He groaned. “AGAIN! This is the third time. Only, this time, she turned the shower on in her parents’ bathroom and tossed the cat in after she sprayed some soap on him. It’s a glass door, so the cat couldn’t get out.”
My eyes went wide. “Oh God! That poor cat!”
“Yeah. It’s a huge shower, so it’s not like the cat was drowning or anything. But this cathateswater. Like, it makes him possessed. So when he finally got out, he tore through the house drenching wet and ended up breaking a vase and tearing a hole in the couch. Harper, of course, got in trouble and thought I could convince her parents to lessen her punishment.”
“Because you’ve done that for her in the past, haven’t you?” I smiled knowingly.
Beckett smiled back before looking away and I knew I was right. He clearly adored his niece.
“Too bad it’s not a dog, right? She could just take him to the pond and let him swim for an hour.”
Beckett and I shared a knowing look, remembering Tiny, our foster parents’ huge St. Bernard that loved to roll in the grass. We had to take her swimming in the pond at least once a week just to get her rinsed off.
“Get any leads from the resale shops for your case?” I asked.
His smile faded. “No. I called about a dozen more with no luck. There are a couple other places between here and Savannah I want to contact, though, so I think I’m going to stay in town a little while longer. I’m not sure I’m ready to go home yet, anyway.”
Each time he gave subtle reminders he wasn’t only here for his case, it left me tongue-tied. I didn’t know how to respond to that kind of attention, or what to eventhinkabout it. As attracted as I was to him, there were too many unanswered questions still between us.
“Did you see Amelia this morning?” Beckett asked.
“Yeah. She’s settling back in at her place and the bruises are healing. She said she wants to keep working my booth for a while, but she’s also looking for a job.”
“That’s great.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“What’s wrong then?” he asked, gently nudging me with his leg. “You seem sad.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just tired today.”
“Where’s Lady?”
I rolled my eyes. “She’s in doggie time-out. She jumped the barrier between their space and my shop and knocked over one of the shelves that had some of the things for my booth on it.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah. Thankfully the only thing that broke was the shelf. Everything else was fine. But, still. Now I have to find time to repair it.”
“I can help,” he offered.
I was glad I wasn’t looking at him because I didn’t want Beckett to see how uncomfortable that suggestion made me. I don’t think he realized how big of a deal it was for me to invite him into my personal space, or how big of a deal it was that I had made time for himevery daysince he’d walked back into my life. It simply wasn’t like me to want to be around someone so much. Even Amelia rarely got to see me that often. But with Beckett, I just couldn’t keep myself from seeing him as much as possible, even if I knew it might break my heart in the long run. Things with him simply felt too right and too wonderful… but I couldn’t bring that feeling into my home if there was any chance he would leave me.
I realized he was still waiting for an answer.
“It’s not a big deal. It should be an easy fix. But thank you.”
“You sure? I don’t mind. I have a lot of time on my hands.”
“Yeah, it’s okay.”
He seemed like he wanted to say something but dropped his gaze instead, letting the moment pass.
We stopped by his room to drop his notebook off, and then we were heading toward downtown. We found a local street vendor and bought some honey-roasted nuts and lemonade before making our way toward the pier.
Beckett leaned against the rail looking down into the water, while I climbed up to straddle the ledge.
“What are you doing? You’ll fall.”
