Zeus barked boisterously from the hallway half a second before the doorbell rang, forcing Chase to set aside his conspiracy theory for later. Laurel was what mattered now.
He raced down the upstairs hall, stopping so fast he nearly tripped over his own two feet outside the nursery. The cedar log crib he built for their child—the same crib she’d never seen—was in that room. He’d almost gifted it to Haylee until he saw the new crib she posted on her Instagram. Laurel couldn’t see it. Not tonight. Maybe not ever.
The door didn’t always latch which was why Zeus had probably pushed it open with his snoopy nose. Chase had been meaning to replace the doorknob mechanism, and made a mental note to do it soon. He pulled the nursery door closed and raced downstairs to answer the front door, pulling it open at the same time Laurel rang the doorbell a second time.
“Hey,” he said, slightly out of breath. “Come in.”
“I brought wine.” She held a bottle of merlot in offering as she stepped inside the home they’d once calledtheirs. “Not sure if you can drink it—”
“Bauer’s on call tonight. Not me.” He followed her to the kitchen, an aching in his chest at the familiarity of it all. She belonged here. With him. In the house they picked out together. The one they had talked about filling with kids and dogs. And most importantly, love. It was supposed to be their forever home.
“Why are you wearing goggles on top of your head?” Laurel asked, setting the wine on the counter.
“Oh, the renovation project. The one I told you about.”
“You didn’t actually say much about it.”
Chase waved a dismissive hand. “Early stages yet. Your boxes are in the dining room. But we can wait until after dinner—”
“No, I’m ready now.”
It felt as though she were rushing him, but the bottle of wine said otherwise. “I can let you get started with all that and fire up the grill,” Chase offered, too confused to sort out her signals. He blamed the insurance adjuster for taking up too much space in his already crowded mind. “The steaks have been resting long enough to put them on.” The nervousness was frustrating. He’d felt it plenty when they first started dating. Maybe even more now that there was much more at stake than winning another date. Their whole future hung in the balance, and so far, his plan to win his wife back was mediocre at best.At least she showed up. “Steaks if you’re hungry now. Or I can wait.”
“I’m starving, actually.”
Chase was about to lead her to the dining room but caught himself and grabbed the plate of seasoned steaks instead. Never mind that the grill wasn’t even on yet, much less warmed up to temp. “You know where it is.”
“Yes, I do.” She offered him a kind, fleeting smile. “But I might take a glass of wine with me.”
Chase set down the plate and fished out a bottle opener from the back of a very cluttered drawer of random utensils. Before he could secure the bottle, Laurel touched his hand. His body froze as shivers of electricity raced up his arm and warmed his whole chest. “I can do that,” Laurel offered, seemingly unaffected by their touch.
“Right.” He handed the bottle opener over. “C’mon, Zeus. Let’s get the steaks on.” The pup looked back and forth between them, his decision heavy. It was likely the aroma of raw steak—not Chase’s company—he finally chose. “Medium rare?” he asked at the kitchen door that led to the backyard.
“Is there any other way to eat a steak?”
That’s my girl.
So far this night was going nothing as Chase had carefully planned when he first thought up the excuse. He’d been too caught up in his own thoughts about work to be prepared beyond seasoning steaks. He intended to be with Laurel when she went through her things. To offer moral support, share laughs from happy memories, and wipe away her tears when they came.
Yet he was out at the grill, babysitting steaks, watching her back through the window.
“I’m screwing this all up, boy,” he said to Zeus. “Got any bright ideas to turn this around?”
The sliding door to the deck opened. “Thought you might want a glass, too.” She set the half-filled glass near the steaks. He wondered if she’d found the wine glasses tucked in the back of his cupboards or in one of her boxes. He certainly hadn’t used them since she left.
“Wow!” Laurel stepped off the deck and into the landscaped backyard, Zeus following at her heel. “You’ve done so much since I . . .” She let her words trail off as she stepped onto the elaborate stone patio area. It’d taken him half a summer to complete the firepit project she’d dreamed up. One that could comfortably seat a dozen or more people around a fire. “You did all this?”
“I forced Ryder to work for beer on occasion.” With the gas grill at temp, Chase set the steaks on, relishing in the sizzle. That was the sound of a happy summer right there.
“You didn’t hire this out?” Laurel pressed, staring at him as if he might have grown a tail.
He chuckled at her disbelief. “No, I swear.”
“Let me guess. You learned all of this from YouTube.”
Chase shrugged, reaching for the glass of wine. They used to share part of a bottle over dinner a couple nights a week. Laurel would pick out the kind and he would use his best grilling skills to create a meal worthy of it. “I may have watched a couple, yeah.”
Laurel sat on one of the stone benches. He couldn’t read her expression with the way her blonde waves curtained her cheek. When they first looked at this house, they talked about creating a firepit area. One where they could host their friends. It didn’t get nearly the attention it deserved, outside of Chase keeping the weeds out of it.
