Forbes’s words took a few moments to filter through Major’s brain. “Benefits of a city that still has a small-town mentality?”
Forbes laughed. “Something like that. Hey, speaking of small-town mentality, what are you doing for supper?”
“Figured I’d just throw something together at home.”
“Not tonight. You ever been to my sister Jenn’s restaurant down in Comeaux?”
“The Fishin’ Shack? A couple of times. I don’t make it down to Comeaux very often.”
Forbes removed his tie and reached in his top desk drawer, withdrawing keys and his PDA. “Come on, then. I’m meeting some of my siblings and cousins for our standing Thursday night dinner.”
“Okay ... sure, I’d love to. How about I follow you down there?” Major had heard about this Thursday night family dinner tradition through Anne a few years ago. She’d invited him many times in the beginning, but back then he’d spent almost every evening with his mother. Eventually, the invitations stopped coming; then his mother insisted she didn’t want to see him every day.
And if he went, he’d be able to find out if Meredith had foregone bumping up her date with Ward Breaux in favor of her family without having to try to find some way to wheedle it out of her subtly tomorrow.
Chapter 13
“You did all this work yourself?”
Meredith leaned against the pillar in the opening between the living room and front foyer while Ward inspected the refinishing she’d done on the built-in cabinets flanking the fireplace.
“I did.” She held her breath and followed him around the room with her gaze, praying he wouldn’t find fault with any of her work.
He turned and gave her a winsome smile. “Ever considered quitting your job and becoming a subcontractor?”
Only in her dreams. “You can see how much needs to be done if the house is going to be ready for me to move in three months from now.”
The toe of his shoe scraped along the row of carpet tacks still stuck in the hardwood near the wall. “For one person, yes, it would be impossible.” He continued around the room until he leaned his shoulder against the pillar opposite her. “I’d be very interested in submitting a bid to complete your remodel.”
Meredith’s face grew hot under Ward’s intense gaze. “What will you need me to do so that you can do that?”
“I need to come by some time with my apprentice so we can measure all the rooms and so you can tell me exactly what you want done.”
“I’ll have to check my schedule at work. With the Valentine’s banquet coming up so soon, I’m not sure what my days are going to look like.”
His lopsided grin was rather disarming. “That’s fine. It means I don’t have to make up an excuse to call you tomorrow.”
Oh, she shouldn’t have skipped lunch today. Her empty stomach knotted and twisted with the rush of pleased embarrassment that blasted through her. Never before had a good-looking, eligible man flirted with her like this.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you, Meredith. But I just can’t seem to help myself whenever I’m around you.”
The chirping of his phone saved her from having to think of a response.
He cringed when he looked at the device. “Ooh, I really need to take this. Forgive me?”
“Sure. No problem.” She escaped the living room and headed upstairs to make sure the almost constant rain since Christmas hadn’t generated any problems.
A few minutes later, footsteps announced Ward’s presence on the stairs.
“Meredith?”
“In the guest bathroom.” She balanced herself on the edge of the claw-foot tub and ran her hand along the top edge of the wall and around the window casing to check for dampness.
“What are you—”
Her left foot slipped off the narrow edge of the tub. She pitched backward—straight into Ward. He swung her up easily into his muscular arms. Mortification burned every inch of her skin.
“Yes, now I see why you shouldn’t be trying to do this renovation all by yourself. What in the world were you trying to do, besides break your neck?”
“There was some damage to the roof in the last big storm. It’s been patched, and I was just checking to make sure the patch is holding.”
“Well, if you approach everything that way, it’s a wonder you haven’t broken something—like your neck.”
“Speaking of, could you put me down?”
He took a few steps away from the tub and gently set her on the floor, not removing his hands from her waist until she assured him she had gained her balance. He moved around her, bent over, and leaned his weight on the edge of the tub, which promptly began to tip toward him.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought: so old the bolts securing it to the floor are either missing or rusted through.” He rotated around to face her, returning to his full height. With crossed arms and a frown crinkling his forehead, he could have passed for an avenging angel. “One thing I want you to promise me, whether I get the contract or not.”
The back of her neck began to ache from looking up at him in such close quarters. “What’s that?”
“You’ll follow some basic work site safety guidelines—and you’ll make everyone who sets foot on the property do the same. I’d hate for you to get sued because a worker breaks something when he falls off the edge of the tub that isn’t secured.”
Impressed by his concern not just for her safety, but for anyone else’s, she nodded. “I will. And I don’t usually do that. It was just expedient tonight.”
He grimaced. “And that’s how most on-the-job injuries occur. You don’t want to start your life in a new home with a huge claim on your insurance, do you?”
Laughter bubbled up and escaped.
“Meredith, I’m serious.”
She patted his folded arms. “I know. And I do take safety seriously. I was laughing because you reminded me of my older brother and our mom just then. That’s the same lecture either of them would have given me in the same circumstance. When all else fails, appeal to the financial aspect of the situation.”
His expression eased, his dark eyes no longer stern, but amused once again. “They sound like very smart people.”
“Come on, let me show you the rest of the upstairs.”
“Hey, Major!”
At Forbes’s younger brother’s greeting, the handful of people sitting at the ten-top table turned and greeted Major with the same warmth. Why did he always assume they would see him as an interloper—as an intruder? They’d never treated him with anything but affection and friendship. Most of those present were too young to remember the couple of years that Major worked for Aunt Maggie two decades ago, yet they still acted as if he were a member of the extended family.
“Oh, mercy!” Jennifer Guidry came out of the kitchen. “Now I’m going to feel self-conscious. Forbes, did you have to bring a professional chef to my restaurant?” She winked at him. “Hey, Major.”
“Hi, yourself.” He looked around with interest at the interior design. “I don’t know what you’re worried about. I think everything is fantastic. The pirogue is new since the last time I was here.” He pointed at the flat-bottomed, pointy-ended boat suspended upside down from the beamed ceiling overhead.
“One of my suppliers down in Jeanerette thought I needed that for some authenticity. So he built it and put it up there a couple of months ago.”
Major watched Jenn as she talked with a couple of her siblings or cousins—he could never keep all the relations straight in this clan. He hadn’t seen her in at least a year. He used to think that she and Meredith were nearly identical—in fact, when he’d first met them as teenagers, he’d thought they were twins. But Jenn had cool, blue-gray eyes like Forbes’s, not wide, nutmeg brown eyes that glowed with an emberlike intensity. Jenn’s hair was a little redder, too. She flitted from person to person like a hummingbird. Meredith would have just found a place to sit and observe those around her.