“Well, somebody seems to have gotten his groove back.”
Mitch looked up from the construction drawings spread over the hood of his truck and arched a brow at Liam. “Excuse me?”
“I’m just sayin’, you don’t have that hangdog thing going on anymore. You seem more like your old self. Happy.”
Ecstatic was more like, but Mitch had been actively trying to tamp that down the last few days, since he and Tess were keeping things on the down low. No sense inviting questions by giving in to the urge to dance down the sidewalk and click his heels together like the star of some 1950s musical. But he knew he had to give some explanation. “I’ve got a new project I’m pretty pumped about.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
With a soundtrack of nail guns and circular saws behind them, Mitch filled Liam in on the plans to turn the old Heirloom Home Furnishings factory into a small business incubator. “It feels really great to do something positive there to change it, so it doesn’t remind Miranda, and doubly good that it’s something that will be a boon to the town. I needed to do something, and now I am.”
“That sounds awesome, man. Is it a Norah project?”
“No, it’s Tess’s.”
“Tess’s, huh?”
“Yeah. She’ll give Norah a run for her money on top powerhouse female in town. And if the two team up…God help us all.” Mitch couldn’t help chuckling at the thought. “I’m pretty sure together they could take over the world.”
“That explains it.”
He rolled his eyes at Liam’s ah ha tone. “Dude, cut it with the shit. I’m just happy to be working with good people and doing something useful.”
The former Marine didn’t look like he bought it, but didn’t call Mitch out. “So Tess is sticking around for this whole project?”
“Looks like.” Mitch said nothing about their roommate status. By some miracle, it wasn’t all over town yet, and he was grateful. At the moment, he wasn’t a hundred percent sure how it was going. The last couple of days, Tess had been a little distant and distracted. Was all of this setting up house together too much too soon? Maybe living together had started to take the bloom of excitement off their affair. Or maybe he was just paranoid and her mood had nothing to do with him. Part of this whole cohabitation experiment was getting a sense of real life together. Real life wasn’t going to be like the twenty-four-seven, giddy perfection of their vacation fling. And that was fine. The everyday could be just as awesome in its own right.
After finishing up the last of his site visits, Mitch headed home, excited to see Tess. With visions of cracking open a bottle of wine and talking over the day with her as they figured out supper, he stepped into the house, calling out, “Honey, I’m home!” It made h
im grin. At least until he heard the sound of retching from down the hall.
Ditching the briefcase and drawing tube, he sprinted toward the downstairs powder room. Tess was on her knees over the open toilet, heaving.
“Oh, baby.” Mitch stepped inside, automatically scraping her hair back from her face and holding it out of the way as her body betrayed her.
After a couple more minutes, she sank down with a whimper, breathing hard. “Hi.” Her voice came out as a croak, like she’d been at this a while.
Mitch tore off some tissue and handed it over. “I was gonna ask how your day went, but I’m guessing not great.”
Tess wiped her mouth and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. “Not so much.”
Jesus she was pale. No wonder she’d been acting off. Whatever this was had clearly been building for days and finally just knocked her flat. He wet a hand towel under cold water and wrung it out, laying over her brow.
“Thanks.”
“You think that wave is past or do you need to stay in here for a bit?”
“There is literally nothing left in my stomach to throw up.”
“Okay then. Up we go.” Carefully, he scooped her into his arms.
“You don’t have to carry me. I can walk.” Her tone was bristly, but her head lolled against his shoulder.
“I expect you can. But you don’t have to. What you need is some pjs and good old-fashioned caretaking.”
She stiffened. “I can take care of myself.”
“Again, not the point. You’re sick. Let me take care of you.”