Page 13 of Heartbeat Harmony (Hearts in Hawthorne #2)

“I already have the template in place. I’ll simply fill in the time and send the evites out now.”

Eli thanked her and went into his office, skimming to see if he had any emails which couldn’t wait. Thankfully, he didn’t, so he collected his briefcase and left his office, telling Nancy he would see her in the morning.

As he drove to his house, he felt the excitement building within him. He told himself not to make too much of Autumn coming over to help him. It was simply in her nature to help others. Still, he was eager to be in her company, away from work.

He pulled into the driveway, seeing a car sitting at the curb. As he got out, she did the same, heading up the sidewalk.

“Are you still driving a rental car?” he asked.

“No, this is the first new car I’ve ever bought. The size of the monthly payment makes me wince, but thanks to my new salary, I’m comfortable with it.”

“Glad to hear that.”

“Your house is beautiful. I love a Colonial. They’re so traditional.”

He had been drawn to the red brick house the moment he saw it.

Thankfully, the people at Hogan Health had hired a good architect.

The layout of the home was functional, and it was quite spacious.

Not that he ever went to its many rooms, but it was nice knowing that he lived in such a beautiful place.

As he inserted his key into the lock, he told her, “Prepare yourself.”

Opening the door, Eli ushered Autumn inside and closed it behind them. He tried to see the house through her eyes as he placed his briefcase on the floor.

The foyer was large. Off to the left was a home office, shut off with French doors.

To the right was a dining room. Both stood empty.

They walked straight ahead into what he’d seen on the plans was called the great room.

It held a lawn chair, a card table, and a folding chair.

His laptop sat on the card table. The rest of the room was empty.

Her eyes swept over the room. “You weren’t kidding. No furniture, other than this?”

“Nope. I have a sleeping bag in the primary bedroom. I did bring a few towels with me. A couple of plates and coffee mugs are in the kitchen. And I bought a decent coffeemaker for the first time so I could brew a cup before I went into work each day. Other than that, it’s a blank slate.”

“Do you mind if I walk through the house?” she asked.

“Be my guest.”

Eli followed Autumn around as she familiarized herself with the floor plan. They went upstairs. It held three bedrooms and a media room, along with two bathrooms. Back downstairs, they stepped outside onto the large, covered patio.

“Eli, you have an outdoor kitchen!” she said, wonder in her voice. “And a pool! This will be a terrific place to host parties, including the one next Saturday. Of course, you’ll need to fill the pool with water and hire a pool company to maintain it.”

“I haven’t gotten around to doing that yet.”

“You need to,” she insisted. “This is a lovely backyard. The landscaping is beautifully done. I know the house is new, but they did a wonderful job incorporating the trees which were already here.”

He did like the mature trees on the property which shaded the large backyard and the lone oak tree that did the same in the front.

Autumn bristled with palpable excitement. “Let’s sit and make a list of all we need to do. There’s no way you can have an entirely furnished house by next weekend, but you can have several of the rooms completed if we work fast. Let’s start in the great room.”

“Start how? I guess I need chairs. A sofa. What else?”

She took a seat in the folding chair, pushing his laptop aside.

She placed the spiral notebook which seemed to accompany her everywhere onto the table and opened it, drawing a large square.

She began sketching furniture in the room, creating different areas for conversation, and he saw her vision for the room coming to life.

“This is just a rough drawing. We can get online where they have great tools to do this very thing. You can simply type in dimensions of a room and sizes of different furniture and drop and drag the furniture around, putting it different places, until you hit upon what works for you. You definitely want this great room furnished in time for next weekend’s party. ”

She paused. “Would you want a TV in here?”

“I don’t watch TV,” he said. “I’ve never had time for it.”

“Things are different now. You’re not in the ER eighteen hours a day.

TV will be a way you can relax. No sense right now schlepping all the way upstairs to the media room.

We’ll put one in this room. I’m going to give you a list of TV shows to stream.

