“Sure, work from home,” she murmured to herself after saying goodbye to him. “If by home, you mean ‘love bubble,’ Dad. Knock yourself out, big guy.” She chuckled quietly, definitely happy for him.
“You know I can hear you,” Connor said from his desk behind her. “I say let the man live.”
“I’m letting him live. I’m just noting that his productivity has dropped approximately forty percent since Kate Wylie entered the picture.”
“Some things are worth a productivity dip.”
She didn’t respond to that because responding would require acknowledging the subtext, and the subtext was a minefield she’d been tiptoeing around since the lake walk. Every day thatpassed, it seemed each charged silence in this small office lasted one beat too long.
“Has he ever had a serious girlfriend before?”
Connor’s question surprised Meredith and reminded her that maybe he wasn’t thinking about how electrified this office felt when they were alone. Maybe that was all happening in her imagination.
She swiveled around to face him.
“No,” she said simply. “If he ever dated since my mom died, he kept private about it. I assume he has, and God knows every single woman over forty that walked into Acacia Architecture has shown interest, but…he was a one-woman man.”
“Maybe now he’s a two-woman man.”
She lifted a shoulder. “Maybe.”
“Are you cool with that?” he asked.
“Of course! Since my mom died fifteen years ago, he’s thrown himself into raising us and building the firm and his faith and volunteer work for his church.” She leaned back, really thinking about what Eli Lawson must have gone through all those years alone. “No one deserves love more,” she added on a sigh. “He’s a gem of a guy.”
“And Kate’s great.”
“She is,” Meredith agreed. “I don’t know about the whole religion thing, since I think she might look sideways at it, but we don’t talk about it.”
“Do you share that faith?” he asked.
She considered the question, one she’d asked herself many times. “I don’t dismiss it,” she finally said. “I know it’s made him who he is, and he is amazing. I haven’t felt the urge to go beyond some church trips with my dad, but my brother has been reading the Bible. Maybe when I…” She almost said “have kids” but she had no way of knowing if that could ever happen. Not after the ectopic. Yes, she allegedlycouldhave a baby, but theydidn’t know what caused the loss and she didn’t know if it would happen again. “Maybe,” she finished, knowing it sounded lame.
Then she turned a little too quickly back to her monitors. “These plans aren’t going to revise themselves,” she murmured.
“Yeah, and I need to ask for a few hours off.”
At that, she turned once again, catching his apologetic look as he lifted his arm.
“My PT got moved to afternoon, just for this week. I’ll be back at four and can work a little longer to make up.”
“You don’t have to ask, and you don’t have to come back today,” she assured him. “Take whatever time you need.”
“No, I want to come back and I’m kind of…” He glanced at his computer. “Kind of in the middle of something. I’ll see you around four, okay?”
She gave him what she hoped was a noncommittal smile, the easy smile of a co-worker—boss, even—who hadn’t spent one single night obsessing over that walk around the lake and how he’d pushed her hair off her face and made her want to…
No, notthat.
“See ya,” she called, slatheringcasualandI don’t care at all that you’re goneover the two syllables. “Have fun at PT.”
He threw a look over his shoulder as he walked out the door, turning his head so his hair brushed his forehead and kissed his eyebrow.
Kissed his eyebrow?Like she wanted to?Come on, Mer. Get your head in the game.
She focused on work, losing track of time, occasionally glancing out the window across the construction site to where ten Phase One foundations sat curing in the August heat.
Behind them, the first Lakeside model home—her Alastair, the design that had won Acacia this project—stood framed and roughed out, its roofline cutting that perfect eight-twelve pitch against the sky.
