Page 30 of No Love Lost

She resisted rolling her eyes. “Things are under control, but thank you for your concern. It’s going to be a few days until I get it back, but it’s not a problem.” Graham Buchanan was out of town for a few days on a training session for Midnight Lake, but he would take care of the car once he was back. He’d had his buddies tow it to the sawmill on their property, where he had his mechanic’s area.

“I can drive you wherever you need.”

She smiled. “Thank you, but we’re fine. It may not look like it, but things really are under control.”

At that moment, Heath’s car turned into the driveway. If this wasn’t a reminder to her brain to respond to the first timer, she didn’t know what was.

Reminding her sharply of Nina, Heath bounced out of the car with a huge grin on his face. Where Jonas had looked over her outfit with a frown, Heath’s smile only grew as he checked her out.

Ignoring Jonas, he leaned in and brushed a kiss over her cheek. “I like the look.”

She was smiling when Heath’s body language changed, and he turned. “Jonas.” His voice was cool, as was his nod.

She wanted to tell him to stop acting like Jonas was a rival. The man was simply offering to help them out. With a smile, she tugged Heath closer. “Thanks for checking on us, Jonas. You’re a good neighbor. I’ll see you later. Thanks again.”

He nodded at her and moved to his car, frowning at Heath, who put his hand on her lower back and ushered her inside. “While you look incredibly cozy, I think you’ll be warmer inside.” And then they were inside and he closed the door, looking smug.

Addy laughed and rolled her eyes. “You might lose your King Of Manners title if you keep treating Jonas like a beetle.” Heath’s unrepentant grin had her shaking her head, but she was still smiling.

“I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

“Like a neighbor he feels responsible for?”

Heath shrugged and ran his hand up the sleeve of her fuzzy sweater. “How’d the writing go this morning?”

She gestured at her outfit. “Great. I wrote right through two timers before the deadline buzzer scared me half to death.”

He frowned. “I don’t want you putting aside your work for me.”

And this was one reason she loved him. “I’m not. I set the timers all the time otherwise I forget all kinds of things.”

Nina popped into the kitchen with a cheerful smile. “Mom would keep writing through a natural disaster if the words were going well. She wouldn’t even notice if the roof flew away in the wind.”

“Hey.”

Nina grinned. “Are you going to tell me that’s not true?”

Well, she couldn’t argue with that, so she just shrugged.

Heath and Nina both laughed, warming her heart again. “I’ll be back in a minute. I’m going to go get dressed.”

“Don’t change on my account. I like the alligators.”

Laughing, she moved into her bedroom. She liked the alligators too, but she switched them out for leggings and a sweatshirt long enough to cover her butt. She brushed her hair and put her slippers back on. After the kisses they’d shared, she didn’t feel the need to be anyone but herself.

They’d decided to do a family game day and to make pizzas together for supper. Heath had insisted on picking up all the ingredients from Phail Phoods before he arrived.

She found Nina sitting on her beanbag chair on the floor beside the coffee table and Heath in the middle of the couch. She slipped into the spot beside him, and he grinned at her. “Nice shirt.”

“Thanks.” This one had Story Teller written across the front with Ojibwe art surrounding the words. It was one of her favorites. “What are we playing?”

Nina grinned. “Yahtzee first. He’s a money guy, so he should be good with numbers. We’ll see if he can keep up.”

Heath pointed at Nina. “You’re on, Spitfire. You’re going down.”

Nina held her own, but Heath won that one. Nina smashed them both in Scategories. Everyone won a round of Clue. Addison took Scrabble. And Heath destroyed them both in Risk.

Her favorite was Would You Rather? The questions were hilarious, but it gave them fabulous insights into each other and she could see Heath committing Nina’s thoughts to memory. He gobbled up all the information about her that he could. A sponge for information, like his daughter.

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