Page 43 of Blame it on the Kiss
“I’m really proud of you,” he said.
“I owe you money,” she answered because his praise did funny things to her stomach and… “Thank you,” she amended because she didn’t like that she’d sounded rude and ungrateful. “I am feeling pretty pleased with myself at the moment. I can’t believe I was so worried about this. It hurt, but not that much.” She twisted to face him. “Payton’s forever in my heart, and now she’s forever part of my outward expression too. I’m really happy you dragged me here.”
“Dragged?”
“Okay, brought. And bought. I do want to pay you back.”
He put the key in the ignition. “I’ll send you my bill and acceptable payment methods.”
A nervous laugh bubbled up inside her as she pictured some methods she’d like to offer.Get your mind out of the gutter.
Reaching for her seatbelt, she focused on the happiness inside her. “I want to bask in this feeling for a while. If Payton were here, she’d be really happy. We had this ritual when one of us did something memorable. Good, bad, somewhere in the middle, it didn’t matter. If it made us stop and think we celebrated it.”
Bryce pulled away from the curb. “She often wrote down inspirational or funny quotes and folded them up into small slips of paper I’d find in my pants pockets.”
“Really?” Honor said with a smile.
His gaze remained out the windshield. “Yeah. She also liked to read Los Angeles magazine, but only on Sunday mornings, and pick somewhere new for us to grab breakfast.”
“She hated to cook.”
He nodded. “Tell me about your ritual.”
Honor brought a knee up and hugged her shin. “We’d make a blanket fort in front of the TV, eat graham crackers with peanut butter, drink sparkling apple cider out of champagne glasses, and find the cheesiest movies to watch until we fell asleep.” She let out a breath. “It was the best.”
She laid her chin atop her knee and ran a finger over her bandaged wrist. “Now as my memories fade, I’ll always have this.” Thanks in no small part to him. “I know you had other ideas, but do you think you could take me home? I’d like to honor our tradition tonight.”
“Sure,” he said, disappointment, but mostly relief in his tone. She took in his profile, his firm grip on the steering wheel. They’d both just dodged a bullet.
…
Honor put her paint roller back in the white plastic pan and studied the wall in her antique shop. She could scratch Painter off her list of skills and may actually need tohiresomeone to paint since her brother had bailed on her for a skateboarding tournament. A tournament he stood poised to win by the number of exclamation points in his text earlier. She hated herself for wishing he’d lose a competition so he’d rethink the agent thing. Put off going pro for a while longer. He’d liked the agent in LA. He liked Bryce. Whenever she thought about that, she disliked them both.
She raised her hands and snapped her fingers. Nope. No magic happening with the wall. Dammit. Maybe no one would notice it once she had everything else in place.
“Knock, knock,” Sophie called out.
Honor turned and almost burst out laughing as her friend walked through the door.
“What?” Sophie put a hand on her hip. “The overalls too much? You said you were painting so I thought I’d help.”
“You do make one heck of a poster girl for painting.” Honor crossed the room and took the bag Sophie had in her other hand. “And you’re the greatest friend ever for bringing lunch. Thank you.”
Honor waved for Sophie to follow and strode over to her desk. She moved aside some stuff and put the bag from the Beach Café down.
Sophie practically skipped behind her. She’d been walking on Cloud Nine since returning from her honeymoon. “What color is that?”
“Eggplant.” Honor pulled out a napkin and laid it on the desk before taking out the burgers and fries. Sophie grabbed her food and they found a relatively clean spot on the floor to sit down and eat.
“I like it. Are you painting the other walls the same?”
“No. Just that one.” She liked things slapdash. Made her feel at home. “How’s the new piano?” The surprise from Zane had floored Sophie.
“Amazing. I’m in love after only one lesson.”
“Hello?” a man said from the direction of the open front door.
Honor looked up. “Danny?” He looked around like he’d heard her but couldn’t see her, and she realized there were several boxes in the way. She stretched up and leaned to the side. “We’re down here.”
