Page 129 of The Moment We Know

He blinked at her. “You are?”

“Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?”

David started to lean forward, only to quickly straighten up, not wanting to be called out for having bad posture. “I thought you disapproved of me,” he said quietly, even though Jacob was totally focused on the cat and paying zero attention to the conversation around him.

“Paige’s happiness is important to me,” she said, lowering her voice as well. “And since you obviously make her happy, whether or not I disapprove of you is irrelevant. Especially when the only thing I really disapprove of is the length of your hair.”

The last part seemed to be meant as nothing more than a gentle rebuke, so David accepted it as such.

“I’ve come to see you’re a good person—caring, sincere, and mostly honest. But even if I couldn’t see all of that, I would trust Paige’s judgment,” Mrs. Harte continued, before tilting her head down and looking at him over her glasses. “I don’t know what happened in the past, but I know she wouldn’t have let you back into her life again, if she didn’t think you were all those things, too.”

He rubbed his beard for a moment. “You know, Mrs. Harte, it almost sounds like we’re becoming … friends.”

“Perhaps,” she agreed neutrally. “And you may call me Dolores.”

It wasn’t ‘Dolly’ but it was something, and he took it. “Thank you, Dolores.”

“Now then, Paige probably could use a little help in the kitchen, don’t you think?” Mrs. Harte said gently, yet pointedly.

She was clearly nudging him to leave, but whether it was because she thought their bonding time should be over, or because she genuinely thought Paige needed help, he didn’t know. “She probably could,” he agreed, his eyes briefly flicking over to Jacob, then back to Mrs. Harte.

“Jacob and I will be just fine,” she said. “No need for you to worry.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want him to …” he trailed off and glanced at Jacob, who was now kneeling next to the love seat so he could better pet Sputnik, then finished lamely, “… be a bother.”

The ridiculous statement hung in the air for a moment before Mrs. Harte smiled with amusement. “He won’t be a bother. In fact, I think it’ll be good for me. It’s been a while since I spent some time with a youngster.”

The hint of nostalgia in her voice had him recalling she’d once been a grade school teacher and that, along with their newly established truce, made all of his previous reservations disappear. “All right, well, in that case, I’ll go help Paige.”

As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, Paige gave him a look of reprimand from the far end of the island, where she was mixing something in a bowl. “You couldn’t even stay out there with her for more than—” she glanced at the clock, “—four minutes? I really wanted you two to get to know one another better.”

“We did.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true.”

He wandered over to where the bacon was cooling and picked up a piece, eating it in a couple of bites. Then, pretending to not see her second look of reprimand, he proceeded to give Paige the rundown of the conversation as she continued to stir the contents of her bowl. “See? I told you so.”

“All right. I guess that’s a good start,” she allowed with a quirk of her lips.

“Thank you.” He gave a small bow, then asked, “Now, then, what do you want me to do?”

“Actually, I’d like to hear how today’s session went,” she told him, as she pulled her waffle maker from one of her lower cabinets, unknowingly giving him a nice glimpse down her shirt, enough to know the bra she was wearing was lacy and pink.

“I’m not sure, to be honest,” David replied, his expression turning anxious. “There was a lot of talking, and there were times when Jacob seemed really upset and Lauren would hold his hand. He didn’t cry, but he looked like he wanted to once or twice. And Jacob drew several pictures, some of which Lauren had him tear up.”

Paige set the waffle maker on the counter, and walked the few steps over to gather him into a soothing hug. “I’m sorry,” she murmured against his chest. “I know how hard this is for both of you.”

“It’s killing me, not knowing what’s going on.”

“You will, soon enough.”

He nodded, then took a deep breath and released it. “You’re still planning on being there with me, right?”

Given the nature of Paige’s relationship with David—and subsequently Jacob—Lauren had thought it would be good for Paige to be present during David’s talk with Lauren. “Of course.”

“Good.”

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