11
Beauty Shop
Ivy
As I headed in the back door of my house, I marveled at the quiet. I’d been able to get out of the store a bit early tonight. When Maggie had cut back on her part-time hours as the school year began, I had hired someone to take her place. Nic was amazing. Over the past few months, she’d taken on more responsibilities at the store, and I hadn’t realized how freeing it was not to carry the entire load. I’d love to have her there full-time, but financially I couldn’t swing it yet. Today Nic was closing up for the first time on her own, and I was beyond grateful. It had been a long day.
All week I’d contemplated the offer on the bookstore. In talking to their owner, today they’d submitted an official offer to me to look over with my lawyer, laying out the terms. I had a few weeks to look it over and let them know. Part of me wanted to say heck no, I had this on my own. The adult in me made me pause and consider it. They had the resources to grow Pages beyond what I’d been able to do on my own. And the notion of not having my finances wrapped up in a business that might fail felt like a huge weight I could lift. On the other hand, the fate of our store wouldn’t be in my hands anymore. I wouldn’t be my own boss.
Being an adult was for the birds.
I glanced around the landing area at the back door, listening for signs of life. Jake said he was bringing Addie here after school. I’d fully expected to come home and see toys strewn all over the house. I knew she was pumped about showing him her room and her dolls. Smiling to myself, I thought of Jake and the fact that Addie likely had him playing dolls with her all afternoon. I wondered if he would’ve balked at that or if it’s something he did with his nieces already.
I moved through the kitchen and the hall before I came to the corner of the living room and stopped short. The sight in front of me was all kinds of beautiful. Jake sprawled out on one side of the sectional, his brother, Drew, on the other. Both men were sound asleep. I looked them over. Where they were admittedly both gorgeous specimens of man, I’d take Jake’s dark hair, constant stubble, and grouchy attitude in a heartbeat. Yeah, I wasn’t denying things in my mind anymore. Out loud? To anyone in the real world? That was another story, and the name of that story was denial. However, in my mind, I could fantasize all I wanted.
Today Jake was in an almost threadbare T-shirt advertising his brewery, an open flannel, and loose jeans that dipped down perfectly. Glorious. His T-shirt had ridden up to expose his abs with the dusting of hair disappearing into his jeans. Thank you, Goddess, for that view. What a gift. What a wonderful happy trail.
Glancing over at Drew, I saw that he was similarly dressed, with dark tousled hair that looked in desperate need of a cut, some Carhartts that had seen better days, and a Henley. His beard was well groomed but a bit longer than his chin in the front. He was taller and broader than Jake, who was in no way small. Now that he was asleep, I could see how exhausted Drew looked. Awake, his eyes were alight with mischief. Asleep, I noticed the shadow below them. I wondered if that was normal.
Finally, my eyes fell to Addie. She was kneeling at the coffee table between the two men. Clearly, she’d had a day full of movement. Even if I pulled her hair into a high ponytail in the morning, her nonstop energy had her looking tousled with hair flying every which way by afternoon. Today she’d chosen leopard print leggings and a purple and pink polka-dot sweatshirt. I didn’t see any socks on her feet, but she tended to shed those like a snakeskin once she walked in our house. Addie looked up at my entrance and smiled.
Putting her finger to her lips, she whispered, “Shh, Momma. They’re sleeping.”
Dang, she was cute.Sometimes it took my breath away to realize that I made her. I was so lucky.
I nodded at her, beckoning her toward me with the crook of my finger. We headed toward the kitchen, moving stealthily, not to wake the sleeping giants.
We got into the kitchen, and I picked her up to let her sit on the counter. Leaning forward, I laid a kiss on her nose. “How was your day, peanut?”
“So good, Momma. Jakey’s brother is Drew. They both came to get me at school. We stopped by the park, then came here. I got out all my toys. We played dolls for hours.” She paused as she thought for a moment. “But Chief couldn’t come. He’s resting at his house.”
I smiled at her warped sense of time and her love of a dog she’d known for a week. Jake would’ve picked her up at school only a bit over two hours ago, but in the mind of a four-year-old, that was the equivalent of half a day or more.
“Did you take a nap too, or just the big boys?” I asked, grinning as I thought of how irritated Jake would be to hear me call him and Drew the big boys. I’d have to make sure I’d say it to his face later.
“I took a short one,” Addie said. “The big boys”—I smiled hearing her pick up on that nickname—“said they’d lay down with me. When I woke up, they were sleeping. They must have been tired, Momma.”
At first, her comment made me want to laugh, but then I considered her words. Jake had been helping me out all week. But he also had a full-time job, and he was getting ready for the anniversary party at the brewery on Saturday. Of course he was tired. To be honest, I felt a bit crappy that I hadn’t thought of that before.
He’d jumped on helping me, but how had that impacted his already-full schedule? I mean, he’d said I was doing him a favor, but this had been a huge one for me. Was I ungrateful? This man drove me a bit batty on a regular basis, but who was he really? Why did I want to throttle him and then kiss the stuffing out of him? My mind flew back to that sliver of skin I saw above Jake’s jeans as he slept on the couch. Phew. Was it warm in here?
“I’m glad you had fun with the big boys, Addie. You think it’s time for a snack?”
Her eyes lit up. Addie loved to cook, to do anything in the kitchen. She was at the age where helping was a big deal. She desperately wanted to be independent, though she was still a ways from being able to do everything she wanted to.
“Can we cook, Momma?”
I bopped her on her nose. “You bet, babe. How about Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins?”
Addie raised her hands and shook them in the air as she did anytime she got excited. “Yes, Momma! Those are the best.” Then she looked super serious. “But we can’t give any to Chief. Chocolate is bad for dogs.”
I looked at her, puzzled. Then I thought about the time she’d spent at Jake’s this week. “Addie, have you tried to give Chief chocolate?”
She gave me her wide-eyed innocent look. “No, Momma. Just crackers. And cheese. And some turkey. But no chocolate. Jakey said that was bad.”
I moved to grab the ingredients for the muffins as I nodded at her. “Okay, baby. But I also don’t think you’re supposed to feed dogs a whole lot of people food. Maybe check with Jakey on each item? He might prefer you give Chief a bone, and only once in a while.”
“Okay, Momma. Music?”
