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“Except on pizza night?”
“Yeah. That’s a Friday night special. So, any Friday night that you’re free, we’d love to have you.”
“Thank you. I’ll take you up on that.”
“Next Friday?”
She nodded happily. He looked eager, and that made her relax even more. She was quickly letting go of all the anxiety that she’d felt after their first meeting. “Thanks. I’d love to.”
“Awesome. I should warn you, though. It’s pizza night because it’s Ava’s night. She gets to decide what we eat and what we watch. We can add pasta and a salad to our delivery order if you want, but I can’t get you out of watching her movies. And I apologize in advance if I sing along.” He chuckled. “I know all the words to all the songs.”
He was adorable! “What movies are we talking about?”
“Frozen is her absolute favorite, but we might get Moana or the Lion King. And I’ll warn you now that if she chooses Madagascar, then I cannot be held responsible for my dancing.”
“Oh, that’s hilarious. Now I want to ask her if we can watch it. It’s been years since I saw that one, but I remember there were some good songs like … I Like to Move It Move It.”
He gave her a wry smile. “Yup. And Stayin’ Alive and It’s a Wonderful World. And I am all-singing, all-dancing Uncle Grady.”
“Aww,” she reached across the table and took hold of his hand, “you’re awesome. She’s so lucky to have you.”
His smile faded and he blew out a sigh. “I love her to death, but she’s not lucky. She’s had the worst luck a kid could have. I’m just doing what I can to make it up to her.”
Hannah pursed her lips. She’d asked earlier what had happened to Ava’s mom, and he’d changed the subject. Of course she wanted to know, but no way was she going to push if he didn’t want to tell. She squeezed his hand but kept quiet.
He met her gaze. “I didn’t ignore you when you asked earlier. I just …” He ran his hand over his face and got to his feet. Then he started collecting the dishes.
“You don’t need to do that. I can get them later. Do you want to go for a walk? We can take Scooter.”
He looked down at the plates in his hand as if wondering how they got there. Then, he smiled. “I’d love to go for a walk, but let me do this first? It puts me at ease. It’s what I’m used to doing.”
“Okay, but …” She didn’t like the feeling that he was waiting on her. That he was doing what he did at work. She wanted to wait on him in her home.
He came and dropped a quick peck on her lips. “Humor me?” He winked. “And you’ll probably want to supervise, since it’s your kitchen.”
A little while later, the table was cleared, the kitchen was cleaned up, and Grady came and wrapped his arms around her. “Want to take the little guy on that walk now?”
“Okay.”
“Does he have a leash or anything?”
“No. I just have basic supplies for him since I kind of kidnapped him. He was only supposed to be here for the shoot like all the other pups, but I just fell in love with him and couldn’t bear to see him go.” She swallowed. She felt as though she’d said too much. She was talking about Scooter – not about Grady, but it felt like she was. Which was crazy! She wasn’t in love with him.
If he felt the awkwardness of the moment, he let it go by without a word. “I guess he doesn’t need one here, anyway, does he?”
Oh, the leash! She got a grip. “No, we’re fine. We can walk for miles. The only problem will be if he runs off and we can’t catch him.”
Grady squatted down in front of the puppy and fondled his ears as he looked him in the eye. “No running off, okay?”
Hannah had to laugh when Scooter yipped his agreement.
Grady got back up and grinned at her. “Okay, we had a chat about it man-to-man; I think we should be good.”
They followed the lane from the cottage back toward the house. Scooter looked as though he was in puppy heaven, sniffing everything and peeing on every other thing.
Grady wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to slip her arm around his waist and hook her fingers through his belt loop.
He looked down at her and smiled before dropping a kiss on her lips. “Ava’s mom was my sister.” He spoke so suddenly that it took her by surprise. He tightened his arm around her. “It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you earlier. It’s just … it’s not easy to talk about.”
