Page 16 of Clean Sweep
“I’d love to!” she cried.
“Sorry,” he murmured. “She’s a bit of a rocketship.”
“She’s a wonder,” I replied without quite meeting his eyes. “Come on in.”
Celeste already studied photos on the opposite wall. The very ones that I’d almost scratched my ex’s face off of after the divorce. Even when amicable, divorce totally sucked. It brought out new parts of someone that you thought you knew, even if it was thego quietly into the nightside of them.
Seeing that new side of them is when you realized you’d been secretly holding your breath, hoping they would fight for you at the very end, when it really mattered the most. Most of the time, it turns out, the fight had already been taken out of both of you and no one tried to save anything.
That’s when the pain really started.
I felt Tanner following behind us. Knowing he lingered back there distracted me from my weird-divorce musings that had become more of the background as time passed by.
“We’ve lived here for twenty-six years now,” I said, not sure if I spoke to Celeste or Tanner. Why would Celeste care?
I placed a hand in my back pocket as I gazed around. The place almost looked brand new after Tanner had finished cleaning it.
“We’ve redecorated and updated a few times but it might need another round soon.”
“Looks great,” Celeste said.
“Thanks.”
The sound of the vacuum wheels turning caused me to spin. Tanner bent over to grab the bucket and I had to force myself to look away from a beautiful backside in that perfectly-fitting pair of jeans. Ogling Tanner in front of his daughter would be the height of weirdness.
Not to mention that that backside had just scrubbed my tile grout.
Still couldn’t wrap my mind around it.
“Is Blake home?” Celeste asked.
“He’s playing a game with someone upstairs. A girl across the country, I think? I don’t know, they meet up online every Saturday morning for a few hours to play.”
Her expression fell. “He sounds busy. I won’t bother him, just wanted to say hi. Tell him I stopped by?”
“Of course.”
Celeste smiled again, then headed back to the door. Tanner easily carted the basket and the vacuum to the truck that rumbled around town. A woman had driven it a few times, if I remembered correctly. Yessica, I would imagine?
I purposefully stayed back on the porch while they returned to their truck, as far away as reality could put me from Tanner Beck.
“Good to see you!” I called to Celeste, then to Tanner as he closed the tailgate. “And thank you again. The house looks fantastic.”
Tanner waved, but vaguely seemed to avoid looking my way. Which should have given me relief, but instead I felt a twinge of annoyance. Why couldn’t hunky men be adorably awkward like in the movies? Instead, he was downright dismissive.
Maybe a touch . . . cool.
Or maybe I wanted a reason to not crush like a fourteen-year-old on him. Celeste walked backwards as she waved. “Good to see you again, Les!”
Before she made it to the sidewalk, and just as Tanner headed toward the driver’s door, a familiar car pulled into my driveway. As soon as the wheels rolled to a stop and it parked, a lean body unfolded from the driver’s seat. Landon shot out.
“Hey, coach!” he cried.
Tanner’s head snapped up. A moment of confusion registered before a huge grin split his face. That ridiculous, white-toothed smile sent my heart into a mad whirl.
Hold the phone.
Coach?
