The Lumberjack's Nanny: A Forbidden Romance (Rockford Falls 3)

“So that wasn’t her boyfriend?”

“No. But you’re interested, or you wouldn’t ask?”

“Not interested, wondering if I need to call in a domestic disturbance report.”

“If it was a domestic disturbance, her best friend there’s a cop, and besides, if Rachel had an abusive boyfriend, he’d disappear. There wouldn’t be an arrest. Those two girls would take care of business.”

“You sound like you’re impressed by them.”

“And a little scared. It’s good to have a healthy fear of a strong woman,” he said.

“Does she work nonstop at the diner?”

“Rumor has it she wants to buy the place,” Noah said. “But I think old Hugh’s gonna be in a body bag before he retires.”

“She sounds ambitious.” “You should totally ask her out.”

“I don’t have time for that kind of thing.”

“A date? Lunch? Dinner? What do you mean you don’t have time?”

“Look, tonight, I only called you because Sadie had been begging to go see Miss Denise all week, and she said she had time to watch her a couple hours. I don’t have a lot of free time.”

“And when you do, you’re spending it with me. Love ya like a brother but spend those two hours with that hot woman who looks at you like you’re the ice cream sundae she’s gonna break her diet for.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

A waitress came over and set a cold longneck in front of me. “Compliments of the lady you rescued,” she said and winked.

“She sent you a drink. Go over there!” Noah said.

“No. If she wanted to talk to me, she’d come over here. Besides she’s had enough pushy men to deal with for one night. Like I said, I don’t have time for a social life, and I’m not—comfortable bringing someone into my home with my daughter.”

“I didn’t say you should move her in. I said you should ask her out. It’s not a huge commitment. Although I haven’t seen you date anyone in the, what, three or four years you’ve been here. So maybe it is a big deal to you.”

“I have baggage. Everybody has a history, I know, but my kid is too important to me and my life is too good as-is to mess it up just to go on a couple dates with a woman who’s gonna want more than I’m willing to give her.”

“You’re overthinking this for sure. But whatever,” Noah said, and went to get another drink.

About that time, I got a text from Denise that Sadie swore she wasn’t tired, but she kept yawning. I told her I’d be there in ten minutes. I left a tip on the table and met Noah at the bar, clapped him on the back and said I was leaving.

“It’s eight-thirty!”

“I know. My kid’s tired and I’ve got a story to read and a song to sing.”

“You’re hopeless,” he called after me.

I wondered on the way home if he was right. Not about being hopeless, but about asking Rachel out. Spending an evening with an adult, a woman I liked and wanted to know better—it sounded strange and alluring. I hadn’t been interested in anyone in so long. The first couple of years raising Sadie, she’d needed me so much and it had been so consuming. My love for her, my fear of screwing up, of not being enough because I was a single parent—all of it had been intense. I hadn’t felt like I had time to pause for five minutes, much less make friends, have a social life. It was all parenting and setting up my lumber business and working to sustain it.

Something about a pie-baking, smart-mouthed waitress was making me wonder if it was time to make a change. Make room in my life for the possibility of more. I didn’t have to hustle like a madman to make money. I had more than enough before I ever started this business. Working, being industrious, filling my days had become a habit. If it was time to reevaluate and think about stepping back, hiring help to manage part of the business and take on some of that load, I would consider that in the fall. Spring and summer were prime time for housing starts and remodels in the area, and I wasn’t ready to train someone on top of all that work. It would need to be the off-season. Maybe in the autumn I could get things running smoothly enough to work a four-day week or shorten my hours at least.

Resolving on a timeline to hire and train some more employees and adjust my schedule didn’t seem to resolve the restlessness that crawled over my skin though. I got home, tucked in the little night owl and sat down to go over my upcoming orders for the week. In the quiet house, with nothing but a soft breeze coming in the open window and the distant cry of an owl, I could tune in and recognize what was bothering me.