouse, a beach view of the Brass Anchor Inn, or some seashells along the beach.
She knew which one she wanted to work on, but she worried it might be too simplistic.
What if her concept didn’t come together on the canvas? It was a realistic worry. It had happened to her before.
Knock-knock.
Her heart beat faster as a smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
He is here. Even though she’d only gone one day—twenty-four hours—fourteen hundred or so minutes—without seeing him, it felt like forever.
The question she’d been asking herself all day was would Tony kiss her tonight? She could only hope so.
Knock-knock.
She set aside her sketch pad and got up to answer the door. When she reached the screen door, the first thing she noticed was that he had on a red bowtie. She didn’t know what to think about that.
She smiled as she opened the door for him. “You could have just let yourself in.”
“I, uh...didn’t want to be too forward.”
Really? Why now? But she refused to make a thing of it. Instead, she asked, “Did you find out if Aster pulled permits for the stages around town?”
He nodded. “She did.”
“That’s such a relief. And it will help us with the exact locations. Why don’t we start with those?”
Tony held a bag from the Purple Guppy. “You might want to eat first. Burgers and fries aren’t so good when they’re cold.”
She nodded. “That’s true. I’m just excited because I feel like we’re finally starting to pull this festival together.”
Lily grabbed them some plates and napkins. Soon they had their meal served up. This evening they were working while they ate.
Tony looked up from his notes. “Aster did a lot of the work. I just wish we could find her laptop.”
“It’ll turn up.”
“After we’ve recreated everything,” he muttered under his breath.
“We haven’t discussed the art competition,” she said.
Tony rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t even think about it.”
“Aren’t you going to enter it?” she asked with genuine interest.
“Me?” For the first time that evening, he smiled. It was brief, but it had been there on his handsome face. “I don’t have an artistic bone in my body.”
“I didn’t know that.” Even though they’d grown up together, she realized there was a lot about him that she didn’t know. “If you ever want to learn to paint, I could show you.”
He dabbed some fries in ketchup. “You’d be wasting your time.”
“Let me be the judge of how I spend my time.”
He didn’t say anything as he averted his gaze and made short work of his burger. Something was off with him this evening, but she had no clue what was bothering him.
She thought back to the last time they were together. They hadn’t argued about anything. And then she had a worrisome thought—did he regret the almost-kiss?
Had she read the moment all wrong? Was he merely flirting with her, and it meant absolutely nothing to him? Her heart sank.
It was time to go.
Tony, for the first time, was anxious to leave Lily’s house. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy her company. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He enjoyed her company too much.
But the more he thought about Neil’s warning, the more he realized it wasn’t fair to start anything with Lily right now. She needed more time to heal from the losses in her life.
The only thing he could do was wrap up this festival planning as quickly as possible, and then they could go back to their separate lives. It might be a small island, but there was still enough room for them to exist without being involved in each other’s lives.
“Do you have any special requests for dinner tomorrow night?” Lily’s voice cut through his thoughts.
He blinked and glanced at her. It was the exact wrong thing to do because right at that moment she was looking directly at him. Their gazes connected, and his heart thumped hard in his chest.
She’d asked him something, but he couldn’t remember what. His mouth grew dry as he rubbed his palms down his thighs. In that moment all he wanted to do was go to her and draw her into his arms and at last kiss her.
“Tony?” She sent him a strange look.
He averted his gaze as he gathered his things on the table. “I don’t think we should meet tomorrow.”
“Why?” There was a note of surprise in her voice. “Did I do something wrong? You’ve been acting strange all evening?”
“No.” He made the mistake of looking at her again.
His heart thumped. He looked down at the table as he placed his portfolio into his backpack.
“I’m just tired.” That much was true. He hadn’t slept much the night before as he’d wrestled with the right thing to do as far as Lily was concerned.
“We’ve got the plans with the festival to a point where I don’t think we need to meet each day. ”
“Oh.” A frown pulled at her rosy lips. “I see.”
He stood. He made sure not to look directly at her because every time he did, he wanted to forget about doing the right thing and pull her into his arms. And then he’d recall Neil’s warning about hurting her.
On wooden legs, Tony made it to the door. He paused as though he were looking out at the neighborhood. What he was really doing was enduring an inner struggle between his mind and his heart.
Needing to end this, he turned to her. He lowered his gaze. “We can work out a time to meet sometime next week—”
“Next week? You’re acting like everything is set in stone, but we still have a lot to do, like verifying the judges for the competition will still be able to make it and that Ethan Walker and Noah Sullivan will have the stages built in time for the festival.
And then there’s the games for the little ones to figure out. ”
He sighed. She was right. They still had a lot to tackle, but they didn’t have to do it together.
“Tomorrow send me a list of what you want to work on, and I’ll do the rest.” It seemed fair enough.
When he chanced a glance at her, she was frowning at him while crossing her arms. “I don’t understand. What did I do that you no longer want to work with me?”
“Nothing.” The answer was quick and honest. “It’s just that we both have our own lives to live. We can’t, um, spend every evening together.”
It was all the truth, just not the whole truth. He’d left out the part that he was falling head over heels for her, but she wasn’t in a position for something serious. This was what was best for her.
“Fine.” Her voice said it was anything but fine. “I’ll email you a list tomorrow.”
He nodded. “Goodnight.”
He didn’t waste any time getting out the door. It wasn’t until he was in his cart driving away that he could at last take a full breath.
This was for the best. He had no idea how many times he’d have to tell himself that until he believed it.