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“I know it’s cramped,” Nikki apologized, handing a plate of grilled pineapple across the table to Zara. “I just really wanted to eat outside.”
“I love eating outside,” Zara said, using the tongs to place a slice of pineapple on her plate.
“Yeah?” Asa asked.
She glanced to her right. Oh boy. He was very close.
“You don’t eat outside at home,” he pointed out.
She cleared her throat and passed him the pineapple. “Ah. Well the best place would be on the terrace, and Cas has asked I don’t go up there alone. He said it’s ‘too exposed.’”
“That makes sense,” Nikki agreed.
“I’ll go with you,” Asa offered, bumping her with his elbow. “I’m not as big and scary as Cas, but I can act as a human shield in a pinch.”
She lifted her eyes to Nikki’s. But Nikki was looking at Asa with an amused expression.
“Remember that time we were playing at the VFW and someone threw a rotisserie chicken at us?”
Asa chuckled.
“Are you serious?” Zara asked.
He glanced at her, those dark brown eyes warm and smiling. “Local shows are…” His lips twisted to the side. “Exciting.”
Nikki snorted. “I saw it coming and ducked behind Asa. He absorbed the blow.”
“I never got all the grease out of that shirt. I finally had to throw it away.”
Zara shook her head, trying to wrap her head around the idea of an audience that threw food. Nope. She couldn’t. Brain wouldn’t stretch that far.
The meal progressed with pleasant chatter about work and Amber’s milestones. André told a couple stories about some of his students from last year. Then talk turned to the home renovations at Nikki’s Victorian.
“The attic dormer is pretty much done,” Nikki said. “I just need to get in there and paint it.”
“I can paint it,” Zara offered.
Nikki lifted her eyes.
Zara shrugged. “I’m not doing anything anyway. And helping you with house stuff was one of the reasons I came here in the first place.”
“Do you know how to paint?” Nikki asked, her tone curious instead of skeptical. Which Zara appreciated.
“I mean, it’s paint,” Zara said. “It can’t be that hard. I can look up some tutorials online or something.”
“That’s true,” Nikki agreed.
“I can help.” Asa refilled his glass of ice water with the pitcher on the table. “I have tomorrow off.” He grabbed Zara’s glass and refilled it as well. “And I already know how to paint so I’ll teach you.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking the glass.
Nikki’s head tilted to the side as she thought. “If both of you did it, it would go faster and André and I could keep working on the kitchen.”
Asa’s knee bumped into Zara’s and held there. “So breakfast on the terrace and then painting at Nik’s?” he asked her. “Sound like a plan?”
“Where will the baby be?” Zara asked, trying to ignore the heat from his leg against her own.
“My parents are driving down tomorrow to stay for a couple days so we can knock out a bunch of work on the house. Johnny said he’d call if they needed me. Which reminds me.” Nikki pointed her fork at Zara and then to Asa and back again. “Shawn is in the studio this week. Would one of you mind stopping by and checking on him?”
