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“I’m ready now.”
She smoothed his hair. “Maybe tomorrow.”
“Maybe tomorrow like you’ll tell me no tomorrow? Or maybe tomorrow like for sure tomorrow?”
“For sure tomorrow,” TJ said. “As long as you’re feeling well enough.”
Eli looked skeptically at the house. “Are the games online?”
“Sixteen gigabytes of RAM and an insanity graphics card. I’m set up for four simultaneous players.”
“Are you bribing my son?” Sage asked.
“Is it working?” TJ asked Eli.
“Sixteen gig?”
“I looked into going to thirty-two, but the value wasn’t there. My buddy Matt’s the geek. He tells me what to buy.”
The eagerness had returned to Eli’s expression. “Can we go inside?”
And just like that, TJ was Eli’s father. His heart swelled and his grin went wide. “Yes, we can go inside.”
* * *
“A nanny?” Sage couldn’t believe she was hearing correctly.
Eli was asleep. He’d chosen an oceanside bedroom in the south corner of the upstairs, with a view of the yard out one way and the Whiskey Bay cliffs out the other. The room had a reading alcove with a bay window and its own small bathroom. He was thrilled and couldn’t wait to pick out his own, new bed.
“She’s not a nanny,” TJ responded.
They were in the family room, having loaded the dishwasher after dinner. The views in the room were as spectacular as anywhere in the house, but the color scheme was low-key and earthy, and the furniture was super comfortable. It was becoming Sage’s favorite room. She was sitting on the overstuffed corner sofa, while TJ had chosen a leather armchair.
“She’s a second housekeeper,” he said. “With three of us, the workload is going to increase. I can’t ask Verena to do twice the work.”
“I’ll help. And I’ll look after Eli and myself.”
“You’re going to want to be away sometimes.”
Sage wanted to protest. She hadn’t left Eli with babysitters in Seattle. Any errands she ran, she took him with her. And she hadn’t had a social life. She didn’t want to admit that to TJ, but it was the truth. Being a single mother on a budget didn’t allow for socializing in the evenings.
“The Seaside Festival, for example,” TJ continued. “Not all the meetings for that will be during the day. And I can’t always be around in the evenings.”
“I can work around Eli’s schedule. I’ve been doing it for years.”
“The point is you don’t have to anymore. Freedom, Sage. Flexibility. If there’s something important you want to do, you just go. And everybody’s happy. Kristy starts tomorrow.”
Sage didn’t feel very happy. “Just like that?” She snapped her fingers for emphasis. “You found a new housekeeper in the blink of an eye?”
TJ looked puzzled. “I have a really good service.”
This was too much. “I thought you said we were a partnership, that I had an equal say in decisions?”
“You do.”
“But it isn’t a partnership if you only consult me at your convenience. You don’t get to pick and choose. Is that what you did with Lauren?” Her tone was tart. But as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them.
His eyes cooled, and his mouth turned into a frown.
“I’m sorry.” She quickly backpedaled. “That was out of line. What I meant was…” She couldn’t seem to put it into words.
“What you meant was would I behave differently in a real marriage.”
She wanted to dispute the statement. But it was true.
He headed for the kitchen and she rose to follow. Opening the fridge, he extracted a beer. “Real or not, our marriage is our marriage, and I’m trying to make it work. You can have veto power over this, as you have with anything to do with Eli. But then I want the same thing. I want veto power over your decisions about our son too.”
Sage didn’t like the sound of that. It wasn’t a very workable solution. They needed to collaborate, not reverse each other at every turn.
He twisted the cap off the bottle.
She hated to capitulate. But she knew it was the right thing to do. She hated it when the right thing was at odds with what she wanted.
“We can give it a try,” she said, without a whole lot of enthusiasm.
He gave a short nod.
“This is going to take a while, for us to make this work,” she said.
“I know it will.” He slid the beer across the counter to her. “Thirsty?”
It wasn’t her favorite, but she recognized a peace offering when she saw one.
