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Chapter 31
The only thing worse than seeing something done wrong is seeing it done slowly.
Cole
“Hey, man!” I wave when Lyric rolls to stop next to me in front of the bookstore where I’m picking up Ellie. “Aspen drink too much at the baby shower and need a ride home?”
“Nope. She insisted on all non-alcoholic drinks.”
In this town? Where they play drinking games at the monthly business meeting? I raise an eyebrow.
He chuckles. “You’re catching on, but Aspen isn’t drunk. I’m here to help you.”
“Help me?” I look around in an attempt to figure out why I would need help from the Chief of Police, but the empty Main Street offers no clues. “Why?”
“You’ll see.” He motions me toward the front door of Fall Into A Good Book.
I follow him inside to find Ellie sitting with her feet up while she pets a dog.
“Did you make a new friend?”
She snatches her hand away. “I’m not getting a puppy,” is her bizarre response.
“Um, I didn’t say you were.” I kneel down to the dog and scratch her ears. “If you want a puppy, I wouldn’t complain. I always wanted a dog when I was growing up, but we couldn’t afford one.” I shrug and pretend my stomach doesn’t burn at the memory.
“Yes!” Juniper shouts from behind me. “I knew you wanted a puppy for the baby.”
Ellie growls at her. “I didn’t say I’d take the puppy.”
“But you will,” Juniper sings as she leads the dog away.
“Being an only child wouldn’t be such a bad thing,” Ellie mutters.
I kiss her forehead before standing and holding out my hand to help her up. She groans as she gets to her feet. I bend and pick her up to carry her to the golf cart.
She slaps at my shoulders. “What are you doing? You’re going to throw out your back. I’m too fat.”
“You are not fat. You’re carrying our precious daughter.”
She huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. What she doesn’t do is say anything, which means I’ve won this round with my stubborn girl.
I place her on the front seat of the golf cart. “I’ll be right back. I’ll load up your presents and afterwards, we’ll go home and you can put your feet up.”
I give her a brief hard kiss on the mouth before returning to the bookstore. Lyric points to a corner. “There are the presents.”
I survey the stack of boxes. “This pile can’t be the presents. You sure this isn’t a delivery of books for the store?” The pile is huge.
Lyric bumps my shoulder as he passes me. “Told you I was here to help you.”
“But where are we going to put all of this?”
I’m nearly finished building the nursery in the carriage house, but it’s not the biggest nursery in the world. There’s no way all of this stuff is going to fit. Ellie and I need to discuss our future living arrangements, but I know she’s not ready. I sigh as I pick up the first box. Ready or not, the discussion is happening soon.
Lyric follows us to the carriage house with his load of presents.
“You can put the boxes in the carriage house for now,” Ellie suggests before climbing the stairs. “I’ll be in my apartment.” Her apartment? The discussion of living arrangements just got moved to the top of my to-do list.
Once the presents are unloaded, I follow Ellie into her place. And it really is her place. I might spend my nights sleeping here with her, but she hasn’t opened up to me living here at all. Every time I, accidentally on purpose, leave clothes here, they turn up in my room at the inn the next day without fail.
