When Morning Comes Around (Summer Lake Silver #13)

Chapter Nineteen

“Are you going to be okay by yourself?” Sadie asked Jake as she closed the computer down.

He wiped his hands on his overalls. “I am, thanks. The way you’ve set everything up is awesome. You’re the best, Sadie.”

“I have to tell you that I’m enjoying myself. I know this place is going to be a big success, and I like that I can help you set up your systems from the start. I didn’t know what I was doing when Dale and I started the business. I made a lot of mistakes in the early years, and it took forever to work out the kinks. It’s going to be so much better for you to have everything straightforward and logical from the beginning.”

He nodded happily. “I appreciate it more than you know. I knew that I’d be fine with the actual work. I have no worries there, but getting the office set up, and systems…” He shook his head. “I was worried about it.”

“Well, you’ve got no worries now. I’m happy to be able to help. This way, when you get to the point that you need someone full-time – and I think that’ll be before you know it – you’ll be able to show them exactly how everything works, step-by-step.” She stopped when she saw the way that he was frowning. “I’ll stay for as long as you need me, if that’s what you’re worried about, but I’m not really interested in a full-time, longer-term job – we already talked about that.”

“No, I know that. That’s not what I’m worried about.”

“What then?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know for sure yet how everything works myself. The thought of training someone to take over…” He smiled at her. “But that’s not your problem.”

She patted his arm. “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you in the lurch. If you want, when you’re ready, I’ll help you to find the right person. We can interview them together, if you want. I’m used to doing that. And I’ll stick around to train them, too.”

Jake grinned at her. “Thanks, Sadie. You’re awesome. I can see why Uncle Dom loves you so much.”

Her heart thudded to a stop. He loved her? No. It was just a figure of speech. She made herself smile. “I’m not so bad, for an old bird, am I?” she joked.

Jake laughed. “You’re no such thing.” He jerked his chin toward the window, where she could see Dom, pulling up outside. “And I wouldn’t let him hear you say things like that about yourself. You’re not an old bird or anything of the sort. You know what he’s like; he won’t let you get down on yourself.”

She nodded slowly; he was right. She hadn’t registered it before, but whenever she said anything that didn’t paint herself in the best light, he didn’t hesitate to call her out on it.

They both smiled when the door opened, and he came in. A rush of warmth filled her chest when he smiled back at her. It caught her off guard, every time it hit her that they were together. It was early days yet, but there was no denying the bond that they shared – the bond that grew stronger, if not every day, every time they saw each other.

“Hi. Are you all done?” He turned to Jake. “Is it okay if I steal her away?”

“It is. Although, you can’t keep her, I need her back tomorrow.”

Dom chuckled. “If she wants to come to work tomorrow, then fine. But don’t go telling me that I can’t keep her.”

Sadie’s eyebrows shot up. She hoped that he meant that in the way it sounded, but she needed to get a grip – if he meant it that way, he’d be saying it to her first, not Jake.

Jake was laughing as he said, “Okay, we both get to keep her.” He turned to Sadie. “If you’re okay with that?”

She nodded happily. “It sounds good to me. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Dom took her hand as they walked out to his SUV. “How was your day?”

“It was good. We’re getting him set up on the right track. I know I won’t be here forever, or even all that long, but I want to make sure that whoever he brings in to run the office for him will walk into a good situation. What’s wrong?” she asked when she saw the look on his face.

He shook his head. “Sorry, it just hit me wrong when you said that you won’t be here forever or even all that long. When you said here, you meant at the garage, working for Jake, right?”

“I did; what did you think I meant?”

He shuddered and curled both his arms around her waist. “For one horrible moment, I thought you meant here, in Summer Lake. That maybe you were thinking about leaving.”

She hugged him tight. “No. Why would I go and do something like that? My dad’s here. My… most of my life’s here now – except Josh.”

She couldn’t read the expression on his face as he looked down at her.

“You know that I want to be part of your life, right?”

A thrill ran through her veins as she nodded. She wouldn’t have said that she knew it – not for certain – but she’d been hoping.

She had to laugh when he added, “A big part.”

“As if you could ever be anything other than big.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Let’s get going. We have three places to look at. I know you want to get home to your dad, and I need to be at the restaurant for work at six.”

“What do you mean, three places?”

His eyebrows drew together. “Shit. I almost gave it away, didn’t I?”

She laughed. “Don’t you think that it’s time you should give it away – tell me?”

He shook his head. “No. I want to show you.”

Once they were in his SUV, she was surprised that he turned right, headed up the eastern shore rather than into town.

“Are you going to give me a clue where we’re going?” she asked.

