Page 35 of If I Didn’t Have You

“Nope, I think we’re done for the day.”

“No moe hosey?” Those little eyes batted sadly in my direction, but I wasn’t an idiot. I lucked out big time just now.

“No more horsey.”

Sighing, I looked up at the sky, my heart finally coming to a normal pace.

“Let’s not tell mommy about this.”

I sat in the kitchen, tapping my fingers on the table impatiently as I waited for my errant wife to walk through the door.

At first, I was pissed when she decided to go through all these changes. She was messing with my schedule, and I didn’t like that. Granted, it had felt good over the last two weeks to work again, to feel my muscles straining and stretching in all the right ways. It was something I hadn’t felt since the last of the cattle left the property.

That aside, we were going on two weeks of dinner conveniently missing, along with my breakfast and lunch. I was starving after working such a long day. There should be food waiting for me. After all, I was doing all this for her.

We were making good progress on the house every day, and just when I thought she would walk through the door and beam at how wonderful everything was, I turned to find no one there.

Every. Damn. Day.

I didn’t know what she was doing all day, or where she was. Her new office was suspiciously empty today when I went in search of her, aside from some weird painting sitting on an easel that looked like nipples. For a second, I thought she was trying to paint an erotic portrait, but then I realized it was supposed to be a landscape.

I’d keep that thought to myself.

But right now, I was damn hungry, and if that woman didn’t march through the door in the next five minutes, we were gonna have words. I did my best not to lose my shit as the clock ticked on the wall. My jaw ached from clenching my teeth so hard, and my finger had a pulse of its own after tapping it so damn hard on the table.

Finally, nearing seven o’clock, her car pulled up outside the house and she stepped out, laughing as Krista walked her inside. It would not do me any good to lose my shit in front of my daughter. Clara would only be pissed I was being such an ass, so I held it in.

Or, I tried to.

Clara tossed her purse on the rack in the hallway, then nearly stumbled over her own damn feet on her way into the kitchen. When she turned to me with a huge smile on her face, I nearly lost it.

Not because I didn’t want her smiling, but because I didn’t put it on her face.

She was happy, but it had nothing to do with me. I’d only received her anger and attitude, but here she was, grinning like a fool with our child.

“Hey,” she smiled, brushing her hair back from her face. “How was your day?”

I could have sworn I heard a tooth crack as I snapped my jaw shut. Krista saw the anger in my eyes, and she took a step back, but Clara…

Clara was completely oblivious. Either that or she just didn’t care.

“My day?”

“Uh, I think I’m gonna head home,” Krista said, taking a step back. “Thanks for today.”

“Any time.” My beautiful wife smiled at our daughter, giving her a big hug before Krista fled the room. With a big sigh, Clara pulled out a chair and sat down, groaning slightly. “So, how did everything go today?”

I huffed out a laugh, trying to find the words to describe how I was feeling. “Well, we finished framing the flooring for the new space, as well as the room.”

“Oh, that’s good!” she grinned. “It’s coming along so fast.”

“That’s because we’ve been working hard,” I bit out.

“Well, it looks fantastic.” Getting up, she walked over to the fridge that sat in the empty space where the wall used to be. From here, you could see into the living room and the space we were adding. It looked good, yet it was like she didn’t really care.

After taking a drink of water, she sat down again. “So, what’s on the agenda for tomorrow?”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind an actual meal.”