“What about Kyle? Would he know him?”
“I doubt it, but I can ask. Hang on.”
“Wait…don’t get Kyle involved. I already may have used that threat and now I feel stupid about it.”
“How did you use Kyle as a threat?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Either way, Sydney was clearly typing out a text to her husband and now all Mia could do was wait.
“Kyle just texted that he doesn’t really know him, but he’s aware of him. What the hell does that even mean?”
“It doesn’t matter. Really. Enough talk about Austin. Tell me about you and how you’re feeling! Are you working on the nursery yet?”
After that, the topic of Austin Coleman was over. They ate, they talked about baby plans, and then moved on to talk about books and the inventory of hardcovers that were being shipped to Sydney’s for Mia to sign. When they moved on to dessert, Mia laid out her plans for the book she was supposed to be writing and Sydney immediately went onto Amazon and made her order the best noise-canceling headphones they had.
“That is the book you need to be writing,” she admonished. “I think this other little writing jaunt was fine to get you through the last week, but you need to get back on track. And if the headphones don’t work, then you can come to my house during the day to write. Okay?”
It wasn’t ideal, but at least she had options.
“Thanks, Syd.”
“Okay, pass me another brownie and then we’ll head down to the beach to walk all this off and maybe I’ll get a peek at sexy Mr. Austin Coleman,” she said with a wink and all Mia could do was groan.
It was a little after four and Austin had a few more lengths of crown molding he wanted to cut but now he couldn’t, thanks to yesterday’s encounter with Mia. But she wouldn’t really be a stickler about a few extra cuts, would she?
Figuring it was worth the risk, he spent the next twenty minutes making cuts.
But it didn’t end there.
In order for him to install the crown, it meant using the air gun, but…it wasn’t overly loud so…
An hour later he stood back and admired his work and smiled. “Damn, I’m good.” With nothing else pressing to do, he figured he could light up the grill and make himself something to eat. Turning on some music—softly—he opened the fridge and frowned. “Guess I forgot to go food shopping,” and with a muttered curse he slammed it shut. “Takeout it is.”
There was always the option of just pulling up an app and having something delivered, but he felt the need to get out of the house for a bit and maybe breathe some fresh air. In order for that to happen, he desperately needed a shower. Wearily, he walked up the stairs and into the bathroom. He couldn’t wait for the master bathroom downstairs to be finished because the shower up here was way too small for his liking. Right now he could go for some jets and steam, not to mention a little elbow room.
Still, it did the job and after he dried off and put on clean clothes, he realized he was relaxing a bit. Maybe this ban on power tools wasn’t the worst thing. He’d been working so much lately that it was all he was doing. If he were still back in Baltimore, he’d be going out for drinks with friends after work, perhaps meeting a woman and entertaining her back at his place.
But this was Magnolia Sound, and the last thing he wanted was to entertain any of the locals.
Been there, done that, not looking for a repeat performance, thank you very much.
Down on the main floor, Austin scooped up his keys and was about to go down to the garage when he caught a glimpse of the beautiful night sky. It had been a long time since he simply sat outside and appreciated where he was. Stepping out onto the deck, he leaned against the railing and stared out at the ocean. Growing up near the beach meant he took all of this for granted, but he’d never lived right on it. The house he was raised in was on the other side of the bridge in a bit of the poorer part of town with no water in sight.
“A guy could get used to this,” he murmured, deeply breathing in the salty air.
He caught a glimpse of Mia stepping out onto her deck, and he turned and studied her. She had a big red plastic cup in her hand and it looked like she was doing exactly what he was—enjoying the view.
For several minutes she simply leaned against the railing and stared out at the water, but she didn’t seem to be happy about it. Even from where he was standing, he could tell she was frowning. It was crazy to even wonder or care about what she was thinking, but for some reason, Austin was curious.
And even more curious about how long a person could stare straight ahead without moving because…she could almost pass as a statue right now. Maybe it was a little juvenile of him, but Austin felt the need to do something—to get a reaction out of her, even if it was just to flip him off and storm back in the house. Before he could second-guess himself, he quietly cleared his throat and began to belt out the first verse of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”. He got no further than “Living in a lonely world…” when Mia turned to him all wide-eyed.
Gotcha…
And because he had clearly lost his mind, he continued to sing badly as he walked down the steps to the sand and while he strolled over to the steps of her deck. She stood at the top of the stairs staring at him, but she was definitely trying hard not to laugh. Luckily, he was done with the first chorus by the time he was standing beside her.
“What in the world?” she asked with amusement.
He shrugged. “What can I say? I missed having my music blasting and I wanted to see how you felt about me just singing a cappella.”
“Your singing was more offensive than the volume of the music,” she said, but she was smiling.
“Well, damn. There go my dreams of auditioning on American Idol.”
“Trust me, America thanks you for letting that dream go.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” She took a sip of whatever she was drinking, but her eyes never left his.
“Are you this snarky with everyone or is it just me?”
Without hesitation she said, “Just you.”
His bark of laughter was loud even to his own ears. “Wow. Way to kill a guy’s ego.”
“I’m sure you’ll get over it.”
“So what are you doing out here?” he asked. “You were looking a little fierce so that’s why I had no choice but to break into song.”
“Most people would have just said hello and asked if I was okay, but…” She shrugged.
“I’m not most people. What were you thinking about?”
“Um…I was working,” she said hesitantly, and he thought she was joking, so he laughed. When she glared at him, he realized she was serious.
“What kind of work has you staring out at the ocean like you’re mad at the world?” He leaned against the railing and waited while she took another sip of her drink without offering one to him.
Mia let out a long breath. “I’m an author and…I was trying to work out a scene in my head. Listening to the sound of the waves really helps me, but I’m writing a very intense scene and…it just won’t gel. It’s extremely frustrating and I think the longer I stand out here willing the words to come, the worse it gets.”