Gina handed Brady a dish towel. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
It was like asking if he minded living in his woods or if he minded writing for a living. His passion for being with her ran as deep. “Do I get to stand beside you while we do the dishes?”
Ignoring his question, she tilted her head downward and slid dinner plates into the sudsy water.
Aunt Lottie shuffled into the kitchen. “You two be sure to leave the light on, just in case Maggie gets home late tonight.”
“Aunt Lottie, you said you were going to bed!”
“I am, honey. I just thought the sight of you two snuggling in my kitchen would give me pleasant dreams.”
“We’re not—!”
Brady threw his arm around her shoulders. “But we could!”
Aunt Lottie beamed. “Good night.” She shut the back staircase door behind her. They could hear her giggling all the way up.
Gina elbowed him away. “But we’re not because you brought the Scrabble board, right?”
“Right. Speaking of romance, I wonder how the adventure is going with your folks?”
“I can’t wait to hear all about it. I cannot believe all the surprises Dad had planned.”
“Quite a display of extravagant love. Kind of like Jesus.”
Again she focused on the sink full of dishwater.
Brady let it go. From recent conversations he knew she struggled to understand such a love. She was running from it, guilt-ridden from living in worldly ways, not grasping the fact that the kindest, most moral, churchgoing person did not deserve God’s love either. He prayed to know how to show her that kind of love.
She changed the subject. “How did things go at your committee meeting?”
He blew out a breath, a sound of disgust. “Biggest bunch of nonprogressive dolts I’ve ever had the misfortune to work with. There’s so much history in and around my property. I cannot believe they’d turn it over so easily to a developer. They may as well dump toxic waste across my road.”
“Every one of them is like that?”
“Well, no. Half of them would leave things as is, use the land for green space. Or let me buy it. Without my vote, though, it’s a tie. And they all agree I can’t vote the tie-breaker.”
“It is a conflict of interest, don’t you agree?”
“It’s not my property, only adjacent to it. There are plenty of other acreages for housing.”
“Brady.” She stared at him, her green eyes serious, and flicked a wet hand at his shoulder.
“What?”
“That chip’s back. You’re sounding angry and offensive and extremely one-sided here.”
“Gina, this is my livelihood we’re talking about! There’s no way I can work in the middle of a neighborhood.”
“Have you ever tried?”
“Haven’t had to.”
“Well? How can you be so sure then? Besides, there’d still be a ravine between you and them.”
“Which is not on my property, which someone will build a deck out into.”
“So close your windows.”
“I like my windows open. Every season.”
“Even when it’s -50 wind chill?” She gave him a sly smile. “And snowing?”
“It’s the principle of the thing. Valley Oaks doesn’t need housing there and it should hang on to its history!”
“Does that mean you’re going to offer to fix up the old Crowley place, make it a local attraction? Maybe get it registered with the Historical Society? Open it to the public?”
“No.”
She drained the sink. “In other words you just want your privacy.”
That certainly sounds selfish, he thought.
“Brady, that sounds unbelievably selfish.”
Yes, unbelievably. “Gina.” He sighed. He really had no explanation.
“Maybe it is the best thing for the town if it was developed. I mean, if the entire school board thinks it would draw people here and enlarge the tax base for better education—”
“Not everyone thinks that way.”
She took the towel from him and folded it. “Why don’t you go run around the block? You sound too angry to play Scrabble.”
“I’m fine.”
She gripped his arms and turned him around, then pushed him through the back door. “You’re not fine. Go cool down.”
He lurched down the porch steps and looked back at her.
Gina stretched out and touched his face. “You’ll never be able to kiss me good night with your jaw clenched like that,” she whispered.
It was the best incentive he’d ever had to run around the block. “You’ll wait?”
“I’ll wait.” She sashayed back into the house. “And you thought I was a snob.”
Brady strode toward the front sidewalk, inhaled the dewy, fragrant night, and glanced up at the stars. His anger dissolved even before he took his first jogging step. He only hoped his jaw would unclench.