Page 14 of Seal of Approval

This is exactly how my father would have behaved, thinking what he wanted was of greatest important. He’d never considered anyone else. We’d suffered repeatedly because of his selfishness. Like the time he wanted to go to a big football game with friends. He had to get the best seats, which meant we didn’t have enough money for food the next week. And somehow that was our fault because we ate too much.

“The kids would love to help you,” Jack said. “Bailey especially. He’s into everything nature. Rose... she’s happy to do anything Bailey’s doing.”

I shifted in my seat. I wasn’t so sure about that. Bailey had hardly spoken to me since I’d arrived. Rose made up for him though. Maybe he was shy. Besides that, they didn’t seem to stay still for long. Would they be able to stop and listen to instructions? Or would they just be a distraction? I was leaning towards the latter.

I looked at the children. “I’ll speak to Jasmine so we can figure out how to make it work, include the kids, if that suits her best.”

“Good plan. Tell me more about the research.”

We sat and spoke for the next hour until Jasmine collected the children on her way home. She glanced at us as she walked past, offering a wave, but nothing more. Her attention was on the children and collecting the kitten she then carried in her arms. This was her softer side. The side that wasn’t annoyed at me. I much preferred this side.

I stood up. “Best I grab the milk I came for and go. Jasmine might need my help.”

Jack smiled and held his hand out for my empty bottle. Was he smiling at the stupidity of my statement? I doubted Jasmine needed my help with anything. I wondered how long she’d been single for. She seemed to have her shit together at home and at work. That made me think it had been a while.

Even though towards the end of our marriage, Audrey and I were living separate lives, it had still taken a while for me to adjust to my new single life. I’d had to become responsible for everything. There was no sharing the load. That was hard enough. Imagine if there were children as well.

Mothers were amazing in all they did. Single mothers even more so. From what I’d seen, Jasmine was a great mom and had an excellent work ethic. The way she balanced both was a testament to her strong will and being able to speak her mind. My mother had neither of those.

I could say I had one of those traits at least; my strong will got Steve and me through our childhood. It would get me through these six months and help me be a better work partner for Jasmine.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Jasmine

Ethan and I were in the office. He was at his desk entering sea lion details into a database. We’d been out most days in the past two weeks tagging sea lions. We were probably halfway through them. With each sea lion we tagged, Ethan would record as much information as he could.

I stole glances at him while he concentrated. His brow furrowed as he checked his notes. After that, he stared steadily at the screen, typing. There were many faces to Ethan Shaw. Some were more secretive than others, like the small smile when Rose said something snarky to Bailey and he replied with perfect understated sarcasm. Or the way he tried to hide his annoyance when the kids interrupted his report writing in his room. I had to give him credit. He was never rude or nasty to them.

The phone rang. I hoped it was the cabinet maker. He’d been saying for two weeks that he had nearly finished the kitchen and would be out soon to put it in. It was November now and if I didn’t keep on top of them, the house wouldn’t be finished by the Christmas break. And Ethan would still be living with us.

“Hello, Jasmine speaking.”

“Hi, Jasmine, it’s Paul the tiler.”

“Hi, Paul. I haven’t heard from the cabinet maker today.”

“He better get a hurry on. I keep booking jobs in and at this rate I won’t have any space left before Christmas.”

I clenched the phone. Dealing with tradies was worse than dealing with young campers. “Please keep a week open for me. I’m going into town tomorrow. I’ll hassle him in person.”

“That’s a good idea. That’s my normal tactic with him. I’ll slot you in for two weeks’ time.”

“Thanks,” I said before I disconnected.

After the tiler would be the painter and the floor people. We were cutting it close. If it wasn’t done before Christmas, we’d have to wait until halfway through January for them to start work again. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It could be worse. Ethan could be an arsehole.

The messenger app beeped. I looked at my phone at the same time Ethan looked at his. It was a message from Jack. Ethan has a parcel.

Ethan smiled. What was that all about? It would be nosey to ask. We weren’t exactly friends. Or were we? If I lived with someone else, would I ask them? There went the whirlpool of thinking again. I’d had my life under control for five years and certainly hadn’t overthought anything in the last four. This was ridiculous.

“What’s in the parcel?”

Ethan smiled that damn charming smile of his. “It’s a surprise. I’ll show you when we get home.”

Argh. I would be counting the hours down until we got home to see what the parcel was. I didn’t want him to see how curious I was, so I went back to work filling out the daily tour report. I looked at the time. Still an hour and a half to go before I left to pick up the kids. So still two hours in total before we got home, and I could see what was in the parcel.

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