Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Merritt
I pulled a shirt out of my suitcase and shook the wrinkles out as best I could before sliding it onto the hanger and carrying it to the closet. The room Tristan had designated for me was really nice. I wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to a guest room in the house of a single man who lived alone, but the large room with a decent-sized walk-in closet was a pleasant surprise.
The furniture was a nice, glossy white oak, the rustic style matching everything else in the house. There was a king-size bed with soft navy sheets, a matching bedside table, and a dresser. Like the rest of the house, there wasn’t much in the way of decoration or personal touches. The furniture was all well-made and comfortable, and while his home was beautiful and cozy, I didn’t see much of his personality in it. There were a few prints hanging on the walls here and there, and while they were pretty, they were all mass-produced landscapes and things of that nature.
The one thing I did notice was a top-of-the-line, fluffy dog bed in every common area in the house. Thinking back on that made me smile. It was clear the dog had a very comfortable life with Tristan, and I couldn’t help but think that a man who was that sweet with his pet couldn’t possibly be hiding a darker side beneath the surface.
But on the heels of that thought, I remembered that I’d let pretty words and looks fool me before. Tristan had been nothing but nice, but I couldn’t afford to lower my guard, especially when I had Levi to think about.
With my last suitcase empty, I zipped it closed and carried it into the closet. When I stepped back out, the little black ball of fur was sitting inside the open doorway of my bedroom, his head tipped to the side as he stared up at me.
“Hi.” Doc’s head canted to the other side and he opened his mouth, his tongue lolling out the side. I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes, “You know what, you are kinda cute.” Doc panted and opened his mouth wide, and I swore it looked like he was smiling. I let out a chuckle. “Okay, fine. You’re very cute. Happy now?”
He let out a little yip as if to say yes, he was.
“Oh, you’re gonna be trouble, aren’t you?”
He stood up and turned around, sauntering out of the room with his tail wagging like crazy.
“Aunt Merri,” Levi called from his new room just down the hall from mine.
I popped my head in to find him posting his wrestling figures on the chest of drawers beneath his window while Doc snoozed on the floor a few feet away. Looked like the dog was already taken with my boy, not that I was surprised. “Yeah, sweetie?”
He turned from his task to look at me with a pitiful expression. “I’m starvin’ ,” he stated. “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole cow all by myself.”
I bugged my eyes out dramatically. “Wow. That’s really hungry. That means I should probably feed you, huh?”
He nodded solemnly. “You should,” he said with all the seriousness of someone much older.
I giggled as I moved into the room and pulled Levi into a tight embrace. Leaning down, I breathed in the scent of his shampoo and let it soothe me. After the day we both experienced, I had a feeling I was going to need a lot of these hugs before I felt completely settled. I reminded myself that my little guy was safe, and the people who had hurt us couldn’t get to us where we were. But until that knowledge finally settled, I’d have to reassure myself by loving on my nephew until the tightness in my chest went away.
“Aunt Merri, you’re squeezin’ me to death,” he croaked dramatically.
I forced myself to let him go, pulling back and ruffling his hair before finally letting my arms fall to my sides. “Well, we can’t have that, can we? I’ll go make you some dinner since you’re so needy. You feel like anything in particular?”
He scrunched his lips to the side and tapped his chin, deep in thought. “Hmm. Oh! What about grilled cheese?”
I wasn’t sure what Tristan had stocked, but he wanted grilled cheese, I’d go to the store and get the ingredients to make it happen. I arched a brow at him. “With tomato?” Levi had loved tomatoes since he was a baby, and the taste for them still hadn’t faded.
He rolled his eyes. “Duh, Aunt Merri. That makes them the best.”
“Of course. How could I forget.”
I left him playing with his toys and headed down the stairs. As I hit the landing to the first floor I noticed the discarded socks and running shoes that had been on the floor earlier were gone. As were the few dishes that had been sitting on the coffee table. Apparently Tristan had done a bit of cleaning. I started toward the kitchen when I heard his lowered voice. It sounded like he was talking on his phone. I decided to head back upstairs to give him some privacy, but as I turned to head back in that direction, I heard my name and pulled up short.
My mom taught me that eavesdropping was wrong, but I couldn’t help myself. I inched closer to the kitchen.
“I’d really appreciate that, man.” He paused like he was listening to the person on the other end of the call. “Yeah, I know. She really deserves to catch a break. I’m not askin’ you to give her a job, just an interview.”
My breath caught as I strained to hear better.
There was another pause on Tristan’s end, then the deep timbre of his voice started up again. “That would be great. Thanks so much. I’ll let her know.” Another pause, followed by an exhale. “She’s a good woman, and that kid is pretty awesome. I want to give them a fighting chance. They deserve some good, man.”
