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“I am,” she said. “I love you, remember?”
And he took that and held it to his heart like the greedy SOB he was.
“Yeah. For some reason.”
They finished out the rest of the day, and at evening, headed on over to Sullivan’s Point, where he endeavored not to grumble about the fact that he was going to be doing more work. Considering he’d already done what felt like enough work for the day. But she’d asked him to. Then hell, she’d said she loved him, so he figured he ought to show up when she needed him to.
When he got to the farm store, he was surprised to see not just the Sullivan sisters, but a couple of Garretts as well.
Wolf and Sawyer were there, along with Evelyn and Violet.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” Sawyer returned.
He hadn’t talked to Sawyer this much in years. It was strange, the way Alaina had changed everything. He had noticed the changes to the house. He had noticed her being in his bed. But slowly, she was changing the way he interacted with the people around him, and that was perhaps the most surprising thing of all.
And he felt... He didn’t really know what to call it. Something lighter in his chest.
He would’ve said that he didn’t want to connect with anyone. But she didn’t make it feel so hard.
Maybe it was watching her do it. Maybe it was just wanting to make her smile. But it didn’t seem like a chore. Or a task.
“What’s the objective?”
“Getting the wood paneling up on the wall,” Sawyer said. “We can do it real quick if we all pitch in.”
“Sounds a good plan.”
And they went to work, putting up the panels, swinging hammers, and he felt...pride. To be doing this in front of her. To be building something for her family. Giving her something. He protected her all this time, but he wasn’t entirely sure he’d ever given her anything.
But her family mattered to her, and she had pledged her allegiance to him anyway. Which made him work just a little bit faster.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“DADCALLED.”
Alaina looked at Fia. “Oh.”
“Yeah. I guess he heard that you were expecting.”
“But he didn’t call me,” Alaina said.
“No. He didn’t. He called me, because he figured...”
“What? You’re not any nicer to him than I am.”
“No. I’m not. Sometimes I think he calls me for that reason. To get a little bit of a scolding. Because I don’t know. Maybe it makes him feel like he’s reflected and changed a little bit. I probably shouldn’t give it to him. It’s probably too satisfying.”
Fia picked up a nail gun and pressed it against one of the wood panels, firing it in in one shot.
“I’ve pretty much given up,” Alaina said. “On Dad ever... On him ever having a relationship with me again.”
“I know,” Fia said. “I’m just going to be mad forever that that’s the case.”
“Mom is excited.”
“I know,” Fia said.
