Make Mine A Marine

4

CHELLY’S LIFE HAD done a one-eighty into awesome, but she wasn’t sure she could trust the feeling. Everything had been so rotten lately that she spent most of her time waiting for the other shoe to drop. But during her long drive from Tennessee, she’d promised herself that she’d start living in the moment again. Like she used to when she left college. Life had been better then, albeit a little on the gypsy side. She’d traveled the world and found odd jobs to fund the journey. Living in the here and now and taking advantage of opportunities had worked for her back then.

And maybe it would again. Mr. Marine had offered her an amazing opportunity. One that she would be silly to turn down. And it didn’t come with strings, which was beyond unusual. Matt was off gathering firewood for the pit, in order to roast the magical bag of marshmallows he’d had hidden in that Harley of his.

This guy. Well, she wasn’t sure what to think. It was so strange that all of this had happened. He was supernice, although she had a feeling he didn’t think of himself as such. But he’d already been so generous. Fixing her truck and taking her to the beach, offering to help her out.

He was right about his needing her expertise. Estate sale folks and resale shops would charge him huge fees. For the river house, she was determined he’d accept her modest one. She was already stoked about the ideas she had for the place.

She hadn’t lied. His pictures had sent her mind whirling.

“Here’s your stick,” he said.

She glanced up, confused. “I soaked it in the sea a bit so it won’t burn. Might make the marshmallows taste a little salty.”

She laughed. Right. “People pay a lot of money for sea salt marshmallows and sea salt caramel ones, too.”

His eyebrows drew together. “That’s a thing?”

“Sure.”

He held out a hand to her and she stood up. “Who knew we were making gourmet marshmallows in the fire pit?”

“Since we’re being honest with each other, I should admit that I can pretty much eat my weight in marshmallows. Easily a whole bag in one sitting. So, fair warning.”

“Oh, it’s so on,” he said. And then proceeded to put four marshmallows on his stick. She promptly put five on hers.

Laughing, she said, “Thanks. Today showed me that there are still good people in the world. I really needed to be reminded of that.”

“Hey, I feel the same. I guess it’s lucky that you like junk and that your truck conked out in front of my house. Uh, maybe that’s not so great, but at least you weren’t out on the highway or stuck in the middle of nowhere. There’s a lot of middle of nowheres between here and Nashville.”

“I know, right? Old Joe actually did me a favor. Maybe things are looking up.”

They were, but she still didn’t trust the feeling.

Live in the moment.

“So do you have a place to stay for the night?”

And there was the other shoe dropping. Sigh. Did he expect favors? He didn’t seem the type. No, she didn’t have a place, but she definitely wasn’t staying with him.

He lifted his marshmallows from the fire and blew on them. “That didn’t come out how I meant it to, Chelly. I wasn’t hitting on you. Just so you know. Honest.”

“I’m good.”

His eyebrow shot up. “You said your friend was out of town.”

“Yep. But I’m good,” she repeated. She had no idea what she was doing for shelter and she didn’t have much cash. Her plan was to head back out to one of the truck stops and sleep there. “I like camping and there are plenty of good places around here.”

“All right. You should know, though, that there are several guest rooms in my parents’ house. Or there’s the apartment over the garage. But none of those rooms have been touched in more than a year. And the apartment is filled with furnishings. There’s the pool house, but it’s basically a bed, desk and shower. I could give you some money for a hotel? A cash advance against what you make with my mom’s furniture? Might be more comfortable for both of us, and there are some decent hotels close by.”

He didn’t even want her staying with him. For some reason that struck her as being funny and she started laughing. Why would he? She was a mess. And he was a guy who liked order. He wasn’t kidding about that. From the way he’d organized their dinner on the blanket, to his need to clean up afterward before they moved on to dessert. “I appreciate the kindness, but I promise, I have it covered.”

She’d noticed showers attached to the campgrounds down the coast. Maybe she’d just hole up there for a bit.

