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Blake was in the backyard with the older girls, both of whom came running over to hug Rori when they saw her.

“What are you guys doing?” Rori asked.

“We’re helping Dad trim the bushes,” Layla said.

Lee set the water bottles down on the table, then took Rori’s hand as they walked down the steps to join the others. Charli was talking to Blake where he stood next to a small pile of branches.

“Do you want to see our garden, Rori?” Charli asked.

“Sure.” She’d never grown anything, let alone planted a whole garden.

“This is my first year growing vegetables. In the past, I’ve focused mainly on flowers.” They approached a large patch of tilled earth at the back corner of the expansive yard. “We’ve got lots of tomatoes coming. We’ll probably have to share them because there’s no way we’ll eat them all. Do you like tomatoes?”

“I do.”

“Great! We’ll be sure to pass some on to you as well.”

They continued the tour of the garden, with Charli promising her some of every vegetable she liked. Lee came to join them, slipping his arm around Rori’s waist. Contentment swirled through Rori as she leaned into him.

Could life get any better?

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Lee frowned as he read the email from the private detective he’d hired.

He’d kind of put that whole issue on the back burner of his mind recently. It was still there, but he hadn’t been focused on it for the past several weeks. Between work and Rori, he’d had plenty to occupy his thoughts and his time.

But now, however, it was once again front and center in his mind.

After a brief hesitation to think through a response, Lee finally tapped out a reply, agreeing to meet the next morning at a coffee shop in Coeur d’Alene. He debated taking Rori along, but then thought maybe he needed to hear what the guy had to say on his own first. He could always share the information with her when they went on their date the next evening.

They would be together at another Friday night pizza dinner later. And he’d heard the girls tell Charli at supper the night before that they wanted a sundae bar for dessert instead of s’mores that week. That was fine by him. He was probably more of an ice cream fan than a s’mores fan.

As the workday ended, Lee checked in on the animals in the shelter. There weren’t any on the clinic side, which wasn’t unusual since it was the weekend.

After they left the clinic, Lee drove them to Rori’s place so she could change. When he saw her come out with something in her hands, he grinned.

“Cookies?” he asked as he opened her door, eyeing the container.

Rori laughed and went up on her tiptoes to kiss him. “Maybe…”

“Perhaps I should charge you taxi fare, and you could pay me in cookies.”

“That might be a deal I could agree to.”

Lee liked that conversation between them was so easy. Some days, they talked about the clinic. But a lot of days, once they’d left work, they didn’t discuss it any further. Of course, it helped that since they worked at the same place, they didn’t need to talk much about their jobs during their time together.

That meant they had plenty of time to talk about other things, and they did spend a lot of time with his siblings, too.

Previous girlfriends would have definitely had a problem with that. But Rori was building friendships with his sisters apart from him, so she never seemed to mind the time they spent with them.

The next night, they had plans to grab dinner and go to a movie. The theater in town was featuring some classic films, so they’d decided to check out what was showing.

When they got to the house, Rori headed for the kitchen while Lee went upstairs to change out of his work clothes. As he dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, his thoughts returned to the PI and the looming meeting.

Now that he was on the cusp of learning about his past, Lee felt a strange reluctance about it. He didn’t want to upset his life right then. It was progressing so well.

Would the information the detective had for him make his life any better?

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