Free Love Makes the Difference (Sully Point Book 1) by Nicole Smith

'lovely' and that...changed
something inside her, like something shifted her perception of herself.
    The games were a hoot, with him winning a very small stuffed
teddy bear for her at the ring toss while she won him a goldfish at the fishing
game.
    "There's no way I'm carrying this fish all over the
fair. Let's find a nice bowl for it, and then put it in the car for
safekeeping."
    They found a set of mixing bowls at the potter's booth Sam
thought would go well in his kitchen, as well as a good-sized clear fish bowl.
After settling the goldfish in the car, they returned to the fair and wandered
through the craft section.
    Anna enjoyed watching how he looked at things. It was never
about price, but all about quality. He seemed to appreciate the effort put into
some of the pieces, but by lunch time he had only found a coffee table for his
house and arranged to have it delivered.
    "That wood for the table is great and will be perfect
in the beach house, but I'm just not crazy about anything else I've seen here,"
he said while they found seats at a table under a large tent. They both had
plates piled high with fish tacos and beer-battered onion rings.
    "You could always go to a furniture store. In Boston or
even New York."
    "I hate to go that far when I only need a few things.
Maybe I'll check out the local furniture store for the lamp. Then I would just need
something for the wall across from the couch. I hate staring at a blank wall."
    He took a big bite of fish taco. Anna nibbled on an onion
ring and thought hard. Of course there was a solution to his blank wall.
Sitting in her packing crate--and the storage locker--were quite a few
paintings. If he found one he liked...but could she let go of any of them? True,
she had been thinking of putting them in a gallery if the owner liked them. But
this was now, not in the future.
    "What's wrong, Anna? Why aren't you eating?" Sam
frowned at her.
    "I was thinking," she said, deciding in that
moment what to do. "I think you should go through my paintings and see if
you like one enough to put up on your wall. You could have one of them for your
house."
    Sam's looked incredulous. "You're kidding...really? I'd
pay you well for it, never fear. It would be great to have one."
    "Oh, you wouldn't have to pay me. Think of it as
payment for helping out at the loft."
    "They are your very hard work, work you've poured your
soul into unless I miss my guess. Of course I'm going to pay for the painting.
That's only right."
    Anna was quiet again. Sam went back to eating, glancing at
her periodically. Finally she picked up her fork and began to eat some fish out
of a taco. He was right about one thing--it was definitely work to paint. Fun,
glorious, wonderful work. She'd never gotten any money for doing something she
loved.
    "All right. You can pay."
    Cody sat down beside her and asked, "Pay for what?"
    "Um, Sam is going to pay for the ride we're going on."
    Cody looked at Sam, "So what ride are you going on, The
Bullet?"
    "No!" Anna and Sam said together. They laughed and
Anna continued. "No, we're going to ride the Merry-Go-Round. I've always
loved it."
    "Yeah, I remember from when we were kids. You'd ride
that thing forever. So, Sis, how long have you and Sam here been dating?"
    Anna felt herself blushing. Sam said smoothly, "Today
is our first date. Did you come to the fair with a date, Cody?"
    Cody frowned and shook his head. Hmm , Anna thought, something's wrong in Cody's dating world. Somehow hearing Sam tell Cody
they were on a date made her feel all warm inside.
    Cody was talking to Sam about renovating Anna's loft when
she next tuned in to the conversation. She'd managed to finish up her fish, and
left all but a few onion rings on her plate, which Cody finished off.
    "I talked to Dad this morning about appliances. We
thought maybe some of those retro style appliances, but they cost too much. So
we think we'll just do basic stainless steel."
    "Yeah, those vintage appliances can cost a