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Isla wasn’t going to speculate. She’d done enough speculating in her life, and every time, it only led to disaster.
Chapter 18
Nolan worked the rest of the afternoon to finish fixing Isla’s wall. Now it needed a fresh coat of paint and all would be well again. He cleaned up, then locked the door behind him as he headed across the yard to his place. He needed a shower desperately and maybe something to eat.
He stripped down and was about to get into the shower when there was a knock at the door. He grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist, and answered the door.
Isla’s eyes widened and lingered on his chest.
“Hey,” he said.
“H… Hi. Seriously, why are you never dressed?”
“Does it bother you?” He secretly loved how she shifted from one foot to the other, trying her hardest to keep her eyes from drifting to his chest.
“What if it was someone like Mrs. Wheeler stopping by? You might give the poor woman a heart attack.”
“Considering there’s no reason for Mrs. Wheeler to stop by, I think it’ll be okay.”
“Don’t call me to come do CPR then.”
“Do you even know how to do CPR?”
“Yes, I took a class with Harper and Olivia. It wasn’t as much a class as it was sitting in Harper’s living room while Jasper taught us.”
Jasper was Harper and Milo’s roommate and one of Nolan’s childhood friends. Nolan hadn’t had a chance to see him since he’d been back. While a middle school science teacher during the school year, Jasper spent his summer as a lifeguard and the summer nights partying it up with the other lifeguards.
“It’s a good thing to know. Though, I don’t think you came over here to talk about CPR.”
“No, of course not. I wanted to say thank you. The wall looks great.”
“No problem.”
She shifted again. “I was also wondering if you’ve eaten? I thought I could buy you dinner for helping out.”
“You bought me dinner last night.”
“That was pizza. I was thinking more like take out from McConnell’s.”
“You know I can always go for one of their burgers.”
“I know.”
He hitched his finger over his shoulder. “I really need to shower.”
“Go shower. I’ll go pick the food up.”
“Or you can wait for me, I can go with you and we can take it down to the beach.” He’d been wanting and failing to get there, and he always loved going when the day crowd headed home. There was a different feel about it, a quietness that relaxed his soul and reminded him it was okay to slow down.
“Okay. Just come knock on my door when you’re ready. I can work on going through another drawer or two.”
“Decide when you’re going to have your yard sale?”
“I don’t know. It might have to wait for a month or two. I’m only just cracking the surface, and I don’t want to jump the gun.”
“You can always have two. One this summer and one in the fall.”
“I think I’d prefer to do a one-shot deal. Advertise on social media, get the word out, and make it a two-day event.”
