Page 57 of Trusting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 2)

He disconnected the call and couldn’t help feel a little bad that he’d kept the fact he was here from her. He was honestly surprised that his brothers hadn’t slipped and said something, but so far so good.

After checking in with Fernando, he walked back inside. Grace was still looking at the plans but when she noticed he was there she lifted her head. “Everything okay?”

He nodded. “It was my mom. She wanted me to meet her friend’s daughter next week.”

Grace’s eyes rounded. “She knows you’re back?”

“No. She wanted me to meet her in Tanzania.”

Her brow rose. “Did you tell her you’re already taken?”

His heart skipped in his chest at Grace’s response. It was the closest remark she’d ever made about them being a couple. But then she motioned toward his feet.

When he looked down, he saw Cleo making a circle eight between his legs. She had been showing up at the site for the past few days. The house was two miles from the B&B but she’d managed to track him down here. And she was always back at the B&B when he got home.

They’d fallen into quite the routine. She did yoga with him every morning after he had his coffee, and she had her tuna. She’d come by and visit him at the site at some point during the day and then she was always waiting for him on the porch when he got home. He’d give her shredded chicken for dinner and then she’d follow him up to bed and sleep by his feet.

She still wasn’t a huge fan of Grace, and he was pretty sure the feeling was mutual.

“This looks great.” Grace said as she rolled the plans back up. “Are you sure you can get that height?”

“Yep. The beams in the attic look like they are in good shape, so we can leave those exposed and it will only be a few hundred dollars for new drywall.”

“And a chandelier. We’ll need a chandelier in the center of the room.”

He loved that she could already see his vision and was adding to it.

“So, you’re signing off on this?”

She smiled and he felt his chest expand. “Yes.”

That smile. It was addicting. It gave him a high, a rush and he found himself feigning to see it every time he was away from her, even if he was just in the next room.

But that smile dropped as she handed the plans back to him. Her eyes narrowed. “How did you have the plans for that done for the inspector to sign off on if you just found out about the asbestos?”

Shit.He was busted. She was not going to be happy that he’d kept something from her. They’d talked, in depth, about how they wanted to approach this project, and both agreed that communication and teamwork was the key. He’d purposely kept something from her and although his intentions were good, he wasn’t quite sure she would see it that way.

“I found out about it yesterday, but I wanted to draw up these plans and get it approved by the inspector today before I told you about it. He just signed off on it.”

Her face was unreadable. He wasn’t sure if she was going to give him the silent treatment, blow up at him, or worst of all look disappointed like he’d betrayed her.

When he saw her eyes glistening with tears, his chest felt like it was caving in on itself. His first instinct was to pull her into his arms and apologize, but he wasn’t sure that was the right thing to do. He didn’t want to make the situation worse, so he waited.

“Thank you,” she finally spoke in a soft whisper and his already aching chest constricted further.

Her reaction looked sincere, but he still needed to make sure that she wasn’t being sarcastic or just trying not to blow up because there were cameras around. “You’re not mad?”

“Mad?” She sniffed and used the back of her hand to wipe beneath her nose as she shook her head. “Why would I be mad? There was a problem, and you took care of it. You came up with a solution and handled it before I even knew anything was wrong.”

Relief washed over him that she wasn’t upset, but there was something more he felt. It was something he couldn’t quite put his finger on, like when he’d felt nervous and jealous. This wasn’t a negative emotion though. This was different.

He felt…responsible, in the best way someone could. In that moment he felt like he’d done exactly what he should have done to take care of Grace and he wanted to be the man to always solve the problems and take care of situations for her.

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