Chapter Fourteen
Willa
There was a soft knock at the front door that sent my heart flying up into my throat, waking me out of a dead sleep on the couch. Adelaide and I had crashed there after she’d kept me up most of the night, seemingly to go through a little sleep regression patch.
I stumbled through the foyer on aching legs, blinking at the early morning light streaming in as I reached the door.
I glanced at the monitor next to the door, seeing what was on the other side .
Not what.
Who.
Namely, Tuna.
I disabled the alarm and undid the locks, pulling the door open for the dog to bound inside, sniffing around for, I imagined, my daughter.
Leaving me alone with his owner.
I hadn’t seen Owen since the dinner at his place. That had been four days and eleven hours ago. Not that I was counting. Or obsessing.
All I’d gotten from him was a series of texts asking if I minded putting off my bathroom because he got two emergency calls that required immediate fixes. Since he knew I had a working bathroom, he wanted to be able to help them.
I’d agreed, of course. I’d relied on Owen’s emergency availability many times in my life. I didn’t want to deny his other clients that same experience.
But did some part of me worry that he’d taken jobs just so he didn’t have to see me again after that almost kiss in his kitchen? Yes.
I mean, things had been fine after that. A little tenser than usual, perhaps, but we ate and talked, then took a walk with Adelaide and Tuna after Adelaide woke up for a feeding and change.
I still cringed each time I thought about kissing his hand. What the hell was I thinking? What full-grown woman did something like that?
“Owen, hey,” I said, head tilted to the side. “Did I sleep-text you?” I asked, horrified at the prospect. Especially if I’d done so half-asleep from one of my nightly sex dreams of him.
“No. No. I… I was hoping it would be okay to take you up on your offer. I come with coffee bribes.”
My gaze slipped from his face to see the tray sitting on top of a small donut box in his hand.
“Sorry. I’m not awake yet. Come in.” I stepped aside and he strode in. “What offer are we talking about?” I asked as he put down the box and handed me a coffee.
“Watching Tuna for me.”
“Oh! Duh. Of course, he’s welcome.”
“It’s… It’s going to be a really long day. Someone drove into my client’s living room yesterday.”
“Oh, God. Is everyone okay?”
“Thankfully, everyone was upstairs in bed at the time. I went over and helped board it up right after it happened, but I want to get their house back to normal as soon as possible. They have four kids.”
“Aw. Of course. I don’t mind having Tuna here at all.”
“On top of the work call, my dog walker had a family emergency and went out of town. It’s been… a long couple of days.”
Now that I looked a little closer at him, I could see that. He looked tired, unshaven, and tense.
“I’m sorry. That sucks. Tuna is one less thing you have to worry about. He can be here as long as he needs to.”
“Thanks, Willa. Really.”
“Do you have his leash? I’d like to take him for a walk to burn some energy.”
“Yeah. I have his leash, bowls, food, and a couple toys, and even a big chew in case he is being frustrating and you need a few minutes to do something with the baby.”
“You’ve thought of everything. We will be completely fine. Literally, if he needs to be here almost overnight, that’s fine. We’ve been up a lot anyway.”
“I really appreciate it. I will call you when I am on my way back. I wish I had a timeframe for you, but I honestly have no idea. But I do want to get as much done today as possible.”
“We will be here waiting.”
Something flashed across his eyes then, but it was gone too quickly to parse out what it was.
“I’d better get his things. But I’m gonna steal one of these,” he said, opening the box and taking an old-fashioned donut out.
With that, he moved out of the house and came back five minutes later with several reusable bags of Tuna’s supplies.
“What?” he asked, catching me smiling at him.
“It’s like dropping off your kid to be watched for the day.”
“It feels like that. But he’s a ham and loves you two, so I know he will probably be happier with you than home with me. Alright. I’ll get going. Thanks again, honey.”
Then he just… strode away.
Like my belly wasn’t a swarm of butterflies at the endearment.
My hand went to my stomach as I watched the door he disappeared through until, finally, Adelaide let out a cry.
“I know. She’s up, huh?” I said as Tuna came running over to me, whining. Like he was trying to let me know that the baby was awake. “Let’s go get her, huh?”
I brought my coffee and a donut over to the living room where I picked up Adelaide and got her latched, sighing in relief as the pressure eased.
Tuna jumped up on the couch beside me, resting his head on my leg as Adelaide nursed and I ate a donut and drank my coffee.
