The Bride Next Door. Winnie Griggs

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СКАЧАТЬ Besides, he was curious to see what progress she’d made since the night she’d arrived.

      As soon as she opened the door to her place, her dog raced up, tail wagging. He jumped up, planting his front paws on her skirts, and she gave his head an affectionate rub. “Hey, Kip, did you miss me, boy? I promise we’ll go for a walk just as soon as I check something out upstairs.”

      The animal was every bit as foolishly cheerful as his mistress.

      The front room was mostly bare but surprisingly clean. Daisy had apparently scrubbed the floors and walls until there wasn’t a speck of dirt to be seen. Interesting that she’d worked on the downstairs before the living quarters upstairs.

      She caught him looking around, and smiled proudly. “There’s still a lot to be done, but I’m making progress. Right now I’m trying to decide if I want to buy yellow paint or blue paint for the walls. Yellow would be brighter and cheerier, but blue would be more relaxing and remind folks of the blue skies of springtime. What do you think?”

      He had a feeling she wasn’t talking about muted shades of those particular colors. “I favor more sophisticated colors, such as white or gray.”

      Daisy wrinkled her nose. “Where’s the joy in that?”

      Joy? What an odd thing to say about a color choice. But apparently, the question had been moot.

      She moved to the stairs and her dog stayed right on her heels, seemingly determined to make up for the time they’d been apart. “I warn you,” she said over her shoulder, “I haven’t done much to fix up the second floor. You’re liable to get a bit of dust and grime on you.”

      “I feel sufficiently warned,” he said dryly. Just because he liked to maintain a neat appearance didn’t mean he was averse to a little dirt when there was no help for it.

      The upstairs wasn’t as cluttered as the downstairs had been that first night, but it was every bit as dusty and unkempt. Gus had really let the place go. It made him wonder if there were soundness issues with the structure itself. Everett studied the walls and ceilings more closely. But there were no visible water marks or signs of crumbling woodwork.

      He followed Daisy to the wall that adjoined his, and sure enough, once you knew where to look, the door was evident. He helped her shift the clutter away from the wall and they discovered the key still in the lock, so finding it wasn’t an issue. When they opened the door they found themselves looking into his apartment.

      Her smile widened to a broad grin. “This is wonderful—I’ll be able to get twice as much work done now.”

      “Just remember, the dog stays on your side of the wall.”

      “Don’t worry, he knows his place.”

      Everett very deliberately turned and headed down Daisy’s stairs to make his exit. Regardless of how “neighborly” the prior tenants had been, there would be no use of that adjoining door as a shortcut access other than during her working hours.

      He would not do anything to set the local tongues wagging. Regardless of how innocent a person was, perception and reputation were everything.

      * * *

      After Everett left, Daisy took Kip for a walk. As usual, she grabbed a cloth bag so she’d have something to hold anything edible or useable she found along the way. At the last minute, she remembered she needed to gather the stuffing for her mattress ticking, so she grabbed a larger gunnysack as well.

      Once on the edge of town, she let Kip have his head and followed wherever the animal led, only redirecting him when he seemed headed for mischief.

      This was only her second day here, if you didn’t count the night she arrived, and already it felt familiar, comfortable. Everything was falling into place just as she’d hoped, even better than she’d thought possible.

      She could build a good life here. She’d already made a few acquaintances that, in time, she hoped could bloom into true friendships.

      The discovery of that door between her and Mr. Fulton’s places had been exciting, something unexpected and fun. Sharing a secret with him made her feel closer to him somehow, even if he didn’t feel any of that excitement himself.

      Too bad her employer-neighbor seemed unable to appreciate a bit of adventure. Did he realize how much he was missing by being so guarded? He seemed to like reporting on what was happening around him much more than experiencing it.

      Was that because he’d never felt swept up in the joy of letting his imagination run free, of focusing on the fun in whatever situation you were in? That was probably hard for him to do, what with his inflexible, cynical outlook on things. Instead of looking at that doorway as something fun and exciting, he’d seemed more concerned with how it might look if word got out about it. Looking for warts instead of dimples again.

      Then she caught herself up on that thought.

      She had no right to judge him. She had no idea what had made him the way he was. Maybe he’d never been taught how to have fun. Or maybe something had happened that made it hard for him to see the silver lining in things.

      Well, if that was the case, it was up to her to show him how to relax and not hold on to his need for control so tightly.

      Now, if she could just figure out how to accomplish that...

      Chapter Seven

      Saturday morning, Daisy arrived at Everett’s office a few minutes after nine o’clock. It was a beautiful day and one that promised to be highly productive.

      “Good morning,” she said cheerily. “Fine day, isn’t it?”

      Her boss glanced up, then went back to looking at his ledger. “I suppose.”

      Not a very cheery response. “The butcher had some fine-dressed venison this morning,” she continued. “I hope venison is something you like.” She was already planning the way she would cook it up with a thick, rich onion gravy and some beets and dandelion greens seasoned with bacon on the side.

      “Venison is fine.”

      He still seemed to be paying little attention to what she was saying. She hefted the basket and tried one more time to get something other than a distracted response. “By the way, I opened the door on my side of the wall when I left this morning. But don’t you worry. I made sure Kip understands he can’t cross the threshold.”

      This time he did look up and actually met her gaze. “You made sure...” He gave her a look that seemed to call her sanity into question. “And do you honestly think he understood?”

      Maybe drawing him out hadn’t been such a good idea. “He’s actually pretty smart.”

      “There’s nothing pretty about him,” he said dryly.

      “Mr. Fulton!”

      “Sorry.” His tone sounded anything but. “Just see that you reinforce that little talk you two had with some firm discipline if he doesn’t appear willing to follow directions.”

      What would he do if she stuck her tongue out at him?

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