Chapter Eleven – Haven
Chapter Eleven
HAVEN
Nate and I had decided pizza sounded good. After ordering, he asked me about the Waggin’ bus and how I had come up with the vest I used to walk the dogs.
“Well, before I got the bus, I needed to devise an easy way to walk them. Holding all those leashes in my hands wasn’t working. So, I came up with the vest idea after seeing someone else on social media doing something similar.”
He slowly shook his head. “It’s a brilliant idea, Haven.”
“Thank you, but it wasn’t my original idea. I saw a girl on Instagram who used one, and I took the idea from her. She also gave me the idea for the bus. She was my inspiration for it all. She lives up in Alaska.”
“Oh, wow.”
I grinned. “I know!”
Our pepperoni pizza came out, and Nate rubbed his hands together. “Man, who would have thought walking those dogs would work up such an appetite!”
We both got our pizza and began eating when Nate’s phone buzzed on the table. He picked it up. “It’s Doug, Solo’s dad. Excuse me.”
I watched as he answered the call and walked outside. One glance around the restaurant showed no one was paying us any attention. My own phone buzzed, and when I looked at it, I saw it was Rosie.
Rosie: Did Nate show up at your place last night?
Me: Yes, he did. That was a dirty trick to play on him!
I could see the three dots appear and had to press my lips together tightly to keep from laughing.
Rosie: That’s it? Girl…I don’t think so. What happened? Did you let him in? Did you talk?
Resisting the urge to giggle, I quickly checked to see if Nate was coming back before replying.
Me: We talked, among other things.
Rosie replied instantly.
Rosie: SHUT UP! Call me.
Me: I can’t right now. I’m at lunch with Nate, and he excused himself for a call.
Rosie: He’s with you?
Me: He’s been with me since last night. He joined me on a walk this morning. We’re at lunch now.
Rosie: I can’t even right now. My mind is all over the place. Are you…dating?
Chewing on my lip, I wasn’t sure how to answer that. We had slept together. Twice. He had spent the morning, and now afternoon, with me, but did that mean something more to him?
Me: Got to go. Talk soon.
I knew Rosie would be upset I had ignored her question, but it was one I wasn’t sure how to answer.
Rosie: That is not cool. Not cool at all. I’ll be waiting for your call.
“Sorry about that,” Nate said, causing me to jump and quickly turn my phone over and set it on the table. “That was Solo’s dad, Doug, calling me back. He’d like to meet with you today if that’s possible.”
“Today?”
He nodded and picked up his pizza. “Maybe drive by the site so he can look at it.”
“Yes, yes, that’s perfect. Can we swing by my apartment and pick up the plans for the dog park?”
“That’s a great idea. That way he has a visual of how your current design is so he can quote it apples to apples with the other quote.”
Nate took a bite of his pizza and smiled at me. Did he have any idea how much this meant to me? I wasn’t sure if things would work out with Doug, but it was nice to know I had other options. I’d also have to talk to Sophia about it and see if she could meet us.
“I sent a text to Sophia as well to let her know,” Nate stated as if reading my mind. “I figured you would want her there as well.”
I let out a soft laugh. “I was just thinking I needed to let her know. Thank you for that.”
“How’s the pizza?” he asked, wiping his mouth and reaching for his Coke.
Glancing down at the barely eaten slice of pizza on my plate, I picked it up. “It’s delicious, as always. This is my favorite place to get pizza in Hamilton.”
“It is mine too. What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Do you and your mom do anything?”
“Nothing big. It’s usually just me and my mom. Um, this year, she’ll just come over to my apartment, and I’ll make a little Cornish hen or something. She got a promotion at work, so that is good. The extra money is helping her a lot. My father left her with all the bills, and she has slowly been paying off the debt. Plus, the divorce lawyer she hired and had to pay for.”
“So, she did divorce him?”
I nodded.
Nate cleared his throat. “Haven, did you ever tell your mother what your father had been doing to you?”
I chewed on my lower lip and looked around.
“We don’t have to talk about it here, or at all.”
“It’s okay. I did tell her. She needed to know the truth. She was sick, literally sick to her stomach and blamed herself of course. I told her about the day you showed up and stopped him from…”
I let my voice trail off.
Nate reached for my hand. “Have you spoken to anyone? A therapist?”
Smiling softly, I replied, “Yes. I have and it’s helped me so much.”
