33. Damn Proud Of Him
DAMN PROUD OF HIM
“ I can’t believe only one more week,” Daphne said the next day. “I’ve gotten used to seeing you here. Not that you come and hang out with me.”
Abe was on the property most days, but not always for long. More to check in than to work.
She knew he had a lot going on and was trying to fit in as many jobs as he could before winter.
She had to say she was damn proud of him and how hard he worked.
Proud to be with someone who had the same work ethic as her.
“It’s gone as well as it could,” he said. “You’ll miss seeing this smiling face, right? I mean I’ll still be coming to your bed.”
But it wouldn’t be as frequent, she knew. He stayed overnight when he planned on being here first thing in the morning.
Once there was no need for him to be working on the property, then it’d be out of his way as much as it would be for her to be in town.
She’d do it though to spend time with him.
“I will miss your smiling face,” she said. “Holly, no.”
The little girl was running in circles and getting herself dizzy. It was her new game.
“It’s fun,” Holly said, her arms out wide spinning and spinning, then she tripped and fell down giggling.
“Hope she doesn’t throw up,” he said.
“No,” she said. “She only does it once or twice and then she’ll lie there watching the birds.”
“That one is pretty in the tree,” Holly said, pointing to a bird that flew off.
“See,” Daphne said.
“You’ve got a good handle on them,” he said.
She was holding Tatum and feeding him his bottle. The little man was growing fast, his big blue eyes watching everything going on around them.
Abe reached his finger down and ran it on Tatum’s arm. The baby smiled around the bottle and then kept drinking.
“I love my job. I know it’s probably silly to some, but they feel like my kids even though I know they aren’t.”
“That’s what makes you so good at your job,” he said. “You want your own kids, right?”
“You know I do,” she said. “Not anytime soon though. Good lord, I need to be able to do this job.”
No way she wanted to have to take time off for something like that.
She didn’t want to risk her job when she loved it so much.
Did she have vacation time? Yep. She did.
And Reese was always here if she had to take a day off.
But she wasn’t going to take advantage of the fact that her bosses had flexible schedules or that there was a backup nanny that Rose had.
She’d even had all four kids one day last week for a few hours because Julie was off.
It wasn’t hard to watch them all, but it took some maneuvering.
Something she was damn good at in her life.
Aster was a fixer when it came to things that were broken.
Daphne liked to believe she was a fixer when it came to pivoting.
“What has you smiling?”
“I just thought of something.”
“Are you going to share it?” he asked.
“That I’m good at what I do. I’m good at changing paths and adjusting on the fly.”
“You are,” he said. “Very good at it. I’m glad to see you are acknowledging that rather than always being worried someone is going to think a negative thing about you.”
“It’s nice to not worry about that too much anymore,” she said, leaning over the fence to get a kiss from him.
She didn’t even worry if Reese could see her. She was confident that they knew she was doing her job and only visiting for a moment.
She turned her head and Holly got up from lying in the grass and went over to one of her ride-on toys and was driving it around the best she could and making engine noises.
“Good to know,” he said. “Which means I’ve done my job to get you to forget about how we met.”
She laughed. “I’ll never forget it. It will always be there, but maybe I’m not as embarrassed over it anymore.”
She and Poppy had been talking one day and she’d been told that Heather admitted to a one-night stand with Luke at Lily and Zane’s wedding. That it came out the night Luke proposed, but Poppy had called it all along.
She didn’t think Poppy could possibly know she did the same thing with Abe, but the heat that filled her face that day couldn’t have been stopped.
“Then I’m happy,” he said.
“You’re always happy. Are you going to stay tonight?” she asked.
“Probably not,” he said. “Is that okay? My mother only has two more days and I’d like to spend them with her. Even though she gets on my nerves, I know I won’t see her again until Christmas. She is talking about coming home for the holidays this year. Last year I went to her.”
“I’d think it’d be nicer to go to Florida in December than want to come here,” she said, laughing.
“I’d love to go if I could get you to go with me,” he said. “Do you think you’d be interested in it? Could you take a week off?”
She cringed. “I’ve got the vacation time. I don’t know,” she said. “They do a big Christmas party here before the holiday for staff. Or maybe they won’t since they are growing so much and it’s going to be a big summer party now.”