The look he gave her was full of disbelief, but he didn’t say anything else. They ate their marshmallows in silence.

An hour later they were back at his parents’ place. She backed her truck out of the garage, sort of sad to end the day.

In fact, part of her was worried that if she left, he’d change his mind when she returned tomorrow morning.

Her phone rang; it was the ex. She looked away. With her first bit of cash she was going to switch accounts and get a different number. The jerk had given her the phone for her birthday. It had been nice at the time. Now, not so much.

Then it dawned on her. What if he could track her GPS? Is that how he’d found out where she was all the time? He’d shown up at the grocery store, the nail salon, the...

“Shoot.” She turned the phone off.

“What’s wrong?”

She jumped. Matt was standing at her truck window, but he backed off when he saw she was scared.

Her hand went to her chest. “Sorry. It’s dawned on me that my ex could be tracking my phone. He just called. I don’t suppose you have a tub of water or a very deep pool you could throw this phone in? You mentioned a pool house. I’m praying he hasn’t tracked me down yet.”

“Follow me,” he said. And then he held his hand out for the phone.

“Wait.” She turned the phone back on and sent a text.

I’m really gone. You need to stop calling. Truck broke, so I’m taking a bus to Mexico. Phone won’t work there. Adios forever.

She hit Send, and as soon as it showed he’d read it, she clicked off the phone again and handed it to Matt.

“This way.” She trailed after him through the garage and out to the most glorious backyard she’d ever seen. It was a Garden of Eden with a huge pool and a large patio that had a mix of teak and black iron lawn furniture. Along the fence line there were magnolia trees and freesias mixed with jasmine. The smell alone was magical, but there were twinkling lights, as well. When she was a kid, she couldn’t have imagined a better land for fairies. Oh, who was she kidding? She couldn’t imagine a better place now.

Except for New Zealand. Oh, how she missed that country.

“Did your parents entertain a lot?” she asked, before she realized that that might be another painful memory.

“All the time. Any excuse for a party. Holidays were my mom’s favorite, but they had friends over a lot.”

“I can imagine. This place is terrific. I’d never want to leave.”

“I used to complain about it when I was kid because I was always on pool-cleaning duty, and I was also the official toilet scrubber.”

She couldn’t help the giggle that escaped. “Yeah, I bet that would get old very fast.”

He sighed dramatically, but then gave her a wide, warm smile. “You have no idea. I also had to dust a lot of my mom’s collectables. That was the worst. I never broke anything. Still, she wouldn’t have cared if I did. She was easygoing. But my dad on the other hand would have grounded my butt for a month if I’d broken something of hers.”

Even though he complained, he didn’t sound like it really bothered him. These were fond memories.

She didn’t have many of those with her parents. Maybe, when she was younger, but that was a long time ago.

“So do you want to do the honors?”

He held out the phone and she took it. “That hot tub looks like a good start,” she said. And then she bent down and dropped it in. It was freeing—losing this last bit of her old life. Sure, she might need some of those numbers again, but she’d cross that bridge when she came to it—namely when she was able to get a new phone.

Shoot. She forgot about Lila’s number. Now she had no way of getting in touch with her. Wasn’t meant to be? What kind of friend invited you to come live with her and then didn’t give you the address or leave you a key when she went off to get married?

She had to work on meeting better people.

After leaving her cell in the water for several minutes, she walked across to the pool and dropped the phone on the first step. “Do you have a water hose?”

He chuckled. “Behind the gardenias, over there in the corner.” She followed his directions and saw the faucet and hose attached. She only took a few seconds to drown the cell, not wanting to waste too much water.

“Are you sure you don’t want to hit it with a sledgehammer?”

She considered it. “No, too messy. Though I might run over it with the truck a few times just to make sure.”

“We have some tanks at the base,” he joked.

“Ha, that’s good. Thank you for everything. This turned out to be a great day.”

