His brows arch. “It’s your birthday today?”
“Twenty-three.”
A genuine smile appears on his lips, and it makes something flutter low inside my belly.
“Happy birthday, Sunshine.” He reaches over me and opens the door. “Watch your step.”
Snowflakes land on my burning cheeks as I walk toward my front door. Right before I go inside, I glance over my shoulder and see Rowan watching me.
I give him a jerky wave, step over the threshold, and lock the door behind me. Then I stand there with my back pressed against it and take ten very deep breaths. Just when I think I’vemanaged to calm down, I remember the weight of his hand on my thigh and how it felt.
Warm, sure, and safe.
I groan. Enough. I need to get a grip.
Shaking the snow off my Vans, I kick them aside and make my way to the deck at the back of the house. Cold air wraps around me as I pry the door open and stick my head out. That’s better. I need to cool down.
Hold on a sec.
I squint my eyes at the fence between the Jacksons’ backyard and mine. When I left this morning, it was broken.
Ignoring the fact that I’m only wearing socks, I step out onto the snow-covered deck and walk over to the railing at its edge so that I can see better.
It’s not broken anymore.
I huff out, and my breath swirls in front of me in a plume of white.
He fixed it.
He actually fixed it.
A grin comes over my face.Happy birthday to me.
CHAPTER 11
BLAKE
“We got an offer?!”
“I told you we would.” Nicole, the Kansas City realtor, is now officially my favorite person. “They want to close quickly.”
I press my fingertips to my lips. “I can’t believe it.” We had three more showings in the week and a half since the storm, but I’ve been careful about getting my hopes too high.
“I only brought over buyers who I knew would be genuinely interested. I don’t like to waste anyone’s time, Blake,” she says, matter-of-factly. I’m a little jealous of how much of a boss this woman is. “You should feel proud of the work you did on the house. I have to say, I was impressed with how well you fixed everything up.”
I spin around the living room. It does look great after the fresh coat of paint and getting rid of most of the clutter. I even reorganized my books to have all the spines grouped by color so the living room bookshelf looks like a rainbow.
A grin spreads over my face. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome. I suggest you start packing. Since this is an all-cash offer, everything will move quickly. They’ll transfer the money after the weekend, and you might be out of there in another week.”
There isn’t much I plan on keeping, but packing up the books will take time. It took me years to amass my carefully curated collection. For years, whenever I had any spare money left at the end of the month, that’s where it went. I’m going to store them in a storage unit nearby until I figure out where to settle down.
“That’s perfect. Can I ask who the buyer is?”
“A retired couple from New Jersey. They’re looking to move somewhere quiet but close to their family in the city. Their daughter is pregnant, and they want to be moved in before the baby arrives.”
“That’s amazing. Thank you again.”
