Tanner shook his head, looking at the pizza. “Well, I’m glad I managed something useful while you’ve been here.”
Maddie walked over and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re the best, Tanner. And I love you.” She folded up the apron and hugged it to her chest. “Now, you guys eat and enjoy. Lou is taking Colton and me miniature golfing, with burgers after, so I’ll be home later.”
Tanner stared up at her, his mouth open.
Maddie was clearly enjoying it, her gap-toothed smile just about breaking her face. “Well, I had to make sure you had a first date. You’ve been so busy taking care of me, you haven’t even asked her.”
Francie dipped her chin to her chest, trying not to laugh. The whole thing was just about the cutest thing she’d ever seen.
“I…”
“It’s okay.” Maddie patted his arm. “Mom would say sometimes we have to take matters into our own hands.”
“She did used to say that, didn’t she?”
Maddie nodded, then came over to give Francie a hug. She smelled like baby powder. Her hair was fine and soft, and as she turned into Francie’s ear, it tickled against her cheek. “He really likes you,” she whispered. “He might not say it right away, but he does.”
Francie felt a distinctive ache building in her throat. The homemade pizza, the sweet little girl, the innocent intention, was all so moving that she had to swallow the emotion down again. She understood now what Tanner had meant about being careful where Maddie was concerned. She’d gotten attached to Francie. She’d seen exactly what was going on between Francie and her brother, and she wanted to foster it. And what was so hard about that, was that Francie wanted to foster it, too. She wanted it to grow like a succulent vine, colorful and fragrant in the summer sun.
Francie hugged her back, not wanting to let her go. But she did, and five minutes later the little girl was out the door and headed with Lou and Colton to the miniature golf place.
She and Tanner shared the pizza, which was cheesy and delicious. They talked about Maddie and how wonderful she was. They talked so much that the conversation rolled back to Tanner’s childhood before she really knew what happened. She’d always been careful not to ask too many questions, because she knew it was painful. But tonight, he seemed to want to talk, and she sat back and listened, watching him over the dying candlelight. He told her about how his mother had been a spark who lit up every room she entered, who’d been funny and wickedly smart. But she’d also been selfish and immature, and that was something that would alter the course of her children’s lives, as she made one terrible mistake after another.
He talked about his dad and how he hadn’t wanted anything to do with his sons, how he’d walked out, leaving Tanner and his brothers with abandonment issues they struggled with to this day. And he talked about life in Marietta. How much he loved it here. How he’d found peace within the walls of his house, and a creative outlet in his business that he’d put all his hopes and dreams into.
He leaned back then and rubbed his jaw, watching her. A silence fell between them as the sun sank lower in the sky. The light was changing, growing deeper, more golden. And so was the air—cool and romantic as it breezed through the open windows and into the house.
She watched him, too, but it wasn’t easy. She was afraid he could read everything that lay in her heart at that moment. He wielded too much power with those dark eyes. That wide, expressive mouth.
“My God,” he said. “You really are a beautiful woman, Francie.”
Her heart thumped and her chest warmed. In fact, every inch of her seemed to be affected by what he was saying, how he was looking at her.
“It’s such a nice night,” he said. “Come sit outside with me?”
She wouldn’t have been able to say no if she’d tried.
Chapter Fifteen
Tanner had found the porch swing at an estate sale last summer. He’d had it in his garage until spring, when he’d dug it out and refinished it, giving it the TLC it desperately needed.
He’d hung it right before his mom died. Right before Maddie had come to stay with him. Up until now, she’d been the only one to sit out here with him on these gorgeous summer nights, when it seemed the entire sky was a billowing purple blanket made for Montana, and Montana alone.
He found the swing calming, therapeutic, even. Maybe because he was getting older. Or maybe he just appreciated the silence more than he used to. Whatever the reason, he loved being out here when the crickets chirped underneath the porch, and the occasional frog would croak in the small creek running next to his property.
But tonight, Francie sat next to him, her leg brushing his. She didn’t seem to mind the silence, either. In fact, she seemed to revel in it. She had her head leaned all the way back, staring at the sky where the swirling, darkened clouds lay, and the first of the muted stars peeked through.
He looked over at her, loving her. Not wanting to love her. Hating the fact that he’d let himself care this much, and wondering what the hell he was going to do about it.
She smiled slightly but didn’t move. Just kept looking up at the sky with those pretty blue eyes.
“What?” she asked.
“You really want to know?”
“Tell me.”
They kept rocking, the swing creaking comfortingly underneath them. “I’d like to take you inside and get you out of those clothes,” he said. “I want you to stay the night. And tomorrow night. I want to wake up with you in my bed. And I don’t really know what to do with that, Francie. Do you?”
She lifted her head from the back of the swing, and looked over then, the smile fading from her lips. There was a worry line between her brows—something new.
He reached over and smoothed it with his thumb. He didn’t want to see her sad, or worried, or hurt. But that wasn’t realistic, was it? Despite the act she put on for everyone else, she was a human being, not a mannequin. She was going to be imperfect, she was going to be sad and worried, because she had a beating heart.
