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“Hmm. Forever?” I shrugged, grinning. “Come on, you have to admit it’s hilarious.”
“No. I don’t.” Noah stuck out his tongue. “If I admit I have a long way to go in the home maintenance department, will you at least acknowledge I’ve made progress?”
“Sure. I can give you that. But it doesn’t put you on the rehab-a-historic-home level.” I cocked my head to the side. “You’re serious?”
“I don’t know. I’m serious about wanting to look at it. Maybe I’ll walk through and find out it’s too much work. But it’s not like I can’t afford to hire people.”
“No. That’s true.” I studied my friend. “Let me know when you have an appointment and I’ll come along. I wouldn’t mind getting a glimpse inside.”
“Yeah? Cool. Thanks. If you think it’s a terrible idea afterward, I’ll listen. I might not take your advice, but I’ll listen.”
I laughed. With Noah, that was a decent concession. I was saved from answering by the doorbell. I pushed out of the chair and answered it. There was no reason for my heart to speed up like it did when I saw Megan.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself.” Megan grinned and pushed a glass baking dish into my hands. “One apple cake, as requested.”
I leaned close and breathed in the scent of warm apples. “Do I have to share?”
“Yes. But if you’re nice, I’ll make you another one later this month.” She stepped around me and into the living room. “Hey, Noah.”
“Megan! You never get to come to things anymore. It’s good to see you.” Noah patted the seat next to him on the couch. “Cody says there’s no point in a tour because he still hasn’t furnished everything.”
“Pfft. I’m still going to look later. I don’t mind empty spaces.” She pointed at me. “You know I did most of the decorating at my place. I can help you if you need it.”
“Thanks. I might take you up on that.” I carried the cake into the kitchen before I could embarrass myself. Austin had suggested asking Megan to help—and everything in me had wanted to do just that. But I wasn’t sure how to go about it without giving away how I felt about her. Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad?
Ugh. No. There were too many possible bad outcomes to risk it. She wasMegan. Not only was she my dream girl, she only saw me as yet another older brother. And while Austin might have implied that I had his blessing, the other guys weren’t going to go so easy on me. I didn’t have the best relationship history. When I’d bothered trying to date, I’d been a bit of a two-date-and-done kind of guy. Although I still didn’t see the problem with ending things when it was obvious there was no future there.
And really that was all Megan’s fault.
If she wasn’t so perfect, maybe someone else would’ve had a chance to measure up.
I sighed and set the apple cake down on the counter at the far end.
Now that Megan had offered to help, I could take her up on it and no one would blink. Even better? Noah was a witness to her offer.
I went back out into the living room. “I can give you the tour, if you really want.”
Megan popped up from where she’d been sitting on the couch. “You know I do. I like the living room. You did a nice job in here.”
“Should I admit I bought one of the setups they had in the furniture store?” I cringed a little. It sounded dumb now that I’d said it aloud.
“You know what? I think that’s smart. They have professional designers set those up, so it’s not like they’re not hoping you’ll do exactly that. You probably made the salesperson’s day.”
Given how overly friendly the woman in the furniture store had been, I was going to go with that. The idea that she’d been flirting with me—despite the enormous wedding set on her left hand—hadn’t sat well. So maybe it was just me misreading enthusiastic appreciation? “Let’s start upstairs.”
“All right.”
I started toward the stairs, then gestured for Megan to go ahead of me. “Go all the way up and we’ll work our way back down.”
She nodded and began the climb.
I couldn’t say I minded walking behind her on the stairs. Although it also bordered on torture. She wasn’t mine. She couldn’t ever be mine.
At the top level, we stepped into an open space. “This is meant to be like a family lounge kind of area. So the living room on the main floor can be more formal and up here is where everyone hangs out. I’m not sure what to do with it right now, honestly. I don’t need another place to crash. Because there’s the basement area, too.”
Megan walked across to the windows and looked out. “It’s a good space though.”
