Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

NOVA

Christine, the woman with the sofa, offered to sell me a queen-sized bed with a mattress if I was interested, so we went into her house and looked at the guest bed she had been thinking of replacing for some time.

Two hundred dollars later, I walked out of that house a whole sofa and bed richer. She had obviously charged me so I wouldn’t have to accept charity, but I wasn’t blind to her kindness. She had been trying to help. She’d even offered to get her husband to follow us home in her truck with the bed, but Dusty turned her down. “My buddy is already on his way,” he told her.

I shot him a glance.

“Tucker,” he said. “I texted him while y’all were haggling. Gotta tell you, ma’am, it’s been a while since I’ve seen the buyer trying to pay more and the seller talking her down.”

Christine grinned at me. “That’s how we do things here in Beeler.”

Not true for everyone. There had been two other couches I’d liked today and neither of them were willing to go under a thousand dollars, which was outside of my budget by a long shot.

By the time we’d finished loading the couch into the back of Dusty’s truck and tying it down, Tucker showed up in his black truck with another guy in the front seat. They both hopped out, and though the second guy was shorter and leaner than Tucker, the resemblance was high.

“Jack, come meet Nova,” Dusty said, then introduced me to Tucker’s brother.

“You caught us delivering one of Jack’s pieces to the homestead, so your timing was good,” Tucker said.

“Jack refinishes furniture,” Dusty reminded me. “They call their parents’ house the homestead.”

“Thanks for the translation.”

Dusty winked. He leaned down to Alice’s level. “You want to climb in the back of my truck and wait there?”

Her eyes brightened and she looked up at me. “Can I?”

“Just don’t crawl under that couch. I don’t want it falling on you.”

Alice and her pink monkey ran off.

Dusty lowered his voice, his caramel eyes on me. “You can wait out here if you want to watch her. I’ll get you if we need another set of hands.”

Looking at the three pairs of arms in front of me, I knew my puny muscles were unnecessary. I bet they could open any jar in the world, especially with the three of them together. Dusty, Tucker, and Jack followed Christine inside, and minutes later they were carrying out the mattress and the headboard. The bed had been taken apart and carried out in pieces. It took twenty minutes for the guys to load everything and tie it down. I’d tried to help, but they were clearly used to working together. They were more efficient without my meddling.

I stood on the lawn, the sun warming my face, while they finished up. Carter would never have done this. Never. He would have paid guys like these men to help us move things, but he wouldn’t have called a buddy and gotten it done.

I knew the comparison wasn’t smart. Maybe this wasn’t Carter’s style, but he still had plenty of good qualities—things that had made me fall in love with him in the beginning.

But, after being the person in charge for so long, I’d be lying if I pretended not to love how they were taking care of me right now, even just a little.

Dusty patted his truck twice when he passed it. “Let’s get these ladies home.”

My heart squeezed a little.

He stopped near Alice. “Want to fly down?”

She looked uncertain but nodded.

He put his hands up and she stepped into them. Dusty flew her like an airplane in a circle down to the ground, plane noises and all. Alice beamed.

My heart, in that moment, might have fallen just a little bit in love with the Texan firefighter. He opened the back door for Alice to scramble into the truck, and I slipped past him before he could do something crazy like open mine as well. My pulse was racing. I was probably high on the excitement of having a real bed to sleep in tonight, but I didn’t even care.

For the first time in a really long time, I felt happy.

The feeling lasted long into the afternoon. The men carried our new-to-us sofa upstairs and put it in the small living room. When they went back for the bed, Alice followed them down. She stayed out of the way while they untied the frame, but she wanted to watch them, and I let her. I snuck into my room and let the air out of the mattress, rolling it up quickly so I could shove it in a closet before the guys got up here.

“I thought you’d still be out shopping the garage sales.” Dusty’s voice carried into my room. I balled up the air mattress and tossed it into the closet, pushing the accordion door closed. It popped out a little, so I pushed harder and stood back. It stayed.

Jack grunted. “Didn’t want to be too greedy. I went first thing this morning. Had to make three trips to get everything I bought, but Tucker doesn’t mind.”

“You need your own truck,” Tucker shot back gruffly.

