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It had been two weeks since he’d last seen Agatha. He only went to her place when he knew she wouldn’t be there and to help the others with the finishing touches. Now that the renovations were complete, he didn’t have any reason to head in that direction ever again. Thomas kept his distance and so did his daughters. He probably had Brielle to thank for that, but then again, Grace might have had something to do with it. That girl had always had a knack for people-watching.
Everything was finally starting to feel normal again—better even. He was connecting with his daughters again in a way he hadn’t since before Adeline married Sean. And now he felt strong enough to head back to the cabin to clean it up. No more retreating to the woods to hide from a life he should have been grateful to have in the first place.
Zeke trudged toward the shed and pulled open the door. He hung the pitchfork on the hook, then exited. Everything that needed to be taken care of outside of the cabin had been. Now, he needed to go inside and take stock of what needed to be done there.
He hadn’t stepped foot inside the cabin since he’d helped Agatha move out. It wasn’t something he felt he was strong enough to do. Something told him that her scent would have lingered and even getting a whiff of her perfume would have been too much for him.
A sigh was expelled from his lips as he stopped in front of the cabin’s front door. Brielle and Wade had asked to use the cabin so they could have a little getaway from the chaos that was Wade’s family. Zeke couldn’t blame them. They’d been married for a little while now, and they didn’t get much time to themselves.
Besides, if he let Brielle stay at the cabin, then she wouldn’t be tossing him those knowing looks she seemed to have perfected when she paid him a visit. He dug into his pocket to retrieve his keys, then stepped forward to unlock the door, but it swung inward without him touching it.
He jumped backward a step as he came face-to-face with Agatha. His first instinct was to spin around in search of any signs that he might have missed. She’d been here this whole time while he cleaned up the shed and the exterior of the property, and yet she hadn’t come out to tell him as much?
There were no signs, of course. For if there had been, he would have left.
Okay, he might not have left. There was a possibility that he would have mustered the courage to knock on the door and ask her what she thought she was doing at his cabin when she’d insisted on leaving.
Now he would never know what might have happened because he was standing in front of her and wondering what he should say.
I should tell her I miss her. No, she wouldn’t believe him. If he missed her so much, he would have done something about it.
Tell her the biggest mistake of your life was letting her go. Again, another bad idea. He’d been the one to break it off with her.
“Hi, Zeke,” she said softly.
“Hey,” he said. That sounded dumb.
“I was wondering when you would get here.”
He stiffened. “You were expecting me?”
She leaned against the door, her hand still grasping the knob. “I hope you don’t mind. I asked for Grace’s help. I didn’t know how she’d do it, but she assured me she would get you out here.”
“Actually, it was Brielle…” He sighed as the realization hit him. Of course they all knew. There were no secrets when it came to his family. At least there were no secrets between his daughters. They all knew about him and his dirty laundry. “Brielle said she wanted me to check on the cabin and make sure it was in good shape so she could stay here with Wade.”
Agatha covered her mouth, but it did nothing to hide the smile she wore. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to drag your children into a lie.”
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and smiled back. “I’m sure it was the highlight of their week. My kids have been interested in what I’m up to these days more than their own lives.”
Her soft smile drew him like a moth to the flame. Even though her face was emblazoned in his mind, he’d managed to forget just what it was like to be graced by her presence. She could make him feel like he was the only man in the world, and all it took was the corners of her lips lifting in just the right way.
“Thomas came by the other day. We had a long talk.”
“Oh?”
She nodded. “I don’t suppose you would have anything to do with that, would you?”
This was a test. It had to be. If he told her he was the reason her son was finally opening up, she could blame him for controlling her life again. He wasn’t about to slip up now, not when he was enjoying her company so much. “I guess that would depend.”
“Depend on what?” she said softly.
“On how it worked out between you and your son.”
She tilted her head, her eyes full of joy. He hadn’t seen her so happy since before Thomas had told his lie. This was a side of her that only solidified the realization of what exactly he’d lost. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Thank you? You’re not going to tell me that I meddled and that I need to stop being so controlling?”
The grin told him all he needed to know. “Then, in that case, I might have had a discussion with your son on the importance of communication.”
