Page 64 of Love Unexpected
“Thanks.” There was a distance to his tone that set me on edge. Isaac was not the kind of man who built walls around himself. And yet, there was a definite wall now. One he’d put firmly between us, apparently. He looked at Marley. “So, I borrowed your apron and made some breakfast. I hope you don’t mind.”
Marley shook her head. “I love breakfast. It smells amazing.”
Isaac smiled, glancing down the hallway between us. “Is Shiloh awake yet?”
“I’ll go get him,” I said louder than I needed to. I needed a purpose. A reason tonotstand in close proximity to Isaac for even a minute longer.
Marley and Isaac were back in the kitchen when I walked Shiloh down the hallway, my hands covering his eyes. We stopped at the edge of the kitchen table, where Shiloh would have a clear view of the man flipping pancakes at his mother’s stove. “Are you ready?” I said close to Shiloh’s ear.
He pushed my hands away, pausing long enough to take in the scene before him. Slowly, he reached up and tugged on my shirt. “Aunt Rosie?” he said quietly.
I grinned at Marley, who was pouring herself a mug of coffee across the room. “What’s up, kiddo?” I said.
“IsRandom Imaking pancakes in my kitchen?”
I chuckled. “Yep. He sure is.”
The next twenty minutes went by in a blur. Isaac and Shiloh talked nonstop. About the show. About school. About soccer. About the prize pack Isaac promised to have mailed right to Shiloh’s front door. Through it all, Isaac didn’t get his phone out once. No recording, no photos. Nothing. Just Isaac giving of himself to a kid who really needed it.
A bolt of yearning shot through me, squeezing my heart in a way that almost hurt. I wanted this man. Desperately. Watching him with Shiloh, recognizing that, wall between us or not, he’d listened to what I’d wanted his visit with Shiloh to be, flamed a spark of hope in me that the night before, I’d all but completely squashed out. Suddenly, I wanted to just tell him everything. Get everything out in the open, come what may.
Marley and Shiloh took off a few minutes after breakfast in order to make his tournament, leaving Isaac and me to finish up the dishes. We worked in companionable silence, though my mind couldn’t stop rehashing my confession.It’s me, Isaac. Ana Rose. Rosie. It’s always been me.Just when I finally felt like I’d worked up the nerve to begin, a knock sounded on the back door.
“That’s Tyler,” Isaac said casually.
I froze, the last dish from the sink still in my hand. Tyler was here?
Clearly reading my confusion, Isaac continued. “I had him catch an Uber to meet us here. Figured it would save us a little time and let us get on the road quicker.”
“But aren’t we supposed to have breakfast somewhere in Nashville?” I’d actually forgotten about breakfast until then. I would have eaten a few less pancakes had I remembered. Not to mention the fact that in order to get back to the interstate that would take us north toward St. Louis and then Kansas City, we would have to drive right back through Nashville. Making Tyler Uber all the way to us felt like a superfluous trip.
“Yeah. But now we won’t have to stop at the hotel to pick Tyler up.”
Before I could say anything else, Isaac crossed to the back door and let Tyler in.
Tyler entered the kitchen and eyed me curiously, one eyebrow drawn up, but what could I tell him? Isaac obviously wasn’t telling me the full truth. Tyler might even know more than I did.
We finished up the kitchen and gathered our belongings with little conversation. Not until we were outside by the car, Tyler loading gear and luggage into the tiny back hatch of the rabbit.
Isaac approached me, a sheepish look on his face. “So I thought we might change things up a little today,” he said, avoiding eye contact.
“Okay,” I said hesitantly. “In what way?”
He ran a hand through his still-messy hair. “Tyler has just been so cramped sitting in the back, I thought he could ride shotgun today, get some close-up shots of me driving, and some shots of the open road. Are you cool with that?”
Wow.The wall between us had apparently doubled in size. “Isaac, if this has something to do with last night—”
“It has nothing to do with last night,” he said coolly. “It’s just business. Just getting the shots we need to make the video work.”
He was lying to me. Blatantly. And dismissing me in a way that stung so deeply, it triggered anger instead of tears. Who did he think he was? To be so dismissive after what had happened between us seemed hugely out of character for him. “Whatever you think is best,boss,” I said, emphasizing the word I knew he hated to hear from his team members.
His jaw tightened, but he didn’t say another word.
Settled into the back of the rabbit, I pulled out my phone and did my best to ignore the banter happening in the front seat. As soon as Tyler turned on the camera, Isaac turned on the charm, playing to the audience that would eventually see segments of the video. Tyler shot me a few concerned looks over his shoulder but didn’t make any attempt to pull me into the conversation. Apparently, his instructions from Isaac had been clear.
I scrolled through my notifications, noticing a message that had come in earlier that morning. Somehow with the excitement of Shiloh and breakfast and all that had happened, I’d missed it.
@RandomIOfficial: Morning. Today is the day! I’m nervous, honestly. But I think you get me, Ana. You understand me in ways that other people never have. I think this is going to be a very good thing.
