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Now she had nothing to do. Nothing at all.
Monday morning, she had woken up in Sam’s arms and was almost late for work. During her lunch that day, she had bitten the bullet and called Jason, explained that it wasn’t him, it was all her. He was still mad, and nothing she said would change that. She understood and was happy that they didn’t need to separate their things.
After spending the afternoon dwelling on it, going to her dad’s that evening for supper had been exactly what she needed. It was just the two of them like old times, but to Natalie, everything had changed. Their lives had changed from their last meal.
Over grilled chicken, she told him about meeting her birth mom and Della’s family. And about the story of where she came from. He needed to know. She told him about her stay with Sam and his parents at the cabin and alone at the cabin, leaving out some details. But since she hadn’t slept at home the night before, he probably could fill in those details.
He told her about his and Faith’s plans to actually move in together. The woman had jumped at the idea of combining their families after all this time. Patrick said that they were going to move into the house Natalie had been raised in since it was bigger, and Patrick already owned it. No wedding or engagement had been decided on. Try living together first, he had told her. But Natalie knew that it wouldn’t take long for that to change—her dad was a great person to live with.
By the end of the conversation, Natalie felt that her personal life was in order. Her dad was happy and actually moving on with his life, and she was just as happy and moving on with her life. Both of them were going in a different direction than they had thought they would be going two weeks before.
After the meal, when she grabbed a few things from her room and headed over to Sam’s for the night, Patrick said nothing. Smiling across the two yards, she knew she would not be moving into a place downtown. She would stay right here with Sam. Living behind Patrick, close enough to watch him as he started his new life, made her love him even more. Because he was the perfect dad.
Tuesday night, she had worked on the podcast alone in Sam’s bedroom. He had tried to get out of her what she was doing, but she would not say: what happens at book club stays at book club. It had been the moto since the first day. It was why they were so open with each other.
Once edited and uploaded, she went to find Sam to take his mind off her ignoring him for a few hours. It worked.
But Wednesday after work, she had sat watching TV with Sam all evening. With nothing to do with her hands, she fidgeted for a while and then grabbed her computer and surfed the web for a while. Not finding anything that interested her, she shut the machine off and dragged Sam to the bedroom to take her mind off doing nothing. He was more than willing to keep her mind and body occupied for a time.
Thursday was much the same, so Sam suggested a run, and they did. After they got back, it was a shower together, then more TV. This time they watched a movie, but Natalie turned back to her computer since the movie was slow-moving and she was bored.
Friday, they had supper with her dad and Faith and the boys. Natalie liked her old art teacher, always had. Seeing her with her dad made Natalie wish that he had just told her years ago. They were very comfortable together, like they had been together for years. Of course, they had.
After supper, they all went into the back yard to play catch. With three growing boys, there was energy to burn. Even her dad and Faith had joined in the small game the tossing of the baseball had turned into. It was the most fun Natalie had in a few days.
But Saturday dawned with nothing for her to do. Nothing. Lying on the couch in the early afternoon, she wondered if Sam was ignoring her. When he had gone uptown to get groceries, she had mowed his lawn and her dad’s. He seemed a little miffed it was done. Not happy she had done it for him like she had expected.
Now he was taking a shower, but she had already taken one after the lawn, so he was showering alone. Maybe he was miffed about that. He did enjoy sharing a shower. Maybe she needed another one?
Instead, she pulled out her phone and was paging through Facebook when he came out all clean and sexy. Looking at him from her spot on the couch, where her head was resting on the armrest, she whistled at him.
Turning to her, he asked, “Are you bored, Natalie?”
“Yes,” she admitted in exasperation, dropping her phone on her chest.
Walking to her, he sat on a sliver of couch she was not on. She shifted a bit to give him more room. “What do you want to do?”
She raised an eyebrow at him.
He laughed at her. “What else do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. I used to plan my wedding, but now I got nothing.”
“You couldn’t have planned your wedding every minute of every day.” He ran a finger down her chest scar, pushing her shirt down as he did.
“No,” she agreed. “I also worked at the library, and book club took some time. But mostly it was the wedding. You did not get to see my wedding, it was amazing.”
“I got to see enough of it. I saw you.” His finger had let her shirt go and touched her nose when he said ‘you.’
“I had planned that baby to death. Maybe I should find someone getting married and plan their wedding. Tess? Ruth? But neither are even engaged.” She sighed,not even engaged.
“Are you hinting at something?” he asked and picked up her hand that still wore the ring he gave her.
“No,” she said quickly. It hadn’t even dawned on her to get engaged. She was just liking being around him. “Are you thinking of that?”
“No, not yet. One day, but not yet. I do love that you wear my ring.” He kissed it.
“I enjoy wearing it,” she admitted with a grin.