Apparently, by the sound of their struggling, the bed frame was heavy. Made sense, since it was solid wood. I glanced around the room, trying to see it through Dusty’s eyes, and felt the merest hint of shame at my fall in life. It wasn’t overwhelming, so I snuffed it like a birthday candle flame, pinching it away between two fingers. The sparse room was temporary. It was a fresh start, with white walls and fresh carpet—I was convinced Gigi had it redone when I accepted her offer to move in, even though she’d insisted otherwise—and a few boxes of my things. The kids and I had stuffed my Highlander with as much as we could when we moved, and it was brimming full, but once we arrived and spread everything out, it was clear how much we didn’t have.

Little things, like a toaster. Bigger things, like dressers. It was lucky Gigi had a spare one, but her offer to outfit this whole apartment with furniture was too much, especially when I wasn’t sure if we’d even be here next year.

“Knock, knock,” Dusty said, backing into the room. He had one side of the headboard and Tucker had the other. Jack followed them in with some other pieces and I got out of their way.

“Which wall do you want it on?” Jack asked.

I pointed to the place my air mattress had been. “That one is fine. Are there more pieces in the truck?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I helped them bring everything in. My phone started ringing when they went back for the mattress. It was Ashley, Pete’s mom, so I answered. “Hello? ”

“Hi, Nova. It’s Ashley.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes! Yes, of course. Sorry, I should have led with that.”

Relieved, I leaned against the kitchen counter. “Should I come get Ben now?”

“That’s why I’m calling. There’s this new pizza place in Beeler the boys wanted to try—mostly Jake, but you know what I mean.” She laughed. “Anyway, do you mind if we take them? We can drop him off on the way home.”

“Has he been good for you?”

“Are you kidding? Ben is a dream. Pete hasn’t been bugging us all day. Jake actually made progress on the mudroom he’s making for me, thanks to the distraction.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” And a little jealous that her husband seemed to be such a great guy—building her things, wanting to go to dinner with the family, coaching their son’s flag football team. It was so ridiculous, I could recognize that, but it didn’t stop the tendril of jealousy from making its way through me.

I wanted to be strong and happy with my new direction, but sometimes I also wanted to curl up on the couch in someone’s strong arms and complain about the PTA president bugging me for cookies again. But not Carter’s arms. I wanted the scenario, but I didn’t want him anymore.

The revelation felt like a weird punch to the gut. My body was weightless.

“Do you mind?” Ashley asked, dragging me back to earth. “You’re welcome to join us.”

It was probably a good idea if I ever wanted to make friends in this town, but I didn’t want to spend the money after buying that bed today. “We have dinner plans, but you can take Ben. I can Venmo you.”

“It’s on us. Thanks, Nova.”

“Thank you,” I countered, and we both hung up.

“All set in here,” Dusty said, coming out of my bedroom. He noticed Alice peeking over the counter, her fingers gripping the edge. “You want to jump on it a few times, little lady? Give it a good test for your mom.”

He didn’t even ask me first. I guessed if the bed broke, he’d fix it.

“Mom?” Alice asked, her blue eyes round and excited. I was glad she still remembered the proper order of things.

“Sure,” I said, resigned. “But grab Peaches. You know she won’t want to miss it.”

“I’ll supervise,” Dusty said, following her back. “It’s a solid bed.”

How much of my phone conversation had Alice heard? I glanced at the clock. The outing had taken all afternoon, and I needed to start our dinner now. I pulled my pan out of the cupboard and threw on a pound of ground beef.

Alice’s giggles came from my room, and my chest squeezed. I turned the burner on low and went to check on them. All three tall, muscular men were standing around the bed like a set of bodyguards, arms crossed over their chests, heads bouncing along with Alice’s movement.

Alice was delighted . She jumped like the bed was a trampoline, holding both of her monkey’s overly long arms and flinging her around, her blonde hair lifting with every jump. I hadn’t seen so much joy on her little face in what felt like months, yet Dusty had made her light up repeatedly today. I didn’t even have the space to be jealous that he’d accomplished what I couldn’t, because I was so glad to see my baby happy like this.

“Look, Mom! Peaches is flying!”

I laughed, drawing Dusty’s attention. He gave me a look that sank to the bottom of my stomach. When was the last time a man had looked at me that way? I tore my gaze away. “She’s a natural,” I said to Alice.

“We’ll get out of your hair,” Tucker said, slapping his brother on the back .

“Thanks, guys,” I said. “I owe you.”

“I wouldn’t say no to those cookie bars I’ve been hearing about,” Jack said.

“From who?” Dusty asked, sounding offended.

Jack shrugged. “Annie, I think?”

I’d met her at the Partridges’ barbeque. “Berry crumble bars? I’ll make you some,” I promised, then looked at the other two men. “All of you.”