He shot her a quick smile as he turned off the road and into the development at Four Mile Creek.

“To the restaurant?”

He shook his head.

“Shopping?”

He laughed. “No.”

She gave him a puzzled look as they passed the lodge and the plaza and carried on into the development. She couldn’t figure out what he was up to as he drove farther up into the foothills. The houses were bigger up here. The lots were bigger, too. She’d guess that each of them was at least a couple of acres.

He didn’t stop until he reached the very end of the street. She turned to look out the window, and the view laid out before her took her breath away. She could see almost all of the lake from here, and the mountains rolling away into the distance.

“Wow! Look at that.”

He turned to look out the window and nodded. “That’s a hell of a view.”

“It is.” She turned back to look at the gate in front of them. “I’d guess that whoever lives here makes the most of it. Do you know who lives here? Have we come visiting?”

He gave her a mysterious smile. “Ask me again later.”

“What do you mean? I don’t get it.”

He didn’t reply. Instead, he jerked his chin to where another vehicle had just pulled up beside them. Sadie thought she recognized the driver, but she couldn’t place him until Dom put his window down and said, “Hey, Austin.”

“Hey, Dom. I’ll just open the gate, and you can follow me up.”

She didn’t know Austin, but she remembered his parents, and she knew that he was the local realtor. She glanced from him to the gate in front of them and back again. “He’s going to show you the house?”

Dom chuckled beside her. “Yep. I decided that it’s time to get a place of my own.”

She raised her eyebrows. “And you want a place like this?”

His smile faded. “Maybe. Like I told you, we have three places to look at. This is just the first.”

She stared at him for a long few moments and then managed to pull herself together. “Okay then.”

“Is it? Okay?” He looked so worried that she reached for his hand.

“Of course, I’m just surprised. I…” She looked up as he pulled forward to follow Austin up the driveway. “I wasn’t expecting something like this.”

He squeezed her hand. “If you don’t like it, we won’t take it.”

All her breath caught in her chest. “We?”

“Shit! I didn’t mean it that way. I just meant… I meant… Fuck.”

She had to laugh. “Don’t look so put out, I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.”

He blew out a big sigh. “What’s going on is that I’m messing this up. What I’m hoping will happen is that I’ll find a place that we both love. I’m ready for a place of my own.” He glanced over at her. “We’ve joked about it, but we need a place where we can be together. So… So, I want you to help me choose a place where you’ll feel at home.” He glanced over at her. “Because I might as well admit that I’m talking about more than just a place where you can spend the night with me.”

Her heart was pounding in her chest. “You are? What are you talking about then?”

He parked the SUV behind Austin’s vehicle. Austin was already unlocking the front door. Instead of getting out to join him, Dom turned in his seat to face her. “I’m talking about starting slowly. Convincing you to come home with me one of these nights here soon. Then, after that, persuading you to stay over as often as I can, until…” He reached across and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Until you’re staying over so often that there’s no need for you to go home.” The intensity in his gaze took her breath away as he added, “Until you figure out that home is with me.”

Her hand came up to cover her heart, and tears pricked behind her eyes.

“If you think you might like that,” he added.

She had to swallow a couple of times before she could speak. He started to look so worried that she nodded to reassure him. “I think I’d love that, Dom. I… Is it too fast?”

He shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so. We can take all the time you need, but we don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“I feel like I might be crazy, but I love the idea.” Her smile faded.

“You love the idea, but what?”

She let out a short laugh. “Two things. First of all, there’s Dad. Then again, he’s been making noises about wanting his place back to himself, and he thinks the world of you.”

“Two of the places that we’re going to look at have guesthouses.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “For Dad? He might appreciate the thought, but there’s no way that he’d leave his house.”

“I thought that might be the case, but I wanted to have the option. And what’s the other thing? What other hesitation do you have?”

She chuckled. “That we might be getting ahead of ourselves.”

“In what way?”

She laughed again. “You know what I mean. We haven’t… We don’t know if…”

He was frowning, clearly not understanding, even though she wished that he would catch on so that she didn’t have to say it. When it became apparent that there was no chance of that happening, she blew out a sigh.

“We’ll need to spend one night together before you decide if you even want to spend any more with me.”

He still looked puzzled, and she decided she’d just have to spell it out.

“We haven’t slept together yet. You might think I’m terrible.”

The look of relief on his face made her feel better. “That’s not going to happen. We’re going to be great together, I already know it.”

She bit down on her bottom lip. She didn’t want to bring Dale up, but the way he used to talk to her had slowly but very surely eroded her confidence in herself – in herself as a woman, as well as everything else. Seeing him screwing Adrienne in his office had been a bitter blow. Adrienne was the kind of woman who put a lot of effort into the way she looked. Sadie shifted in her seat, feeling suddenly self-conscious about the jeans and hoodie she was wearing.

