Chapter 15
Cristie pulled up in front of Remi’s house at about seven minutes to six that evening. Instead of honking the horn, which she thought was immeasurably rude, she got out of the car and went up onto the front porch to knock on the door. She was about to knock again, when the door opened.
Her eyes about bugged out of her head when she saw Remi standing there wearing a pair of faded jeans, zipped up, but the top button unfastened, shirtless, with drops of water sprinkled across his shoulders and chest as he rubbed a towel against his thick dark wet hair.
“Sorry, time got away from me. Give me two minutes,” he said. He left the door opened and hurried back down the hallway.
Cristie stepped into his house and peeked down the hallway after him, just barely catching a glimpse of a muscular back before he disappeared inside one of the rooms. She fanned herself as she shook her head. “Lord help me,” she whispered.
“What’s that?” he called out.
“Nothing. I didn’t say anything,” she called back.
Almost immediately she heard a blow dryer turn on.
It only ran for about forty-five seconds before shutting off.
She heard him brush his teeth, then the clatter of the sound of his toothbrush settling into the cup he kept it in, then his footsteps as he left the bathroom.
Less than a minute later he was coming up the hallway toward her as he pulled a clean teeshirt on over his head and his now dry shoulders, pulling it down to cover his trim waist and almost reach his hips, hugged so nicely by his jeans.
He shoved his feet into a pair of sneakers that sat beside the door, then turned to look at her as he ran his fingers through his hair.
“Sorry, it’s still wet. Takes forever to dry, I just kind of let it do its thing,” he said, smoothing his hands through it again.
“Looks great,” she said, paying particular attention to the dark, wavy locks springing away from the straightened directions he’d obviously brushed it into. “I’m actually kind of jealous.”
Remi looked around the living room, then down at his clothes. “Of what?”
“You, your hair. You know how long I have to fight my hair to make it look like I didn’t just get out of bed, and here you are, slap it with a towel, blow a little hot air at it, smooth it with your hands and you look like it was professionally styled so you could step onto the runway.”
“At the airport?” he asked, pretending he was confused.
“No. At a fashion show. Like a model,” she said.
“Oh, you think I’m pretty,” he said, teasing her.
“You know you’re pretty. Get in the car,” she said, walking out of his house, expecting him to follow.
Remi snickered a little as he grabbed his keys and his wallet off the coffee table in front of the sofa, locked the door behind himself and followed her out the door.
Cristie made small talk on the way to town, pointing out this place or that.
When she drove past the turnoff for the highway that led to Travis and Libby’s house, and Basilio and Renata’s house, she pointed that out, too.
“Kaiser and his family live off that highway. They’ve got a really pretty piece of property, and a beautiful home.
Kaiser lives in the guest house set a little apart from the main house. ”
“I like him. He might be my new best friend,” Remi said, gazing steadily out of the passenger side window.
She looked his way briefly. “He’s my best friend.”
“No rule saying that he can’t have more than one best friend.”
“I guess not,” she said, quickly glancing his way again.
They rode quietly for a mile or two before she asked what had suddenly occurred to her. “I don’t guess you know he’s left town.”
“I do, actually. He came by for a while the night before he left.”
“Your house? He came by your house to say goodbye instead of mine and I live right across the street and he could have come to talk to me.”
Remi shrugged. “If that’s how you want to look at it.”
“How do you suggest I look at it?” Cristie asked.
“Like your best friend has become friends with your old best friend, and that could be a good thing,” he said, turning his head to her with a raised brow and pursed lips.
She opened her mouth to answer, glanced his way twice in quick succession, then relaxed back into her seat, shaking her head slowly as she closed her mouth.
Finally, she started nodding. “You’re right.
You’re both very good males, and it shouldn’t surprise me at all that you’d gravitate toward each other in friendship. ”
“Glad you see it that way,” Remi said.
“So, I don’t suppose he told you why he left so suddenly?” Cristie asked.
“Did he tell you why he left so suddenly?” Remi countered.
“I can’t tell you that!” Cristie said.
“Neither can I. Certain things are said in confidence.”
“Agreed,” Cristie said. But her brow furrowed as she came to a stop at a red light in the middle of town.
“The courthouse is pretty,” Remi said.
