Page 28 of Falling for Keeps

No, I know. I’m here for Sharon and Penny and to be a good neighbor.

Carson answers the door when I ring the bell, wearing an easy smile. His blond hair looks dark in the fading light, but his eyes are still bright. “You don’t walk in when you’ve actually been invited?”

“Very funny.” I paste a smile on my face and move past him into the house, carrying the loaf of bread I’d baked earlier. “What time will Sharon be home?”

“Probably around nine or ten.”

“Okay, we have a few hours, then.” I set the bread on the counter. Sharon will know who it’s from. Carson eyes the loaf, but I start toward the hall, eager to prove I’m not trying to get cozy with him. I’m serious about the friend thing, just like he is. “Let’s get to work.”

Carson follows me toward Maven’s old room. All the furniture is pushed away from the walls and the baseboards are taped. Drop cloths line the carpet, and less than half of the room is painted a pretty pale pink. Penny crouches over a pan, rolling her tiny roller through the paint. When she notices me, she sends me a toothy grin. “When we’re done, can you braid my hair?”

My eyes shoot to Carson. I don’t want to step over the line at all, so I wait for him to give me some sign that it’s okay. I don’t know anything about his ex-wife except that they started their life together pretty young. Back in high school, when I had a minor crush on him, I didn’t think this is where we’d end up a decade later.

I didn’t think he’d ever notice me.

He gives me the slightest nod known to humanity.

“Sure, Penny,” I say, adjusting my glasses. “Only if we finish early, though. I don’t want to cut into your bedtime routine.”

“Yay!” She jumps up, dropping pink paint on her feet and the drop cloth. “I want to wear braids to school.”

“Let’s get to work then.”

“Aren’t you going to make my Band-Aids pretty?”

“Yes. If your dad’s okay with it.”

“I don’t mind being the only one getting any work done,” he teases, pulling his roller from the paint and getting to work on the second wall.

“We’ll be quick about it,” I tell Penny in a loud whisper, pulling colored sharpies from my bag. I sit cross-legged on the floor and she gets down beside me, holding out her arm. “Tell me if it hurts so I can move to a different spot.”

Penny nods, and I begin drawing. Butterflies and flowers and hearts soon cover the large rectangular bandage on her scrape. She can’t see my handiwork because of the angle, so I ask her to tell me about school to distract her.

“I start on Monday. My old school was nice and Mrs. Vest was the best teacher I’ve ever had, so I don’t think I’m going to like it here very much, but my dad told me to be positive about it or it won’t be easy to make new friends. But I already have good friends. My best friends Kailey and Sarah are still in Tennessee, but we video talk every day, so they’ll always be my best friends.”

“I bet you miss them.”

She sighs. Carson keeps painting, but I can feel him watching our interaction.

When I move on to the bandage on her leg, Penny looks at her elbow and gasps. “I love it. Can you braid my hair now?”

This girl is relentless. “Not until the painting is finished.”

“But I’m hungry.” She gets to her feet as soon as I’m finished. “Dad! I’m hungry.”

“We already had dinner.”

“I just want cereal.”

He inhales. “Fine.”

Penny runs out of the room, her tangled blonde hair trailing behind her. It’s long and golden, a pretty natural hue that has likely been lightened by the sun.

I gather the pens and drop them in my bag before I hear the fridge open down the hall. This house is compact, with three bedrooms and a bathroom off the way from the kitchen and living room. The room across the hall is probably Carson’s, the door is cracked open. Teenage Emma would’ve died to be hanging out with Carson Price, close enough to peek in his room. Teenage Emma wouldn’t believe me if I told her any of the stuff that went down at the bar last week, or the fact that Carson keeps sneaking looks at me.

What is he thinking about? I’d give at least a shelf full of paperbacks to know. Anything but the special edition painted-edges UK versions of the Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy I special ordered from Blackwell’s online. Those aren’t up for grabs.

Carson rolls the bulk of the walls, so I take a brush and start cutting in the edges while the paint is still wet. I would’ve recommended he did this the other way around and painted the borders first, but I’m not here to criticize. Silence stretches between us, but every time I glance at him, he’s looking at me.