“Later. Hey, Rosie, did you hide the mustard?”
Once Katie left, she found the mustard, which was hiding next to the ketchup in the door, and then, because she was feeling a little soft at the moment, she made him a couple of sandwiches.
“Josh, do you know what color Katie’s eyes are?”
Not surprisingly, he looked confused by the question. He squinted and she realized he was trying to cheat by looking at her eyes. “Uh, brown?”
She shook her head and started putting the sandwich stuff back in the fridge. Katie’s eyes were blue. Not as brilliant as the Kowalskis’ eyes, but a pretty pale blue like her father’s. She’d teased Earle more than once about their daughter being so much like him she’d even managed to buck the odds and get his recessive gene.
Josh was probably hopeless and Sean lived just far enough away to keep visits infrequent, so it looked like Rose’s best bet for having a baby to hold, even if it wasn’t technically her grandchild, might be Mitch. Now if she could only figure out which one of them was throwing a monkey wrench in the works.
*
Paige hummed happy love songs as she moved through her trailer, mentally checking things off her cleaning to-do list. She’d been humming all day, actually, which had annoyed Carl to no end, but she couldn’t help it.
Waking up in Mitch’s arms had gotten her day off to an amazing start and nothing had been able to dent her good mood. Not even Mitch’s grumbling when he realized he was awake at four-thirty in the morning.
He’d shown up for a quick breakfast about seven and then kissed her goodbye right in the middle of the diner before he went back to the lodge. Now she figured she had another two hours or so before he came back again, and she intended to put it to good use decluttering.
The cheery romantic sound track in her head came to a screeching halt when she checked the calendar to make sure she’d written “movie night” on it and noticed the date. Josh was having his cast off in six days. Katie had mentioned the date and Paige had written a note so she’d remember to ask Mitch how it went.
It was less than a week away. Of course, nothing said Mitch was going to get on his bike and ride out of Whitford the second the doctor shut off the saw, but he wouldn’t stay long.
Things had changed between them, maybe enough so he’d consider asking her to go with him. Maybe even enough so she’d consider saying yes.
Nothing said she had to sell the diner. Ava could run it on a day-to-day level with Carl’s help and, thanks to the wonders of modern communication, Paige could handle the administrative end of things from a distance. And it would be a good excuse to spend a long weekend at the lodge once a month or so.
The trailer she was less sure about. She couldn’t sell it without going through the legal hassle of dividing the land it sat on from the diner’s—assuming the property was even big enough to be subdivided at all. Maybe she could rent it out. To a single person, of course. Preferably one with no pets.
She was compiling a mental list of admirable qualities in a tenant when her cell phone rang, and the name on the caller ID screen made her stomach drop. It was her mother and the word Donna flashing at her was like a bucket of ice water dumped over her head.
Her mother. The woman who’d dropped everything to chase after a man more times than Paige could count. Just as she herself had been considering doing mere seconds before.
Mitch had made it perfectly clear he had no interest in a relationship beyond his short stay in Whitford, but there she was anyway, mentally walking away from her business and renting out her home so she could follow him to New York City. Ready to drop everything for pretty blue eyes and a charming smile.
When the phone chimed its missed-call signal, Paige realized she’d been standing there staring at it. She tossed it onto the table and rubbed her palms on her jeans. Her mother could wait.
What the hell was she doing?
Before she could change her mind, she picked the phone back up and dialed Mitch’s number, breathing a sigh of relief when it went straight to voice mail.
“Hi, it’s me. Something came up and I won’t be around tonight, but I’ll catch you later.” There was nothing else to say, so she hit End.
Then, before the shock could wear off, she gathered up all her paperwork and shoved it in a bag. There was a tiny closet of an office at the diner and she’d use it. The diner and the produce order and the constant debate between Styrofoam and paper were her reality, not some fling she’d overinflated into an epic romance in her imagination.
She walked across the lot, letting herself in the back door to avoid being seen. Gavin saw her, but he only waved when she gestured she’d be in her office. It was time to catch up on the important things she’d neglected while running around with Mitch.
And if she closed and locked the office door, she might even let herself have a good cry.