On Pins and Needles by Victoria Pade Page B

yours is a grilled portobello mushroom, tomato slices, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, black olives, onion, sprouts and a little vinaigrette.”
    Some thing about that made him smile at the same time his brow wrinkled up. “I’d have been happy with meat and mayo. This sounds like more trouble to go through than a sandwich deserves.”
    â€œTry it,” she urged.
    He looked skeptical but in a more con genial way than he had the day before when they’d talked about acupuncture. Still, he didn’t dive in, though. It took him a moment of eyeing what was on his plate before he picked up one half of the three-inch-high sandwich. Then he gave it a meager taste, as if it might bite him back.
    Megan waited for the verdict, watching him chew and pleased that it was with his mouth closed and without so much as a crumb on his supple lips.
    Then he swallowed and his eyebrows rose. “It’s good. Almost tastes like a steak sandwich.”
    Megan felt as if she’d finally won one small victory. She stretched out her own legs so she could sit more comfortably on the floor, too, and finally began to eat her own food.
    â€œYou told me what was inside my sandwich,” Josh said then. “Does that mean there’s some thing different in yours?”
    â€œTurkey, ham and bacon,” she answered with a straight face once she’d swallowed her own bite.
    His responding expression was exactly what she’d been going for and she laughed at him.
    â€œI’m kidding. Mine is the same as yours. Want to see?”
    He grinned at her joke. “Last time a girl asked me that she wasn’t talking about what was between two slices of bread.”
    Megan laughed at his innuendo but didn’t give him the satisfaction of a comment.
    Josh ate more sandwich, a few potato chips, and then poked his chin at the room in general. “Did I get the furniture pretty much back where you had it?”
    Megan glanced around just to be sure. “Close enough.”
    â€œI didn’t think I’d have a problem, that I’d just follow the marks on the floor. But there were other marks, too, so I wasn’t sure in some spots. Looks like you did some rearranging when you moved in.”
    â€œWe did.”
    â€œSeems better than it would have been if I’d followed the old marks. More open. It has a nice feel to it.”
    â€œFeng shui.”
    â€œI beg your pardon?”
    â€œFeng shui is an ancient philosophy.”
    â€œAn ancient philosophy of home decorating?”
    â€œIt’s all about opening things up so there’s a free flow of energy. When there’s a free flow of energy you feel better and when you feel better everything is better. You said yourself that the room has a nice feel to it.”
    â€œYou really believe that putting furniture in certain places will change your life?” he asked.
    â€œI believe that anything that makes anyone more comfortable and content is a good thing. Even if that’s all it does.”
    â€œAh-ha! Then you admit it doesn’t have any magical powers.”
    â€œI’m not admitting anything. I’m saying that if that’s the least it does, it’s worth it.”
    â€œAnd I suppose that crystal mobile you have in the corner over there is for a reason, too?”
    â€œIt helps direct the energy. Plus, I like the way it looks.”
    â€œNow that’s some thing I can under stand.”
    â€œSo it’s not mumbo-jumbo.”
    He had the good grace to laugh. “Yeah.”
    Megan just rolled her eyes at him.
    â€œThe sandwich was great, though,” he said with a nod toward the plate he’d emptied several minutes earlier. “I never would have tried it on my own but I liked it.”
    â€œEven though there was no meat and mayo?”
    â€œEven though.”
    â€œYou get points for owning up to that, anyway.”
    He laughed again and Megan realized she was coming to