“Hmm?” she asked, looking toward Remi, then to her left to the old, ornate courthouse, built of old stones and fancy rock work. “Oh, yeah, it is pretty. It’s one of my favorite buildings.”
“I can see why. Is it as historic inside, or have they modernized it?” Remi asked.
“Its wiring and plumbing have been updated, but at first glance, it matches the outside. I think it’s on the list of historic buildings for our town, so they have no choice but to maintain its original appearance, at least as much as possible while preserving it.”
“Next time we come to town, we’ll have to come earlier in the day so you can see the inside,” Cristie said.
“Are we coming to town again?” Remi asked.
“I’m sure we will at some point.”
Remi gave a half-nod, and a little shrug, then went back to looking out of his window.
A few minutes later Cristie turned into a parking lot and brought her car to a stop.
Remi looked up at the building she’d parked in front of. “Cooper’s Mercantile?”
“Yep. Think Wally-world, but on a smaller scale. Anything we need is here. Or at the feed store if you’d prefer boots, or a swing set.
” She thought about it for a second as they got out of the car and started toward the store.
“Or the grocery. But you get my point, this is the department store you usually want to go to if you’re not buying food. ”
“Or a swing set,” Remi said.
“See? You understand,” she said happily.
As they approached the door, Remi stepped in front of her and paused ever-so-briefly in the path of the sliding door, keeping her from entering until he’d had a split second to look around.
Deciding the store was safe enough for her to enter, he proceeded through the doorway, then stopped to allow her to resume the lead.
She looked up at him with a comical expression. “Sure nobody’s gonna try to steal me if I lead the way?”
“I’m beginning to think they’d bring you back if they did,” Remi answered, walking past her as he quickly took in the layout of the store, grabbed a basket and walked away.
“What does that mean?” she demanded, hurrying to catch up to him.
Remi didn’t answer, he simply strolled down the first aisle he came to, eyeing all the items they had on the shelf.
“Remi!” Cristie said, moving to stand in front of the basket.
He stopped pushing the basket and looked at her expectantly.
“What does that mean?”
“What does what mean?” he asked.
“That they’d bring me back. That’s not nice.”
“Cristie, you are certainly not the female I remember.”
“Really? And you’re the male I remember?”
“No, not exactly. But I hope I’m not as changed as you are.”
She watched him as he backed his basket up, then went around her, leaving her to follow or not. She followed him up and down four more aisles before she realized he wasn’t shopping, he was just walking up and down the aisles. “Aren’t you going to buy anything?”
“I don’t know what to buy. I don’t really need anything.”
“Then why are we here?” she asked.
“Because you insisted that you wanted to take me shopping. Here we are.”
She walked over to the basket and put her hand on it. “Look, I owe you an apology. I’m sorry for being so difficult. And I’m sorry for being so distant.”
He assessed her posture, scrutinized the expression on her face and laughed. “No, you’re not.”
She rolled her eyes. “I am. I really am. What you’re picking up on is that I hate to apologize.
But I will if I know I’m wrong. And I was wrong.
I’m sorry I was an ass. I was hurt and worked it up into more than it needed to be.
I know you were struggling, too. I should have been more understanding, and tried to see what you were feeling instead of just what I was feeling.
Then when you got here I felt set up by my own family.
I kind of took that out on you, too. That part wasn’t your fault.
You went through the right channels to be here. I am sorry for the way I treated you.”
“Good. I’d hate to think you’ve become naturally that mean.”
“I wasn’t that mean.”
“You were. Especially since we have always been friends. I was hoping if nothing else we could remind ourselves of that, even if nothing else worked out.” He looked away for a second before bringing his gaze back to hers.
He released a deep breath and shook his head.
“I miss you, Cristie. I miss being able to call and talk to you about anything. I miss your sense of humor. I miss your laugh.”
“I miss you, too, Remi. I’m sorry.”
They stood there awkwardly on opposite ends of the basket. Finally, Cristie reached her hand out toward him. “Truce? Start over fresh?”
He eyed her suspiciously. “You break this one, I’m going home,” he said.
Cristie laughed. “I’m not breaking this one.”
“Okay. Truce.” He shook her hand, then let it go before he couldn’t fight the urge to pull her over the basket and into his arms.
“Let’s buy some things,” she said, as she turned and started slowly down the aisle, her gaze sweeping across everything as she moved past. “What do you want?”