He closed his eyes and let out a breath. “I wanted to kill him, Haven. And I am so sorry you ever thought I pushed you away because of that. I need you to know that, sweetheart.”
“Oh, Nate, I do know that…now. And thank you for never telling anyone.”
His eyes went wide. “I would never betray your trust like that, Haven. Never.”
I let go of his hand and picked up my pizza. “What about you? What’s the plan for Turkey Day?”
“Since my grandfather passed away a few months ago, we try to do everything at my Grams’s. Thanksgiving will be there this year with the entire Shaw gang plus the Littlewoods.”
“That sounds lovely.”
“Why don’t you and your mother come to Thanksgiving at the ranch?”
I was pretty sure my eyes went as wide as saucers. “Oh, no, we couldn’t intrude like that.”
“What do you mean? Your mother and my mother are friends. Besides, with this being the first holiday since Granddad is gone, I know Grams would love to have as many people there as possible.”
“It’s at her house you said?”
“Yes, she insisted on hosting. Said it would keep her mind busy.”
Glancing at the table, I said, “I can’t imagine how it is for your grandmother to lose her husband so suddenly. Especially after being married that long.”
“She’s a tough cookie. Why don’t you talk it over with your mom and see if she’d like to come?”
I nodded. “I will. Thank you for the invitation. That was sweet of you.”
Nate reached across the table and took my hand in his. “Haven, once today is over, it’s not back to usual for us. I hope you know that.”
My heart started to race as I asked, “Are you…are you saying you want to date me?”
He grinned. “Oh, I want to do more to you than simply date you, sweetheart.”
My cheeks heated, and I pulled my hands free and placed them on my face to cool down my warm body.
Nate shot me a wicked grin. “I think we should go back to your place now.”
I raised a brow. “Really? What for?”
“You need to pack a bag.”
Confused, I shook my head. “A bag? For what?”
“I want you to come stay with me at my house. I can help you with the dog walks this week as well. Since it’s Thanksgiving week I’ll have a few days off.”
My eyes blinked a few times. “You want to do that again?”
“Hell, yes, I do. It was fun and good exercise, if I do say so. And if I’m being honest, I want to spend as much time with you as possible.”
Chewing on my lower lip, I debated whether it was a good idea. I wanted to spend more time with Nate and learn more about him and his family. And I wanted the same for him: to learn more about me, the job I loved, and what my future held. Were we moving too fast, though? I nearly laughed. I had been in love with this man for as long as I could remember, and he was asking me to stay with him at his beautiful home. He also told me that he loved me. I’d be crazy if I said no.
“Okay, I would love to come and stay with you.”
A brilliant smile lit up his face. “And you’ll talk to your mom about Thanksgiving?”
“Should you ask Stella first?”
Nate laughed. “Grams will say the more the merrier.”
I nodded. “I’ll talk to her later today about it.”
Leaning back in his chair, he looked at the pizza. “Should we take it to go?”
“Cold pizza and a movie sounds like a grand plan.”
Nate winked. “I like that plan too.”
“This is the perfect spot for this dog park,” Doug said as he stood in the middle of the field. “You’ve already got water and electricity here, so that’s an expense you won’t have to take on.”
Sophia and I followed Doug as he looked at the plans and the plot of land donated for the dog park. We wouldn’t own it, but the owners gave us a ninety-nine-year lease.
He nodded. “This would be a great project for us and a wonderful way to give back to this community that has been there for me for many years.”
We both smiled at Doug.
Sophia cleared her throat. “I can get you a copy of the plans so you can work up a bid. Once we have decided on a contractor, the bank will contact them, and all withdraws will be made to you...or um…them.”
Doug looked up from the plans he was studying. “That’s fine. For my portion, I’d like to do it pro bono. So, the only costs will come from my subcontractors that I use if I don’t have someone in-house to do the work. I have a few on my payroll, like the electrician I’ll use for this project. That fee will be pro bono as well as the plumbing.”
I shook my head a little and leaned closer to Doug. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”
About that time, Nate walked up and put his arm around my waist, causing a shiver to run down my spine. This connection we had found within the last twenty-four hours was still new to me, but I wasn’t about to complain.
“How’s it going?” he asked, looking around at us.
“Well,” Sophia started. “Doug just dropped a huge bomb, and I think Haven and I are trying to figure out if we heard him correctly.”
