Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
When Cadence knocked at Tyler’s door at ten in the morning to drop Isabelle off with him, she felt like her morning had already lasted about a thousand years.
“Hi,” he said, yanking the door open. “I’m so happy to see you both—oh, gosh, Cadence, are you okay?”
Cadence shot him a dry look as Isabelle threw her arms around Tyler’s legs. His hand went absently to his daughter’s head.
“You’re a real flatterer, you know that?” she said, although she wasn’t genuinely annoyed.
He winced.
“Sorry,” he said. “You just look really stressed out.”
She sighed… but his expression did make her smile.
“I am pretty stressed,” she admitted. “I have, like, four artists doing drop-offs today, and then I have some new furniture coming for the gallery, plus there’s a leaky pipe, so the plumber is coming…” She rubbed her forehead. “It’s chaos, and it’s making me feel pretty scattered.”
“I can come help with the furniture,” Tyler offered at once.
“That’s a really nice offer,” Cadence said, “but you might observe the little barnacle stuck to your legs.”
“She means me,” Izzy said, looking up from where she was still hugging him.
“She does mean you,” Tyler agreed with a laugh.
“But what do you say, Iz? Do you think we could follow after Mom in a few hours and help with the furniture? I’d do the heavy lifting parts.
Your job would just be to sit out of the dragging stuff path and read a book. We could swing by the library first.”
Izzy looked like she had to really puzzle this one out. “Can I get seven library books?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said.
“Can I get nine library books?” she asked.
“You can get twenty library books, as long as you promise to keep them all in the library bag so we don’t lose track of them.”
Cadence gave him an approving look at this addendum, and his return smile made her feel a surge of happiness. As minor as this moment was, it showed that they still could work together.
“Twenty,” Izzy muttered. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“Amazing.” He turned to Cadence. “What do you think, then?”
“You really don’t mind?”
“I really don’t mind,” he said.
At first, she worried that her desire to lean on him meant that this was the kind of temptation she should resist. It seemed too easy, somehow, to just let Tyler handle this thing for her. But then she thought about it a little more deeply.
If this was a friend offering to help, say, Diana or June, she’d say yes right away. And no matter where things were headed with her and Tyler, they would always be friends.
“Okay,” she said. “Yeah. That would be amazing.”
“Cool,” he said. “I have now entered into a bargain for a lot of library books, so we’d better hustle. What time are the delivery guys due?”
She gave him all the details about the moving parts of the day, then hurried over to the gallery to prepare, while Tyler and Isabelle headed out for what would be a long library trip.
As she took two of the receiving orders from local artists and cleared the area where the new furniture was due to be placed, Cadence mused over the little kernel of hope that felt like it had been growing inside her by the day.
When Tyler and Isabelle arrived a little while later, she felt that kernel swell even bigger.
They didn’t even come inside the gallery, which Cadence appreciated.
The gallery was pretty tough for a kid of Izzy’s age, since it was full of temptation, given all the things that looked interesting but which could not be touched.
Library bribery aside, Isabelle would do a lot better if she got out some of her energy before she came inside.
Even though she had a million things to do, Cadence paused to watch them play a game of tag. She could practically hear Isabelle’s laugh just from looking at her expression. Tyler too, was lit up with delight.
Oh, how she had missed watching them play together.
They still did so, of course. Isabelle always returned from visits to her father’s apartment with stories of all the fun they’d had together.
But Cadence didn’t get to see it anymore.
And she hadn’t really registered how much she’d missed it until now.
It made her ache to be a family again, the three of them. She wanted it as much as she’d wanted anything in her life.
But what if her heart got broken again?
The plumber arrived shortly after that, tearing Cadence away from watching out the window.
The furniture delivery people showed up about four minutes after that, a full hour earlier than they were supposed to arrive.
Tyler, however, leapt into action. He drew Isabelle out of her play, which was no mean feat in and of itself.
Yet he quickly got her ensconced in a back corner of the gallery, surrounded by the previously negotiated stack of library books.
Cadence saw that at least four of the volumes were one of Izzy’s favorite series about kids who traveled through time to save the day using math and reading.
That would occupy her for plenty of time.
Tyler, meanwhile, did everything else without need for instruction. He talked to the delivery people, quickly checked in with Cadence about placement, and, by the time she came back from dealing with the plumber, he had everything in place.
He was even fluffing a throw pillow just so. And Izzy was sweeping away the trail of debris that the movers had inadvertently trailed inside.
“I’ll do a spot check on that,” Tyler confided quietly to Cadence, nodding toward Isabelle. “She really wanted to help though.”
He grinned a crooked grin, and Cadence couldn’t help but suddenly notice how handsome he was. And strong. And competent.
That was one of the first things she had noticed about Tyler, back when they’d first started dating. He did things with such confidence. When she had commented on that, he’d laughed, and there had been this twinkle in his eye.
She’d fallen a little bit in love with him at that. She felt herself falling a little back in love with him now.
“You know,” Tyler said conversationally, leaning against a post in a manner that was, alas, devastatingly attractive, “I thought the gallery looked great before, but I think this is why I am the electrician and you’re the artist. Because this is already looking better.
I never would have thought to change things. ”
“I’m not an artist,” she demurred.
“Agree to disagree.” And then he had the audacity to wink before heading outside with an armful of trash.
Gosh, she was a goner for him, she really was.
Don’t get ahead of yourself, she cautioned herself.
By the time Tyler returned, Cadence had mostly gotten her blush under control.
“So, what’s next?” he asked.
She blinked. “Uh, what?”
He grinned again, which did not do anything for helping her think.
“With the gallery,” he clarified. He waved an arm around. “Is the makeover for a purpose or just to add some shine?”
Oh, right. They were talking about the gallery. Not everything had to do with their relationship, despite what her preoccupation might be telling her.
“A little of both,” she told him. “I was ready for a little cosmetic change in here, plus I have so many new artists that I think a showcase is in order.”
“That’s some of what’s coming in today?” he clarified.
“Today, tomorrow, all week.” She sighed. “It will be good, but it’s a lot for now.”
“Well…” Suddenly, his confidence faded into bashfulness. “I could come help you hang them, if you wanted.”
“Yeah?”
He looked hopeful, optimistic. “Yeah, I’d love to.”
She returned his shy smile with her own. “Okay, yeah. I’d love it too.”
He feinted toward her for a split second.
She thought he might try to kiss her again.
She was surprised at how disappointed she felt when he pulled back, although she knew it was for the best. Izzy shouldn’t see anything between the two of them until they were decided for certain that they planned to give their marriage another shot.
Still, she was sorry.
“Well, that settles it,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Let me know when it’s all in. I’ll bring over my tools and you can order me around about placing things.”
“Just like old times,” she joked.
“Exactly.” They stared at each other for a moment. Cadence could only assume that their expressions could best be described as dopey.
Tyler cleared his throat. “Okay. Izzy and I will get out of your hair, then. We’ll see you in two days?” That was when Isabelle was due to come back to Cadence’s house.
“Oh, right. Of course.”
Isabelle ran over to give Cadence hugs and kisses goodbye, then father and daughter headed out the door, each casting Cadence a wave over their shoulders as they went.
Cadence felt the usual pang that Isabelle was leaving, as it was never easy to say goodbye to her daughter, even for only a few days.
This time though, the pang over Tyler leaving was nearly as strong as the one for her child. It had just been so wonderful, these past few hours working together as a family.
She just wished she knew whether her hope for their futures was as strong as her fear over what could happen next.