“I want all those things, too,” she said. “But I’m afraid to want them. Just like you’re afraid to want them.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth, soft and pink in the evening light. He thought he’d fallen for her all those years ago. Turns out, he’d never known how far a man could fall until that moment.
“I would never intentionally hurt you. You know that, right?”
She nodded.
“I don’t want to screw this up,” he continued. “I don’t want to screw things up with Maddie.” He looked out at the mountains, how they jutted toward the sky like gnarled fingers, and thought of his mom then. How she’d treated relationships like boxed chocolates. If she didn’t like the taste of one, she’d simply throw it out and try another. It hadn’t mattered that her boys had gotten close to some of the men she’d brought home. That she’d told them it was okay, this one was different. But they’d always turned out to be the same. Again and again and again.
The memory was enough to make him feel short of breath on this close to perfect night, with this close to perfect woman. Why couldn’t he get past it? Why couldn’t he accept that he was a grown man who was capable of making better choices? That opening himself up for once didn’t mean he was weak or irresponsible, or that he would fuck up his life by letting people into it?
Francie put her hand on his thigh. “Tanner.”
He didn’t look at her. He was afraid if he did, something might happen to him. He felt weird, like when he was twelve and couldn’t get the words past his vocal chords. When his tongue wouldn’t cooperate and tangled like a rope in his mouth.
“I’m just going to say it,” she said, “because I need to. Because I think you need to hear it.”
He put his hand over hers. “Don’t.”
She stiffened.
“I love you,” she finally said. “I’m in love with you, and it doesn’t matter how you feel about that right now. Even though it’s kind of petrifying, I’ll be honest, it’
s not going to change how I feel.”
He sat rooted in place, his heart beating painfully inside his chest. He stared out at the yard that he’d worked so hard on, because he wanted to be a good home owner, a good neighbor, and by association, a responsible member of the community. Something his mother had never been. Definitely something her boyfriends had never been. He wanted a fresh start—to have a business here. A life here. So why was it so goddamn hard to believe he deserved one?
He tried moving his hand away. He didn’t think about it, it was just instinctual. When things got too deep, he wanted to get as far away as possible. He understood this about himself.
But Francie held on. It was a risk, she had to know that. But still, she didn’t let go.
“I know you might not love me back,” she said. “And that’s okay, because you probably haven’t loved anyone for a really long time. But I want you to know I’m not going anywhere. Not unless you want me to. I’m not gonna just disappear on you, Tanner. I’m not going to walk away from Maddie, even if she’s living all the way across the ocean. She’s going to know I’m here for her, no matter what, okay?”
His skin felt tight, itchy. He wanted her to go. And he wanted her to stay. The crickets chirped and a car passed in front of the house, its headlights cutting into the dusky light. The world had never felt this small, or this big, in his entire life.
She sat there breathing hard, waiting. He’d told her he wouldn’t intentionally hurt her. Was that what he’d do by simply sitting there and keeping his mouth shut? But he didn’t know what to say, how to react, because he didn’t trust himself. All he knew was that he wanted her. He wanted to feel her hair against his bare chest, he wanted to feel her moving underneath him. He wanted to hear those words coming from her lips again. Jesus help him, he did.
Pushing off the swing, he stood and turned to look down at her. She stared back, completely vulnerable to whatever he chose to do next. And he realized then that it wasn’t leaving or staying that would make him most like his mother. It was not doing anything at all.
So he extended his hand, until she put hers into it. He helped her up and pulled her close. Her body was soft and giving, molding to his like clay. He caught her subtle perfume and he breathed her in, feeling almost drunk on her.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, and he wondered how much of what she’d just said, she’d meant. Would she stick around? But when was sticking worth it? He guessed that was the million-dollar question the kid in him still craved an answer to. When were you supposed to stay, and when were you supposed to go?
Pushing that aside, pushing everything else aside, he bent to kiss her neck. He splayed his hand across her lower back, feeling the curve of it, the absolute femininity of what made her Francie.
She tipped her head back to look up at him. Her hair brushed his arms, which made him want to wrap his hands in it. With her, there was no halfway.
Again, he let himself wonder what it would be like to have her stay, not just tonight, but every night. What it would be like to keep Maddie close, to raise her the way Luke had suggested. He let himself go there for a second, maybe two. And instead of his throat tightening the way it always did, there was a sensation of warmth, pure and sweet, that bled into his chest.
It was a first.
“Kiss me, Tanner,” she said.
And he did.
Chapter Sixteen
Francie stood at her kitchen sink unloading the dishwasher as the morning sun shone in warm, cheerful rays through the window. It was a beautiful day—a blue, cloudless sky, a soft, summer breeze, and a full heart close to bursting. That last part didn’t have anything to do with the weather, but still.
