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“Looks like it,” I said to her, pleased when she cheered.
“It’s bedtime for you. Say good-bye to Mac and Rocky, then get in the shower.”
I squatted down with the puppy so Delaney could pet Rocky, but she wrapped her arms around my neck instead. It felt like she was hugging my heart because it contracted. I closed my eyes against the overwhelming sensations. I wanted this feeling all the time. I wanted someone to come home to, someone to love.
The sensation was so overwhelming that I dropped a quick peck on Delaney’s cheek and said a rushed good-bye to Natalie so I could get into the relative quiet of my cab. I needed some distance and some clarity. We’d spent all weekend together, and it was messing with my head. I wanted things I shouldn’t and longed for scenarios that could never be mine.
I shouldn’t be leaving my puppy with Natalie. It would only bring us closer together. It would force me to fall deeper with her. My brothers would say I was an idiot. That I was going to get hurt. It was inevitable when you got involved with a mother right after a divorce. I was just a rebound for her. Not a serious relationship.
Who got divorced and jumped into a relationship with the next guy they met? No one.
I settled Rocky on a towel in the passenger seat. He lifted his head, looking around at the dark interior. “It’s just you and me, buddy.”
It was a good thing I’d gotten a dog. They were known to be loyal companions. It was the smartest commitment I’d made in years. He wouldn’t walk away from me.
CHAPTER17
NATALIE
For the next few weeks, Mac dropped Rocky off at my apartment each morning, and Delaney had a chance to cuddle with him before she got on the bus. He was usually here when she got home too. She was starting to think he was hers.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the renovation would be completed soon, and Mac wouldn’t need to drop his dog off with us. He’d work at a different location, and we wouldn’t see him as much. He’d be busy with something or someone else, and we’d have to get used to being alone again.
Or, at least, alone while we entertained guests at the B&B. The tiling in the bathroom was finally done, and Mac was putting in the fixtures. The crew was working on the smaller things, like the trim and finishing details.
Sam began work on the yard, and it had gotten incrementally noisier. It was just outside my window, so that hadn’t helped either. I took the puppy for walks and sat outside a local coffee shop to get some quiet.
I’d ordered furniture for the front porch and rooms. I was just waiting for everything to be delivered. I’d paid extra for things to be put together on-site. I couldn’t move furniture, and I had no business asking the renovation crew to help.
This was my business, and I needed to do it on my own. One afternoon, I sat on the front porch, waiting for Delaney to get off the bus. Rocky sat on the swing next to me, content to rest his head in my lap while I rocked us.
I was happy. I loved this town, and the B&B was finally coming together. I had a lot to be thankful for. I was surprised when a car pulled to the curb, and a man got out of the back. It must have been a private driver because the car left as soon as he was on the sidewalk.
It was Carter.
I stood, my heart beating rapidly in my chest. “What are you doing here?”
“I can’t come see my wife?” he asked wryly as he approached with a suitcase.
“You lost the right to call me that when you left me for another woman,” I said, not liking the bitterness that seeped into my voice.
“What’s this?” he asked, looking at Rocky, who growled next to me, his hair on end.
Flustered, I wondered if I should say it was my boyfriend’s. “He belongs to one of the contractors. But the question is, what are you really doing here?”
I was very aware that Delaney’s bus would be here any moment, and she’d walk into this little confrontation. She wanted to see her father, but I wasn’t sure he was here to see her.
He stood in front of me. “This escapade has gone on long enough. It’s time for you to move back. My parents want to see Delaney.”
I laughed without any humor. He hadn’t said he wanted us back or that his parents missed her. “No.”
He flinched. “You’re not even going to hear me out?”
“There’s nothing to say. We’re divorced. There’s zero chance I’ll ever get back with you. Besides, you have a new girlfriend in Texas, remember?”
His face reddened. “We’re not together anymore.”
“Let me get this straight. You cheated on me and then moved to Texas to live with another woman, who also left her family—for what? A fling?” I was incensed that they’d impulsively uprooted two families.