” She hesitated. “You do know what streaming is?”

He laughed. “I’ve heard of it. You’ll need to tell me where to get it and what to ask for, though.”

Autumn talked about having the dining room and kitchen furnished in the next ten days. The kitchen had a large eat-in nook which would seat a table of six easily.

She lifted the lid to his laptop, asking him to sign in. “We can see better here than on my cell phone.”

After he logged in, she called up a few different furniture sites, skimming through them, trying to get an idea of his tastes.

“Honestly, Autumn, I have no taste. The foster homes I grew up in were furnished with stuff from Goodwill or garage sales. Pieces which had seen better days. I’ve lived with this card table, chair, and sleeping bag for more years than I can count.

You seem to have good taste. Could you just pick out things for me? ”

Frowning, she said, “I’m happy to do so, Eli. I don’t want to overstep, though.”

“You’re not. You’re doing me a huge favor.”

“You should definitely furnish your bedroom while we’re at it. I would leave your entire upstairs empty for now. Of course, being the workaholic you are, we should also get your home office completed sometime in the near future.”

He grinned. “I’m going to appoint you my fairy godmother. Just wave your wand, Autumn. For the first time in my life, I can say that money is no object. Hogan Health is paying me extremely well to run their new hospital. I have a beautiful house, and I need the proper furniture to fill it.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “I’m going to pull some different things together online and share them with you.

We may be able to order directly, or we could take a trip to a larger city so we could see a showroom.

Sometimes, it’s better to see things in person and get an idea of the size before making a purchase. ”

“I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to do this. Can I buy you dinner?”

“Why don’t we order pizza now? Have you had anything from Pizza Palace yet?”

Eli broke out in a huge grin. “You’re talking about one of my favorite places in Hawthorne. I love that thin, New York crust they make.”

“Then order something for us now, and I’ll get started. And no pepperoni,” she added. “While I like the taste of it, my stomach and pepperoni simply do not get along. Anything else is fine.”

“All right.”

He called in his usual order of sausage, mushrooms, and onions, and they told him it would be delivered in half an hour. Eli included two unsweetened teas with his order, having noticed Autumn seemed partial to the drink.

Pulling up the lawn chair close to the card table, he watched her zip through various sites, flagging different links. By the time their pizza arrived, he had a good idea what his great room and dining room would look like when furnished.

As they ate the pizza, she brought up different sites with bedroom furniture. He thought her taste excellent, things he would have chosen for himself.

They finished the pizza and sat back, with Autumn saying, “I’m so full. I think the best thing of coming back to Hawthorne, besides being close to family, is getting pizza from Pizza Palace.”

Eli said, “I envy you. Having family here. Your parents. Your brother.”

“And my new sister-in-law. Kelby was a couple of years ahead of me in high school, and she was always very nice. Her brother and mine were best friends growing up and are still close. West and Kelby kind of dated in high school, but it’s nice to see them come together all these years later and be so happy. ”

She laughed. “They are so in love. I’ve teased them about how many times I’ve caught them kissing.”

He had never kissed a woman. He had been on a handful of dates, but they had led nowhere. He’d thought the women boring and dating a waste of time.

But not Autumn Sutherland. She was never boring. It seemed they always had things to talk about. He looked at her mouth now, and something stirred within him. He wondered what it would be like to kiss her. Taste her. Make love to her.

That wasn’t going to happen. Her divorce was in her recent past. She had specifically said that she did not want to date anyone.

Especially her boss.

Eli shoved all fantasies of beginning a relationship with her to the far corners of his mind.

“Are you free this coming Saturday, Eli? I really think you should see some pieces in person before committing such a huge chunk of change to furnish your house.”

He had a conference call with Peter at ten-thirty, but he would find a way to move it to another time. Instead, he looked at her brightly.

“I’d be happy to accompany you to as many showrooms as you think are necessary.”

Spending an entire day in Autumn’s company would be his idea of heaven.