Dinner happens easily. Too easily. Tessa moves through the kitchen like she knows where everything is, like she’s memorized the space in record time. Lacee talks nonstop, tells her about school and art projects and how Dad burns grilled cheese if he’s distracted.
“That’s slander,” I say.
Tessa grins. “I’ll reserve judgment until I see it.”
I should be annoyed.
I’m not.
After dinner, they make cookies while I sit at the table pretending not to watch. Lacee leans into Tessa’s side without thinking, comfortable in a way she hasn’t been with anyone since—I swallow—her mom.
Later, when Lacee disappears upstairs to shower, the house goes quiet again. The good kind. The kind that hums instead of echoes.
Tessa starts cleaning. I stop her with a look.
“Sit,” I say.
She raises a brow. “Is that an order?”
“It’s a suggestion,” I reply. “One you should take.”
She does. Slowly. Deliberately. Like she knows exactly what she’s doing to me.
We sit across from each other at the table, the space between us thick. Charged. I can feel it in my chest, in my hands, in the way my gaze keeps drifting to her mouth.
“You’re good with her,” I say finally.
Her expression softens. “She’s easy to love.”
The words hit harder than they should.
“So were you a risk-taker before Boulder,” I ask, “or is that new?”
She laughs quietly. “I didn’t feel like myself there anymore. Too many expectations. Too much noise.”
“Devil’s Peak isn’t exactly quiet. Logging trucks, construction, tourists,” I counter.
“No,” she says. “But it’s honest.”
I study her. The way she holds herself—open but not naïve. Warm without being careless. She’s younger than me, yes. But there’s nothing fragile about her.
That makes it worse.
“You fit here,” I say before I can stop myself.
She stills.
“That’s dangerous talk for a man who just hired me.”
I lean back, unbothered. “Truth usually is.”
Her smile fades into something more serious. The air shifts.
“This job,” she says carefully, “means a lot to me. I don’t want things to be… complicated.”
I nod once. “Good. Because they won’t be.”
The lie settles between us.
