Her gaze swept in every direction.
Over the kitchen that took up the left side of the great room and the living area to the right. The stone fireplace and the rustic furnishings and the windows lining the back that overlooked another porch that gave way to the woods.
My home was nice but simple. Cozy and plain.
It wasn’t like I entertained.
This place was simply for me. A roof over my head. A secreted, secluded place to do my work in the locked room at the end of the hall.
I wouldn’t have added the guest room at all except for that one foolish night when I promised to build her a cabin one day,and she’d teased that it wouldn’t be acceptable unless it had two extra bedrooms.
She’d goaded me, wanting to know which of us would get the primary, that playful gleam in her eye, all while the hope had simmered beneath it.
Silently begging me to say that it was going to belong to both of us.
“It’s perfect, Cash.” Her whispered words broke into the tension, the woman static and standing facing away.
Didn’t matter. I could still make out the awe in her expression. Like the cabin was exactly what she envisioned.
But I guess neither of us could have envisioned the way I would destroy our lives.
“Spare room is down the hall, first door on the right,” I mumbled low. “Third room at the end of the hall is off-limits.”
My office was even more fortified than the rest of the house, which was basically a fortress.
I could feel Daisy wanting to ask about it. To pry into who I’d become.
But she could never know that. Details of my life were off-limits even if I wanted to share them with her, which I sure as fuck did not.
“You can take my room,” I rumbled from behind.
Daisy hesitated, body itching, before she peeked back at me. “That’s not necessary. I can share with the kids.”
“Not gonna happen, Daisy. Can see you need your rest.”
Maybe I shouldn’t point it out. Shouldn’t let her know that I noticed the exhaustion and strain that crimped the edges of her eyes and dimmed her sweet aura. But I’d always been able to read her plain as day.
She shuffled her feet, glancing around. “Where will you sleep?”
“On the couch.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to get in your way.”
I took a step forward, voice cut low. “Too late.”
Surprise rocked her back, and she choked over a disbelieving laugh like maybe she wanted to put me in my place, before she seemed to school herself and turned back around and started to herd the kids toward the spare room.
A room that had never even been occupied before.
Forever vacant.
A hollow reminder of what I’d done.
“Well, I guess if you want to give up your bed, I’m not going to argue with you,” she rambled as easily as she could, though the words were edged in uncertainty. “God knows, I could use a good night’s sleep.”
I opened the door on the right, and the kids blew into the room. I dumped their bags inside before I immediately dipped back out.
Unable to stay inside with the laughter and voices that collided as Addy and Colin argued over which bed they got.