“Did your dad feed you yet?” I asked Tuna. “I don’t want to bother him. Maybe you can just have some food, huh? Better a little too much food than not enough, I guess.”
With that, I changed Adelaide and set her down to play with her toes and make her silly little noises while I fed a very eager Tuna.
It was a simple day—taking a shower, cleaning, and running the wash and dishwasher in between feedings. But it was a slightly more enjoyable chore day with a tail-wagging Tuna in tow.
We took a walk before the heat of the day set in, had some lunch, played in the backyard, and gave Adelaide a much-needed bath with Tuna keeping a watchful eye on the whole process.
After his dinner, we had a rest, then a long walk before it got dark, before heading home, where I got the idea to order a spread for a late dinner. In the hopes of being able to offer food to Owen after a long day of work.
Sure enough, about twenty minutes after the food arrived, Owen called to tell me he was on his way.
“It’s me,” Owen called as he came in the front door.
“In here,” I called, playing at plating my food as if it had just arrived. “That bad, huh?” I asked when I got a look at him.
“Just a long day,” he said, leaning over to greet his dog.
“Did you have a chance to have dinner? I have more than enough. Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, corn, and green beans.”
It was manly food. The kind of sustenance one wanted after a long day of manual labor.
Owen looked ready to groan. “If you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. Sit,” I said, waving to the table.
Instead, he leaned against the counter as I finished plating the food.
“How was he?”
“A perfect angel. Though, I may have fed him breakfast and lunch because I didn’t know how often you fed him.”
“Twice a day. And he had breakfast. But the pig will eat whatever is given to him.”
“Whoops. We did take two walks and played ball in the backyard, though, so he burned off some of that extra food. How was your day?”
Owen exhaled hard.
“That good, huh?”
“The homeowners had a miscommunication about who was supposed to put the cat up and where. So, of course, when I had the whole front of the house opened up again, it took advantage of that and escaped. I spent over an hour tracking it down, then using my ladder to get up the tree to grab it before I could get back to work.”
“Thank goodness you got it back.”
“I was not looking forward to having to tell that couple and their kids that I lost their cat.”
“How far did you get on the project?”
“I got a lot done. Tomorrow, I should finish the hardest work. Then another couple days to get it finished.”
“Well, Tuna’s daycare is open for business. I promise not to make your dog fat,” I told him as I carried the plates over to the table. “There are drinks in the fridge, if you want to grab some.”
We ate and talked about his two emergency calls, his schedule, and my bathroom.
“I’m not in a rush. I can wait until you can fit me into your normal work hours. You’ve been burning the candle at both ends lately. You can’t go on like this forever.”
“I appreciate that. Work comes like this a lot— nothing for a few weeks, then nonstop work for a few months. I’ll never complain about business being good, but—”
“But it’s a lot for one man to handle.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, jumping to his feet when I tried to get up to clear the plates. “I got the dishes. It sounds like Adelaide might want dinner too.”
With that, I went to see to my baby while listening to Owen moving around my kitchen with a familiarity that had that warm feeling spreading across my chest.
By the time Adelaide was fed, burped, changed, and half-asleep, Owen had returned to the living room.
“Want to sit for a few before you go?” I asked, waving to the empty side of the couch. Tuna had abandoned me to curl up near the baby’s bassinet.
Owen didn’t hesitate, just came over and dropped down with an exhale.
He smelled good. Like his usual cologne mixed with sawdust.
We both turned to the television, but I wasn’t even really seeing it with my brain on other, more important, things. Like how his body was touching mine from shoulder to knee.
Had I taken him into consideration when I’d changed into a lightweight cotton dress after my shower earlier? I’m embarrassed to admit it, but yes. I could feel his body heat through the thin material.
“You look too tired to drive,” I observed as I watched his profile. My own eyes felt impossibly heavy.
His gaze flicked over, those gooey brown eyes making my belly flip. “I’m okay.”
“I have extra rooms,” I said before I could think better of it. “You could probably get an extra hour of sleep before work if you didn’t have to get Tuna all ready and drive over here before heading out.”
He watched me for a moment before giving me a small head shake. “I couldn’t ask—”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering. And you already told me once that you keep changes of clothes in the car.”
The corner of his lips tipped up at that.
“You make a very good argument.”
“So, there’s really no reason to turn it down.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “Thank you.”
“You don’t need to keep thanking me. Besides, I don’t think you’re going to get Tuna away from Adelaide right now.”