I snorted. “Thanks, Doc.”
Libby winked at me, called, “See you Thursday,” and blew a kiss before getting in her car to head back to the clinic.
From the doorway, I waved and watched until she had pulled down the street. My first order of business would be making sure I had all the ingredients required for the pie—knowing that my parents had stocked the fridge and cupboards, I was reasonably sure I did.
Second order of business: planning just how to celebrate the freedom to finally make love to Eden again.
Everyoneofmyplans flew out the window when she got home that evening. She looked exhausted and harried, her usual smile nowhere in sight. It was like the real Eden left the house in the morning and a shadow of her returned just as dinner came out of the oven.
Panic snaked up my spine.
“What’s wrong?” I asked immediately, setting the casserole on top of the stove. “What happened?”
Eden dropped her purse to the table by the door and slipped off her shoes with a grateful sigh. I moved toward her, openingmy arms as she walked straight into them and face-planted against my chest.
“I think I underestimated the power of small town gossip. We were swamped all day long, which is great for business so I’m not complaining, but if I have to smile while fielding any further questions about whether you have brain damage from the incident, I’m going to scream.”
“Ahh, yes. The Spruce Hill rumor mill is legendary, as you’ve unfortunately learned, but my mom said it’s been an absolute circus this time around.”
“It is, and I hate it.”
“I wish I could say it’ll get better soon, but all we can do is give it time to die down.”
She sagged against me. “I could go to sleep right now and not wake up before morning. Dinner smells delicious, though, so I’ll try to rally. How are you feeling?”
“I’m good, baby.”
Peeking up at me, a tiny smile tugged at one side of her mouth. “Good.”
My seduction plans could wait; Eden clearly needed a quiet night to recover. I rubbed my hands up and down over her back, then pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“Go get some jammies on. We’ll eat on the couch, watch a movie, and go to bed early. If you’re up for it, I’ll give you a backrub before you fall asleep.”
“How was your appointment with Libby?” she mumbled into my chest.
“She said everything looks good and I’ll be right as rain in no time. Go on, jammies.”
I had to physically shift her body away from mine before nudging her toward the bedroom. For a moment, I watched her go—the slump to her shoulders was mostly gone, and though she didn’t have the usual spring in her step, she no longer looked like she was wearing a leaden backpack.
By the time she returned in a pair of fleece pajama pants and one of my hoodies, I had dinner laid out on the coffee table and was in the midst of actively defending our food from Jiji’s curiosity. Eden lifted the cat for a quick cuddle, resulting in a purr so loud its rattle echoed in my own chest, vibrating with contentment.
Though maybe that was just from watching the woman I loved slowly come back to herself.
Eden set Jiji on the floor and ignored her plate to flop onto the couch, snuggling into my side as she mumbled, “I missed you today.”
“I missed you, too. Once I get my next steps sorted with Dueling Dragons, I could help you at the shop, if there’s anything I can do. I’ll go stir crazy staying home much longer.”
Her eyes brightened. “You’d do that?”
“Not sure I’ll have much else to do until the shop is repaired. I’m meeting your cousin Rob over there tomorrow to get an estimate on whatever work needs to be done. I’ll get any undamaged stock listed online, make sure the website is ready for the added traffic.”
“That’s a great idea,” she replied, smiling. Then she cocked her head at me. “I had a thought.”
I waited for her to continue, but her expression went pensive and she remained silent. “Are you going to tell me what it was, or should I guess?”
“The back rooms. If your place needs almost total rebuilding, which is what it looks like to me, then maybe…maybe Rob could find a way to cut through so you could have access to the back room on that side. I do need space for meetings and events, but we really don’t use both rooms at once. The participants at most of my events overlap quite a bit, so it makes no sense to run two things on the same night.”
I stared at her while a slideshow of ideas tumbled through my bruised brain. The back of my storage closet shared a wall with one of those rooms—it couldn’t be that hard to install a door between them. Warmth seeped through me at her offer.
