“Love you,” the toddler said.
“Bye, Little Sister!” Anne coached. “See you soon!”
“See you,” Rose echoed.
And then Bruno closed the doors and the ambulance pulled smoothly away, a few pedestrians turning at the unfamiliar sight of a motorized vehicle on the street.
Anne wiped her eyes and caught him staring. Her hand went self-consciously to her bright hair. “What?”
Feelings crowded his throat. What came out was “You were so good with her.”
She snorted a laugh. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You were here.”
She blushed, red spilling underneath all that pale, fine skin, and he rubbed the heel of his hand over his aching heart. The hell of it was, he wanted her to stay. Which meant he needed to go. But the whole point of him coming over today was to get those shelves up in the nursery before Daanis came home from the hospital with her baby.
“I’ve got work to do,” he said, his voice gruff.
Anne lifted her chin. “Don’t let me stop you.”
It took him two trips, back and forth, to bring in the precut shelves and his tools. The right side of the closet was deeper than the left, creating plenty of room for storage. He’d already marked the position of the shelves.
As he worked, he could hear Anne with Rose in the kitchen, drawing a picture to welcome the new baby home. Just hearing their voices made that tug seize his chest again. He’d thought he’d have this with Brittany—the house, the kids, the chaos, the love.
He predrilled a hole in a bracket, lining it up with the stud as the TV snapped on in the living room. Some Disney thing, from the sound of it.
“We have to talk,” Anne said from the nursery room door.
Joe leveled the bracket and screwed it to the wall, keeping his hands steady, making the shelf stable. Solid. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Could have fooled me. Since you leave the shop every morning like your pants are on fire.”
Heat crawled up the back of his neck. He didn’t like the implication that he was running away. Especially since it was true. “You’re the one who’s leaving.”
“That’s what we need to talk about.”
He tightened the screws. Avoiding her was clearly not working. He was actually glad. Because that left his other two options—have sex or convince her to stay—on the table. “How about tonight? Mustang Lounge, seven o’clock. I’ll buy you a drink. For old times’ sake.”
“Not tonight. I want to,” she added as he fought to keep his disappointment from his face. “But I need to be here for Daanis. How about tomorrow?”
“Sure. Tomorrow works,” he said easily.
He would have said anything, agreed to almost anything, if she would just keep looking at him the way she was right now. Glowing. Hopeful.
Maybe he could talk her into staying after all.
—
The dinner rushwas clearing at the Mustang. A few locals relaxed over beers or watched the Tigers game on the big flat-screens. The usual first responders occupied a table under a wall of patches from fire and police departments.
Joe nodded to Cindy, wiping down the bar, on his way to a table in the back. Anne wanted to talk, they’d talk. No point in sharing their personal business with Mackinac’s bravest and finest. As he sat, Mercy caught his eye and waved. He wondered how the trip to the hospital had gone. Anne had texted updates throughout the day yesterday.8 cm dilated!!!A shot of Rose putting her “baby”—a stuffed pink pig—to bed.D’s 30 mins from PUSHING!!!!Which, yeah, was more detail than he needed, but her enthusiasm made him grin. Made him hope. And then this morning a pic of Daanis, smiling and exhausted, and Zack, smiling and stunned, and their red-faced baby in a hipster beanie hat squished between them. One happy family.
That ache was back in his chest. He needed a drink.
A coaster was dealt down in front of him like a playing card, followed by a pint glass. He looked from the beer to his server, a hot blonde in a redthirst responderT-shirt.
“Hello, Joe,” she said.