Standing on her tiptoes, she put a pair of glass mugs on the top shelf. She and Maddie had used them for root beer floats the other night. They’d painted each other’s toenails and watched an episode of Stranger Things while Tanner worked late getting some mulch spread after the sun had gone down and the day had cooled some. He’d shown up dirty and sweaty, and honestly, the sexiest she’d probably seen him yet. And that was saying something. She’d seen him naked.
Smiling at that, she bent for some plates, but paused when the phone rang from the counter. Seeing Audrey’s name flash on the screen, she reached for it.
“Hello?”
“Don’t kill me.”
She looked down at her bubblegum-pink toes, standing out against the white linoleum. “Now, why would I do that?”
“You’re a good person,” Audrey said, the reception crackly. Francie could tell she was driving. She lived near the lake and the reception there was notoriously spotty. “And you normally wouldn’t murder your best friend. But the day has come when you might consider it.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“My grandmother.”
Francie groaned before she could help it. Audrey’s grandma was sweet and loveable but was constantly trying to marry Audrey off. And if it wasn’t Audrey, it was Francie, whom she thought was desperate by association. The stories of her failed matchmaking ventures were legendary.
“What now?”
“She ran into Guy at Rocco’s the other night. He was alone. And he asked about you.”
Her stomach dropped. “Oh, my God. Should I be worried?”
“Weeelll…”
“Audrey.”
“She kind of told him you were unattached, which, to her credit…I guess…means she didn’t know about Tanner.”
Francie bit her top lip and stared up at the ceiling as the connection cut out, then crackled back to life. “And?”
“And…she sort of gave him your address.”
“What?”
“I know. Oh, my God, I know. But you can’t hurt me because I’m just the messenger.”
Francie squeezed the phone and started pacing back and forth. “Agnes, Agnes, Agnes…”
“I had a talk with her. She promises never to do it again. She loves you, Fran. You know how she is.”
As horrifying as it was that Guy now knew where she lived, she couldn’t find it in her heart to be too annoyed. Audrey’s grandma couldn’t help it if she was the worst cupid ever born.
“I know,” Francie said. “It’s okay.”
“It’s really not, but now what?”
“Do you think he’ll show up?” It was a rhetorical question. They both knew he would.
“Tanner thinks you still have something for Guy, doesn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“And your neighbor in the yellow bungalow is a huge gossip, right?”
Francie rubbed her temple. “Yup.”
“Well, you just have to cut Guy off at the pass, then. Call him before he comes over and the whole town finds out, for God’s sake.”
“You’re right. I need to call him.” The thought turned her stomach. She didn’t want to, but a phone call was better than seeing him in person.
The phone crackled again. “Fran, I’m gonna lose you. Call you later? You have to tell me what he says.”
“Okay. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
And the line went dead.
Francie’s palms were clammy. Things with Tanner were so perfect right now, so delicate. He was just now beginning to trust her. All she needed was Guy Davis fueling that fire inside him that had been burning since childhood.
Francie looked at the clock. Almost ten. He’d be here any minute with Maddie. He’d taken her with him on an early job because she’d wanted to help plant some flowers, but they were supposed to stop by Francie’s midmorning for donuts and coffee before he got going again.
She wiped her hands down the front of her shorts. She needed to call Guy now. Nothing said he’d show up, but nothing said he wouldn’t, either. She just prayed she still had his number in her purse from when she’d seen him in town before. If not, she could track him down at his office. All of a sudden, nothing was more important than keeping him away from her and Tanner—and fiercely protec
ting what was growing between them. And that was new for her. Very new.
Heading into the living room, she stopped in her tracks when the doorbell chimed. Tanner and Maddie never used the doorbell. They always knocked.
She looked out the window but couldn’t see a car at the curb. Maybe it was just Stephanie from next door bringing back that fan she’d borrowed last week. Or maybe it was the little girl who delivered her paper—sometimes she brought it up to the door to be sweet. There were roughly a gagillion people it could be, but Francie’s stomach twisted anyway.
Padding up to the door, she took a steadying breath and opened it.
Standing there on her porch was none other than Guy Davis. Her mouth went immediately dry. She’d been expecting this, but even for him it was fast. All she could do was blink for a second like an idiot.
He wore pressed khaki slacks and a pristine white dress shirt, open at the collar. His cologne practically knocked her over from where she stood, and she took a step back.
He smiled slowly. As if his showing up on her doorstep was a gift he’d chosen to bestow, and she should be grateful.
He held out a Styrofoam cup. “Here’s that coffee we talked about. Since you were too shy, I thought I’d just bring it over.”
That was just like Guy. To assume the reason she hadn’t rushed out to coffee with him was because she was shy. Of course, she hadn’t exactly told him no, either. And a little voice in the back of her head slammed her for that. See? This is exactly what Tanner was talking about. Why can’t you just tell people off?
Before she knew it, he’d opened the screen door and stepped past, looking smug and arrogant.
She turned and gaped at him.
“Nice place,” he said, glancing around.
“Guy.”
“Yeah.” He turned, handing her the cup of coffee.
“You need to leave.”
His gaze settled on hers as if he had no idea what she was talking about. The light was on, but no one was home.
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