“Yeah, for me, too. Can I show you one more thing before you go?”

She lifted her shoulders. “Sure.”

He led her around the lawn to the pool house. It was cute, with the same kind of antebellum architecture that was on the front of the main house. It even had black shutters. She’d expected it to be bare, except for the basics he’d said would be there, but when he opened the doors and switched on the light, she nearly passed out from what was before her.

“This is so different than what I expected,” she said as she took in the shabby-chic furniture. There was a French daybed that had been made into a little reading nook. On the other side of the room, an office had been set up with a beautiful white desk—very French. Everything was blue and white, except for the curtains, which were a gray-and-white toile.

“She was in the process of redoing the whole house. But she redid her office first. After she sold the shop, she continued to deal online, so she’d needed a dedicated space away from Dad. He gets—I mean, he got kind of loud when he was watching sports, and it drove her nuts.”

“Nothing in here is like what she has out in the garage,” she said. All the other items were very formal, very expensive; all of this was also chic, but in a more whimsical way.

“True. All that junk is pretty stuffy. I’ll show you tomorrow in more detail. Anyway, I was thinking, there’s air-conditioning and a shower and a bed. And you could use it for tonight. There’s even a good lock on the door, so you’d be safe.”

From him? As if she was worried about that now.

“Matt, you’re sweet. But I told you—”

“You’re not a damsel in distress. I know. But I am a worrier. The campgrounds are probably fine, but your ex might have some idea where you are and that bothers me. You said he wasn’t dangerous, but if he’s following your every move... I’d feel better if you were secure. Besides, you can use this as your office until you find more permanent digs. My mom would love that another antiques lover is using her space.

“And, um. Well...”

Was she really going to say no to staying in a palace fit for a princess? She couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect space for herself. “Matt, what is it?”

“It’s probably asking a lot, given you’ve already agreed to handle the contents of my parents’ house and my new place. But the real estate agent said my parents’ house needed a makeover. I was going to paint and declutter it. Keep it simple. But I might make a lot more money with your insights. You can just add to the fee you were already planning on charging me. And like I said, I’ll have my lawyer draw up a contract, so everything is on the up and up.”

This guy was unreal. Or desperate.

“How bad off is the house?” she asked.

He scrunched up his face. “Uh, yeah... I was kind of hoping you’d say yes before I showed it to you.”

She chuckled. “That bad?”

“It’s clean... It’s... Maybe I should show you. And again, it’s okay if you say no. But every agent who came through kind of... Never mind, come with me.”

He closed the French doors to the pool house.

They went around the enormous pool to a set of sliding glass doors. When he opened the doors, which led into the kitchen, she stopped abruptly. It was very brown. Everything was very brown. The cabinets, the tiles, even the appliances. It was top of the line a few decades ago, but the agents had been right about the room needing an update. Oh, the checkered brown and white wallpaper with a fruit border had to go.

It was hard to meld the idea that the same woman who had the office in the pool house lived in this space.

“So, I can guess what you’re thinking. Since she had such good taste with the furnishings and the pool house, why was she living in the past?”

“We have a winner.” She gave him a big smile.

“There are some rooms she finished, like the guest rooms upstairs. But she worked all the time. Dad didn’t like change or mess, so it took her a while to convince him to let her redo the house. It was the only time I ever saw them argue. I mean, I wasn’t home much the last ten years, but every time I came back, she’d done a guest bedroom or bath. There are six of them. But any room Dad lived in, which was most of the downstairs, she was waiting until... And then...”

They’d died. So sad. It made her want to help him even more.

He showed her the rest of the house. The furnishings were lovely, but as they went from room to room, she knew of ways to freshen them up. Most of it wouldn’t cost too much.

“Are there wood floors under the carpet?” There was a lot of carpet. Most of it the short, taupe, shag type.

“I think so. The house has been here for over a hundred years.” Indeed, and those floors had been protected for a long time. She had a feeling they’d be in great shape.

