Page 21 of The One

The dog didn’t answer and he didn’t expect that to happen.

He looked at the clock and saw that she’d be here any minute. He’d said four, which would give them time to figure out the food, go get it and then come back and cook.

When he heard a car door he went to the front of the house and looked out the window, saw Gillian walking toward the porch and opened the door.

“Hi,” she said.

“Long time no see,” he said and wondered how stupid that sounded.

But she smiled and figured he’d get a pass. “Wow, he’s fast.”

He looked down and caught George just as he tried to shoot between his legs and out the front door. “Whoa. Good thing you saw that. Now I know not to do that again.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Have you owned a dog before?”

He had George in his hands and shut the door, then set the puppy down who started to jump all over Gillian.

“No. My sister has always loved animals. I couldn’t have one back in California where I lived and I wasn’t around enough for it anyway.”

“You didn’t work from home at your last job?” she asked.

She started to take her jacket off and he reached for it and tried to roll his tongue back in his mouth. She had on a fitted cotton shirt. Just a plain black one, but it showed her body off perfectly with the gray jeans she had on too. There were black ankle boots on her feet that gave her a little bit of height but not much. They were more cute than sexy, but it worked.

“No,” he said. “Come in. Excuse the emptiness.”

“How long have you lived here?”

“Almost two months. I know. It’s bad that it’s empty, but I’ve got what I need. What I brought with me. I’ll get more at some point.”

“It’s fine,” she said. He watched her eyes take in the empty front living room. George was running around it in circles, his nails clicking on the wood.

“I was looking at it before you showed up and tried to think what it would seem through someone else’s eyes.”

“Don’t,” she said. “It’s your home.”

“I know. I’m getting there. My office isn’t empty.”

She walked a few feet and looked inside that room. “I see that. It’s a lot of monitors.”

“I tend to have a lot of things going at once,” he said.

They moved toward the back of the house. The stairs were to the right that they’d passed next to a half bath and the formal dining room, which was also empty.

“This is a nice big space,” she said when they got to the back of the house. At least it was lived in.

“I think the people who lived here liked to entertain. There are more seats for feeding people than I’ll ever know what to do with.”

He had his small table in the nook off to the side of the kitchen, plus four stools at the island that could hold two more on the ends if he wanted, but he was good with it this way. It was one thing he’d gone out and bought when he moved in, preferring to sit there than the table himself.

The family room was large, but looked more so with just his sectional and TV on the wall.An area for a large dining room table sat empty too which made the rest of the space feel awkward.

“There is nothing wrong with that. The kitchen is great. I’d love this. I really like to cook so whoever owned this house must have too.”

“That is my guess,” he said. “Don’t judge me, but I haven’t turned the oven on once. I hope it works.”

That thought just occurred to him. “Let’s find out before we figure out the food.”

She walked over and started to push buttons like a pro and had it on and warming up fast. “Seems to work fine, but let’s give it a minute. What is behind that door?”