Chapter 5
Chapter Five
S hiloh could barely keep her breathing under control. It was hot-single-dad from the wedding.
Good thing she didn’t have a child to blurt out her nickname for him .
“Ummm…” She leaned forward, eyeing the man. “You’re looking a little green around the gills. Is everything okay?” What in the world had Tate said to make the man so sick?
He swallowed several times, and Tate thumped him on the back.
“He’s fine,” Tate announced. “I just told him—oof!”
The man elbowed Tate in the stomach…hard…and Shiloh jerked back, grabbing Zane and pulling him toward her in case a brawl broke out.
“Whoa.” Zane wrapped his arms around Shiloh’s waist. “I’ve never seen my dad hit anyone.”
Jett had been trying to hide his laughter this entire time, but he finally let it loose. “It’s amazing what a guy’ll do when a pretty face gets involved.”
Shiloh glared, but Jett just stuffed his hands in his pockets and shook his head.
“Whatever,” Shiloh muttered. She put a hand on Zane’s head. “Hey. I’m cat hunting. Want to help?”
Zane made a face. “Cat hunting? Why?”
“I think we’ve got a whole herd of them hiding in my house.” She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. “Cats are fine and all, but a construction site plus animals is no bueno. So…in or out?”
“In,” Zane said quickly. He held up his broken arm. “I might not be able to help carry it though.”
“Don’t worry,” Shiloh said, stepping back and offering her hand. “I’m pretty sure there’ll be way more than one, and we won’t want to touch them at all.”
They began walking toward the house, leaving the men to their stupid fighting. Too bad, really. Zane’s dad was super attractive, but he’d already cracked Shiloh’s ego at the wedding when he’d turned her down and she wasn’t about to go out on another limb.
One rejection was enough, thank you very much, and there were definitely enough fish in the sea that Shiloh saw no point in chasing one that wasn’t interested.
“This place is creepy,” Zane whispered as they walked inside.
“You’re right,” Shiloh agreed, giving his hand a little squeeze. “But you know what I like to do with old houses?”
“What?”
Shiloh smiled down at his quick response. Zane was a beautiful boy, very similar to his father, and those hazel eyes? Yikes, they could catch any woman’s heart.
“I like to remember that this house once had a family here.” She stopped in the middle of the sitting room. “They used to sit in front of that fireplace and open their Christmas stockings. And the tree went over there.” She turned them both and pointed to a corner by the front window. “Once a little boy, just like you, liked to run across this room and slide in his socks against the hardwood.”
Zane looked up at her, not completely convinced.
“It’s true,” she assured him. “And he played cops and robbers with his friends in the backyard and his sister forced him to have tea parties, but he hated it, so he always ate all the treats.”
Zane blinked several times. “I don’t have a sister.”
Shiloh nodded while taking a deep breath. “I know. And that’s okay. Not everyone has a sister.” She tweaked his nose. “But I was very good at tea party, so if you want to play, I’m sure I could find?—”
“No,” Zane said loudly, shaking his head. “I don’t want to do that.” He looked away while Shiloh tried to hold in her laughter. “What else happened here?”
“Well…” She guided him to the kitchen.
“Ew…it stinks.”
“In here, his mom used to make the most delicious bread! And pies. The little boy loved cherry pie more than anything.”
“Gross. I hate cherries.”
“Fine, fine. He loved chocolate pie more than anything else.”
Zane nodded. “Granny George makes the best chocolate pie.”
Shiloh nodded slowly. “Indeed, she does. But this boy’s mom made chocolate pie too, and he loved it.”
Zane grew quiet and looked around the room. “If those things happened, then why does the house feel so…sad?”
Ah…Shiloh knew she liked Zane. He was a total kindred spirit.
“Sometimes we grow old,” Shiloh explained. “And we get sad. But with a little elbow grease, a new coat of paint, and a couple run throughs with the lawn mower, I think this house could be happy again. Don’t you think?”
Zane didn’t answer right away, his eyes roving over the counters and floors and across the cobwebbed ceilings. “I guess,” he said skeptically. When he came back to her, his eyebrows were pulled together. “So, that’s your job? You make houses happy?”
“Sometimes,” Shiloh admitted. “Normally, I work to make people happy by finding them the right house. But at other times, I make the house happy by finding the right people.”
Zane’s frown grew deeper.
“You might have dug a little too deep for a six-year-old.”
Shiloh spun and pasted on her professional smile. “Ah, Zane’s brilliant. He’s got it all figured out.” She looked down at the boy. “Don’t you?”
Zane shrugged. “Sure.”
Shiloh laughed softly and put a hand to her heart. “Your confidence is staggering.” Wrapping her arm around him, she tucked Zane into her side. “Stick with me, kid. We’ll have you taking on the world in no time.”
Granger was in so much trouble.
It had been years since he’d looked twice at a woman, and he couldn’t seem to look away from this one. Shiloh had a beauty that most would call exotic, but add in her interaction with Zane, and Granger had to leave or he’d make a bigger fool of himself than he already had.
Holding out his hand, Granger urged his son, “Come on, bud. We’re gonna head home.”
Zane wrapped his arms around Shiloh’s waist. “We just got here. And I’m gonna help Shiloh find the cats.”
Granger grimaced. “Is that what the smell is?” he muttered.
