The girls were tugging at Tessa’s hands now, eager to show her something inside. She allowed herself to be pulled toward the door, glancing back once more at Matt with a smile that warmed him from the inside out.
As he turned to walk home, Matt felt something shift inside him... a certainty taking root where doubt had been.
His bear rumbled with satisfaction.She feels it too.
Chapter Seven – Tessa
“Can you help us build a fairy house?” Lucy asked with such solemn seriousness that Tessa had to press her lips together to keep from smiling. “We have the pine cones and sparkly rocks, and everything from yesterday.”
“Of course,” Tessa said, although she’d have preferred a cup of coffee first.
“Why don’t we ask Matt to help?” Aria was already racing after Matt, who hadn’t gotten far, before Tessa had a chance to object.
Not that she wanted to object. She’d enjoyed their chance meeting; it had given her a chance to get to know him outside of the restaurant setting.
And she liked what she saw. She liked it a lot.
Which was exactly why she should object. She’d promised herself she would keep her distance from Matt so as not to jeopardize Rachel’s job.
“Matt. Matt.” Aria slid to a halt as he turned around. “We’re building a fairy house. Want to help?”
Matt hesitated, his eyes darting to Tessa as if seeking permission or perhaps rescue. “I, uh—” He glanced at his watch, then back at Aria’s expectant face. “The restaurant doesn’t open for a few hours yet.”
“Please?” Lucy joined her sister, the two of them forming an adorable, pajama-clad barrier between Matt and any chance of escape.
Something shifted in his expression—a softening around the eyes, a slight curve of his lips beneath his neat beard. “I shouldwarn you,” he said, crouching down to their level, “I’ve never actually built a fairy house before. I grew up with all brothers. We were more into forts and mud pits.”
The simple admission made Tessa smile despite herself. There was something disarmingly honest about the way he’d said it.
“We can teach you!” Aria declared, grabbing his hand without hesitation. “Tessa knows how to. She’s really good at it. She’s drawn loads of fairies and fairy houses and fairy furniture...”
And just like that, Matt Thornberg, kitchen manager, was being led by two little girls in pajamas toward the patch of garden beneath the big tree they had chosen as the ideal spot.
Tessa followed, her sketchbook clutched to her chest like a shield. This wasn’t part of the plan. Matt was supposed to go home. She was supposed to help Rachel, work on her illustrations, and keep a safe emotional distance. Not spend the morning building fairy houses with a man who made her heart race with just a look.
“We need twigs for the walls,” Lucy instructed, already scanning the ground for materials. “And moss for the roof.”
“I thought roofs were supposed to be made of leaves,” Matt said, looking genuinely puzzled as he lowered himself to the grass.
Aria shook her head vigorously. “Leaves blow away. Moss stays put.”
“Can’t argue with that logic,” Matt said, his eyes finding Tessa’s with an amused glint that made her stomach flip.
Before long, they had assembled a small pile of building materials—twigs of various sizes, clumps of moss, smooth stones Aria had been collecting for weeks, and the pinecones and stones they’d gathered yesterday on their hike. Matt crouched on thegrass, large hands carefully holding twigs in place while the girls argued about the proper architectural approach.
“No, it needs to be taller!” Aria insisted.
“But then it might fall down,” Lucy countered, her small face screwed up with concentration.
“What if we build it against this rock?” Matt suggested, pointing to a fist-sized stone embedded in the soil. “Then it has something to lean on.”
Both girls considered this with grave seriousness before nodding their approval.
There was something about seeing Matt like this—patient and attentive with children—that made her chest ache in the strangest way. He listened to them as if their opinions on fairy house construction were as valid and important as any adult’s. When Lucy handed him a particularly delicate twig, he accepted it with the same care he might show a precious artifact.
And occasionally, his eyes would find hers over the girls’ heads, sharing a moment of quiet connection that felt both new and somehow familiar, as if they’d been exchanging these private glances for years.
“I think the door should go here,” Aria was saying, pointing to a space between two crossed twigs.