Doug laughed. “I try to find a project each year that I call my passion project. A way to give back.”
I felt myself lean toward Nate. Was this really happening? That would save us thousands upon thousands of dollars that we could put back into the dog park for things we didn’t think we would be able to do right away.
My mind raced in a million different directions. “What exactly does it mean when you say you’ll do it pro bono? Do we just not pay for your services, but you’ll oversee the construction, and we still pay the subcontractors?”
Doug smiled at me. “Yes, that pretty much sums it up. The in-house contractors I use, though, you will not have to pay for.”
I slowly shook my head. “That’s too much to ask you to do.”
Nate and Doug exchanged looks before Doug cleared his throat. “I’m not taking a loss, Haven, if you’re worried about that. I have a fund set up where I, as well as other members of our community, donate money, their time, and skills, as well as materials, so that I can do projects like this and return it to the community that helped me to get to the point in my career that I can offer pro bono projects. It’s like a giant circle of a wonderful community.”
I stifled the urge to jump and scream like a crazy person. “If you do this pro bono, we can make the membership cheaper.” Turning to Sophia, I said, “We can also open it to the public, maybe a few days a month for free so everyone can enjoy the park!”
Sophia grinned. “That would be amazing. Everyone could get the chance to enjoy the dog park, not just those willing to pay for a pass.”
Tears gathered in my eyes, and I had to quickly excuse myself and walk away from the small group. I could hear Sophia asking Doug questions as I walked toward the area that would be for the large dogs.
I felt Nate before he said a word.
“Are you okay?”
With a jerky head bob, I wiped the tears away. “I can’t help but wonder if I’m dreaming. I never in my life imagined all of this would happen. It almost seems…too good to be true.”
Nate placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me to face him as I asked, “Did you do this?”
He laughed and shook his head. “No, but I knew Doug did pro bono projects in the community, and I also happened to know he is a huge dog lover. He has six of them.”
“Six?” I asked, half laughing, half sobbing. “I’ll have to allocate just one day for him to bring his dogs to play by themselves. I’ll call it Doug’s Doggie Day. Nate…do I deserve this?”
His eyes went wide. “What do you mean? Of course you do, Haven.”
Wrapping my arms around my body, I turned away and stared at the mountains in the distance. “When I first thought of doing a dog park, the membership idea was necessary. If I got the loan, I would need a way to repay it, so what better way to help than offer memberships? But that little girl inside of me, the one who used to watch her mother and father count out how much money they had for the grocery store, felt like a traitor to the people struggling to make ends meet. If they couldn’t afford the membership for their dogs, they would be left out.”
I turned to face him. “Do you know how many times I felt left out growing up? I wanted to go to camp like all my friends, but we couldn’t afford it. I wanted to cheer, but my parents couldn’t afford the uniforms. I couldn’t even play sports because it was hard enough to buy shoes to wear to school, let alone shoes to play soccer in.”
A look of pain washed over his face, and I shook my head. “Don’t feel sorry for me, Nate. I didn’t say that for you to look at me with pity.”
He took my hands in his. “Haven, the last thing I do is pity you. You’re one of the most amazingly strong and independent women I have ever met. I love that your heart is pure and kind and that you even thought about those less fortunate when planning the dog park.”
I chewed on my lip. “It feels like everything has slid into place so easily, which isn’t how my life goes. It’s crazy and chaotic, and I’m always trying to figure out ways to make ends meet, yet still be able to grow. The whole rob Peter to pay Paul thing. Then Sophia came into my life, then you and I found one another in a way I had only dreamed about. All my dreams are coming true, and I’m…”
My voice trailed off as a frog formed in my throat.
“You’re what?” Nate asked.
Lifting my head, our eyes met. “I’m scared the floor will be pulled out from under me, and I’ll lose it all. I’ll lose you.”
Squeezing my hands, he bent down and slowly shook his head. “You’re not going to lose me or anything else, Haven. And as far as you not being deserving of any of this, that is plain bullshit. You’ve worked hard; everything you accomplished is because of that hard work. Just take a deep breath and do what everyone else around you are doing.”
Smiling softly, I asked, “What’s that?”
He placed his finger on my chin and tilted my head up more. Leaning down, he brushed his lips across mine before he whispered, “Believe in yourself.”