“Want to try this one?” she offered.
He shook his head. “I think I’m still too traumatized.”
“So you two are a little early for dinner,” Gia said, sliding into the chair next to Evan.
“Well, we had a free afternoon and wondered if we could help out,” Franklin said, taking a bite out of the baby carrot Aurora offered him.
“Help out with what? Dinner?”
“I’m offering up my chauffer and chaperone services and Phoebe here happens to be an excellent amateur organizer,” her dad said waving his hand in the direction of Gia’s bedroom.
Phoebe smiled. “Beckett told me you have a bit of a situation,” she said nodding toward the room. “If you’re okay with it, Franklin can take the kids to their parties this afternoon and I can help you go through some boxes.”
Gia blinked.
Beckett had ratted her out and now everyone knew her dirty little secret. She was going to murder him … after he was done installing the dishwasher.
“It can’t be easy making such a big move. Getting your kids settled while starting a new business. But it doesn’t have to be on your own. You have us,” Phoebe said, smiling cheerfully. “Besides, it’ll help feed my sickness for personal organization.”
“I see,” Gia said primly. “Beckett? Can I see you outside for a minute?”
His head popped up on the other side of the island. “Now?”
“Now.”
She shut the front door behind them and fixed him with her best suspicious mom look. “What are you doing?”
He ran a hand over the back of his neck. “I’m trying to install a dishwasher.”
“Why?” Gia crossed her arms.
“A dishwasher would make your life easier. And so would a little time and help to organize the rest of your crap,” Beckett said, sounding annoyed now.
“What if I weren’t your tenant? What if it was someone else?”
“Are you asking if I’d be doing this for someone else?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m asking. You say I’m not your type. We decide we need to keep this professional and then you show up here with kitchen appliances and my father, who you don’t even like —”
“It’s what we do, Red. We’re fixers. Smotherers. I talked to my mom, she talked to Franklin. We devised a plan. It’s the Blue Moon way.”
“So you, as a Blue Mooner, see a way to improve someone’s life and you just jump on in and force your help on them.”
“Exactly. The only difference this time is I also have an irrational and completely unrelated desire to sleep with you while I help you.”
A small smile played across her lips. “I can’t peg you, Beckett. Just when I think I have you figured out, you surprise me. A steamy makeout session and we both know we’re not right for each other. Then you go and blab about my failings to your family and mine. Then you show up here with a dishwasher and the cavalry and tell me you want to sleep with me. I’m confused. Annoyed and confused.”
“Is that all?”
“And hungry,” she added. “Are you helping me because you think I’m doing a bad job?”
Beckett looked genuinely surprised and a little offended. “Of course not. I’m buying you an afternoon of your life back and twenty minutes a day of dishwashing.”
“Okay. Then I am annoyed, confused, hungry, and grateful,” Gia revised.
“Yeah, well, join the club. Now, can I get back to installing your dishwasher while fantasizing about you doing yoga naked?”
“Just one more thing. If I ever trust you with a secret again — no matter how silly it may seem to you — I expect you to keep it to yourself.”
“You got it, Red.” He glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one inside was watching. “You look really sexy in this shirt,” he said, hooking his index finger in the scoop neck of her tank.
“Beckett, behave yourself,” she said, slapping his hand away and tugging her cardigan tighter around her.
“Really sexy,” he said again, tapping her nose before heading back inside.
She should be annoyed. Should be furious with Beckett for outing her and then riding to her rescue. She took pride in being able to provide for her kids, to run a business and a house. In never asking for help.
She was independent, first by chance and now by choice. She had Paul to thank for that. While he had chased his dreams, dragging the rest of them along like luggage, Gia had turned herself into a strong, capable woman.
She didn’t do everything perfectly. Obviously, she thought, cringing over her bedroom. But damn it, she was good at being a mom and good at running a business. And someday she hoped to be great at it all.
She let herself back inside. “My friend Walter has two moms,” Aurora was saying conversationally to Franklin and Phoebe. “Van, can I try yours?” she asked, eyeing up his grilled cheese.