Chapter 30

Declan scooped Sadie up and she squealed an ear-splitting scream-laugh. He twirled her around a couple of times before setting her down. Renee crossed the lawn.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Declan's a monster. He's trying to catch me before I kill him." Sadie stood on the top of the slide holding a small branch.

"Teaching my kid to be violent?" she asked with a smile.

"Hey, I offered to play tag or hide-and-seek." He lowered his voice. "She's a little monster who came up with the violence all on her own."

Renee chuckled. "Yeah. That would be Uncle Ty."

"Don't you need to work?"

"There's always work, but part of the reason I work from home is so I don't have to miss out on time with Sadie."

A sudden jab in his ass had him jumping. He spun around and stared as Sadie ran off giggling.

"You're dead now, monster. I win."

He glanced at Renee. "Did you distract me so she could stab me?"

"Don't blame me because you couldn't outwit a five-year-old. That's on you."

"Come on, Mom. Swing with me." Sadie was on a swing and Renee sat on the one next to her. "Give me a push, Declan. I want to go higher than Mom."

"You got it." He went behind her and began pushing. Renee had already started swinging, so Sadie had to catch up.

They swung quietly for a few minutes, other than the occasional taunt from Sadie or Renee lobbed at the other, both arguing about who was going higher. As he gave Sadie another shove on her lower back, his only thought was that he could do this every day and not get tired of it.

His mom warned him about being ready to be here for the boring stuff, but it was only boring if you let it, right? There was nothing special about this morning, but he was able to let Renee sleep in—something she never did—and he hung out with Sadie. It was an everyday, normal experience, but it wasn't hard.

He felt a level of peace he couldn't remember having in his life. Being in Renee's house, being with Renee and Sadie made him feel balanced. He didn't see how that could be a bad thing. His thoughts returned to last night. He was sure now that he had to leave in order to be a partner to Renee. He needed to figure out his life.

He gave Sadie another push and his phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and saw a text from Ronan.

I've got your windows.

Damn. He'd forgotten Ronan said he could pick them up.

Cool. I'm at Renee's.

Be there within the hour.

"Problem?" Renee asked as she swung past him.

"Ronan has your windows. He'll be here soon to drop them off."

"If you need to go do something, you don't have to hang out here. We're good."

He winked at her. "I like hanging out with you."

She smiled at him as she swung by. He couldn't think of a time when a woman smiled at him like that. It wasn't the usual smile women gave him—flirty and fun. It was a smile that said she really liked him as a person.

"Hey, Sadie, my lady. I gotta go in and get ready for windows. How about one more big push?"

"Underdog!" she yelled.

He grabbed the swing on each side of her hips and they counted together. "One, two, three." He shoved her up high and ran under her. As he walked toward the back door, her happy squeal echoed through the yard.

Inside, he moved the furniture in Sadie's room away from the window. He'd wait until she was at school to do this one, but he'd get it done today. Then he went to the other rooms to move furniture for the windows he figured he could reasonably install today.

A horn sounded outside and he went out to meet Ronan. He didn't know if his brother had to get back to the job, so he didn't want to hold him up. He propped the front door open so they could bring the windows in.

Ronan already hefted the first window and was carrying it to the door. "Where you staging these?"

Declan pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "Just against the wall. I'll take them to the right room after we get them all in."

Ronan eased past him and he went to the truck to grab one. They worked in silence, passing each other with the double-hung windows. The last one was the picture window they had to carry together. Declan hadn't considered how the hell he was going to install it himself.

Once they had the windows lined up along the wall in the living room and down the hall, Declan grabbed a glass of water for each of them.

"Thanks for bringing these," Declan said as he handed a glass to Ronan.

"No problem. Want me to stay and help you get the picture installed?"

"Don't you have to get back to work?"

Ronan lifted a shoulder. "The company's been a shitshow for weeks. First it was a mess because of Cahill's death, but now Danny is half-assing it more than usual because he's pushing hard on his campaign."

"Campaign?"

"He's still running for alderman. More determined than ever to follow in his father's footsteps."

"What does that mean for your job?"

"Who the fuck knows?"

"I guess this is a bad time to ask about a job, then, huh?"

"I thought you didn't want to work for me."

"It's not about working for you. It's about me getting serious." He glanced over his shoulder toward the kitchen. "This thing with Renee feels real. But I need to step up my game and be a man who will be an equal partner. I know she's not going to give me a real chance if she even sees a hint of her ex's behavior. She doesn't need that shit again and she knows it."

Ronan drained his glass. "So you finally decided to grow up."

"Fuck you." He set his glass on the table. "It's time to move on."

Renee stood in the kitchen and overheard Declan and his brother talking. It's time to move on.

Hearing him say it was like a punch to the gut. He was doing exactly what she'd expected but feared. She took a deep breath and refilled her coffee cup. Forcing a smile, she walked into the dining room. "Hey, Ronan. Thanks for delivering the windows."

"No problem." He smacked Declan's shoulder. "Let's get the picture window done."

"You sure?"

"It's a two-person job, and I don't think Renee can be the second person." He glanced past Declan to her and said, "No offense."

"None taken. I know nothing about windows and that sucker looks huge."

Declan turned around. "Will it bother you if we do this now?"

"I'll have Sadie play in her room till lunch. If the noise is too bad, I'll join her." A moment later the back door crashed open and Sadie raced into the room.

She pulled up short when she realized Declan wasn't alone.

"Sadie, honey, this is Ronan, Declan's brother."

Sadie turned around, eyes huge. "He's a giant," she gasped.

"Ronan helped Declan build your playset in the yard. You should thank him."

She spun back and stared at Ronan. "Thank you. It's awesome. I play on it every day. Declan is teaching me how to swing on the monkey bars, so when I'm at school, I can swing better than the stupid boys."

"Sadie."

Her shoulders dropped. She continued to address Ronan. "Sorry. I'm not supposed to call people stupid. Even when they are. But the boys are mean because I can't swing as good as them. Yet."

The corner of Ronan's mouth lifted. "Glad you're enjoying it."

"Sadie, go wash your hands and play in your room. Ronan and Declan are working here to put in the new windows."

"Can I watch?"

"No," she said at the same time Declan said, "Sure."

She tilted her head and shot a look at Declan. He shrugged.

"She's curious. What if we have the next generation of carpenters here? But," he added, turning his attention to Sadie, "you have to be safe. That means no coming close to the window."

"If you stay on the couch or the chair, you can watch," Renee said, knowing it would be a losing fight.

"Keep your jacket on or go grab a sweatshirt. It might get cold in here," Declan told her.

Sadie climbed up on the chair and curled up, eyes on the two men. Figuring they didn't need two sets of eyes on them, Renee went to work. She had paying jobs to do, but Chloe's books called to her. She was close to figuring something out and really wanted to dig back in.

But she would be the responsible person she's supposed to be and work on the spreadsheets that would pay for the windows being installed.

"Can I watch TV?" Sadie asked.

"Sure." Renee checked the time. If she focused, she should be able to finish this job, eat lunch with Sadie, and then use the afternoon for Chloe's books.

Of course, focus was not her friend because she was distracted by Declan and what she'd overheard. She fought for calm. He said he wanted them to be more than a good time, and as soon as she even considered it, he was leaving.

While she might be hurting a little, at least Sadie would be okay. Declan would just be like Uncle Ty, a man who breezed in and had fun and went back to his life. She would know she was loved and she had people she could count on. That was enough.

Renee wished she could convince herself to be satisfied with the same.