“So, Matt. I can help you, but since we’re being honest, I should tell you that I’m not accredited. I went to college for design. But I dropped out my last year.” Much to the chagrin of her parents. She couldn’t blame them for being upset. They believed she had a hard time finishing things, and they weren’t always wrong.

Then there was her brother—nope. She wouldn’t think about that now. She needed to focus. Worrying about the past and what might have been was something she didn’t do anymore.

“Are you saying this might be too much?” He looked as if maybe he was going to take back his offer. She couldn’t blame him, either. They were standing at the breakfast bar.

“No. I’m saying that I don’t want to pretend to be something I’m not. I can do this job, all of it. Your river house, this place and what’s in it as well as what’s in storage. But I want you to understand what you’re getting. I mean, for all you know, I’m some chick who worked at a diner until yesterday and then decided she could decorate.”

He crossed his arms and then cocked his head as if he was thinking hard about what she’d said. “Nah. I trust you. Besides, you knew all those details about the furniture and you still handed over all that cash.”

She chuckled and folded her arms across her chest. “You really are desperate.”

“You have no idea.” As if he’d only then understood what he’d just said, he held up his hands in surrender. “I mean, with the houses. I’m...good...with the other stuff.”

“Listen, I’ve just drowned my phone, which had a lot of my portfolio on it, but if you have a laptop, I can show you some pictures of rooms I did before I got to Nashville. I worked at a couple of design firms in Italy and Paris. That’s why I left school—to travel the world for inspiration.”

“I believe you,” he said. “You don’t have to prove anything to me.”

Right then, a burden lifted off her shoulders. For years, she’d been trying to do just that, whether it was to herself or her parents or her bosses. But Matt had already accepted her for who she was.

“Thanks. It’s been a long time since someone has been so kind, or even believed in me. So thanks. Just...thanks.”

Why wouldn’t her mouth remain closed? So embarrassing.

What is wrong with me? With Matt she was either tongue-tied or couldn’t quit jabbering.

I’m tired. And he’s hot. Anyone would be confused around all of that sexy man energy. Besides, when was the last time she’d met a guy who was that caring?

Pretty much never. Guys she met always seemed to want something from her.

And while Matt needed help, she knew he was one of the good ones.

“So, you’ll stay in the pool house and advise me with this monstrosity of a house? You can add it to your portfolio. Come on, if you can make this a showplace, that ought to get you jobs anywhere.”

“The bones are here, and your mom did make a good start upstairs.” A wall of tired hit her and she yawned. “And yes, I’ll take you up on the pool house, at least for tonight.”

The grin on his face made her heart skip a beat.

“Great. We should change the sheets on the bed. I cleaned all the linens—they’re in the closet upstairs. I’ll get sheets and towels for you.”

“Matt...” She put a hand on his arm. “I slept at a truck stop last night, and I haven’t had a proper shower in two days. Old sheets aren’t a problem. I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll get the sheets, anyway. And then I’ll carry your stuff in from the truck.”

She smiled as he took off. He was a good guy. A really good one.

Now, if only she could keep her hands off him.

He’s a client. Yes, albeit a fit, good-looking one. But she wouldn’t screw this up. Too much depended on it.

5

COFFEE. MATT NEEDED loads of it. Maybe a dump truck full. Most of the night he’d spent thinking about Chelly. About how easy it had been to invite her into his life. How much he wanted her near him. Wrong. That was the last thing she needed—him being possessive.

Having her around would be challenging enough.

Did he need some wandering woman who looked like an angel making his life more complicated? She would, of that he had no doubt, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself.

Part of her appeal was her strength. She didn’t want handouts, and it was tough for her to accept his kindness. If she’d been greedy or asked for a favor, he might not have been as accepting. But she hadn’t asked for anything.

She was a complication. After his last tour, and with everything that had happened with his parents, he should want space. Time alone to get himself together. For his life to make sense again.

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