Page 20 of Loved By Tandy

Then I’d feel guilty because the man is paying out the nose at some run-down motel. And I have two extra rooms.

He won’t have to stay all that long. I told Matthew to build Colt’s cabin first. I say cabin, but it’ll be a small house. Two bedrooms. Two baths. I want Colt to have a nice place so that he’ll stay for a while. And Matthew says they can build it in a short amount of time.

I run back to the dryer and toss in the sheets. Hopefully, they won’t take too long. Offering the man a bed without clean sheets seems rude.

Once the dryer is doing its thing, I head toward the kitchen but detour when someone knocks on the door. Colt must be early.

When the door swings open, I’m greeted by Matthew’s smiling face.

He tips his hat. “Evening. I got the plans back for the wrangler’s cabin. Thought you’d want to see them.” He taps the folder tucked under his arm.

“Perfect. Come in.” The oven timer beeps, and I hurry to the kitchen. “Make yourself at home. I need to check on the food.”

He calls out, “I didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner. I can come back another time.”

As I pull the foil off the top of my meatloaf, I shout. “Don’t leave. I made plenty. Stay.”

“You sure?”

I’m finding that I enjoy Matthew’s company. But I’m not quite ready to admit that to him. “Yes. Besides, Colt is coming over, and he’ll want to see the plans also. Just have a seat. I need to get the rice cooking.”

“You convinced me.”

Cooking isn’t something I do every night because making food for one gets boring. But since Colt is coming, I made an excessive amount of food. Hopefully, Matthew and Colt both eat multiple servings.

Matthew is quiet as I get the rice into the cooker and then chop a few vegetables and toss them in the air fryer. Then I quickly set the dining table.

When I walk into the living room, Matthew is holding a pair of my lacy panties. “These aren’t what I expected. They’re pretty.”

Blinking, I bounce my gaze between Matthew and the stack of undies next to him. “You folded my laundry.” Then I go back to rubbing my temples. In all my running around, I still haven’t taken anything for my headache.

“Yep. It was here. I didn’t have anything to do. If I folded stuff wrong, I’m sorry.” He picks up the stack of panties. “Where should I put these?”

“Follow me.” I traipse down the hall. “And what do you mean by not what I expected?”

He follows without answering.

The cats don’t even stir when we walk into my room. Ever since the renovations were completed, they’ve made a point to spend time in the rooms they were locked out of before. And the past few days it’s been my room. Specifically, my bed.

I yank open a drawer. “My underwear goes in here.”

After tucking the stack in its place, Matthew picks up a pair of briefs, what most people would call granny panties. “I can’t say that I’ve given a whole lot of thought to what you wear under those jogging suits and sweater vest sets. But when I saw lace, I was surprised. This pair, though, that’s more what I expected.”

I snatch it out of his hand. “Those are old. Delaney has such cute stuff in her shop, and I decided to pamper myself with pretty things.” I fling the briefs into the back of the drawer. “Why are we talking about my underwear?”

He shrugs. “We can talk about whatever you want. I’ll have to trust you about Delaney’s shop. I haven’t been in there.”

“Your grandson is in and out of there all the time.” I rub my face and walk toward the kitchen.

Matthew laughs. “Eli is head over heels for that woman. Did you know that he worked there one day so that she could be away from the shop?”

“Yep. I popped in for fun that morning.”

He brushes past me when we get to the kitchen and opens the cabinet where I keep my medicines. “Have you taken anything for that headache?”

“Not yet.” I haven’t said a word about a headache, so I must look terrible.

He gets out pills, then fills a glass with water. “Here. Tense? Worried?”

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