I turn and smile at her. “I don’t have anything to do that we can’t do together tomorrow. Besides, I’m gonna need your help shopping for all those supplies you’re making me get. I don’t have a friggin’ clue about garden benches and shit. Oh, excuse me.”
To my relief, she laughs it off. “Believe me, Sarah has heard much worse coming from me.”
To my extra relief, she doesn’t push me to leave. Everything about her and Sarah’s company makes me feel good. Maybe it’s the cooler temperatures tonight and the evening breeze drifting in through the open windows making me feel nostalgic and sentimental, but even this tiny apartment feels homey with her in it.
I would very much like to have that feeling in my own house. As soon as possible.
“So, Saturday is opening day. I know you’re working, but I’d love for you to bring Sarah along. We can both keep an eye on her. I don’t expect there to be a huge amount of traffic since this is the first year we’ll be open. I mean, the first year I’ll be open… I mean the business will be open. And then I’d love to celebrate my first day in business—our first day—by having the two of you, and Rocket and Jet, over for dinner that night up at the house. I’m not the worst cook.”
Jane sits up and eyes me skeptically. “You don’t know what you’re asking by offering to let me bring Sarah to work. Rocket has already signed up to look after her for as long as it takes for me to find childcare.”
I shrug and turn back to Sarah, whose eyelids are starting to droop. Jane sees it too and slides down off the sofa to position her legs around Sarah’s little body to keep her from falling on her face.
“You wore her out. You make a good playdate,” she says.
“So what do you say to dinner Saturday night?”
“I say if you cook as good as you know how to order food, then I’d love you.”
“Oh, OK,” I say. “A little sudden but…”
Poor Jane blanches when she realizes what she said. “Oh my god, no. I meant I always love to eat.”
“Relax, I knew it was a slip of the tongue.”
At the mention of the word “tongue,” I can’t miss her eyes falling to my mouth. Then mine fall to hers.
“Well,” she says after a long pause. “I’m going to put Sarah to bed. If you need to go home, that’s cool.”
I’m done with letting her play it cool. If I don’t say something, my heart will burst out of my chest and I’ll die. “I can’t do this anymore,” I say.
Her eyes widen and her body appears to stiffen as she takes Sarah into her arms. “Can’t do what?”
I feel like it’s appropriate that I’m sitting on the floor while she’s standing close and looking down at me, because I’m putting it all out there right now. Practically begging. “I can’t play it cool anymore. I like you. I don’t care what that means for me being your boss, your friend. Whatever. I like you, and I can’t dance around it anymore. I’m going to make you mine.
“Now, while you go put Sarah to bed, I’m going to get my tools out of my truck and fix your car properly. It’s not a permanent fix, but it’ll add a few more months onto its life.”
Jane is the picture of a radiant earth mama, rocking back and forth with Sarah resting her head against her shoulder. A beat passes. I wait for her to protest. To tell me to go on home. To explain once again that we should be friends first and see where it leads. How she won’t take money from me to do her job.
But she doesn’t say anything. She just stands there silently, blinking at me.
Finally, once Sarah has drifted off to sleep, Jane smiles at me.
“OK,” is all she says.
Chapter Ten
Jane
After I put the baby to bed, I come out of the back bedroom and Henry is standing by the door.
“Hi,” I say.
“I didn’t want to leave without saying goodnight,” he says, one hand resting on the doorknob.
Some hidden muscles tremble in between my legs in response to his voice. Why does “goodnight” sound so much more intimate than saying goodbye?
This is it, I decide. I’m saying thank you properly. I wrap my arms around his middle before I second-guess myself.
“Thank you, Henry.”
His arms settle around me. When he speaks, I can feel the vibrations in his chest against mine. “You won’t be thanking me when this grease monkey gets your clean clothes all dirty.”
I turn my face and catch his lips in a soft kiss—soft, but less tentative than earlier in the barn. His mouth tastes salty, his lips feel warm and responsive. His body answers by squeezing me closer to him and pressing his lips firmly against mine.
We break from the kiss; he smiles with his eyes and rubs the side of his thumb against his lip. “I’m so glad you did that,” he says.
“Me too,” I say. “And thank you for everything.”
I kiss him again, this time with more pressure. As my eyes drift closed, I feel his rough hand against my cheek.
When we break apart again, he says, “It was my pleasure. Now, it’s really my pleasure.”
I smile as my eyes travel over his face. “You have no idea what these little things mean to me. The simple kindness of letting me enjoy a hot meal without having to fuss over and clean up after Sarah—you have no idea how huge that is.”
He strokes my cheek with his rough thumb, and it lights up my skin. “You don’t need to thank me, but I’m glad you did.”
This time, I wait for him to kiss me. Henry angles his face and presses his lips against
