She succeeded today. She ran the sign into the screened porch and set it on the old picnic table, Jagger at her heels. “Well,” she said to the dog, “glad you put your artistic touch on it. Butt painting just might catch on.” Besides, there was nothing she could do about it now. She had a big surprise for Cam, and she couldn’t wait to show him.
* * *
The first thing Cam saw as he walked up the path to the house at the end of a long day were petunia heads strewn all over. He couldn’t help smiling that Jagger was at it again. In the past few months, he’d settled in enough to be his usual slightly naughty self, which Cam felt was a good sign.
Hadley might not agree, especially insofar as her carefully tended flowers went.
He lugged the samples he carried—boards of tile, chips of paint, a hunk of granite—up to the screen door. He was exhausted, in a good way. He’d spent most of the day speaking with contractors and reviewing plans. The old Crab Shack was no more, and in its place was a half-constructed vintage-inspired building that would one day become his restaurant. The ton of samples he was dragging home were for Hadley because his knowledge about decorating could probably fit on the head of a straight pin.
It was their four-month anniversary, and he had a surprise for her. They’d packed a lot of living into those months. First, they’d bought the Millers’ house and moved right in. An impulsive move, yes, but they’d both figured they’d wasted enough years apart.
Every night as they chilled with a glass of wine on the porch, listening to the ocean, they talked about their plans. A brand-new kitchen. Real patio furniture, not the aluminum folding chairs they’d scrounged up and the old two-seater glider his dad had given them that Hadley had spray-painted a bright aqua blue. They’d been too busy with their respective businesses to agree on what they exactly wanted for the house, and they’d decided not to rush it.
Sitting next to her on the squeaky glider, sharing a bottle of wine, looking into the sea and into their future, was as close to his idea of heaven as it got.
They didn’t need fancy furniture for that.
He opened the screen door to find newspapers strewn over the picnic table the Millers left behind. On top was a bell jar full of paintbrushes sitting in murky-colored water.
“Hadley?” he called. No Hadley, but Jagger was there, of course, always ready to greet him at the door. And from the near distance came the yipping of a much tinier dog.
Freddie, the once-runty puppy, was scratching at the bars of her crate and immediately began jumping and twirling her tiny tail as he blew through the kitchen. He stopped to love her up a little before he checked his cell for a text. It wasn’t like Hadley to not tell him where she was. Tonight they’d planned to go to Ollie’s Tee Ball game and then maybe get some takeout with whoever wanted to come back with them.
He hoped this house would one day be a gathering place for both their families.
He hoped it would be overrun with children.
And he knew it would be overrun with dogs. “Jagger’s been a little lonely since Gran took Bowie back,” Hadley had said one night while snuggling up during one of their glider talks. And that’s how Freddie had come to live with them.
The runty puppy was now an adorable, roly-poly sixteen-week-old who’d been taken in by another nursing mother dog thanks to Fuller, who it turned out wasn’t so bad after all. Apparently being fostered was critical to help the rejected puppy learn how to get along with other dogs. It hadn’t taken long for both him and Hadley to fall in love with her. The first of many puppies, Cam feared.
Whatever she wanted.
His heart had never been so full.
As he wandered back to the porch, he found Hadley standing at the door. She wore one of those sundresses he had so much fun helping her out of and her hair was up in a high ponytail.
“There you are,” she said, a little out of breath from running up the path. “You’re late.”
“Sorry, but the decorator gave me a ton of samples,” he said. “She wants us to talk them over, then meet with her tomorrow at lunchtime. Can you make it?”
“Sure.” She seemed a little nervous. She was looking around, checking her watch, shifting her weight from one leg to another.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes. I…uh…maybe we should take the samples over to the restaurant and look at them there.”
“Good idea.” He checked his phone. “But I don’t think we have time before the game.”
“Why don’t we drop them off now anyway? Then we can maybe get takeout and look at them on the way back?”
He drew her into his arms for a moment, not able to go too long without touching her. His want for her was endless.
“How did I get so lucky?” he whispered into her sweet-smelling neck. Jagger wiggled his skinny—but not as skinny as before—body between them, wanting to get in on the affection too. From the kitchen, Freddie barked.
“To get me and this wonderful dog?” She spoke to Jagger, reaching down to pet his head. “You are wonderful, aren’t you?” Jagger showed his agreement by promptly dropping to the floor and rolling over for a belly rub.
“Jagger’s really sweet with the new puppies at the shelter,” she said. “He has a favorite. A fat little brown one that’s so stinking cute.”
Uh-oh. “You know how I feel about getting another puppy.”
“The more the merrier?” she said.
“How about less is best?”
Hadley chuckled. “But I’ve already thought of the perfect name.”
“What’s that?”
“Stevie.”
“Stevie?” Cam said. “That goes against the theme of rock star names, you know.” Cam had felt it was a stretch to name a dog Frederica Mercury but somehow Freddie had worked just fine.
“Actually, it doesn’t.” Hadley rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure I can be with someone who doesn’t get this.”
Cam rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “It’s a girl puppy, isn’t it?”
Hadley nodded. “Mmm-hmm. You’re getting warmer.”
“Nicks. Stevie Nicks.” He grinned widely, pleased he’d got it.
She looked pleased too. “Thank goodness. Relationship saved.”
He lifted a brow. “But now I need a reward.”
“A reward for what?”
“Getting you in so many ways.” He tugged her close and started kissing up her neck. Until she sighed and melted a little into his arms.
“We’re going to be late for Tee Ball,” Hadley said weakly, arching her neck so he could have better access.
“Ollie’s four,” Cam said, lifting his head. “Do you think he’ll notice?”
“Please don’t stop,” she said, curling her arms around his neck and tugging his head back toward her lips. “I suppose a little late won’t matter.”
Cam, giving in to her kiss, whispered, “That’s just what I was thinking.”
That made her grin. “I guess we get each other, then.”
* * *
It had been fun to be spontaneous, and Hadley had been watching the time carefully, but now Cam was making her sweat bullets because he wanted to just throw the samples in the car for later instead of drop them off at the restaurant construction site.