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Once she stands back up, she looks at Maisie. “She’s beautiful, and so happy.”
For the first time since I laid eyes on her lying hurt in her camper, a smile creases Maisie’s lips. Twin dimples pop out in her cheeks and there’s a twitch behind the zipper of my pants.
Jesus god. If I thought she was a looker before, the smile about kills me.
“Thank you,” Maisie says while looking down at her girl.
“All right. As much as I want to play with the baby all morning, gotta get back to work. Har, your usual?”
I nod. Unable to speak after seeing the look of happiness on Maisie’s face.
“Maisie, you want a few minutes to look over the menu?”
“I think I know what I want. Can I just get a glass of water, the two-egg breakfast, scrambled, with sausage and wheat toast?”
Dawn scribbles it on her pad and then swipes up the menus. “I’ll be right back, and your food should be ready pretty quickly.”
Once Dawn steps away from the table, I ask, “Does Audra need anything?”
Maisie shakes her head while dancing her fingers in front of her daughter’s face. “She nursed this morning and had a little bit of oatmeal, so she’s fine.”
I nod and watch her play with her baby girl. The same smile she gave Dawn plays over her lips now and then with an array of happy expressions as Maisie distracts her daughter from being stuck in her car seat.
Dawn drops off our drinks and then steps away again just as Maisie’s phone chimes from where it’s sitting on the tabletop.
She swipes the device up and keys in a passcode before reading something on it that makes her brows furrow.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No. The rental company can’t reinstate my reservation. They already rented the house out to someone on their waitlist.” Her fingers turn white from the grip that she has on her phone. I reach out slowly and tug the device from her grip just as her breathing starts to pick up. Whether it’s in panic or distress, I’m not sure.
“Hey,” I say quietly and firmly to get her attention on me.
Her gaze meets mine, the silver of her eyes searing me down to the bone. There’s so much fear there and everything in me that believes in justice knows that she’s never gotten hers.
“It’s okay. Did you have work around that area?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No, but I did have the rental for a month.”
I bite back the questions I have about her being on vacation for a month. Now’s not the time for me to dig into her life.
“Stay with me,” I blurt the solution to her problem out between us.
Maisie stares at me for three thudding heartbeats before shaking her head. “I can’t do that —”
Two plates overflowing with breakfast are set down in front of us.
“Here you two go. Y’all need anything else?” Dawn asks.
I shake my head. “No, we’re good. Thanks Dawn.”
“Holler if you need me.”
Before Maisie can start to argue whatever she was thinking up before Dawn interrupted her, I say, “You don’t have to agree. But the apartment is there, I’m gone more than I’m home, so you’d barely ever see me. Plus it keeps you close to the garage for your camper. Just think about it.”
Maisie nods, but if I know anything about this woman, it’s that she thinks too much, and I wonder if that’s always been the case or if it’s something that was born out of survival for her.
Either way, I reckon I’ll figure it out eventually.
