He smiled, nodding in agreement while he chewed his cake. “What’s your dream job? Do you want to get back into the retail world once you’ve had your baby? Maybe find another job in a store of some kind?”
“I’m not sure, actually. When I started working at the furniture shop, I was mostly in the back office doing the admin. I really enjoyed it, although I enjoyed the sales side of the business, too. But in all honestly, I don’t know what my dream job would look like. After I finished school, I was just glad to find work and start earning a living. My mother had to hold downtwo and sometimes three jobs while I was growing up, and by the time I was a teenager and could see how hard she worked, all I wanted was to help and chip in to pay the bills. I never thought much about planning a career. I just knew I needed to bring money into the house and figured I’d cobble together some kind of career along the way.”
She shrugged and added, “Which I did, I suppose. I had a good job at the furniture shop and learned some decent skills. If I’d had any idea the business was in trouble, I would’ve moved on, but I was clueless, along with most of the rest of the staff. With everything else that happened this past year, the job was the one good thing I was clinging to, the lifeboat I hoped would see me through.”
Travis’s expression dimmed. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out that way.”
“Me, too. But it is what it is, and there’s nothing I can do about a business going bust. I just have to focus on the future.” She ran a hand over her baby bump, the gesture automatic. “This little one is my future now. It’s not about me. It’s about her, and giving her the life she deserves. All the hopes and dreams I have now are for her.”
She watched his gaze drop to her stomach and a smile lift his lips. He opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he planned on saying was cut off as he cleared his throat and shifted on the sofa.
“I think you’ll give your baby a wonderful life.” The soft look in his eyes disappeared and a bashful look crossed his face before he pointed to the teapot. “Refill?”
Courtney almost said yes. The idea of staying here and drinking more tea and eating more cakes and talking long into the afternoon with Travis was undeniably attractive.
Until she caught sight of his writing desk and remembered that this was a busy man who was rushing to meet a deadline tofinish his next book. Much though she might be enjoying their conversation, he’d probably only invited her to join him out of politeness. He’d bought that enormous bag of cakes to give him comfort food and sugary sustenance while he was writing, and so it was his writing he almost certainly wanted to get back to, rather than have to make idle conversation with his temporary assistant, who he’d hired to save him time and who was, instead, taking up rather an awful lot of it.
“Thanks, but I should probably go,” she said, rising from the sofa.
“Oh, are you sure?”
She might have believed he looked disappointed, except that was probably just a figment of her hormonal—and lonely—imagination.
“I want to check in with my new case worker at the local housing department and find out if there’s any good news for me.”
“Of course.” He nodded in understanding and gestured to the door. “I’ll walk you out.”
At the door, she noticed the pot of pansies that were now thriving and smiled to herself, wondering what state the poor things would’ve been in if she hadn’t pointed them out to Travis in the first place a few days earlier. “Enjoy the rest of your day writing and eating your cakes and goodies.”
“I should’ve given you some of those to take home with you.”
“That’s the last thing I need,” she chortled. “I’m waddling enough as it is.”
Travis snorted out a laugh, and with a wave goodbye, she left. As she walked along Foxglove Street back to Rosie’s house, she tried to think about the phone call she planned to make to her case worker at the housing department, but her mind kept returning to Travis Stone.
And to how much she enjoyed talking with him.
She thought of him as a friend, and wanted to continue to think of him as a friend, if only she could rein in her ridiculous hormonal reactions that had her thinking all kinds of completely inappropriate thoughts about the man.
Yes, so he was handsome in an artistic and darkly ruffled sort of way. And yes, his smile was dazzling, his eyes were deep pools of caramel, and his creative mind and spirit would, quite frankly, be attractive to just about anyone.
And he’d been kind enough to employ her and put cash in her pocket just when she needed it most.
Which meant that any stupid feelings she had about him that went beyond friendship risked both her job and the reference Travis had promised to give her once her temporary role came to an end.
Was she really willing to jeopardise those things because her pregnancy hormones, mixed with the endless train wreck of events over these last few months, had left her emotions ricocheting like pinballs?
The answer was no.
She’d meant what she’d said to Travis earlier—everything she now did was for her baby, not for herself. All her hopes and dreams were for her child.
Which meant getting a hold of herself, remembering she was Travis’s employee, and knowing where the line was drawn in the sand between them.
Her baby was all that mattered now in the world. A soft kick beneath her ribcage served to underline the point.
“Come on then, little one,” Courtney said as she unlocked Rosie’s door and went inside the house. “Let’s ring up the nice lady who works at the housing department and see if she has any exciting new for us yet.”
In response, she felt another kick, this one much harder.
