Dream Keeper (Dream Team 4)

But in the end, I was on my back and Auggie was still kissing me.

But he was doing other things to me as well.

* * *

Monday, my baby girl was back, Auggie was over, we’d had my steak tacos with fried corn and Peppadew peppers drizzled with my lime sour cream (a hit with Auggie).

He was over not only to eat, but so we could decide the Thanksgiving menu.

This was an important task as it’d be Juno’s second dinner and I didn’t want her to explode, but I did want her to have everything she wanted for the day.

I also wanted Auggie to have everything he wanted.

In our time together, I hadn’t pressed about it, but he’d shared more of his life with his parents.

So it was safe to say, I had been correct in what I told Juno.

Aug didn’t have a lot of heartwarming holiday memories under his belt.

Corbin’s mom, Melissa, was serving up Juno’s first Thanksgiving of the day, and fortunately Corbin’s mom was cool. She’d been pissed at Corbin for doing what he’d done, not at me for trusting he’d never do any such thing.

So when I’d called and asked what she was serving so I could plan, she told me (and we also had a nice chat).

Thus, I went into the Thanksgiving menu discussion armed with what I needed to cover all Juno’s bases, double up on the things she loved, and make sure Auggie was getting what he wanted, culinary-wise, from T-Day.

We three had found ourselves simpatico (not surprising), save for the fact that Melissa was making pumpkin pie, so Juno wanted pecan, but Auggie and me wanted pumpkin, so I was going to make both and have a ton of pie left over.

That was okay by me.

We were all planned out, it was time for Juno to hit the sack, Auggie was leaving, and I was walking him to his car so I could make out with him a little bit.

I didn’t make out with him.

He unearthed his phone, pulled up some pictures, gave it to me and said, “Scroll through those.”

I did that.

When I did, I had no clue why I was doing that.

They were pictures of an empty warehouse.

There was a kitchen and there was a loft in one corner and there seemed to be an under-loft space that was a living room because it had shelves on the walls.

But it was empty so it was all really nothing.

“What am I looking at?” I asked.

“I bought that from Hawk a year ago. I was going to put in a new kitchen. Redefine the living spaces. Cut it in half, live in one side and rent out the other. But I don’t like debt. So I bought it in cash. It wiped me out. This means I’ve been saving to start some reno.”

I offered his phone back to him with a smile and said, “Cool, honey. Nothing says, ‘I’m Batman’ more than living in the Batcave. What no one thinks about is that Batman had to do massive renos to the Batcave before he could move in.”

He laughed but shook his head and didn’t take the phone back.

“Look at it,” he urged.

“I did,” I told him.

“Look at it for a meditation/yoga studio.”

I grew still.

“It’s early, too early, with us being an us. I get it,” he stated. “I’m just telling you to think about it. Because if I end up with this chick I’m seeing, and she has a kid, and we make more kids, I can’t be living in a warehouse. So now I have a massive warehouse space and nothing to do with it. Except, maybe, this chick I’m seeing could use it.”

“Hot chick,” I corrected quietly.

“Sorry, yeah, hot chick,” he agreed, grinning at me.

I did not grin back.

I asked, “Are you serious?”

“I wouldn’t show it to you if I wasn’t.”

No, he wouldn’t do that.

“I can’t—”

“I’m not offering it to you that way,” he stated. “All I’m saying now is think on it. If you and I keep working and it’s something you want to explore, I’d want a business plan. I’d want to know what it would cost to renovate. I might invest and we’ll partner up. You might not want that and need to go for a loan. If you do, you’d need a business plan anyway. All I know is, my plans to renovate are on hold because I really dig this hot chick I’m seeing and there’s no point dropping a load on that space if it might be used for something better.”

Something better.

My voice was croaky when I asked, “Can you send me those pictures?”

He was watching me closely when he answered, “Sure, sweetheart. Take you to the space too, if you want to see it.”

I absolutely, one thousand and one percent wanted to see it.

I just nodded.