“Okay,” Nicole replied with a shrug of resignation. “I’ll keep looking for another home. I promised you I would find one as quickly as possible.”
“Just let it stay here,” Andrew said impulsively. “I think Martha likes the company,” he added, avoiding Nicole’s eyes.
“She does, hmm?” She sounded as though she wanted to laugh, but she suppressed it. “Then I suppose he has a new home.”
Andrew quickly changed the subject. “I met your sister tonight.” He explained that Amy had stayed to change and had her date pick her up there. “She said she’d have one of her roommates bring her after her car tomorrow. She said she doesn’t really need it until tomorrow afternoon since she has no classes in the morning.”
“That was nice of you to let her get ready here. Did you like Amy?” Nicole sounded as though she couldn’t imagine anyone not liking her beloved younger sister.
“Very much. She said for me to tell you thanks for the loan of the clothes and jewelry.” He had no intention of relaying Amy’s second message. He would let her deliver that one herself.
Nicole frowned. “She took my jewelry, too?”
“Your fake diamonds,” Andrew reminded her gravely. “And your coat and shoes.”
Nicole sighed. “Anything else?”
“No, I think that’s all.”
“Did you have a chance to meet Justin?”
“Yes. Amy wasn’t quite ready when he arrived.”
“Of course she wasn’t. So, what did you think of him?”
“He seemed all right. Clean-cut. Said he was an honor student.”
Nicole chuckled. “What did you do—grill him?”
Andrew only shrugged. He was feeling much too content at the moment for her teasing to bother him. On the whole, it had been a good evening. His business outlook was promising. He’d played “big brother” for the first time in his life—and quite successfully, too, he thought. He had a cat. And Nicole was home. He wouldn’t be going to bed alone.
And speaking of bed...
He reached out to run his fingertips through her hair. “You must be tired.”
“Yes,” she admitted. “It was a busy night. One person was out sick and one just didn’t show up for work. It kept the rest of us running.”
Again, Andrew thought of how pointless it was for Nicole to be working so hard when there was really no need for it. As soon as he decided how to word that sentiment without setting her off, he intended to approach the subject with her.
He stood and held out his hand to her. She smiled and placed hers in it. He’d planned to do nothing more than boost her to her feet, but it turned into an embrace that delayed them for several long, heated minutes. Andrew finally broke away with a gasp for air. “Let’s go to bed.”
He had just stepped eagerly into his bedroom when Nicole said, “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you something.”
He was already unbuttoning his shirt. “What is it?”
“I found an apartment today. It’s perfect.”
A button snapped off in his hand. Andrew stared down at it, trying to decide what to say.
Nicole was leaving him.
Nicole didn’t appear to notice his sudden paralysis as she sat on the edge of the bed to take off her shoes. “It’s really a great place. One bedroom, a combination living room and dining room, a nice size kitchen. It even has a sliding-glass door that leads out to a tiny little patio. It’s affordable—barely—and I should be able to move in by the middle of next week.”
She was moving out. In less than a week. Andrew could almost feel the contentment seeping out of him, to be replaced by bleak emptiness. Still studying the button, he asked, “Have you signed any paperwork yet?”
“No, but I left my name with the rental manager. I bet you’re going to offer to look the place over and make sure it’s safe and suitable, right?” she asked brightly.
He couldn’t smile in response to her teasing. To keep from looking at her, he carefully placed the button on one corner of his dresser. “I’m sure you don’t need me to help you choose an apartment.”