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“How long have you had him?”
Nate glanced at his watch. “Six hours, twenty-eight minutes and fourteen seconds. But who’s counting?”
“Who was at the door?” Henry asked from the hallway. He came into the living room, took one look at Nate and Hector, then paused. He looked to Lauren for guidance.
“Henry, this is Dr. Miller. We went to high school together.”
Henry extended his hand and Nate came forward and shook it. “Call me Nate. And this is Hector.”
Henry dropped to his knees. “Hey, boy.” Hector lanced himself at Henry’s chest and began licking his jaw.
“Nate is going to join us for dinner.”
“Hector, too?” Henry asked.
“Sure, the more the merrier, but no spaghetti for him,” Lauren said.
“Definitely no spaghetti for him,” Nate agreed. He glanced around and took in her living room. It wasn’t fancy, but she liked the look she’d achieved with her matching dark leather sofa and chairs and the colorful area rug and pillows. Tonight was chilly, so she’d taken advantage and built a fire in the old stone fireplace. The walls were painted a soft yellow and family pictures hung on the walls. It was cozy and warm and she could see from the look of appreciation on Nate’s face that he liked it, too. “Great place you have here.”
“Thanks. Hold on, I’ll be right back.” She went to the kitchen and returned with a disposable plastic bag and handed it to Nate, who then went outside to take care of, as he called it, Hector’s “business.”
“This is a cute dog,” Henry said, scratching Hector behind the ears. “Kind of little, though.”
“I suppose you have something bigger in mind?”
“Josh Simmons has a lab. They’re pretty cool dogs.”
“Don’t they shed?” Lauren asked.
Henry shrugged, like he didn’t know the answer, which meant that, yes, they probably did shed.
Nate came back in through the front door. “I found your garbage bin in the backyard and took the liberty of disposing the baggy in there.”
“Great.” They all looked at one another for a second like no one was quite sure what to do next, so they drifted into the kitchen.
Nate washed his hands in the kitchen sink. “Can I help with dinner?”
“Dinner’s pretty much done, but you can keep me company while we wait for the pasta to cook.” Lauren opened a bottle of wine and offered Nate a glass. She sipped hers and they played with Hector while Henry finished his math homework.
He noticed her sketch pad lying on the counter and he picked it up. “Is this another one of your designs?” He pointed to the sketch for Kitty’s dress.
“It’s just something I’m playing around with right now. It’s actually a retro maternity look.”
“Maternity, huh?”
She told him about running into Kitty Pappas and how she’d come up with the idea for a dress that was both comfortable, but slightly funky at the same time. “The retro look is for fun. Sometimes pregnancy can be hard on a woman’s self-esteem. You want to feel good and be comfortable of course, but the way we dress is one way that we tell the world who we are.”
“So you did it. You’re a fashion designer now,” he said. There was a hint of pride in his voice that made her feel all funny inside.
“I suppose you could say that.”
“I did just say that. You should think about selling these.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, designing a dress is one thing. Making and selling them is another thing entirely.”
“I don’t know about fashion, especially women’s wear, but it seems to me you have a lot of talent. But more than that, if it’s something you like doing then you should seriously consider it. Not many people get to do the thing they really love.”
