She blinked. “Uh, what?”
He grinned again, which did not do anything for helping her think.
“With the gallery,” he clarified. He waved an arm around. “Is the makeover for a purpose or just to add some shine?”
Oh, right. They were talking about the gallery. Not everything had to do with their relationship, despite what her preoccupation might be telling her.
“A little of both,” she told him. “I was ready for a little cosmetic change in here, plus I have so many new artists that I think a showcase is in order.”
“That’s some of what’s coming in today?” he clarified.
“Today, tomorrow, all week.” She sighed. “It will be good, but it’s a lot for now.”
“Well…” Suddenly, his confidence faded into bashfulness. “I could come help you hang them, if you wanted.”
“Yeah?”
He looked hopeful, optimistic. “Yeah, I’d love to.”
She returned his shy smile with her own. “Okay, yeah. I’d love it too.”
He feinted toward her for a split second. She thought he might try to kiss her again. She was surprised at how disappointed she felt when he pulled back, although she knew it was for the best. Izzy shouldn’t see anything between the two of them until they were decided for certain that they planned to give their marriage another shot.
Still, she was sorry.
“Well, that settles it,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Let me know when it’s all in. I’ll bring over my tools and you can order me around about placing things.”
“Just like old times,” she joked.
“Exactly.” They stared at each other for a moment. Cadence could only assume that their expressions could best be described asdopey.
Tyler cleared his throat. “Okay. Izzy and I will get out of your hair, then. We’ll see you in two days?” That was when Isabelle was due to come back to Cadence’s house.
“Oh, right. Of course.”
Isabelle ran over to give Cadence hugs and kisses goodbye, then father and daughter headed out the door, each casting Cadence a wave over their shoulders as they went. Cadence felt the usual pang that Isabelle was leaving, as it was never easy to say goodbye to her daughter, even for only a few days.
This time though, the pang over Tyler leaving was nearly as strong as the one for her child. It had just been so wonderful, these past few hours working together as a family.
She just wished she knew whether her hope for their futures was as strong as her fear over what could happen next.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
June knew shereallyshould be asleep.
Instead though, she was lying awake in bed, staring at the numbers on her clock as they clicked past eleven o’clock at night.
She had about a million things to do the next day. She had to get Benjamin up and ready for the day, which was already a project in itself. Then she had a shift at the diner, and three houses to clean. Then she had to pick up Benjamin, make dinner, do the whole evening routine. She’d need all her energy.
But she couldn’t sleep.
Instead, she was reliving the moment where she’d walked out of Anchor Bar without singing.
She felt like such acoward.
The logical voice inside her said it was more complicated than that. Stage fright was totally normal. Putting yourself out there was hard.
And yet her emotional side kept telling her that she was just a big old chicken.
