Page 89 of Every Beat of My Heart

“I’m happy to do those things. You know I love kids.”

“You have a way with them. You treat them like they are younger adults.”

“Because they are,” Jameson said, moving to dry the dishes I’d finished washing.

It felt foreign to have someone working next to me in the kitchen, but it was nice too. “You don’t have to help clean up.”

“I don’t mind, and my mom raised me better than that. When she cooked, we all chipped in to clean up.”

“I can see her hand in you. She raised you to be a good man.”

He lowered the towel to the countertop. “You think so?”

“You’re kind and thoughtful, and you take the time to show Owen how to be a good man too. I’d say so.”

He handed me the towel so I could dry my hands. “I shouldn’t need the praise, but I like it.”

“Everyone needs it now and then.”

Jameson gave me an apologetic look. “The next few weeks are going to be crazy between the farm, work, and the end of the football season.”

“That’s okay. I understand. It’s crazy for everyone this time of the year. I can’t even imagine trying to run a Christmas tree farm.”

“On top of our usual season, we met with a marketing consultant to see if she can give us pointers on what we can do to increase income. Teddy’s fighting her at every step, so it’s just adding to the stress.”

“You don’t need to worry about us. We’ll see you when you’re free.” We hadn’t defined what we were, so I didn’t have any expectations. Or I was trying hard not to.

“But I want you to make demands of me. I want to be the guy you can count on.”

I smiled as he tugged me closer. “You already are. You invited us to your family’s house for Thanksgiving, and then you helped us get a tree.”

“I don’t want things to come between us.”

“They won’t if we don’t let it.” But I had the same concerns. How long would we keep our relationship a secret from people at work and the team? I was almost afraid to ask. I didn’t want to know his answer.

I couldn’t help but think Jameson enjoyed spending time with us but wouldn’t want to take our relationship to the next level. And I didn’t want to be perceived as clingy, so I didn’t ask for anything.

“I’ll send you a schedule for Owen. You can drop him off with one of us, and we’ll take care of him. I’ll make sure it’s not more than one or two nights a week. I don’t want to interfere with school, and we already have practices and games.”

With his hands on my hips, Jameson dropped his mouth to mine. We pulled away from each other when we heard a door close upstairs.

“I’ll let you prepare for the week.”

I followed him to the door, my heart hurting a bit. I had a feeling we wouldn’t be seeing much of him until after the holidays. I wasn’t sure what that would mean for us, but I was willing to wait and see what happened.

“Have a good week,” Jameson said after he kissed me softly.

I closed the door behind him, wondering how I could be so attached to the idea of us so soon. I needed to be more cautious. I didn’t know if Jameson wanted the same things I did, and I didn’t want to make the same mistakes from my past.

CHAPTER 19

JAMESON

The next few weeks were busy. I worked at the fire station, grabbed a few hours of sleep, then helped out on the farm on my days off and in the evenings. I didn’t take on as many substitute teaching positions because I didn’t have the time.

At practice, we were gearing up for the playoffs. Our record was only .500, which meant we’d lost as many games as we’d won. Some of the parents weren’t happy about it.

Brian had expressed his displeasure that I let every kid have an opportunity to play. He wanted me to play the best athletes and let everyone else sit the bench.

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