Page 21 of No Love Lost

Heath all but shoved her inside the door as Jonas moved back to his own car. “It’s freezing out there. You don’t have a jacket on, and your hair’s wet. Are you okay? Does that bother your lungs or your heart?”

She laughed again. “I’m fine. I’d only just answered the door when you drove in. Actually, I figured it was you at the door.”

He studied her face. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“I’m sure. I’m not usually fragile. Yesterday was an exception.” In so many ways.

He grinned, and she smiled back. “Why did that guy want to stab me?”

Her eyebrows shot up. “What? That was just Jonas. He’s our neighbor. His family used to own this property, and he feels the need to make sure everything’s okay.”

Heath frowned. “I don’t think it’s the property he’s checking on.”

She laughed again. “Not a chance.”

Nina came into the kitchen smiling. “Hi.” There was a hesitation, and Addison realized they hadn’t had a conversation about what she should call him. They’d save that for later.

Heath smiled warmly at her daughter. His daughter. Their daughter. It was taking some time to get used to thinking in those terms.

“Hi, Nina. Did you have fun working at Kimi’s today?”

She grinned, obviously pleased he’d remembered. “I did. Although I groomed Snoops and smelled like donkey. But I showered so I wouldn’t stink up your car and the diner.”

Heath laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever smelled donkey before. Might have been interesting.”

Addison had worried it might be awkward, but she relaxed as Heath and Nina talked about her job working with the veterinarian.

When they’d bundled into their outerwear, he tucked Addy’s scarf up over her mouth and then opened the car doors for both her and Nina.

Her heart was in trouble again but for a very different reason this time.

CHAPTER 7

No Lunch Lost

Pride filled Heath as he drove to town with Addy and Nina in his car. He was the dad of an amazing girl. Well, he was probably just a father for the moment. The title of Dad had to be earned. And he was going to earn it.

The previous night, it had been hours before he’d been civilized enough to return to the house. But Levi’s hay bales had done the trick. He’d been able to vent out a ton of the hurt, anger, and pain.

He’d slept like the dead for enough hours that he felt mostly human today. He’d spent some time on the internet researching heart conditions in pregnancy. Preeclampsia was relatively common. High blood pressure in the latter stages of pregnancy. He hoped it was that, because that condition appeared to improve after the baby’s birth. Addy had said her heart had healed.

Another condition was cardiomyopathy. As far as he knew, Addy didn’t have many of the risk factors, although her youth may have contributed. And her finances. He’d bet she hadn’t had the money for doctor’s visits. He’d have ensured she had the best of everything. His parents had so much to answer for.

After his research, he’d written emails to anyone who needed to know that he was relocating to Phail. Which still sounded ridiculous.

His parents weren’t on the list of who needed to know. He wasn’t sure when or how he was going to deal with that, but he had to do it. He just didn’t want to lose any time with Nina and Addy to deal with them.

But he wasn’t going to think about that when he was taking his girls for lunch. He wondered if his girls was insulting or politically incorrect. Addy was a woman, not a girl. And she wasn’t his anymore. But his brain wanted to call them his girls, and he was going to let it. He just wouldn’t do it out loud.

Was there any chance for him to have Addy as his again? He’d harbored so much anger at her for years. Getting ghosted had been devastating. Now he knew she hadn’t ghosted him at all.

Could they rekindle that relationship? No other woman had ever attracted him like Addy. He’d never felt that shiver of awareness when other women walked into a room. When he’d first seen her over the roof of his car yesterday, he’d wanted to kiss the breath out of her. Well, he’d wanted to do a lot more than that, but kissing her would have been a good start.

He still wanted that. Wanted more than that. Every time they touched in the most innocent of ways, his body fired up. He wanted her.

But he wasn’t going to rush and screw it up. Nina had to be the priority now. The adults could wait. Probably.

He pulled into the same parking lot as the previous day and looked over at Addy’s car, which still sat there. Then he laughed. “The odds of both of us pulling into this parking lot at the same time have to be astronomical.”

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