“You want something to drink?”
“Some water, but I can get it myself. Your hands are a little busy.”
“Thanks. Sorry.”
“Nothing to apologize for.” Harper went into the kitchen.
He rocked Ruthie gently. She looked like she was going to drift off at any second. Hopefully his conversation with Harper wouldn’t wake her up.
Harper filled a glass with water and ice then turned to face him. “Did you get that list of dogs I sent you? There’s just three of them, but they’re all available at local shelters.”
“No, did you email it?”
“I did. But only just before I got ready to come over here.”
“I’ve been occupied with work and Ruthie, but I’ll take a look at it.”
Harper came over. “How’s she doing?”
“Great. She’s the best baby ever.”
“Not that you’re biased or anything.”
Mitch grinned. “Not one bit.”
“I need to tell you something.” She glanced past him as if checking to see that they were still alone.
He immediately wondered what was going on. “What?”
“Maybe I’m overthinking this, but Kyle and Willa had quite a chat last night. I don’t know what he said to her, and it doesn’t matter, but she’s decided to leave school, get a job, and stay here.”
“Oh, boy.”
“Yep. She swears that she and Kyle are just friends and have no plans for anything more than that, but I wanted to tell you all the same. Nothing against either one of them, or young love or any of that, but Kyle obviously has a lot going on. So does Willa now that she’s made this decision.”
Mitch nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on him. Right now, he’s very focused on getting his book ready to send to my agent. He’s beenediting based on our feedback. With the book and Ruthie, he’s fairly well occupied.”
“It’ll be exciting to see what your agent thinks, huh?”
Ruthie sighed, a sweet, sleepy sound. Mitch kept his voice down. “One thing about Lucinda is that I can count on her to be honest. Even without reading it, she already thinks she can sell the book based on his connection to me, but Kyle doesn’t want to use the Ripley name. He wants to do this on the merit of his writing.”
“That shouldn’t be an issue. The book was great.”
“I agree, but being published as my son could mean a big difference in the advance. It’s something he and I need to discuss some more. But I won’t know if it matters until Lucinda chimes in.” He shrugged. “Anyway, you want to go to our usual spot on the deck?”
“Sure.”
They went outside, settling into their seats. He eased Ruthie from his arms to rest on his lap. She was fast asleep now and probably would stay that way until closer to her next feeding.
Harper set her glass on the side table, crossed her legs, and smiled at him. “So tell me what happened in the book today.”
Mitch told her what he’d written, explaining the progress in the story and what new things had taken place. He tried to include all pertinent information while keeping things clear and concise. It was odd talking about what he’d just written. It felt fresh and he always expected her to give him an odd look, like he’d gone off into left field.
She hadn’t ever responded that way, but his writer’s insecurities never seemed to go away completely, no matter what level of success he’d achieved.
As he was wrapping up, Kyle came out to the deck. “Hi, Harper.”
“Hi, Kyle.”