She’d heard there was a possibility of only doing one party now and having it in the summer allowed them to blend out into the yard at Mona’s rather than worrying about squeezing into a room.
That the Christmas party had always been more about office staff and upper management, so it was smaller anyway.
If she was away, they’d have no one to watch the kids.
“Do you think you have to go to that?” he asked. “I’m sure not everyone attends. But we could leave after? I’m sure they do it over the weekend. Like a week before.”
“Oh,” she said. “I doubt I’ll be invited. I’ll have to watch the kids.”
He laughed. “Or Julie can since you’ve been watching all four. Think about it,” he said. “It’s as you said—it might be nice to go there.”
She smiled. “I’ve never been on a real vacation before.”
“What?” he asked. “I mean, I don’t take one often. It’s hard to with my business, but in the winter I’m slow enough. I’ve got Mac to plow for me if need be.”
“I’m glad you’re able to do that. If you think you want to go away for Christmas, let me know soon. I’ll mention it to Poppy and see if she is okay with it. Even if it’s only half the week into the weekend.”
She shifted Tatum to her shoulder and patted him for his burp.
Abe leaned over and gave her another kiss. “I’m excited about it. I’m letting you know right now. Yes, I want to go to Florida. My mother will be thrilled if you can make it work.”
“I’ll try,” she said and watched him walk back to his truck. They were working around her cabin now and he’d drive that way.
“Can we go see Daddy?” Holly asked. “I picked him some flowers.”
She turned to look at the fistful of grass and a few weeds in Holly’s hand.
“I think your Daddy is busy right now,” she said.
“He likes flowers,” Holly said. “Please.”
It wouldn’t hurt to take a walk. They could just go on the path now.
“Sure,” she said.
Tatum was done with his bottle so she set it on the lip of the stroller and put him back in it. She could carry him, but it was easier not to in case she had to keep up with Holly.
She opened the gate and they started walking.
Holly knew not to run. She’d tripped and fallen over the weekend and skinned her knee well. Daphne was thrilled it wasn’t under her watch!
They got to the barn and she heard the saws running.
“Stay back,” she said. “You know the rules. You can’t go in there until the saw is off.”
“I know,” Holly said. The little girl was dancing and spinning again in the doorway of the open barn doors.
“You’re going to get dizzy,” she said. “Then you won’t be able to hand Daddy his flowers.”
Holly stopped spinning and was doing her version of jumping jacks in place.
The saw shut off.
“Daddy,” Holly yelled. She went to run and Daphne reached a hand out to grab the little girl’s shirt so she didn’t take off into the barn without Reese knowing.
Reese heard the scream, lifted his goggles, smiled at his daughter, and walked over.
“What do you have there?” Reese asked.
“I picked you flowers,” Holly said.
“Wow,” Reese said. “Those are nice and green. Almost prettier than what Abe has planted.”
Daphne smirked at Reese’s grin. “She might have the touch,” she said.
“Just like her mother when it comes to wanting to work the flowers,” Reese said, reaching for them.
Holly just dropped the mixture of grass and weeds into his palm. “I can get some more,” Holly said.
“Oh, this is plenty,” he said, smirking.
“Can I stay with you today?” Holly asked.
“No,” Daphne said. “Daddy is working.”
“Maybe before lunch, you can come out here and we can make something for you to paint after your nap. How about that?”
“Yay,” Holly said, jumping up and down.
“I’ll go run her for you so she’s a little calmer.”
“Thanks,” Reese said, laughing. “You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”
“It’s good for us both,” she said. “Come on, Holly, back to the fenced-in yard. Tatum is dozing and you and I can play together.”
“Bye, Daddy,” Holly said, turning to walk back, but this time she reached for Daphne’s hand to hold.
If Daphne felt as if this was a picture-perfect life she’d like to have, she told herself to not rush it.
She could see it with Abe, but she needed to push it into the future because she had a job to do that just warmed her in a way she’d never felt in her life before.
It was nice to know that she had this kind of happiness in her career and in her personal life. But that if she only had her career, she’d be fine too.
No, she wouldn’t, she thought when the smile fell from her face.
She’d be heartbroken without Abe and hoped to hell she wouldn’t ever have to worry about that.