8. Micah
8
MICAH
“You got it from here?” Caden asks, drying his hands in the bathroom sink. We’ve been working all day to get this studio as close to finished as possible. Aside from hanging photos, I only have to touch up the soft blue paint in a few spots. We’ve hauled the heaviest of the furniture upstairs already, and the rest I can get myself.
With any luck, I’ll be able to show Avery her new photography space this weekend.
“I got it from here,” I answer, straightening one of the dozen of framed photos—Avery’s photos. “Actually, there is one thing.”
“What’s that?” Caden asks, returning to the main room.
“I’m still short a couple of signatures.”
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”
“I’m not asking Ruby for a signature,” he says, his tone firm. “You can go knock on her door yourself.”
“You two have some beef or something?”
“Or something.”
The fact that Ruby is his business partner’s little sister might have something to do with his unyielding determination to keep his distance. Though I’m tempted to prod him for details, I decide to leave well enough alone for today. I’d never have finished this studio space without his help, after all. “I’m just three signatures away from the covenants change,” I explain. “I should be able to knock those out tonight.”
“Without my help,” Caden is quick to add.
“I only need fifty-one percent of the neighborhood to sign off on the petition.” Problem is, some of these older residents are very set in their ways and aren’t excited about the potential increase of traffic to the neighborhood they’ve called home for decades. No amount of charm has persuaded the stubborn ones.
“I hope it works, man,” Caden says, sounding like he means it.
“It has to work.” What else am I going to do with a photography studio in my future house if Avery’s not here to use it?
I follow Caden downstairs and pull the door closed behind me.
“You two done?” Avery asks, her voice a pleasant surprise. She’s been keen on avoiding me since the moment I set her down, made my declaration, and walked away from her last night. I’ve been giving her space, hoping that’s exactly what she needs to realize this isn’t just some friends with benefits situation.
“Almost,” I answer, willing my pulse to slow as I lift one corner of my mouth.
“Can I see it?” she asks.
Caden silently chuckles, shaking his head. “Later, man.”
“You don’t want to stay for dinner?” Avery calls after him.
“Got to get back to the gym to relieve Marshall,” he answers.
“I suppose that’s for the best,” Avery says to me once the front door closes.
“Why?” I ask, confused.
“Because our first date might be awkward with a chaperone.”
“First date—” I stare at Avery, resisting the urge to reach for her just to be sure this is real. Maybe I hit my head on a rafter and am suffering a concussion. Though I hoped she’d come around eventually, I didn’t think it would be this quickly.
“Unless you have another hot date to get to?” she asks, her tone flirty and confident. But I don’t miss the flash of fear in her eyes. Does she really think I’m interested in anyone but her? I haven’t gone on a date since we moved to Daisy Hills over a year ago. And any dates I suffered through in the city were just a sad attempt to pretend she wasn’t the one I really wanted.
I cup her cheek, brushing my thumb along the soft skin of her cheek. “You’re the only one I want, Avery. Don’t act like you don’t know that.”
She bites her bottom lip, her gaze dropping away.
Though all I want to do is tell her how much she means to me—how much she’s always meant to me—I rein in the urge to blurt out three little words that deserve nothing but the utmost fanfare when I finally declare them. The last thing I want to do is scare her away when she’s finally letting down her friend zone wall.
One might argue that very wall was down last night, but I’ve been harboring a secret fear that Avery would suggest some friends with benefits bullshit arrangement.
“Go get ready, sweetheart,” I say, tempted as hell to capture her lips. Instead, I place a soft kiss to her forehead. “We leave in an hour.”