Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
He pulled a dorky face. “I don’t know. Blue?”
She shook her head. Such an obvious answer for a man.
Still, she could do something with that. She grabbed a few cards that offered a main shade and then complementary colors for trim and accessories, making sure there was always at least a little blue. But he was really starting from scratch.
“I’m tempted to start with the bedding and decorate around that,” she said.
He seemed quite open to all her suggestions, so they walked to a luxury bedding store she really liked. Even better, the owner turned part of her showroom over to creating entire bedrooms for inspiration, which Mila thought might make it easier for Hersch to envision what his room would look like.
But as they walked through the store together, most of the bedroom setups looked either too feminine to Mila’s eye or too traditional. She could see that Hersch wasn’t very interested in any of them. He headed over to a rack of interior-design magazines and began to flip through. She watched his expression from across the room, noting what a handsome figure he cut against gold-flecked wallpaper. He paused, sensing her eyes on him, and then came over to her with the open magazine.
“I like this one,” he said.
The photograph featured a modern-looking bed with a bedspread so dark a blue it was almost black, with white sheets and pillows with the same dark navy stripe combined with pillows in solid navy. The wall behind it was a smudgy gray. It was understated and sophisticated. She said, “What do you like about it?”
He thought for a second. “I like the depth of the color. It’s almost as if you could fall into it and float. Plus, it looks like a black-and-white photograph. I’ve got some gorgeous photographs taken from space. They’d look really good against those walls.”
She nodded, pleased. She loved how he’d chosen something that would be so simple to make work. In less than half an hour, they were walking out with all the bedding he would need, plus ideas for complementary draperies or blinds. They’d have to measure first, and anyway Herschel wasn’t sure he even wanted curtains, as there was so much privacy.
They headed back to the paint store and picked an entirely different palette of soft gray possibilities, which would make his framed photographs really pop.
She said, “I think you might need to get a couple of new pieces of furniture for that bedroom too. The current owners’ stuff is just too traditional.”
He heaved a sigh of relief. “I’m so glad you said that. I am happy to take it all, just so long as I don’t have to keep it all. I was thinking of donating some of the better pieces to a charity.”
She leaned in close and whispered, “I’ll never tell them if you don’t.” Since she didn’t think they would ever come back to the Carmel area, as they had decided to settle in New York near their children and grandchildren, she figured she and Hersch were on pretty safe ground.
When they walked out of the shop, he said, as though admitting a great secret, “I have to tell you, I don’t mind keeping that bed. It looks perfectly serviceable, but I would like to have a new mattress.”
For a moment, Mila let her mind go to the dirty places it wanted to. She pictured Hersch, naked, waiting for her on that bed, and the image drove her wild. She redirected her enthusiasm and agreed. “If I were buying somebody else’s bed, I’d want a new mattress too.”
She could see he was looking at her with a kind of questioning gaze. She let herself hope that he was also imagining them together on that bed… But then she realized what he was really asking.
She laughed softly at herself and shook her head. “Yes, okay, I’ll go mattress shopping with you.”
She checked her watch, mindful that her to-do list was never done. However, Hersch was a great client. She was happy that she’d worked so hard earlier in the day, and of course her cell phone was always on. She could allow herself a bit of freedom. She was with a client, after all…
The moment they walked into the mattress store, she could tell he was somewhat overwhelmed by the rows and rows of options. Before a salesperson could even approach them, she said, “You have to lie on the mattresses and pretend you’re sleeping, or you won’t be able to make a good choice. A mattress is a very personal thing.”
He looked embarrassed. “Just lie down in the middle of the store? Do I take my shoes off?”
“I don’t think so. I think these are specially made for people to try out.”
He looked a little skeptical, but she could see he was willing to follow her advice. A salesperson spotted them and came over. The young man, dressed in a smart blue suit, introduced himself as Ted and asked what they were looking for. She realized he was assuming they were a couple.