They grinned. Tucker and Jack went for the front door and I hurried back to the kitchen to stir my beef. “Off the bed now, Alice. That was a one-time thing.”

She muttered, but she listened. “Can Peaches still jump?”

“Only if she’s jumping alone.”

Dusty walked his friends out as I went back to the stove. I wondered for a brief second if he wasn’t coming back, but I heard the tread of his shoes on the exterior staircase and something like relief filled me.

I busied myself fetching an onion, knife, and cutting board while he let himself into my apartment and crossed the living room, stopping on the other side of the counter. “Listen, Nova, I know you don’t want charity, so I’m going to be straight with you.”

I lowered the knife.

He looked at the cutting board. “Do you want to finish that first so we both don’t start crying?”

I glanced at the half-chopped onion. “We won’t cry. It’s a sweet onion.”

“That’s a thing?” He looked thrilled.

“Yes. Yellows are the worst. Stay away from those.”

“Noted.” Dusty’s expression was so earnest, his pale brown eyes soft. “So, I live in a big farmhouse alone with my cat.”

That explained all the cat food he had been buying when we met the first time.

“When I tell you I have things sitting around, I mean it. My grandpa left me two rooms full of furniture that aren’t being used.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he put his hand up to stop me.

“Listen, Nova. I’m not offering you charity. I won’t ask you to take them for free. You can give them back when you don’t need them anymore. But let me bring you a few things.”

My hand rested on the cutting board beside the onion, the other gripping the knife. Sweet onion and garlic and sizzling beef filled my nose, but all I could think about was Dusty facing off with me on the other side of the counter. For a rival, he pretty much seemed to be on my side most of the time.

It had been so long since someone was truly on my side. Other than Gigi, of course.

“Okay,” I said quietly.

He lifted his eyebrows. “Okay?”

“Okay,” I repeated.

A grin slashed over his face, so wide you’d think I offered to take him to a Cowboys game.

“Tucker is taking Jack home, but he’s going to help me pick it all up now. We’ll be back in an hour or so.”

“Now?”

“Yeah. You free tonight?”

He could see me making dinner, so I obviously didn’t have plans for the next bit. “Yes. If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.” He looked at me for another beat. This close, with only a counter between us, I could see the rough stubble on his jaw and the shadowed curve between his bottom lip and his chin. I wanted to reach across the counter and touch him.

It was an impulse I hadn’t felt for anyone but Carter in over a decade, and it shocked me with both its speed and ferocity.

This was treading dangerous water. Swallowing against a dry throat, I searched for something to say.

My phone rang with the sound of an incoming FaceTime call, cutting into the silence with tinny, jaunty music and slashing through the spell. I flipped it over and Carter’s smile filled the screen.

I really needed to change that old picture out for something less attractive. Maybe even a snapshot of a dog’s butt—something that fit my mood better when I saw who was calling. The briefest temptation to reject the call slid over me, but he’d missed the kids’ calls all week. I knew Alice would want to speak to him.

When I raised my gaze to Dusty, his expression was guarded. “I better take this.”

“Of course. I’ll see you in an hour.”

I nodded, moving toward the kids’ room while he made his way out. I slid my finger on the screen to answer. “Alice, Dad’s on the phone.”

I heard the quick movement of little feet as she jumped up from whatever she was doing and ran toward me.

“Hey, Nova,” Carter said, his face filling the screen.

There were things we needed to talk about, like money for the kids’ school lunches and health insurance now that we were in Texas. Things that would best be handled without little listening ears, though, and besides, I had hamburger on the stove.

The front door closed with a snap behind Dusty.

“Ben’s at a friend’s house, but here’s Alice,” I said to Carter. For the first time, it was easy to shove the list of things we needed to discuss into a folder and hide it somewhere in a dark corner. I didn’t want to chat with Carter. I wanted to make sure this lasagna made it into the oven without burnt filling.

I handed off the phone and went back to the kitchen. It took thirty minutes to get the rest of the lasagna compiled and into the oven, but Alice had brought me my phone at least twenty minutes ago. I slid open my messages and found Dusty’s number.

Nova

Want to stay for a thank you dinner? I made lasagna.

Dusty

Anything to size up the competition

I chuckled, shaking my head.

Nova

Tucker’s invited too

Dusty

Okay. I’ll let him know. See you soon, Rival

He seemed like the kind of man who meant what he said. I closed my eyes, listening to Alice sing to herself in her room, and breathed.