AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Willow carefully painted what would be the planks for a wraparound porch. Her next comment proved her mind remained on her mother. “She said she needed balance. What is she trying to balance? She is passionate about her family.I think… oh. Oh, of course. The kids. Her grandchildren. I asked her to babysit too much, didn’t I?”
Willow groaned and closed her eyes and dropped her head back. “Of course I did. She never once told me no. She wouldn’t, would she? Not after all the times she bemoaned the fact she couldn’t babysit for me because we lived in Tennessee while she was in Texas. I was so busy with the wedding, so fretful about Drew and happy to have help whom I knew I could trust that I never stopped to look at it from her point of view.”
Willow set down her paintbrush and a completed plank and covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I screw up so much where my mother is concerned. Once upon a time, she and I…” Her voice trailed off. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”
“Like mother, like daughter,” he said, his tone dry.
Her mouth twisted in a wry smile. “I went over to her house to tell her the whole sad story about Andy and his girlfriend. She was on her way out of town. I’d worked myself up to finally spill all my secrets, and she gives me the brush-off.”
“I’d like to point out that I am not and have never been trained to be a counselor. Or a priest. Confessions aren’t my area of expertise.”
“Good, because I didn’t come here to confess anything. Even if my mother-in-law tried to make me feel like the biggest sinner on earth; I’m not so certain she’s going to talk to me again anytime soon.”
Noah shrugged. “Her loss.”
“Relationships are complicated, aren’t they?” Willow said with a sigh. “I have the best mother in the world. I honestly do. She and I were close until we weren’t, which was myfault. Part of that, I think, was normal growing-up stuff. Mom and I needed to learn to relate as adults in addition to the mother-child relationship. But after Drew was born, and I realized my marriage wasn’t all I’d hoped it would be, well, I closed off. I didn’t want to disappoint her.”
Noah had enough talk about family and relationships at the moment. Abruptly, he set down his paintbrush and the piece of fence railing. “Time for the puppies to go outside to play. Want to help?”
“Oh, I’d love that. I need something to get my mind off my problems. Guess I can use some balance myself. Just let me finish this plank first.”
“So, are you going to take one of these puppies? Or—” Noah waggled his brows. “How about two of them? One for each kid.”
“We can’t get a puppy, much less two of them. I’m not sure where we’ll be living in a couple of months. I have to get a job. I don’t know if we’ll stay in Lake in the Clouds, move back to Texas, or try somewhere totally new. I can’t deal with puppies and two kiddos while trying to move.”
“Where do you want to live?”
“I think… here.” Her teeth tugged at her lower lip for a moment. “That’s another thing I wanted to talk about with my mother. Based on the interest I’ve fielded in the wake of the wedding, I think I could establish a nice little event-planning business and work as much as I want. The kids are happy here. I thought Mom would be happy to have us here, but now I’m unsure. When she moved from Texas to Colorado, she basically ran away from home. So I have to ask myself…” Willow paused and shrugged. “Is it fair for home to follow her?”
Noah let out a low, near-silent whistle. “Well, I’m smarterthan to jump into the middle of that one. You’re on your own.”
“Appreciate you.”
Smirking, Noah walked over to the pen he’d fashioned to keep the puppies corralled but that still allowed Marigold the ability to come and go at will. The dog rose as Noah stepped into the enclosure. He gave the mama a good neck scratching, then observed, “You know, Willow, you pick out the puppies you want, and I’ll keep them here until you’re settled.”
Willow snorted but didn’t look up until she’d finished painting the plank and placed it on the drying rack. “You’re just afraid you won’t be able to find homes for all the puppies.”
“No,” he said, putting as much innocence into his voice as he could muster. “Look at them. Who will be able to resist them?”
She looked at the pups, and her expression turned to mush. “You fight dirty.”
“I fight to win.”
“Hmm.”
He scooped up two pups and held them out toward Willow. She rolled her eyes, dropped her brush into the water jar, then rose and walked toward the puppy pen. Noah handed the two pups to her, then gathered the other four into his arms. To Marigold, he said, “Take some quiet time if you want, Mama. We’ll keep your babies safe.”
As if she understood him, Marigold turned three times in a circle, then lay down and closed her eyes.
They carried the puppies outside. “Where shall we put them down?” Willow asked.
Noah led her around the far side of his workshop, wherehe’d used logs to outline a play area for the pups. He’d piped water from the outdoor spigot to a trough and had a basket of chew toys and balls for the little destroyers to demolish. “Why, look at this!” Willow exclaimed with delight. “It’s better than a doggy daycare.”
“It makes my life easier—that’s all.” Noah set his wiggling wags down inside the enclosure, then turned the spigot to add a little water to the trough.
For the next ten minutes or so, Noah and Willow played with the puppies, though in reality, he spent most of the time watching Willow. With every puppy tumble and tail wag, the tension within her eased. She was a ray of sunshine on the partly cloudy afternoon, her laughter lighthearted and joyous, her manner playful and carefree.
He’d thought of her often since the wedding. Thought about that almost kiss.
