Always Something There to Remind Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

asked, watching Nate on a ladder, carefully painting around the door of her family’s house.
    “Hours,” he said, giving her a quick glance.
    “ Hours? ” She adjusted her sunglasses and leaned back in the lawn chair she’d dragged around to the front of the house so she could sit with him. “I’m just sitting here doing nothing.”
    “You could grab a brush and help.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not allowed. My mother says I’m too sloppy. Even when I try really hard to be neat.”
    He laughed. “I believe that.”
    She made an exasperated noise.
    “You don’t have to hang out here, you know. You can do something else.”
    “I know. I’m being supportive. Do you want a sandwich?” she asked, suddenly inspired to do something other than sit there like a lump.
    “Yes,” he said, focusing intently on the edging. He didn’t get even a spot of paint on the brick. But what she really liked was the way his muscles flexed in his arm and back as he moved the paintbrush. “That would be great. Thanks.”
    “I’ll get it.” She got up and put her magazine down on the chair. “You want iced tea?”
    “Sure.”
    “Okay.” She went inside, and it took her eyes a moment to adjust to the light after coming in from the sun. The house was always dark and cool because tall shady trees blocked the side and back windows.
    First she stopped in the bathroom and squirted some more Sun-In on her hair. It was already looking pretty pale, but she wanted to keep it that way, and using Sun-In with the sun instead of a blow dryer made her feel like it was happening more naturally.
    Then she went into the kitchen and took out the bread, then went to the fridge and got mayonnaise and mustard, plus some turkey and ham deli meats. It was almost a club sandwich, but they didn’t have any bacon.
    However, there were Bac-Os in the cabinet. She’d often eat them right out of the canister.
    So she toasted two pieces of bread, then spread the mayonnaise and mustard together on both slices, cracked some pepper over them, then sprinkled on a few Bac-Os. Then she layered the meats on and hesitated. There was no lettuce but there were tomatoes. She found a large red one that smelled of summer, and sliced it paper-thin, layering the slices on thick enough, she hoped, to make up for the lack of lettuce.
    Then she mixed up some water and iced-tea powder, tossed in some ice cubes, and put the whole thing on a tray to take out to Nate.
    Unfortunately, she wasn’t paying attention when she opened the door and knocked it right into the ladder he was standing on, sending him and the paint flying into the bushes.
    For a moment she stood there in shock, looking from the mess to the tray and back again, as if somehow she could reconcile the two.
    Then her faculties returned to her. “Oh, my God!” She put the tray down and ran to Nate, who was recovering himself and the can of paint. “I’m so sorry! Oh, my God!”
    “You are a mess around paint.” He pulled a rag out of his belt loop and started cleaning up a couple of spots that had splashed onto the previously perfect brick. “Get the hose, would you?”
    “Yes!” She ran to the side of the house and got the hose, dragging it across the newly cut grass. She handed it to him and ran back to turn it on. “Now?” she called.
    He yelled back and she turned the faucet on full blast.
    When she got back to the front of the house she was surprised to see his hair and shirt were wet, and the walkway was sprayed with water.
    “What happened to you?”
    “Someone turned the water on.”
    “I asked if you were ready!”
    “Is that what you said?”
    “Yes. And I thought you said yes!”
    “I said what ,” he corrected. “Because I didn’t know what you said.”
    “Ohhh.” She couldn’t help it, she had to laugh. “I’m so sorry. Really. I was just trying to help.”
    He laid the hose down by the bush to dilute the spilled paint, and went over to her. “Baby.” He took her into