Page 12 of Alpha Bear Accountant

“Probably,” I said with a wink. “But the even better news is these look amazing. Please tell me you got bacon or sausage…preferably both.”

His shoulders relaxed and he smiled. “You seemed like a meat lover, so I got both.”

I’m definitely a meat lover… My eyes lingered on him for a long moment. “Then I love you too!”

10

NIAM

We worked all day, and for the first time since I came back to Oak Grove, I walked out of the office and closed the door behind me feeling like we’d made progress—serious progress. We found all the documents we needed for the auditors and a plan was in place. There was still a lot to do, but it no longer felt like I was drowning. It was more like I had a seat in the lifeboat.

That was a huge relief.

It was late—really late—and keeping my eyes open near the end of the day had been rough. So instead of asking Todd if he wanted to grab something to eat on the way home, like I wanted to, I told him good night at the door.

This wasn’t goodbye-goodbye, because I’d see him again. There was still a great deal of work to do to get the finances organized. But he had his day job to work the next day, and I couldn’t help feeling a bit sad about that. I wanted more days like today.

How weird was that? That I thought digging through papers, organizing files, and transferring numbers and accounts into a new software program was the be-all, end-all of good days.

Something changed today. Sure, there was still that deep attraction that distracted me to no end, but we’d also kinda broached the friend category too. And I liked that. I liked it a lot.

“Sorry to keep you up so late.” I arched my back to stretch after being hunched over for so long.

“Don’t be.” He tapped the ignition button on his key fob as we walked toward the lot. “I’m glad we got so much done today. And when I get home, according to the guys, my toilet will no longer wobble.”

And because I wasn’t awkward at all, I followed up his happiness over a sturdy toilet with an invitation to dinner. “Do you maybe want to grab dinner on Wednesday?” I don’t know why I picked Wednesday, but it sounded good.

“Let me check my calendar.” He pretended to tap on his phone as if looking through his schedule. “Work. Money pit project. Sleep. Look at that—Wednesday is wide open.”

I chuckled as he slipped his phone back in his pocket. “Seriously, do you have a project you planned to work on Wednesday?” The list was long and most rooms needed something done.

“I probably would have been fixing the baseboards in the kitchen.” He leaned in and whispered close to my ear, “Definitely something that can wait. I’d rather spend time with you.”

He was so close, it was difficult to focus on anything other than his breath on my neck.

It took a second for me to respond. “How about this? I’ll bring dinner. Then we can fix the baseboards together.”

“Only if you allow me to take you on a proper date on Friday, Niam. No work for either of us.”

Proper date. I liked the sound of that. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

He kissed my cheek. How I longed for those lips to be against my mouth instead. “See you on Wednesday.”

I could hardly wait.

The days dragged on and Wednesday couldn’t get there fast enough. At least I hadn’t asked him out for Thursday night. That would’ve been torture.

But I still kicked myself more than once for not asking him to come over sooner. What was wrong with Monday or Tuesday? I almost called to ask him to move it up, but then my father asked me to drive him to a medical appointment that was a couple of hours away on Monday afternoon. Then Andrew asked me to help him out with something at his house after work on Tuesday.

I owed him after all he’d done for Todd, so even though we were paying him, it wasn’t enough. He still gave up his Sunday, and I wanted to reciprocate.

Helping Andrew had been a good distraction from my day. I’d started the morning by having a meeting with the bank. I needed to get my brother’s name taken off all the accounts and have my name added. With my luck, he’d try to write a check off our accounts to fund whatever new thing caught his eye. We didn’t need that.

Wednesday finally rolled around, and I spent the afternoon cooking in my father’s kitchen. I still hadn’t figured out what I was doing with my life or if staying in town was the best option, and until I had a plan, it made sense to live with Dad.

I called my old boss and explained I didn’t know how long I’d be. My boss was pissed, but he knew I would always pick my family first. I’d never pretended otherwise.

After hemming and hawing over what to make, I decided on lasagna and a salad. I grabbed a loaf of bread from the bakery aisle at the market to pair with it. It was hardly gourmet, but most people liked lasagna, and it would heat up easily.

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