Read Online The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club by Lexi Eddings - Free Book Online

pretty quickly. Dad doesn’t need to do that much lifting and going up and down those metal steps repeatedly would not do his knees any favors.”
    It occurred to her that her dad’s legs were in better shape that Jake’s, but he didn’t react to what she’d said. Dang, will I ever stop putting my foot in my mouth?
    â€œThen there’s my mom,” she chattered on, anxious to quickly put any mention of men’s legs behind her. “She’d be horrified at the paltry number of ‘accessories’ I own. She’d be over here with a trunk full of throw pillows before I could stop her.”
    Jake refilled both their wineglasses. Lacy didn’t remember emptying hers, but she must have. Wine usually relaxed her. Ordinarily, she’d be asleep under the table in short order.
    Instead she felt all fidgety inside, as if her thoughts were running in a hundred different directions.
    â€œI’m a fan of uncluttered countertops myself,” he said. “More room to work.”
    â€œAbsolutely. Bare essentials, that’s me. A coffeemaker and a toaster near an outlet is all I need left out, and if I can find a way to hide them while keeping them easy to reach, I do it,” she said. “Everything else has its place in a drawer. No dust-catchers, please.”
    â€œWhat?” he said with raised brow. “No collection of teapots along the top of the cabinets?”
    â€œI have a cat who treats that space like her personal boardwalk. Can you imagine what Effie would do to anything I put in her way?” Lacy said. “Besides, a Warhol is all the decoration any kitchen needs.”
    She’d already pounded a nail into the wall and centered her copy of the iconic print of a Campbell’s soup can above the sink.
    â€œThe rest of my apartment will be similarly spare once I clear out all the boxes.” She polished off the last of her fried okra. That was something she couldn’t get in Boston. She’d missed the distinctive dish. “Once Mom sees the place, she’ll bring over an armful of her precious ‘knickknacks and scarcities’ trying to fill my blank spaces. She finds my style ‘empty.’” Lacy sighed. “I’ll have to fight to keep it that way.”
    â€œEmptiness can be restful.”
    She cocked her head at Jake. It was unusual for anyone else to get that until she showed them how it worked in her designs. “A blank space in a room is like a rest in a piece of music. It’s a pause, a slice of silence. It lets the mind take in what surrounds it.”
    â€œBet you figured that out when you were in the school band.” He chuckled. “As I recall, the slices of silence were the best part of pep band.”
    She gave his forearm a smack.
    â€œHey, I’m agreeing with you. In a slightly unusual way.” He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Too much stuff makes a place feel tight. Like there’s no room to breathe.”
    So he did get it.
    â€œGuess we’re more alike than I thought, then,” she told him. “I cull my stuff each spring. It’s the only way to make sure I own my things instead of them owning me. The one exception I make is for books. There can never be too many.”
    She picked up both their empty plates and carried them to the kitchen. Then she dished up the blackberry cobbler, and put the bowls into the microwave to warm.
    â€œI thought the built-in shelves would handle my collection,” she rattled on, “but judging from the number of boxes marked ‘books,’ I’m probably going to have to buy another shelving unit and squeeze it into the bedroom somehow.”
    The microwave dinged. She took out the cobblers and scooped some of Jake’s homemade ice cream on them. It looked and smelled like heaven in a bowl.
    â€œI’m talking too much,” she said as she carried their desserts back to the table. “Silence is