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Heath pulled back and tapped the door frame. “I have to help a customer. You two have a good day.”
I caught the concerned look Heath shot Talon before we drove away. “He’s worried about you.”
“Why would he be concerned for me?” Talon asked, glancing over at me quickly before returning his attention to the lane.
“Once upon a time, I hurt you.”
“I was broken over losing our baby.”
Our baby. That was a phrase I hadn’t heard often. I never thought of it as a joint thing, but I guess I should have. Talon was the father, after all. The miscarriage wasn’t just my burden to carry.
“I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. I wanted to be there for you. I think it would have been good for us to grieve together.”
I let out a sigh. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I don’t know how I’ll ever make it up to you.”
Talon reached over and touched my thigh briefly before pulling back. “You don’t have to. I just want to spend some time together.”
I didn’t say that I was suspicious that it already had changed me. I wasn’t ready to let him go.
I saw the situation with more clarity than I ever had before. I shouldn’t have pushed Talon away. He had every right to grieve next to me. I hadn’t quite let go of the need to blame myself for losing our baby, but I was starting to question my thinking. And it was all because of Talon.
He pulled up to the cabin, and I hopped out, eager to get the equipment set up. There was no doubt in my mind that Talon was the only one who understood my desire to create something better. He supported me, and that was everything.
Talon set the kiln and the rest of the supplies on a table in the back corner. He’d cleared the area before he hooked everything up. Then we discussed the proper way to use it. We both were knowledgeable about the use and safety of the equipment.
“You’re welcome here anytime. In fact, I’ll enjoy having you in my space.”
“I’ll still paint at my apartment. That’s where everything is set up.”
Talon’s eyes lit up. “I almost forgot. I have a surprise for you. I finished it this morning before I came over to see you.”
“You have a surprise for me?” I asked, not quite believing that anything could be better than finding a used kiln in my price range.
Talon winked at me before he crossed the room to grab a metal structure. “This is for you,” he said as he set it in front of me.
“What is it?” I asked him, genuinely confused. Talon mostly made light fixtures, and this wasn’t that.
He grabbed something from a box in the back of the workshop. When he removed the tissue paper, I could see it was one of my ornaments. He added a hook and hung it from the structure. “It’s to hold your ornaments.”
“You made this for me?” I asked as I moved closer to examine it.
Talon nodded. “It holds a lot of them. So you can paint them and let them dry in one place.”
My chest filled with emotion. “This is—I can’t believe you made this for me.” And it was so useful. It was like he took one look at my living room and figured out exactly what would make my life easier.
“I thought you’d like it.”
“I more than like it. I love it.”
Something flashed in his expression, hope mixed with something like affection. “I’m glad. I wanted to make your process a little easier. This seemed better than resting the ornaments on newspaper on every available surface of your apartment.”
I smiled. “Hey, it worked for me for a long time.”
Talon touched the structure. “I hope this will be better for you. If you want to keep one here, I can make another for your apartment. But I figured you could use this one first, then let me know if there’s any way to improve it.”
“You like making useful things?”
“I usually make things that look pretty, but they still need to function properly. This was a different challenge. I wanted to come up with something that would help you. And it has the added benefit of showing off your work.”
