Page 20 of Gifts

“What are you painting?” I ask.

She drops her arms and leans back. “You mean, what am I not painting? Woodwork, walls, ceilings … if it’s atrocious, I’m painting it. Or tearing it down.”

I stretch my arm across the back of my booth. “This shouldn’t surprise me. You were willing to tackle that flat tire on your own. Still, when I first saw you standing in the ditch, you didn’t strike me as a woman who liked to get her hands dirty.”

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah? Well, lots of things change when a woman gets moved out to the country and becomes the owner of a century-old house that looks its age, adopting a donkey in the process.”

I tip my head. “You adopted the donkey?”

“Jasmine came with the property. The cats just keep showing up, so I feed them. The dogs and goats came later. Over the last three years, four goats somehow spiraled into thirteen. I need another goat like I need a hole in the head, but the kids love them. We had babies for the first time this year and Saylor is in goat heaven.”

I frown. “You fixing up the house all by yourself?”

She pulls in a big breath. “I’m doing more than I ever planned. I have a contractor, but the budget changed and now he works for me on the cheap when he can. When I say cheap, I mean almost for free. I’m lucky, he only does it because he likes us. Right now he’s working on the porch, but my list is long. I’d move back to the city in a heartbeat but the kids love it and it’s their home, so I’m making it work. It should be done by the time I retire.”

I raise a brow. “You’re full of surprises.”

She changes the subject. “Did you find out anything about our suspected drug dealer?”

I lean my forearms on the table and shake my head. “Stolen plates.”

“Oh. Well, shit.”

I smirk. “I’m still making some calls. Don’t give up on me yet.”

“Who, may I ask, are you making calls to?”

I shake my head and give her a small smile. “I’ve got contacts. We’ll see how well they pan out. For now, just know I’m working on it.”

She nods before putting her forearms on the table. “Why did you just show up tonight instead of calling? You have my number.”

“Would you have said yes to dinner had I called?”

She looks over at the kids feeding the machines before back to me and lowers her voice. “No.”

I lower mine, too. “That’s why I didn’t call.”

She leans in closer. “I’ve decided I’m not dating anyone, Asa.”

I feel my lips tip on one side. “Aren’t you presumptuous? We’re not in high school, Keelie. I don’t date.”

She sits up, taken aback. “Oh.”

I focus on her blue eyes and milky skin. “This is me getting Emma out of the house. This is me getting to know you. This is us feeding our kids and doing it on the easy since I hate to cook. This is also me meeting your kids so it’s not weird.”

Her eyes narrow. “Why would it be weird?”

I lean back and stretch my arm across the booth again. “It would only be weird if we dated and had to do the whole meet-each-other’s-kids’ thing. But we won’t need to worry about that, since we both don’t date.”

“Good.” Her shoulders relax a bit.

I lean in again. “Keelie?”

Her brows pucker under the bill of her blue baseball hat. “Hmm?”

I lower my voice. “We’re adults. I don’t need to date to know what I want.”

Her pink lips part and she pulls in a breath. “What do you mean?”

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