“So, I’m told,” Shiloh said with a grin. With one hand still on Zane’s shoulders, she held out the other. “I’m Shiloh Baxter. Real Estate agent and the genius behind this project.”
Granger literally had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at her introduction. His mother would have said that Shiloh had moxie. Granger didn’t want anything to do with moxie.
He did, however, force himself to be polite and respond to her invite. He shook her head, quickly releasing it when he realized how perfectly her fingers fit against his. “Granger Lowery.” He raised an eyebrow. “I think you’ve already met Zane.”
“Of course,” Shiloh said, looking down. “Zane and I are old buddies. He wore that bow tie just for me, didn’t you? You knew I only dance with men in bow ties.”
Zane beamed.
“Awesome.” Granger held out his hand again. “But we still need to go.”
Shiloh’s dark eyebrows pulled together when Zane whined. “Don’t you have business with the twins or something? You really did just get here.”
“He’s our landscape architect,” Tate supplied, coming up behind Granger.
If there was ever a time to slug a friend hard enough to break their front teeth…this was it. Apparently, the gut punch hadn’t been enough.
Granger had been hoping to slip out without admitting why he’d stopped by. Big-mouth-Tate, of course, hadn’t been willing to let that happen.
Shiloh’s face lit up. “Oh, of course! Jett said you might be coming by.” Her ultra-wide smile relaxed a little. “I’m sure you saw the jungle when you pulled up. Do you think it’s something you can handle?” She leaned over a bit. “I don’t pay extra if you encounter a snake, so be warned.”
Granger snorted before he could stop himself. If he was a younger man and had never been abandoned by his wife, he would definitely be interested in someone like Shiloh.
Okay…that was a lie.
He’d definitely be interested in Shiloh . She was the kind of woman who had the power to destroy a man.
No thanks.
“Actually, I don’t think this is the job for me,” Granger said carefully. “But good luck with your project.”
“What?” Tate bellowed.
Shiloh’s eyebrows went up. “Oh. Sorry to hear that. Jett and Tate have only good things to say about you, but I’m sure we’ll have another chance to work together.”
Granger ignored Tate’s yells and nodded at Shiloh. “I’m sure we will. Thanks for understanding.” Yeah…that was never going to happen. He tilted his head toward the door. “Zane. Let’s go.”
“Dad,” Zane whined.
Shiloh patted his shoulder. “Go on. Bow-tied men always obey their dads. It’s a rule. And cool kids follow the rules.”
Zane narrowed his eyes and looked up at her. “But what about the cats?”
Shiloh shrugged. “We’ll have to play cat-wrangler another day. Today, you and your dad have other business.”
Granger didn’t miss the side eye she gave him while talking. She knew he was chickening out. Time to make a break for it.
Stepping forward, Granger untangled his son from Shiloh’s side and began marching him toward the door.
“See ya later, Big Z,” Tate called out. “Come over for hamburgers soon, huh?”
“Dad.” Zane tugged on his arm, but Granger kept moving.
“Taking off?” Jett asked from the driveway where he’d been dumping some garbage.
“Yeah. I can’t help you with this one,” Granger said without looking back.
“I get it.”
Granger jerked open the passenger door, not paying attention to Zane’s struggles.
“Dad!” Zane shouted, kicking his legs when Granger put him in the car seat. “I don’t wanna go!”
“Hey, big guy, calm down.” Jett’s voice was closer than Granger expected it to be, and he had to clench his fists to keep from spinning and punching something.
Closing the door, Granger headed toward his own.
“You really going to run away?”
Granger paused, clenching and unclenching his fists several times before slowly turning. “I’m not running away.”
Jett tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. “And I’m a single child.”
Granger knew he was being baited, but dang, if he wasn’t having trouble not responding. “I need to go.”
Jett scoffed. “Shiloh’s a professional.”
“I’m sure she is.” Granger turned to go. “I still need to go.” Just before getting into the cab, Granger glanced back at his friend. The one who had driven to the hospital to pick them up. The one who made sure Granger was called first on every job. The one who was more like family than a friend, and Granger’s shoulders fell. “I can’t take this on and take care of Zane. Plus, the daycare said they won’t take him while his arm is broken.”
Jett scowled. “What?”
Granger shrugged a second time. “Something about it being too risky for her insurance if he hurt his arm while on her property.”
Jett shook his head. “Just bring him with you.”
Granger threw an arm toward the house. “In this place?”
“Yeah, this place,” Jett argued. He stepped up to the front of the truck and leaned onto the hood. “You turning this down has nothing to do with Zane,” Jett whispered harshly. “I saw how you responded to Shiloh.” Jett huffed. “She kinda has that effect on men.”
Granger raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying you have a crush on her?”
“Crush? What are we? Thirteen?”
Granger wasn’t amused.
Jett shook his head. “Nah. She’s more like the annoying younger sister to me, but I’m still a man. I know she’s stunning, but she’s also bossy and full of sass that is the exact opposite of what I’m looking for.”
Granger folded his arms over his chest. “And you think I want that? I’ve been through one bold woman too many.”
“No, you’ve been through a crazy woman. Not the same thing.” Jett leaned forward more. “And yeah…I think you want that. And apparently, so does Zane.”
Granger was done. “I’ve got work to do. Thanks for thinking of me, but I can’t fit this one into my schedule.” Without another word, he got into the truck and pulled out.
If he never saw that house or the woman in charge of it and the feelings she evoked in Granger, then it would be all too soon.