Chapter 26
The last wall panel went up just before ten. Beth stood on the floor while Dave climbed down from the stepladder.
“This is the moment of truth,” Dave said as he walked to the switch and flipped on the new track lighting.
Beth stared at the warm light spilling across the gallery wall. “That looks fantastic. It’s big enough to hold a good number of paintings, but not so big that it overpowers the room.”
Dave stood beside her. “Natalie’s paintings will look incredible on the wall when she exhibits them.”
Beth nodded, and for a while, neither of them said anything.
Music still played softly from the speaker. After months of plans and problems and unexpected repairs, the gallery looked like the place Beth had imagined when she’d first walked through the doors.
“It’s beautiful,” Beth said. “Not only the wall, but everything you’ve done.”
“It is.”
Something in Dave’s voice made her turn around.
He wasn’t looking at the wall. He was looking at her.
Beth’s heart pounded. For weeks, there had always been something between them to hide behind. A job that needed doing. Someone else in the room. A meeting to attend. A reason to leave.
Tonight, there was only the two of them.
Dave’s expression changed slightly. “Beth.”
It was just her name but she knew. And suddenly, she was tired of pretending she didn’t.
“I know,” she whispered.
Neither of them moved.
Then Dave lifted his hand. He did it slowly, giving her more than enough time to step away. His fingers brushed a strand of hair from her cheek.
Beth stayed exactly where she was. Dave’s hand lingered against the side of her face. Her breath caught.
Then he leaned toward her.
Their first kiss was gentle and careful, almost tentative. For a heartbeat, Beth didn’t move. Then her hand settled against Dave’s chest and she kissed him back.
The world didn’t fall apart. Nothing she had loved or lost was taken from her. There was only Dave. The warmth of his hand against her cheek. The quiet music. The new gallery lights glowing above them. And the astonishing realization that she wanted this.
She wanted him.
Dave drew back just enough to look at her, and Beth saw the same surprise and wanting she knew must be written across her face.
Then he kissed her again.
This time there was nothing tentative about Beth’s response.
For one suspended moment, she let herself have all of it—the warmth, the closeness, the terrifying happiness of being held by someone again.
And that was when the fear arrived. She couldn’t un-want this. There was no version of tomorrow where she could go back to not knowing how it felt to kiss Dave McGuire.
Beth stepped away and her hand rose to her mouth. “I—” She drew a shaky breath. “I’m sorry.”
Concern immediately replaced the warmth in Dave’s expression. “Beth?”
“I don’t know how to do this.”
He didn’t move toward her and that made what she had to say harder. Beth wrapped her arms around herself. “I’ve spent years making my life safe. Predictable. I know where everything fits. I know what tomorrow looks like and the day after that.”
Dave watched her quietly.
“And then you came along,” she said.
His mouth almost curved into a smile. “Sorry about that.”
A startled laugh escaped her. It made the tightness in her chest ease for half a second. Then Beth shook her head. “I don’t mean it like that. I just—” She looked at the finished wall, trying to find the words. “Careful lives don’t leave much room for this. And I built mine very carefully.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know how to suddenly want something this much without feeling as though everything beneath me is about to move.”
Dave was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “I’m not asking you to know how.”
Beth looked at him.
“I’m not asking you for anything tonight,” he continued. “And I’m not asking you to forget the life you had before I came along.”
Her throat tightened.
Dave slipped his hands into his pockets. “I just needed you to know it wasn’t only you standing here wondering what this is.”
“I know.” Her voice cracked slightly. “That’s what frightens me.”
He nodded. “Then take whatever time you need. I’m not going anywhere.”
And Beth believed him. That might have been the most frightening part of all.
She looked around the room, then reached for her coat. “I should go.”
“Okay.”
She put it on with unsteady hands, then started to walk away. When she reached the registration desk, she stopped and looked at Dave.
He was still standing beside the finished wall, the gallery lights warm behind him.
“It was a good kiss,” she said.
His eyebrows lifted.
Beth almost smiled. “I just think that’s important information. The kiss wasn’t the problem.”
A slow smile appeared on his face. “Good to know.”
Despite everything twisting inside her, she smiled back.
“Go home, Beth,” he said gently. “We’ll figure the rest out later.”
She nodded and stepped outside.
Beth drove home and this time, she didn’t try to talk herself into a tidy explanation. There wasn’t one.
She had spent six years learning how to live without Jessie.
Now she had to learn something completely different—how to let herself love another man.