Chapter 28
Shopping with Nolan was fun. Dangerously fun. If nothing else, Candace would try to put more of this type of fun into her daily life from now on. A lesson well learned. And a way to take part of Nolan to Rosehill with her. Which she might as well admit she wanted to do, even knowing his image and her fascination would fade within a week or so after leaving.
At the meat counter, he casually piled five or six steaks in the cart to make her laugh. They settled on a thick ribeye big enough for three or four, two if you listened to Nolan, then pushed the cart down the cookie aisle where they both reached for Nutter Butters at the same time.
“My favorite.”
“Mine, too.” He held on when she tried to pull them toward the cart, which left them close together holding the crinkly plastic package aloft.
Candace should move, but his eyes seemed to be holding her where she was. “Candace, you are denying fate. We passed the Nutter Butter test. We are clearly destined for each other.”
She tried to laugh, but it didn’t work. “Cookies is the ultimate sign?”
“Sure.” He moved closer. “Cookies.”
She wanted to kiss him practically more than she wanted to go on breathing. But she wouldn’t, not until she had this all squared away with her sister. “I think…” She swallowed, tried again. “I think we should go buy some wine.”
“I think that I haven’t had this much fun in way too long.”
He let go of the package, took a reluctant step back and she put the Nutter Butters in the carriage, feeling as if she were under water, her movements slow and not quite real. They finished the shopping and made it through the checkout line, fighting amicably over the bill which they finally agreed to split. Back home, they grilled the mushrooms and steaks, made the salad, heated the rolls and ate in the backyard, candles on the table ready to light when it got dark. Simple good food.
Candace drank too much wine and put her hand over her glass when Nolan opened another bottle. More and she’d lie awake in the middle of the night with a headache and the sweats. The utterly Candace-sensible nature of that thought disgusted her, so she took her hand off and gestured him—what the hell, to go ahead.
“Tell me, Candace.” He finished pouring her wine and filled his own glass. “What’s wrong with the world and how can we fix it?”
“People need to be nicer to each other.”
“Good plan.” He lifted his glass. “Here’s to being nicer.”
“And more polite.”
“Yes, please, thank you, ma’am.”
“More accepting of each other.”
“Without exception.”
“More love. More—”
“Fabulous sex.”
She nearly spit out her wine laughing. “I suppose that would help.”
“I have another great way we can help change the world.”
She was about to giggle when she saw his face, serious in the dimming light.
“Let’s get some candles going and I’ll tell you.”
“Is this what you and Annie were talking about that you said you’d tell me later?”
“Yup.” He used a long, slender lighter on several candles, which flickered in the still air and lit their immediate area with a warm yellow glow. “My dad has been asking me to head our foundation, which I resisted…until now.”
He told her the story, the building Annie wanted him to buy, the studio spaces available, some individual artist’s stories, his excitement over improving Quinley’s position as a city that encouraged the profitability of creative arts. While he spoke, she felt a sweet ache widening in her chest. This man had real depth and a real desire to live his beliefs.
“So I am thinking seriously of pursuing the opportunity.”
“Nolan, it sounds perfect for you.”
“I think so, too.” He took a sip of wine. “And…now, tell me how you got into building management instead of photography.”
“That’s what my Grandad did.” She put her glass on the table, couldn’t resist another Nutter Butter, even though they were definitely not meant to be served with red wine. “He managed the bank building downtown. I helped him through high school and college to earn money, then after graduation I was ready to leave home, so when a job came up in Drakoria I grabbed it.”
“You enjoy it?”
“Sure.” She nodded slowly too many times. He waited, watching her expectantly, knowing there was more to the story than “sure.” “It’s good work. I’m organized, good at problem-solving, good with people. I learned a lot.”
“But…”
“Like you, I guess I want something that is useful to the world, but also feeds my soul.”
His turn to nod. He looked very smug and a little triumphant; she couldn’t for the life of her figure out why. Plus they’d been talking nonstop all evening, but now silence fell between them. Crickets chirped, lightning bugs flashed yellow around the bases of trees and between bushes. An occasional car engine sounded in the distance. What was he thinking?
“Tell me something.” His voiced had deepened, he was swirling the red liquid in his glass, watching her. There was no longer anything smug in his gaze. “Candace.”
“Yes?” Her voice came out a little breathless. The way he was speaking, the way he was looking at her made the darkness seem to close in around them. “Tell you what?”
“Tell me what you would have liked to do that night we had together.”
“What?” She instinctively sat up straighter and brought her knees together. “Where did that come from?”
“Have you been able to think of anything else? I haven’t.”
“Michelle wants you, Nolan.” She automatically reached for the issue with her sister as if it were a weapon.
“Michelle is out tonight with another man.”
For a second she was startled, thinking of that phone call, then she realized. “Nick? He’s just a coworker.”
“Not Nick. Some guy with a weird name. That artist she was talking about, the guy from the Third Ward. She said something about being good and not calling him, but then he called her and she couldn’t say no.”
Candace tried to get her wine-soaked brain to concentrate. This made no sense. Why would Michelle do this when all she talked about was getting together with Nolan? “But she’s been flirting like mad with you.”
“Nothing is going to happen there, Candace. Michelle doesn’t really want it to and neither do I. Not with what’s between you and me.”