“Morning,” he said.
I busied myself with the mugs. “You again?”
“Don’t sound so excited.” He leaned on the counter, close enough that I could smell sawdust and the faint trace of coffee already on him. “Black coffee.”
I gave him a look. “Sludge, right? You know there’s a whole menu here.”
His mouth curved like he was fighting a smile. “And yet sludge gets the job done.”
Evie raised her brows at me over the pastry case but wisely kept quiet. I poured the coffee, slid it across the counter, and tried not to notice the way my pulse skipped when his hand brushed the mine.
He didn’t move right away. Just stood there, sipping, watching me with that unreadable expression of his. The one that made me feel like he saw too much.
“You ready for round two with the adjuster?” he asked finally.
I stiffened, the memory of yesterday’s dismissal sharp in my chest. “Not really. But I guess we don’t have a choice.”
His gaze softened, and for a moment, his gruff tone slipped. “We’ll get through it. One way or another.”
I wanted to believe him. Needed to, even. But part of me couldn’t stop thinking about the long game, what would happenwhen my house was fixed, when the paperwork was finally finished, when Olive and I no longer needed the guesthouse.
Would Seth still be standing this close? Or would he retreat back into that quiet house across the lawn, walls up, doors shut?
“Mommy!” Olive called from her table, holding up a drawing. “Look, Bunny’s on the roof helping Uncle Seth fix our house!”
My cheeks heated, and I ducked my head quickly, pretending to fuss with the register. Seth glanced toward her, and his mouth twitched like he couldn’t help himself.
“Kid’s got a great imagination,” he said.
“She gets that from me,” I muttered, though my throat felt tight.
When he finally pushed off the counter and left, coffee in hand, the silence he left behind was louder than his presence. I leaned against the counter, heart racing, and told myself it was just stress. Just the storm. Just everything that was piling up against me.
But deep down, I knew it wasn’t as simple as that.
Chapter 24
Seth
By the time I pulled off my boots and dropped my clipboard on the kitchen counter, the sun was sinking low across the lawn, painting the sky in shades of pink and gold. My body ached in all the usual places, shoulders, knees, lower back, but my mind refused to settle.
I glanced out the window at the guesthouse. A single lamp glowed inside, warm against the shadows stretching across theyard. I imagined Madison moving through the space, her hair pulled back, Olive at her heels, the rhythm of bedtime already beginning.
My phone buzzed. Blair’s name lit up the screen.
I swiped to answer. “Everything okay?”
Her voice sounded bright and cheerful, the way she got when she was trying to keep something a surprise. “Everything’s great. I was thinking of kidnapping Olive for the night.”
I straightened. “Kidnapping?”
“Relax, big brother,” she teased. “She asked if she could come over for a sleepover. Greyson and I thought it’d be fun to let her stay with us, bake cookies, maybe build a fort in the living room.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Madison might not. ”
“I already called her,” Blair interrupted. “She said yes. I think she could use a night to herself. Maybe you could do something nice for her.”
I frowned at the implication. “Like what?”