I didn’t have the first clue how to feel about what I overheard. My emotions were suddenly all over the place, swirling around inside me like a tornado. The one that stood out most, however, was appreciation. First, he offered to let us live here, and now he was calling around, trying to secure a job interview. That social worker had brought up both things in our meeting earlier, and it would have been a lie to say I hadn’t been stressed. But in one day, this man had gone out of his way to help me clear both of those hurdles. And he barely knew me.
That guard slipped down a little further. It was becoming clearer with each passing hour that Tristan Fanning was a good man.
I heard him end the call and gave it a few seconds so it wasn’t obvious I’d been listening in before I rounded the corner and entered the kitchen.
Tristan’s head came up, his eyes colliding with mine. The blue flared right before he smiled gently. “Hey.”
It felt like my heart was lodged in my throat. Not only because the man had shown me a kindness I hadn’t experienced in too long without even knowing, but because, at some point, he’d changed out of his work clothes into something more casual. If I thought he looked good clean-cut, it was nothing compared to seeing him standing in his kitchen in his bare feet, wearing a simple pair of dark gray athletic joggers and a plain white T-shirt. “Hi.” I cleared my throat and pointed toward the fridge. “Levi just told me he was hungry, so I was going to see about making dinner, if that’s okay.”
“Of course. You never need to ask. If you or Levi are hungry, never hesitate to help yourselves. I want you to feel like this is your place too. Nothing’s off limits.”
That guard slipped even further as a sincere smile pulled at my lips. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”
He moved to the fridge and opened it for me. “I don’t know what all you need, but I’m sure we have it. I asked Blythe to swing by the grocery store while we were packing Levi’s things, and as you can see, she went a little crazy.”
My head swiveled away from the contents of the stuffed-to-the-gills fridge and to Tristan. “You didn’t need to do that.”
He reached an arm up to rub the back of his neck, looking almost bashful as he admitted, “If you’d seen what was in here before, you wouldn’t be sayin’ that.”
My smile grew wider. “Well, thank you. I appreciate you considering us like that.”
When he turned his head, his gaze locking with mine, I realized how close the two of us were, standing in the opened door of the fridge, close enough for it to be dangerous. Despite the cold, the cloves and spice scent of his cologne wrapped around me and heated my blood.
Get it together, Merritt , the voice in my head chastised, snapping me out of the moment. I blinked and turned back to scan the contents of the fridge like they were the most interesting thing I’d ever seen.
I spotted the cheese and grabbed it, along with the small tub of butter. Then went for one of the large, plump beefsteak tomatoes in the crisper drawer.
“Is there, uh... is there anything I can help with?” Tristan asked, sounding like he might have been as unsure of himself as I felt in the moment.
“Um, sure.” I tried to get my brain to cooperate on what I was doing and not on how good Tristan smelled. “Would you mind grabbing a loaf of bread? And I’ll need a frying pan.”
“Yeah, sure.” He pointed to one of the lower cabinets. “Pan’s in there,” he directed, then opened the door to what I could see was a fully stocked pantry. “Uh... any preference on the bread? Looks like B got every kind the store carries.”
I looked back over my shoulder and tilted to get a better look. Sure enough, the shelf was stuffed with several different types of bread. “Hmm. Let’s go with the sourdough. And do you have a cutting board?”
He placed the loaf of bread on the counter beside me before moving away, only to return a moment later with a cutting board. “What’s on the menu?”
“Levi’s requested grilled cheese sandwiches.” I glanced his way and waggled my brows. “Because his seven-year-old palette is so sophisticated.”
Tristan looked down at the selection I had before me, and his brows rose toward his hairline when he spotted the tomato. “Tomato for a grilled cheese? Not sure I’ve seen that before.”
I smiled as I plucked it up and started cutting it into even slices. “Yeah, Levi loves tomatoes.”
“Really?” Tristan asked with surprise.
I nodded. “Uh-huh. He actually used to eat them whole when he was a toddler. Would just bite into them like they were apples.” The happy memory of my chubby-cheeked nephew sitting in his high chair with tomato juice and slime covering his face made me smile. “And as long as he’s willing to eat them, you won’t hear me complain. This way I can tell people he gets a full serving of his fruits and vegetables since most people can’t agree on which category they fall under.”
He chuckled, the huskiness resonating through the space. “Smart.”
An idea hit me then a tiny way to pay him back for everything he’d done for Levi and me. “You know, they’re actually really good. I’m already making sandwiches for Levi and me. It would be no problem to make a couple more if you’re hungry.”
He shot me a surprised look before his features softened. “Really?”
I swallowed, hoping the gulp wasn’t audible. “Absolutely.”
“That sounds fantastic. Thank you.” He smiled, and I melted faster than the dollop of butter I’d just dropped into the pan.
Man, I was in so much trouble.