nodded as if he understood. “It couldn’t have been easy for you to see her again. I know you had doubts about whether or not you wanted to live across the street from the Carmichaels’ old place fourteen months ago, and more doubts now about buying their old place. I know that I had to twist your arm to even get you in that door again when it came on the market.”
“No, it wasn’t easy to see Chloe again. Especially when I didn’t expect it and wasn’t prepared,” Reid acknowledged at least that much of what his brother had said. “But she’s here, we’re all tied up with the house and the sale and her as a result, and I’ll do what I have to. Besides, like I said, I’d better make sure she’s okay health-wise and that I didn’t miss something in the exam last night.”
“You’re sure? I mean, I know I took off work last week to play carpenter but I might be able to arrange something for this week, too, if you just can’t face her.”
Reid shook his head. “Last week was vacation-with-pay. If you took off this week, too, you’d have to do it on your own dime and I know you can’t afford that. Especially now, with this new mortgage hanging over our heads. Plus there’s my substitute coming in from Billings who would have to be compensated for his time and trouble and the trip here even if I have him turn around and go back. And I’m really not so spineless that I can’t face an old girlfriend.”
“I never said you were spineless. I don’t know if I could be anything but a bastard to Chloe Carmichael if I were in your shoes. And she was more than just an old girlfriend to you.”
“Still, I’ll do what needs to be done to get to the closing on the house. I’ll make sure I’m not in line for a malpractice suit, and then hopefully whatever Chloe came to Northbridge for won’t keep her here long. With any luck she’ll get the hell out of town before we know it, and I won’t ever have to see her again for the rest of my life—that’s the incentive.”
Luke didn’t seem convinced. “And you don’t have any feelings for her?”
“Only bad ones,” Reid said without hesitation.
And he counted as bad feelings the stirring he’d felt when he’d touched her and the fact that the revised mental picture of her had somehow etched itself indelibly on his brain.
Because in no way were they things he wanted to experience.
Chloe was not operating at top speed Monday morning. Car accident. Encountering Reid Walker. Having even a cursory physical exam performed by him. Finding when the nurse drove her home that Reid lived directly across the street. Having to clean the upstairs bathroom before she could use it. Needing to turn the mattress on the double bed in her room before covering it with two mattress pads, clean sheets, blanket and pillows she’d brought with her in order to be comfortable using things that had been the domain of college students for many years. And then having images of Reid climbing into that bed with her. All together it hadn’t made for a restful night’s sleep. Or for a relaxing lounge in bed when she’d awakened.
No, she was up by 7:20 a.m. to discover that her entire body was very stiff—no doubt a side effect of the accident.
The stiffness eased when she moved around though. And she did that because it had been so late when she’d arrived that she hadn’t explored all that was going on in the house. And she wanted to.
The living room was nearly finished being painted. There was a roll of new carpeting against a wall, waiting to be laid. Drapes had disappeared. The furniture her parents had left so the place could be considered furnished was gone. And only a single pole lamp with a bare bulb stood in one corner to provide some light after dark.
Luckily the new locks were merely near the front door and hadn’t yet been installed or she wouldn’t have been able to get in.
The first-floor bathroom had a new sink and toilet installed and had also been painted, as had the two bedrooms upstairs, where the carpeting had been removed and the hardwood floors refinished.
The kitchen was apparently next—and last—on the agenda once the living room was completed because there were tarps, rolls of masking tape and cans of paint waiting. Boxes of ceramic tile were also stacked in the corner to replace the linoleum and the backsplash, and the refrigerator was stocked with nothing but beer and soda.
And everywhere there were remnants of construction and cleanup that had apparently been left for the end with foam coffee cups, soda cans and beer bottles set here and there and forgotten.
Like finding Reid Walker to be her emergency room doctor, the house was not what Chloe had expected, and once she knew what was underway, she called her Realtor.
Betty.
Of course Betty was stunned to learn that Chloe had come into town. Why wouldn’t she be when Chloe had been adamant about not wanting any involvement in what was going on here?
“I was surprised to find the extent of the work already done and in progress on the house, though,” Chloe told the other women after explaining why she’d decided to see what was in the attic before paying to have it all shipped to Arizona.
“I’ve been e-mailing you step by step and you’ve authorized the cost of the materials,” Betty said.
“I guess I just wasn’t keeping track.” Probably because she’d wanted to dispense of anything that brought Northbridge to mind as quickly as possible, paying as little attention to it as she could manage, and then forgetting about it. “But I know I told you the maximum I was willing to spend on this and after seeing the extent of the work I’m a little worried that you aren’t staying within my budget.”
“All the work was necessary—as I told you when we spoke before, years of renters had taken a toll on the place. But we’ll actually come in under your budget because with Luke and Reid doing the work there aren’t any labor charges.”
“Luke and Reid are doing the work? You didn’t tell me that!”
“I did. I’ve kept copies of all my e-mails to you and that was one of the first. You didn’t answer it, but I thought that since you’d left it to me to choose whatever handymen or workmen were required, you didn’t care and didn’t feel the need to respond.”
Betty went on to explain the advantages of the arrangement to all parties but Chloe only heard it peripherally. Her mind was stalled on one thing: Reid Walker was doing the work on the house.
It was only when Betty began to talk about how Reid had taken vacation time this week to finish the job that Chloe tuned in again.
“He’ll be here? All week? While I’m here?” she demanded of the Realtor.
Harshly, apparently, because Betty stopped short and there was only silence on the other end of the line for a long moment.
And when Betty spoke again her tone was cool and clipped. “Yes, Reid is scheduled to be there all week. Which I would have been happy to tell you had you let me know you were coming into town and intended to stay at the house. But you were very clear about how much you didn’t want to be anywhere near here.”
That was true. And that had been her intention. And because she’d wanted to simply slip into town without drawing any attention to herself she hadn’t informed her Realtor.
“Can that be changed?” Chloe asked then.
