The kitchen was half-finished, the walls painted and the counters in place, with holes where the appliances - and the tiles - would go. Squinting down at the phone, I tried to memorize the different colors in play.
Everything was fairly neutral, which was probably safe. But it was maybe a little boring. Charlotte loved cooking so much, I knew she wanted her kitchen to be a room she enjoyed spending time in.
“Okay, so I think we need something bright,” I decided, swiping once more in the hope that there might be a close-up of the kitchen units.
Instead, my gaze rested on an incredibly toned set of bare abs! My fingers tightened instinctively, wanting to reach out and trace the lines between the muscles.
Heat rushed into my face as I realized this must be a recent shot of Sam. He’d been hot when we’d been together - but this was in a different league entirely!
With flaming cheeks, I handed the phone back. “You should put that on an online dating profile,” I teased, my voice shaking slightly. Probably Sam already had. He was single, why on earth wouldn’t he be looking for someone to share his life with? Or at least, the odd night.
Taking the phone from me with a frown, Sam’s eyes widened when he saw what picture was open. A soft ‘oh’ fell from his lips and fuck, then his cheeks tinted red slightly. How had we gotten here? Standing in a tile shop, blushing about just how well defined Sam’s abs were.
“I was sending that to the team group chat, we were having an abs-off,” he shrugged. “I’ll let them know you ranked me very highly,” he added with a wink that made my blush intensify.
Pushing his phone in the pocket of his jeans, Sam grinned. “So. Tiles?”
And yeah! Right, that’s what we were doing.
“Tiles,” I echoed, forcing my gaze up from Sam’s pocket. It wasn’t like I needed to see the picture again: it had very firmly burned itself into my memory. “Bright colors, something that will liven the place up a little.”
Keeping my mind on the job, I mentally walked through my favorite kitchens. “You know how your mom has those diamond-shaped tiles in different colors behind the cooker?” I asked. “Something like that. But maybe not too much like that. I don’t want Charlotte to feel like she’s being compared with your mom.”
“Nothing wrong with my mom,” Sam argued. I gave him a look. For a moment, I worried he might actually take offense to my phrasing. The way he grinned at me told me that he was only teasing. I liked Sam’s mom a lot, we had already established this. Charlotte was her own person, though, and with that came her own tastes. Even if, in some instances, they were similar to Sam’s mom’s tastes. As we walked, I tried to see if any of the tiles caught my eyes. “What’s Charlotte’s favorite color?” Sam asked. “Pat likes green,” he added. I hadn’t known that, but it was a useful bit of information! It made me smile that Sam even knew what his brother’s favorite color was.
“Charlotte’s changes according to the season,” I answered. It was Sam’s turn to give me a look, like he couldn’t believe that anyone could have multiple favorite colors. His disbelief made me laugh. “Don’t blame me! Charlotte just… responds intensely to things.”
Since she was my best friend, it fell to me to explain. “In fall, she loves orange, because of the leaves changing color. At Christmas, she likes silver decorations on the tree. In spring, it’s purple, because of the flowers.”
I’d always thought it was sweet. Charlotte made me see beauty in the world around us that I might otherwise have overlooked. We were very different, but having her perspective on life made mine richer.
“But I don’t think purple or silver will work with green,” I added. “Orange might, if we get the right shades. You look for green tiles, I’ll look for orange?”
The suggestion seemed to surprise Sam. But then he smiled. “Yeah, that sounds like a good plan!” He nodded. It struck me that perhaps he hadn’t expected to be given any choice at all. Obviously, we were here because I knew what Charlotte liked, but that hardly meant I didn’t want to hear Sam’s input. After all, it wasn’t going to be just Charlotte’s house. Sam knew Pat well enough to tell me what his brother might like.
“Do you want us to come back with some examples?” he asked. “See if we have any shades that match up?”
It was perfectly sensible for us to split up. We’d cover the store more quickly that way. And the pang low in my stomach at the thought of separating from Sam was something that should only be ignored. We were here to shop, not to catch-up. We’d done more than enough of that already!
“Yeah. I’ll meet you back here in ten minutes?” It wasn’t long, but the store was hardly huge. Besides, it wouldn’t be long enough for Sam to lose interest in shopping for green tiles. “And if we don’t have any shades that match, we’ll come up with a new plan of attack.”
Sam nodded. It was hard to tell whether there was any reluctance in his eyes. Probably my imagination only wanted there to be.
As we went our separate ways, it was obvious the store stocked more green tiles than orange ones. And none of the shades of orange seemed quite right. Still, I selected a few that might work.
The store was small enough for Sam and me to bump into each other at the other end, rather than going all the way back to our meeting place. As predicted, Sam was juggling rather more options than I’d brought to the table.
“Let’s find somewhere
