Page 31 of Second Chances

“I can do casual.” She relaxed against his shoulder.

“Tell me about your day so far,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her. He listened to her talk about her morning at work, about Simona’s adventures at Kayla’s day care, and what she had planned for dinner and the evening.

To most it would have sounded boring. To him, it sounded wonderful. He wanted to take part in all of it. He wanted to hear Simona chatter on about her day, what she’d drawn or what games she’d played. He wanted to hear about Olivia’s workday and help her plan to keep her daughter entertained for the evening.

When Simona spotted him, she rushed over and hugged him and then took over the conversation for a few moments until her friends called her back out to swing on the swing set.

When the sun started to get low, Olivia called Simona over and they packed up to head home for dinner.

Since he needed some more groceries, he made a stop and purchased some food. Ethan followed him inside and purchased a full load of groceries for him and Javan.

When he unloaded his groceries from his car, he could see a light in the rooms above the garage and was surprised when Javan appeared on the pathway to his front door.

“Everything all right, boss?” Javan asked, his white teeth almost glowing in the moonlight.

“Yes,” he answered, letting the man take one of the bags of groceries from his hands. “Here?”

“All quiet. Everything is in place.” He nodded, understanding that the man had gone through and installed two wall gun safes, one behind a picture in the living room and another one in the closet of the main bedroom upstairs. Since they had discussed that it would be better for him not to be on the bottom floor, he’d spent time earlier that day moving his things up to the main bedroom on the top floor.

It hadn’t taken long to get the bedroom set up; the hardest part was moving the new mattress from downstairs up the two flights of stairs. But thanks to Ethan and Javan, it hadn’t taken as much effort on his part.

After putting away his groceries, Javan and Ethan disappeared while he made himself a grilled cheese sandwich and heated up some soup. He took his food into the television room along with a beer and watched the sports channel until he started dozing off on the sofa. Then he shut everything off, locked up, and headed up the stairs to bed. He felt more at ease and slept a lot better that night, knowing that Ethan and Javan were out there, watching out for him.

Chapter 9

Silver Cove wasn’t that small of a town. But still, the next morning at work, she heard the rumors about the two men who had moved into the apartment above Todd’s garage the day before.

When she had a moment to sit behind the counter, she pulled out her cell phone and sent him a text.

“I heard you had two renters move in?”

His reply came almost ten minutes later.

“Yeah, we’ll talk more about that tonight. Looking forward to seeing you. I’ll pick you up at the store around six?”

“Six is good,” she replied. She couldn’t help smiling for the rest of her shift.

She’d brought along clothing so she could change out of the yoga pants and the top she’d worn to her morning yoga class. Clocking out when Cora arrived early, she headed back and utilized the showers in the changing room and quickly dressed in a cotton dress, a light blue sweater, and her favorite pair of sandals. She figured her outfit was just the right amount of casual. After fixing her hair and makeup, she put her bag into the office and locked up.

When she stepped into the main part of the store, Todd was already there, chatting with Cora about star charts.

When she noticed the bundle of flowers in his hands, she melted.

“For me?” she asked. She held in a giggle as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Yes.” He brushed his lips over hers. “Cora was just reading my charts.”

“Cora is terrible at reading charts,” she teased. “She actually told me last month that I’d be taking a very long unexpected tropical trip.” Olivia narrowed her eyes at her friend. “I’m still waiting for my airplane tickets to arrive.”

Cora laughed. “It’ll happen. Sooner or later,” she joked back. “You two kids have fun tonight.”

Cora was a year younger than Olivia, so her comment made her laugh. “Okay, Mom.” She tugged on Todd’s hand as they walked out of the store together. “So,” she said when they were outside in the heat, “where to?”

He locked his fingers with hers and started strolling down the sidewalk. “First, I want you to know that I pulled some very serious strings to get us in this place tonight.” He stopped suddenly and then pulled her into his arms. “So, I hope you don’t mind if it’s going to take a while before we eat.”

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and shook her head. “I had a late lunch,” she told him, but her stomach silently growled, and she wished for an early dinner. Just to be with him, she’d fend off the starvation. For a while.

“Good.” He leaned in and gently placed his lips over hers. “Second, I hate to do this to you, and I’ll explain on the way, but we won’t be traveling alone.” He motioned to a rather large man leaning against a dark sedan.