He touched her cheek. “There’s so much that I want to say right now, but Austin’s starting to wonder what’s going on. Let’s go and take a look at the place. But don’t doubt me, Sadie. You already know the effect you have on me. I want you. I don’t expect us to be great in the beginning, but I do know that we’ll get there. We’ll learn together.” His eyes seemed to twinkle as he winked. “We can have fun figuring it out.”

He leaned across the console and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

~ ~ ~

After they’d seen all three houses, Dom knew exactly which one he wanted. He’d made the right noises about all three of them because he wanted to hear which Sadie preferred. He knew that she’d go along with him if he let her.

The first place, in the foothills, hadn’t appealed to him on paper. He hadn’t thought that he wanted to be that far up. It was almost ten minutes back down to the lodge and the plaza. He’d thought that he’d like the home on the waterfront better, but the neighbors were too close on either side down there. The third place had no soul. There was no other way for him to describe it. It shouldn’t matter; whichever place he took would only be for a year at the most. Hopefully, he’d be able to get his own place built sooner, but that third place just hadn’t been the one for him. He’d been relieved when Sadie shuddered as soon as they walked through the door and made a face at him. He knew that one wouldn’t be her choice, either.

Austin had left them, telling Dom to call him whenever he’d made his decision. All three properties were available, and ready to move in whenever he wanted.

“Do you have time for a coffee with me before you leave?”

“I do, but should we go and get my minivan first? That way, we can hang out until you have to go into work, and I’ll go straight home to see how Dad’s doing.”

He wanted to kick himself; he’d forgotten about the minivan. He should have let her drive it up here earlier. When they arrived back at Four Mile, he only had half an hour before he’d need to go to work.

They found a table inside the café; it was too cold to sit outside.

“So?” he asked.

She laughed. “I was about to ask you the same thing. Which are you going to take?”

He reached across the table for her hand. “Whichever one you like the best.”

He had to laugh when she crossed her eyes at him. “You can’t say that – you can’t do that.”

“I can and I will – I just did. So, you might as well save us some time and tell me which you like the best.”

She pressed her lips together, but there was no hiding the smile on her face.

He grinned back at her. “You have a favorite, don’t you?”

She nodded. “I do. But I don’t want to say so, in case it’s not the one that you want.”

He squeezed her hand. “I already told you. I want the one that you want.”

She laughed. “Okay, I’ll say it, but only because I think it’s the one that you want, anyway.”

He hoped that she was right, but what mattered most to him was that she should like it. It wasn’t as though they were choosing their forever home, it was just the place that they’d live – at least, he hoped that she would want to live with him – until he could build on the waterfront, next to Damon and Jo.

He nodded encouragingly. “Put me out of my misery. Which one?”

She looked like an eager little kid as she said, “The first one. That view! And the kitchen – that kitchen is amazing. And then there’s the pool. I always wanted a pool. And the weather will be warming up soon.”

He relaxed as he nodded. “And until it warms up, there’s the spa.”

She nodded rapidly. “Right? Isn’t that awesome, the way it’s built into the pool like that?”

He chuckled. “It is.”

“But seriously, Dom. If you like one of the others better, you should take it. I…”

He met her gaze and held it. “The first one is the one I was hoping you would say. I like it for all the same reasons that you do. The view of the lake is fantastic. My only concern is that it’s so far back.”

“And that’s a problem?”

He shrugged. “It’ll take an extra ten minutes to get to your dad’s house compared to the one by the water.”

She searched his face. “You’re serious about me staying with you?”

He looked directly into her eyes, hoping that she’d understand how serious he was. “I’m asking you to live with me. Maybe not move in all at once, not until you’re ready. We can take it as slowly as you like, but that’s what I want. If you want it, too.”

She squeezed his hand. “I might need to take it slowly. Not just for Dad, but for myself.”

“I get that.”

“But…” His heart hammered as he waited for her to continue. Maybe she was going to give him some reason that he hadn’t thought of – some reason why she didn’t want to.

“But…” She tried again, and he loosened his grip on her hand, realizing that he must be crushing it.

“But what?” he asked when he couldn’t take it any longer.

A rush of warmth filled his chest when she smiled and said, “But even though I might need to take it slowly, I can’t wait. I… It feels right, Dom.”

He leaned across the table and gave her a quick kiss. “It does to me. I’m not saying that we need to rush this, but I am saying that I believe we’ll get there.”

The way she smiled at him reassured him that not only did she understand what he meant, but she felt the same way.