All I Ask(47)

My heart skips as I see him for the first time since we kissed. His stubble is almost a beard and he looks tired, but irresistible at the same time.

“I’ll let you two say hello,” Mrs. Hartz says with a smile. “Let me go make sure there’s no bloodshed.”

I look to them both.

“Mom.” He sighs.

“I’m sure they’re fine. I was kidding.”

It may have been a joke but could be a possibility.

“If you want to just get Chas, I’ll head out.”

“Nonsense, Teagan, you come in and have a snack.”

I smile as I look to Derek. She forgets we’re not seventeen. “I think she can have wine, Ma.”

“Yes, wine, of course. It just feels like old times with you two together again. I’ve missed you, sweet girl.” The warmth in her voice could bring tears to my eyes. I always loved her. She treated me like I was precious and not because I was an object in her life.

“I would love to stay, but—”

“Five minutes, Tea,” Derek says as a plea. “Just five minutes.”

“Five minutes.”

He smiles and holds the screen open, forcing me to walk through. “I like you when you agree.”

One day I’ll be able to say no to this man. I would really like that day to be now but clearly not. “Yeah, don’t get used to it.”

At least I can talk tough.





Chapter Twenty-Two





Derek




Present



“What do you see here?” I ask Chastity as we examine the cat that she’s now able to bring in the house. Mr. Stinkers has been acting strange for the last week from what she says.

After Teagan came over the other day, Chastity has been here, helping more. Yesterday she explained her cat needed an exam and asked if she could work extra hours to cover it. I told her that wasn’t necessary, but she insisted.

“Is that a lump?”

Well, we could call it that, but it’s a bit more complicated. “I wouldn’t call it a lump. More of a bump…where something or more than one something is growing.”

She looks at me with horror. “Oh my God! Is he going to die?”

“No, no.” I laugh. “He isn’t a he. He is a she and she is expecting.”

“He’s pregnant?”

“Technically, she’s pregnant, but yes.”

“Oh, no! Mr. Stinkers is actually Mrs. Stinkers.” Her face is priceless. “My mother is going to kill me!”

Chastity has made no secret of the lack of affection Teagan has for the cat.

“I’m happy to talk to your mother if you want, to help mitigate the situation.”

She shakes her head. “It’s fine. I’ve been handling my mother for a long time now. She’ll go off the deep end, calm down, see the cute little kittens—after the gore that will stain her carpets—and then throw me and the cats out on the street. It’ll work out.”

Sounds like Teagan.

I chuckle and nod. “I’m glad to see you’ve got it all worked out. If you need a place to stay, you’re welcome here.”

She goes back to petting Mr.—Mrs. Stinkers and sighs. “At least we won’t be homeless with new babies, right? We can live here or in a barn or maybe the abandoned lighthouse.”

I love when people talk to their pets. I was the same way at her age. My dog was my entire world and I did everything I could to make him know he was loved. It also helped that growing up with my father as a veterinarian sealed the deal. There was no shortage of animals to care for.

“You really love her, huh?”

She nods. “I found her on the beach. Mom used to take me there whenever she wanted to breathe—whatever that meant. She’d let me run up and down the shore and I found him—her—under a little box.”

“Well, she’s very lucky.”

“Let’s hope when I tell my mother she’s going to be a grandma she doesn’t kill us both.”

I burst out laughing. “Maybe you shouldn’t tell her in those words.”

Chastity’s mischievous smile grows. “Oh, but where would the fun in that be?”

In this very moment I see how much she’s like her mother. “Well, leave me out of it. I don’t need your mother pissed at me.”

“Have you spoken to my mom lately?” Chastity asks as she picks up the cat.

In my head, I’ve called her a million times. In my head, I’ve confessed my heart to her and explained how much that kiss meant. However, in reality, I haven’t done any of that.

Mostly because she walked away from me and I don’t want to push. I’m the one who deserted her and I have to earn that trust back.

“Not since the other night when she was here, why?”

“Just wondering.”

I don’t think kids just wonder anything. “Okay.”

“I know she mentioned you were at the bar the night of her big date.”

“Yeah,” I say, turning my back to her, as though I need to clean my instruments. “Did she mention the guy calling her since he never showed up?” Did she mention me?

I’ve been following Teagan’s lead, but my patience is wearing thin. Our kiss that night changed me in some way. I felt alive again and—wanted. Meghan sure as hell didn’t want anything to do with me.