She nodded, respecting and understanding his excuse.
“Now you.”
Her chest tightened. “I, um…” What was her excuse? She considered the boys she knew from high school and the lack of chemistry. College wasn’t much better, because she was always rushing to class then off to work. “No one asked.”
He scoffed. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Why?”
“You’re a beautiful woman.”
Her cheeks caught fire.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. It was just an observation.”
Every muscle in her body tightened, but she somehow felt loose and flimsy and hot. A smile pulled at her lips, but she was afraid to give in to the emotions piping through her veins, afraid to come off over excited from one silly compliment. “Thank you.”
His stare remained focused on her face. “Smile.”
The urge to do so disappeared. Blinking at him in confusion, she wondered what this was. Was she putting herself in an inappropriate position? Was he being inappropriate? Was she reading too much into things? They were both adults.
She stared at him in question, unsure if he was like this with everyone or if there was something happening here. Her lungs felt shallow and tight. “I don’t know how to read you.”
“You’ll learn.”
That felt…promising. She swallowed, and slowly forced her guard down. A shy smile curved her mouth and he mirrored the expression.
“Beautiful. You shouldn’t hide your smile. It lights up the whole room.”
Her cheeks stretched and she laughed. “You’re embarrassing me.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s the attention.” He chuckled, as if amused by her shyness.
She used the sense of closeness to her advantage and asked, “Does Addison ever see her mom?”
The energy of the room drastically shifted and chilled. He stood, catching her off guard.
Collecting his plate and hers, he cleared the table. “The boys in this town must be nuts to have paid such little attention to you. Shame on them.”
A divot formed in her brow as he obviously dodged her question and turned the focus back on her. She got the unmistakable impression that her boss didn’t like to share personal details of his past. She’d try to remember that.
He turned on the faucet and proceeded to wash the dishes, leaving her there to process the abrupt change in him. He’d gone from acutely curious to completely disinterested and she regretted prying into his personal life.
Yet, he took no issue with speaking about hers. She desperately wanted to know if he was simply making observations about her or if he was implying something more—saying something without saying anything at all.
Maybe there was something wrong with her, because deep down she wanted it to be the latter.
Was it wrong that part of her was eager to answer anything he might ask? She should be more guarded with her secrets but she wasn’t. She wanted to trade all of hers—not that she had many—for a measly few of his.
His behavior made it clear that he had secrets and those secrets were off limits. Of course, that caused her to covet them even more.
10
Skylar spent the weekend hauling boxes up to the third floor and settling into her room. She used an old card table Gran had loaned her to set up a work station in the corner of her bedroom and a mason jar to hold her pens and highlighters.
She liked the sense of a fresh start and decorated the space with a minimalist’s touch, opting for open areas of sunlight over clutter and accents in white and beige. At the farmer’s market, Aunt Ashlynn gave her a small houseplant as a moving present, and Skylar set it on the built in seat by the big window in her bedroom.
By Sunday, her laundry was done and she was fully unpacked and settled in. Rhett had some work to do, so he was gone most of the day. Skylar used Addison’s nap time to work on a paper for her winter course.
When Addison woke from her nap, they had a snack and practiced her letters. They had finally settled into somewhat of a routine, and Addison was showing great affection for learning.
In the mornings they did a craft, usually one with a holiday theme. Then they practiced counting. They read a story in the afternoon, practiced her reading throughout the day, and usually went on an outing in town to get Addison out of the house. In the evenings they cooked together.
There was always something exciting happening, but Addison’s favorite part of the day was the moment her father came home. Skylar also looked forward to that part of the day and sometimes caught herself watching the clock or catching her breath when the sound of a car pulled into the driveway.
She didn’t overthink it and tried not to feed into her feelings too much.
Rhett was a handsome man. Of course, she noticed him. And he was kind and charming in a way she’d never experienced before. He was unique.