Free Heartfire by Karen Rose Smith Page A

bunk beds over a race car?"
    " I would."
    She shook her head.  "Whatever he decides is fine with me.  We'll work around it."  She wagged her finger at him.  "But just you wait.  I think you'll be surprised."
    A half hour later, they were both surprised.  Ryan did indeed have his own opinion, but it included neither the bunk beds nor a race car.
    He plopped on the bed of his choice, crawled on his knees and opened and shut the small compartments on the bookcase-like headboard.  "Isn't this great, Dad?  I can put my baseball cards in here and some of my cars.  And all my books can go on the shelf.  I can put Mr. Bear up there and my dinosaurs.  I really like this one."
    Max gave his choice one last shot.  "If you got the bunk beds, a friend could stay over."
    "Nah.  I don't care about that."
    "You might later.  You're going to have this bed a long time."
    "Maybe they make a trundle model," Tessa suggested.
    Max had to hand it to her.  She was handling this like a good sport.  Ryan had nixed the race car bed right away because he didn't like the high sides.
    Max left Ryan on the bed, opening and shutting the compartments, and took Tessa aside.  "What do you think?"
    She gave him a half-smile.  "I think he's like you and knows what he wants."
    But Max didn't know what he wanted, not where Tessa was concerned.  This resurgence of desire didn't mean anything, did it?  She was an attractive woman, he was a man, they were in close proximity...  Did he want more than the come-and-go frequency of Tessa's visits?  If so, he was out of luck.  Tessa would always be coming and going.  He couldn't understand why the thought bothered him so much.
    "We'll get the bed and the dresser to match.  It's something he can grow into."  Max's voice sounded gruff.  He tried to smile.  "If you want a race car bed, you'll have to wait until you settle down in one place long enough to sleep in one."
    "Is that a jab at my lifestyle?"
    When Tessa frowned, the same small dimple in her left cheek that appeared when she smiled became more evident.  He was noticing too much about Tessa these days.  "No, it's the truth.  Let's go ring up the bed."
    ***
    The following weekend, Max waved his hand at the half covered wall in Ryan's room.  "We should have done what the salesclerk suggested," he said with barely restrained impatience.  He should have followed his better judgment instead of listening to Tessa.  But he hadn't wanted to argue with her.  He could never seem to win arguments with Tessa.
    Tessa stared at the middle of the wall where three sheets of wallpaper began to lean crookedly to the left.  "Do you always do what you're supposed to do?"
    He gave her a dark look.
    "All right," she conceded.  "We should have made a plumb line.  Or used a laser level.    But the room's so small, I didn't think we needed to."
    "You do a plumb line so you put the wallpaper on straight even though the walls are crooked.  It has nothing to do with the size of the room.  I don't know where my laser level is.  I think a neighbor borrowed it."
    Pushing the curls off her forehead with the heel of her hand, Tessa laid the paper smoother she'd used on the floor.  "You're right.  I was wrong.  Let's do it over."
    Her admission surprised him.
    "What?" she asked at his raised brows.
    "I thought you'd give me more excuses."
    She caught the edge on the last sheet of wallpaper and pulled it from the wall.  "No point to that.  We'd still have a room to paper."
    Max almost smiled.  Either Tessa was mellowing or...maybe he'd been too critical of her in the past.  He didn't stop to ask why, but picked up the wallpaper kit with the plumb line included.  "It's a good thing we bought a couple of extra rolls of paper."
    "I'm just glad we don't have to be too careful about matching the pattern.  That could get tricky."
    Ryan hadn't chosen the race car bed, but he had picked wallpaper with various types and colors of cars sprinkled onto a white