Chapter Twenty-One #2
"No. See, when I went to see the litter, Peanut was the tiniest of them all. She was the runt. And the breeder thought I'd like some of the others more. But she came to me and gnawed on the leg of my pants." He smiled at the memory. "I picked her up and I was a goner."
"Aw, that's so sweet," said Callie.
He shrugged. "Her name was easy. She was just this tiny little peanut. But the breeder still wanted to show me the others. I think he was concerned she might have health problems. But I told him that wouldn't be an issue for me."
"And Butter?"
"When we looked at the others, the breeder's wife came back in. With Butter. He was the biggest of the bunch."
"And you fell in love with him too?"
"Not at first. He growled at me. I thought he didn't like me.
But then he went straight to Peanut. And it was obvious he was guarding her.
She snuggled right up to him, and he was looking out for her.
The breeder laughed and said he looked mean, but he was soft as butter. " He smiled. "The name stuck."
He was surprised by the way his throat tightened around the words as he continued. "The breeder asked — just jokingly — if I'd consider taking the two of them. Since they were bonded. As soon as he said that, I knew I had to have them both."
Peanut went racing past them with Butter close on her tail. They watched them run and play for a while before Callie turned to him, looking more serious.
"It mattered to you that they were bonded, didn't it?"
He nodded.
She curled her arm around his waist. "It's because you never had that, isn't it?"
He nodded again. He wasn't going to start bleating about how solitary his childhood had been.
He was more fortunate than most, and he knew it.
He'd grown up here, in this place, with everything that money could buy.
And even if his only memories of his mom were fleeting glances of a woman who smelled good but felt cold—
He turned to her with a forced smile. "I had Reaves, though. I still do. And Charles, and a whole bunch of good friends. And Rosa’s been like a mom to me. She and Luigi treat me like their own."
She leaned in, and he bent to meet her, resting his forehead against hers. "I’m glad, but it’s not the same, is it? Not the same as having people of your own — family. I know you joke about being the poor little rich boy, but you kind of were, weren't you?"
He let out a short laugh. "I guess. Kind of. But I have nothing to complain about."
"Maybe not," she agreed.
When they got back to the house, she helped him hose the dogs down.
They all ended up drenched — Callie and Ollie laughing, the dogs shaking water everywhere.
Butter knocked Callie on her ass while she was toweling him down, and Ollie worried for a moment — but she just laughed.
Peanut leaned her wet body against him as they watched Butter sniff Callie's face before resting his paw on her shoulder.
Peanut whined, and he nodded and murmured, "Yeah, I know. You guys like her. I do too."
Since the dogs were still damp, he let them in through the conservatory.
"Do you want a drink?" he asked as he handed her a towel. "I can bring it out here — we can hang out until they're dry."
"I'd really love a coffee, thanks."
He smiled. "You want a latte?"
"I'd love one, if you can make one, but I’ll take anything that’s going."
He grinned. "I've been practicing. The ones we got at your coffee shop were so good that I figured out how to make them myself." He met her gaze and held it. "You could say I've been practicing for when you came over."
A hint of pink touched her cheeks, and he realized how that must have sounded. He wasn't going to back off, though. It hadn't been what he meant, but if he got the chance to make her coffee in the morning when they woke up, he'd be more than happy.
When he came back, he filled the dogs' water bowls first. Then he returned with two lattes and found Callie perched on one of the stools at the high-top table in front of the big window, the dogs at her feet.
"This space is absolutely amazing," she told him. "I love the light. All the windows. It's perfect — and the whole ceiling being made of glass."
That made him smile when he thought of her skylights, both in the cottage and the cabin.
"This'd be an ideal space for you, wouldn't it?
You'd have all the light you need." He pointed to the corner where for some reason, there was a chimney.
He'd never understood why. "You could have your kiln there.
" He jerked his chin to where she was sitting.
"You could set your wheel up there and work in front of that view. "
He stopped short when he realized what he was saying, and was surprised that she didn't call him on it. All she said was, "Yeah, that'd be awesome, but aren't conservatories supposed to be for, I don't know, socializing?" She looked around. "This is a place for... people."
He chuckled. "You're my people."
