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“Plus, it’s past seven,” he pointed out, tapping the screen on the dash. “So, your work hours are over now.”
“Well observed,” I said, rolling my head to the side. “I can’t believe how busy it was in there today.”
“We should have left ninety minutes ago, but it was worth staying for those extra bookings. We already have a lot of interest in the lakeside cottages.”
“Do you think any really will be completed by the time we leave?”
“Yes. Two or three of them are in relatively good condition, and you know we’re prioritising cottage one as a show home since they all have similar layouts.” He tapped his fingers against the wheel as we pulled up to a red light. “Let’s leave that conversation for tomorrow.”
“Mm. What are we doing for dinner since we turned the staff down?”
They’d asked us to go for an office dinner and a couple of drinks to celebrate such a successful opening day, but Theodore had seen how tired I was from running endless errands and had politely rejected their offer.
This considerate version of him was enough to make even the coldest heart flutter.
“Don’t worry, I have it handled,” he said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the effort, but I’m not sure your famous cheese on toast is going to be a sufficient meal for tonight.”
That was the one thing he could manage without burning, after all.
Well, mostly. Sometimes the toast was touch-and-go.
He shot me a dark look. “If you must know, I called Auntie Pat at lunchtime and asked her to put something in the slow cooker for us because I suspected we might be home late.”
“What did she make?”
“Chilli con carne.”
“Sir, are you flirting with me right now?”
He laughed, taking the turn out of the town centre. “Would you like me to be flirting with you, Miss St. James?”
“Not particularly,” I mumbled. “I just like chilli.”
“Relax. If I was flirting with you, I’m fairly confident you’d be aware of it.”
Mm.
I was quite sure that would be the case, too.
I turned my head back to look out of the window with a yawn. Today truly had been long and tiring, and the one thing we hadn’t accounted for was how many kids would be coming with their parents. Because of that, I’d had to make an emergency trip to a printing shop to have some colouring and activity pages rushed through, and I all but cleared the high street out of wax crayons in the process.
It was just one of the many errands I’d undertaken today that had required me to stop in somewhere to buy some cheap flats for my poor feet.
Thank goodness we didn’t have to go anywhere tomorrow with it being Saturday. If anything, we’d just have to stop into the store to check on things in the afternoon. I could really soak my feet and treat the blisters on my baby toes.
In the end, I probably should have just stuck with the heels instead of risking new shoes altogether.
“Chloe.” Theodore’s hand was on my shoulder, gently shaking it. “Chloe, we’re back.”
I jolted up, quickly bringing my hand to cover my mouth as I yawned. “Huh?”
“You fell asleep.” A gentle smile spread across his face. “I even took the long way around.”
I glanced at the clock. We were back fifteen minutes later than we should have been. “You didn’t have to do that. I was going to get an early night.”
“No, we have to talk.” He opened his car door. “Go in, get changed, and let’s get dinner. I just need to put some rice on.”
