“It’s wonderful,” she said. “Everyone’s so warm. I love that my kids will grow up knowing their neighbors and walking to school.”
“You have kids?” Beckett immediately looked down at her left hand. No ring.
She shot him an amused look. “Two kids and an ex-husband. You?”
“Zero kids and no ex-husbands.”
Gianna laughed. “Any wives? Current or past?”
They walked past Karma Kustard and Beckett waved to Pete the owner who was manning the counter.
“None. The Pierce brothers take our bachelorhood seriously. Well, we did until recently.” He thought of Carter with his Summer.
“How many of you are there?” Gia asked.
“Three. I’m the good-looking one.” He winked.
She rolled her eyes and tugged the hair band out of her thick, auburn curls letting them tumble down her back. “You must be the middle child.”
“How did you guess?”
“Like recognizes like.”
“You’re the middle, too?”
She nodded, tossing her hair over her shoulder and he caught a whiff of lavender. “I’ve got two sisters.”
“Are you close?” he asked. He wondered if they looked like her. Gianna was a head turner. He couldn’t imagine two more of her.
“Not geographically, I’ve got one bouncing around South Carolina and one in L.A., but we talk and email constantly. How about you and your brothers?”
He thought of Carter and Jax. Close was a good word for his relationship with them, especially now that they were all back home and starting a business together. “We’re pretty close. So two kids, huh?”
Gianna nodded and stuffed her hands in the front pocket of her hoodie. “Yeah, they’re pretty great. I’m hoping to be half the parent my dad was while I was growing up. If I can accomplish that, I can do anything,” she sighed.
“How about your mother?” Beckett asked.
Gianna shrugged. “She left us years ago. My sisters and I were in our early teens, so you can imagine what gems we were then. But Dad hung in there and figured out how to fill both roles. He never once let us feel like it was our fault or that what we wanted wasn’t important.”
“He sounds like a good man.”
“As close to sainthood as you can get,” she nodded. “Your parents?”
Beckett caught a glimpse of his disheveled, sweat-soaked hair in the next storefront window and scrubbed a hand through it. Next time he saw Gianna it was going to be in a suit after a shower, he promised himself.
“My dad was great. He put his heart into everything he did. He was never too busy for anyone who needed help.” Beckett could still call up a hundred memories of his dad setting aside everything to have a conversation, to lend a hand, or just answer his incessant questions as a five-year-old.
“He sounds wonderful,” Gianna said, guiding them off of Main Street.
“He was. He died five years ago.”
“Still miss him.” It wasn’t a question, but an acknowledgement.
“Every day,” Beckett nodded. It was true. There wasn’t a day that went by without his thoughts turning to John Pierce.
“And your mother?” Gianna asked.
Beckett felt the familiar warring emotions of love and frustration that bubbled to the surface every time he thought of his mother the past few months.
“She’s great,” he said, keeping it at that.
They turned down another tree-lined street where the streetlights were spaced further apart. “Do you live on this street?” he asked her, frowning.
Gianna nodded and smiled. “I do. It’s such a great neighborhood.”
“I know. It’s my neighborhood.”
“Well, this is me.” Gianna stopped on the sidewalk, her eyes sparkling.
“This isn’t you. This is me. I live here,” Beckett argued. The realization hit him as the words came out of his mouth.
“Hi, neighbor,” Gianna said, cocking her head to the side.
“You’re my new tenant.” He was a dumbass. A complete and total dumbass and Gianna had the pleasure of witnessing his idiocy over and over again.
She nodded. “I knew you’d figure it out eventually.”
He had literally walked her to his own doorstep before realizing it. He was slipping. Yoga must have destroyed his brain.
“Ellery took care of the paperwork and your check while I was out of the country,” he said, slowly piecing it all together.
“She did. She’s a pretty amazing asset, by the way,” Gianna said.
“She is.” And his amazing asset had probably assumed he introduced himself to his new tenant when he came home. In fact, if he hadn’t been daydreaming about the redhead before him he probably would have heard Ellery telling him Gianna was his tenant. Her “good fit” comment suddenly made a lot more sense.
“How long have you known?” he winced.
Gianna looked like she was enjoying herself. “Since you introduced yourself at the ribbon-cutting. What kind of tenant would I be if I didn’t know my own landlord’s name?”
Shit.
“You’re my tenant.” He said it again as the implication settled. It didn’t matter how attractive he found Gianna Decker. They had a professional relationship that must be maintained.