Page 93 of Worth the Fall

“Did we get the chalets then?” I asked, not realizing how loud I’d asked the question.

“We got the chalets!” That was Patrick. He looked pleased.

“Guess you have a lot of work to do.” I shot him a look because this was his baby and his crew that would be handling all of the building, on top of finishing the barn. It sounded like a lot of work to me.

“Not like I have anything else to do,” he said, and even though I didn’t think he meant for it to sound so sad, it still came out that way.

“We could always have another sleepover,” Clara interjected, clearly sensing the same thing I had.

“Anytime, princess,” he said, patting his dog’s head. “Let’s go, Jasper.”

“Where are you going? Can I come?” Clara asked, and I reached for her hand to stop her from chasing after her uncle.

“How about you come with me first, and then we’ll go visit your uncle Patrick in a little bit? I could use your help decorating,” I said, and her little eyes brightened as Patrick left the office with his dog following right behind.

“I love helping you decorate! I always have the best ideas, right? You said that one time, remember?”

“Of course I remember. You definitely have the best ideas. You’re very creative,” I complimented, hoping that I was contributing to her having healthy self-esteem and self-confidence.

“Is that okay, Daddy?” She turned toward her dad, but didn’t let go of my hand.

“Of course. Stay with Brooklyn though. Don’t wander off or hide,” he warned because she still had a bad habit of doing both whenever she was here.

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” I tried to reassure him, but sometimes, Clara could be sneaky. She’d disappeared on me once before, but I’d found her in the restroom, washing her hands.

“I’ll stay with Miss Brooklyn because I want her to be my mom someday,” she blurted out.

If I thought my cheeks had heated before when Thomas kissed me, they were on fire now.

“You do, do you?” Thomas asked, his tone completely cool, calm, and unaffected. The actual opposite of how I currently felt.

“I think she’d be a good mom. Don’t you, Daddy? But she said it wasn’t up to her. So, that means it’s up to you.”

“What brought all this on?” He shot me a look that told me he was enjoying this far too much.

“Miss Shooster likes you,” Clara said, and I noticed Thomas’s face instantly shift into something that looked like disgust.

“Yeah, thanks for the warning about that one,” I added with a look of my own, completely forgetting that Matthew and Mr. O’Grady were still in the room, listening in.

“Sorry about that. It slipped my mind,” Thomas apologized. “How bad was she?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” I said with a lilt to my tone that told him I’d won that particular battle and I would have no problem doing it again.

“Can’t wait to hear all about it later.” He gave me another kiss. In front of his father and his brother and his daughter.

If we planned on keeping our relationship a secret at work, we were doing a piss-poor job of it. Not that we’d even brought that particular topic up. I thought Thomas wanted everyone to know that we were together. And with Clara’s sweet declaration floating between us, I felt like I couldn’t blame him.

I wanted everyone to know too.