Tumble (Dogwood Lane, #1)(63)

“Our girl Haley here has vowed not to date anyone for six months.” I look at Penn and smirk. “Looks like you’re out of luck until the new year.”

Penn furrows his brow. “I don’t see how this affects me at all.”

“Me either,” Haley agrees.

“I don’t want to date you. I want to sleep with you.” Penn smiles triumphantly. “Let me know what day works for you.”

“The sixth Sunday of the month. I’ll sleep with you on the sixth Sunday of the month.” Haley rolls her eyes. “Now, back to the person who is getting laid.”

“I think you misunderstand my enthusiasm for sleeping with you as I’m not getting laid.” He leans toward her, smirking. “I promised to be practiced up when you call.”

“Penn, I’m not calling. Not now. Not ever.”

In typical Penn fashion, he shrugs like he doesn’t care. He leans back in his chair and looks at me. “Does all this jabbering mean things are going good with you and Miss New York?”

“There are days I hate you,” I tell him. “Today is one of them.”

“Why? I just asked a question.”

“Why don’t you get a coffee or whatever it is you came here for and get to the jobsite before you get fired?” I ask. “And tell Matt to have the lumber taken off the pallets before I get there.”

Penn stands up. “Fine. But let me point out this morning that there are days when I think you really are your father’s son. Today is one of them.”

“Go to hell.” I chuckle.

“See ya up there,” he tells me. “See ya later, Haley.”

“Goodbye.”

Once Penn’s gone, Claire comes over again. “He drives me insane.”

“Penn? He drives us all insane,” Haley notes. “What did he do to you?”

“We have this friends-with-benefits thing going on, as you all know. Well, he stood me up last night, and I found out he was with Brittney. Can you believe that?”

“Yes,” Haley and I say in unison.

Claire shakes her head. “I’m cutting him off. If I want a booty call, I’ll call someone else. He’s not that good.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that,” I kid. “He’ll feel like he has to prove a point.”

She rolls her eyes but watches as he pulls out of the parking lot. “Asshole,” she grumbles before turning back to the kitchen.

I sip my coffee while Haley checks her phone. She’s not used to having a couple of extra hours in the morning. Dad grabbed Mia early for a day of koi shopping, which thrilled my daughter to no end.

As the hot liquid wakes me up, it becomes clearer how I feel. And what I want. And what I need to consider.

“What are you thinking?” Haley asks, bringing me out of my haze. She points at me. “You have that la-la land look on your face that scares me.”

“Do you think Mia is happy?” I ask her.

“Definitely. Happier lately than usual, even. Why?”

All the pieces of my life come together into one cohesive puzzle in my heart. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’ve identified all the sections of my life and have them all within my grasp. I almost can’t believe it.

“Dane . . .”

“Let me ask you a girl question,” I say, setting down my drink. “If you didn’t want to be serious with a guy, you wouldn’t spend a lot of time with them, right?”

Haley grins.

“Like, you wouldn’t have dinner with him and his kid. Help tuck the kid in. Fix her hair. That kind of thing. You wouldn’t do all that unless you saw a future with them. Does that sound legit?”

“Totally.” She lays a hand on mine. “Mia aside, I’ve never seen you this happy. In all the years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you like this. It makes me wonder if the Dane I knew before all this was really just a shell of you.”

“I am happier. I wake up and don’t just think about Mia and what she needs for the day. For once, there’s something there just for me. That probably sounds selfish, but it’s true.”

“Selfish?” She laughs. “No. It sounds like you’re a man with needs and you’ve found someone that might meet them.”

“I just keep thinking what it would be like for us to wake up in the same house. For Mia to have a mother-like figure in her life—no offense, Haley. We love you.”

She holds up her hands. “No offense taken. That’s a job I don’t want. You know that. I will give that girl whatever she needs, but I’d rather not take on the duties of a parent. Besides, she needs someone in her corner. I’m not around all the time.”

Nodding, I sip my coffee again. “I need to figure out a way to keep her here.”

Haley cheers, then clamps a hand over her mouth. “Yay,” she whispers.

“You’re nuts.” I throw a tip on the table and head to the front. I toss a ten-dollar bill on the counter and take the bag with my name spelled out across the front. “Thanks, Claire,” I call out to her in the back.

“See ya, Dane.”

As I walk by the round table by the door, I pause. “Thanks for listening, Haley.”

“It’s why you pay me the big bucks.”