It would have been nice to have Hailey there with him, but she said she’d rather get together with Tori and catch up over coffee and pie at the diner since sports weren’t really her thing. Wednesday night, when he put the Sox and Orioles game on, she’d curled up against him with a book and read while he watched it.
It had gotten a little rough when a bad call pissed him off and she whacked him with the book in the middle of his rant because she only had one chapter left, but all in all, it wasn’t a bad way to share their time.
She liked to read a lot. And reading books could be done anywhere. At a cabin in the woods. On a fishing boat. In a tree stand. Of course, there wasn’t a comfy leather sofa at the cabin, on their boat or up the tree, but it was a start.
Something happened on the TV and the crowd in the room went wild, but Matt had missed it because he was thinking about Hailey. More importantly, because he’d been thinking of ways he could make his life more palatable for her.
He really needed to stop doing that.
*
SLEEPING IN ON a Sunday morning was a wonderful thing, Hailey mused as she burrowed deeper under the blankets, but it wasn’t very conducive to getting chores done. Neither was spending more time at one’s neighbor’s house than in one’s own, which was why she’d made a point of sleeping in her own bed last night.
Matt had stopped by yesterday after the baseball game and they’d fooled around on the couch for a while. But he’d needed to get home because he’d been doing laundry earlier in the day and the longer his uniforms sat in the dryer, the harder they were to iron. She’d declined to join him. Not only because she had no intention of being charmed into helping him iron, but because going back and forth between their houses was starting to feel a little ridiculous.
Stretching, she rolled over to look at her clock. She really needed to get up, get dressed, and clean her house. And she’d taken a roast out of the freezer, so she needed to cook it before it had to be tossed. Maybe that’s what she’d do today. She’d make a roast dinner with herbed potatoes and have Matt over for supper.
After she showered and dressed, she spent the morning doing some much needed cleaning. Then she paid a few bills and dumped the stack of junk mail that seemed to be multiplying on her counter into the recycling bin in her garage. Only once she’d accomplished the bare minimum she had to get done for the day did she text Matt.
Do you have supper plans?
I plan to have supper. That’s all the plan I have.
Roast at my house?
Hell yes.
She smiled and started going through the prep list in her head. Baking wasn’t her thing, but she was a good cook and she was looking forward to showing that off a little. Maybe she’d even break out some candles to make it a little more special.
It was probably as close to a nice, romantic dinner date as she was going to get.
That thought lingered as she dug through her pantry for the seasonings she’d need, festering until she couldn’t keep it shoved to the back of her mind anymore and had to acknowledge it.
She wanted to go on a real date with Matt. A date that didn’t involve bug spray. She didn’t expect him to take her to an opera, but somewhere she could wear sexy shoes would be nice.
When she heard Matt’s lawnmower spring to life, she shoved the resentful thoughts back into the recesses of her mind where they belonged. Matt was who he was, and he hadn’t pretended otherwise. If she wanted to go someplace nice, it was going to be on her to get them there.
Looking out the window, she saw Bear lying on the deck, pouting. He wasn’t allowed off the deck while Matt was mowing and he made no secret of the fact he resented every minute of it.
Since it would be a while yet before she had to put the roast in the oven, Hailey walked next door and sat on the top step of the deck next to Bear. He nuzzled closer until his head was in her lap and they watched Matt do laps on the riding lawnmower. He’d started doing hers, too, since the last incident, and she hadn’t bothered complaining about the big riding mower again.
When he was done, he joined them on the deck. He yanked his T-shirt up and mopped the sweat off his forehead with the hem of it. “It’s getting humid today.”
“All you do is sit on it and steer. How do you get so gross?”
“Gross?” He actually looked offended. “It’s sweat. It’s something people do when they work in the yard in the summer.”
“Fine. Not gross. All you’re doing is steering the mower. How do you get so covered in manly sweat?”
“That’s better. And when you’re going that fast, it takes some effort to steer it.”
“I won’t bother to point out you could slow down.”
“Then it would take longer. Why are you cooking a roast tonight?”
She shrugged. “I had it in the freezer and I thought it would be nice to have a roast with herbed potatoes. Maybe some steamed carrots if I have any.”
“Sounds like the kind of meal I’ll need to take a shower for.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Right now a granola bar is the kind of meal you’d need to take a shower for.”