Her gaze flew up to meet his, and he nodded slowly as he realized what he’d said. She'd talked about having friends and people who cared not being the same as having people of your own. As having family.
Something settled inside his chest at the thought of her becoming his family.
"I'm not going to shy away from it, Callie. That's where I hope we might end up, you know."
To his relief, she slid down from the stool and came to wrap her arms around his waist. Looking up into his eyes, she said, "It might just be crazy, but I'm hopeful too."
~ ~ ~
After dinner, Ollie suggested that they could watch a movie in the den, and Callie agreed eagerly. She was still surprised at how much she liked the house. The whole place felt more welcoming than she had expected, but the den felt special.
She knew why. It was because it felt like Ollie — it was his own space. There were photos of him and the dogs, others with Reaves and Charles, and some with Willow and Bentley and their mom, Alexandria.
She'd inspected them all earlier, and the ones that looked the most like family photos were the ones of him with Rosa and a man she imagined must be Luigi.
They were sitting on the sofa now, and he was scrolling through a list of movies.
"What do you like to watch?" he asked.
She shrugged. "I really don't mind."
"You shouldn't say that. I might end up putting on something that you hate."
She laughed. "I doubt it, but if you do, I'll say so."
He set the remote down and turned to face her. "Would you rather do something else?"
"No, I'm good." She reached for her glass of wine from the coffee table and took a sip. She wasn't a big wine drinker, but this stuff was really good.
He smiled. "I thought you said you didn't like wine."
She shrugged. "I guess I've just never had the good stuff before, but I like this."
"I'll have to tell Charles."
She looked down at the glass. "This is his wine? I assumed it was yours."
"No, Stratton wines are fine, but they're nothing special. What you're drinking right there is from the House of St. James. That's the good stuff."
She took another sip and smiled. "It really is. But you said he's having problems — that the distributors have dropped him. I don't understand that. Not when it's this good."
"I don't either. I think it's more of a marketing problem than a wine problem. But it'll all work out now."
She frowned. He'd told her that Alara was going to help Charles with designs for his marketing, but he hadn't really explained. She couldn't blame him. He was probably still wary of talking about the fact that he was employing her.
"You're not expecting Alara to turn his marketing around, are you?"
"No, just to do the artwork and design. Delaney's the one who's going to work on the branding."
"Oh, right."
"What's up?" Ollie asked.
She shook her head. "I'm not sure what I make of Delaney. She gave me her number. I was supposed to call her, but..."
He chuckled. "She's good at what she does, and she's a good person, but..." He trailed off.
"I don't want to say anything against her," Callie said.
He chuckled. "I know what you mean."
"I don't dislike her, but I'm not sure that I get along with her. I'm even less sure that I'd want to work with her."
He met her gaze. "She might be able to help you go more upmarket — if you wanted to."
She reached out to touch his arm. "It's okay. You don't need to be so wary. You're not saying anything that everyone else hasn't already told me. And maybe I should consider it. I like my little Etsy store, and I like driving around the markets, but maybe I am being a fool."
"You're no fool."
She laughed. "No, but if I could make so much more money if I just took a different approach, then maybe I'm a fool not to."
He chuckled. "I'm not going to voice an opinion. It's entirely up to you what you want to do, and I'll support you no matter what."
"Thanks, Ollie. That means a lot."
She glanced at the TV when he picked up the remote again and switched it off.
"I'm sorry. Did I talk all over your movie search?"
He laughed. "Yeah, you did, but I'm glad. We don't need to be sitting here watching a movie. Want to go outside?"
"Yeah, I'd love to."
They walked out onto the terrace by the pool, and he chuckled. "I wish you'd brought your swimsuit with you this time."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Is that a dare?"
"A dare? I don't know what you mean," he said, trying to look innocent.
She looked at him before glancing back at the pool. It looked so enticing. And there was no one around — and no one was likely to suddenly appear.
She shrugged and pulled his T-shirt off over her head.
His eyes widened, and he grinned. "I guess your underwear's kind of like a bikini, isn't it?"
She made a face at him as she reached behind her back to unhook her bra. "Who needs underwear? Let's go skinny-dipping."
She pushed his sweats down her legs and was relieved to see him pull his T-shirt off over his head before kicking out of his own sweats.