the backseat.
“I miss you, Dad. Why can’t I come with you now? We’re not doing anything in school but dumb stuff like Field Day and cleaning out our desks.”
He had hugged his son. “Two more weeks, kid. We can both make it, can’t we?”
As much as he missed his son, he needed a few more weeks to ready everything. He had spent his lunch hours looking into possible summer day-care situations that might work for his extended hours. Ideally, he would like to hire a housekeeper-slash-nanny—but until he had time to whip the house into shape, he wasn’t sure he could find anybody willing to work in a construction zone.
He had finally managed to get Ethan back into his brother’s house for breakfast and school before making the long drive here to the recreation center.
Now he had a full evening of work to make sure his son had a place to sleep where the ceiling wouldn’t fall in on him during the night.
Both of them deserved to have a little stability, especially after the chaos of the past few months.
He was so busy thinking about the tasks ahead of him for the coming evening that he completely missed the visitor waiting for him on his front porch until he started to climb the steps.
Some ex-soldier he was. Out in the field, that could have been a deadly mistake.
He actually had two visitors, he realized. A long-limbed dog with fur the color of fine Belgian chocolate sat waiting for him on the top step, tongue lolling out and tail sweeping across the wooden slats of the porch floor.
If Leo was here, Alexandra had to be, too. His heartbeat kicked up, much to his dismay. He had missed her these past few days, as ridiculous as that seemed. He looked farther on to the shadows and found her curled up on his porch swing, sound asleep.
Apparently she was working overtime, as well. She looked comfortable, with her face pressed into the pillow and one hand tucked under her cheek. She was more relaxed than he had ever seen her, soft and warm and lovely.
He remembered what her friend Claire had said.
She likes to think she’s tough, bold.... She just might be the most vulnerable person I know, with the biggest heart.
She probably wouldn’t appreciate him seeing her like this but he couldn’t bring himself to wake her, not when she had that smudge of exhaustion under her eyes.
If the swing had been a little bigger, he would have climbed on there with her. Instead, he leaned a hip against the porch railing and reached a hand down to pet her dog, aware of a rare and precious contentment seeping through him.
She didn’t sleep for long, much to his disappointment. Maybe she sensed his presence or maybe she simply had too much energy coiled up in that compact frame to sleep soundly in these conditions.
After a few moments, her eyelids began to flutter. She came to full consciousness in an instant. One minute she was breathing deeply, the next she jerked upright and scrubbed at her face.
“I fell asleep.”
She said the words in an accusatory tone, as if he were to blame, and he had to smile.
“Looks like.”
“How did that happen?”
“I’m guessing you finally stopped moving for five seconds and closed your eyes.”
“Probably.” She raked a hand through her tangled hair. “I didn’t mean to. I’ve just been so busy. The swing was so comfortable. I was only going to rest for a second, while I waited for you....”
She crossed her arms across her chest suddenly and that delicious sleepy-eyed warmth turned into a glower. “Where have you been?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry. Did I miss curfew?”
“I’ve been trying to find you for three days and you just...disappeared.”
He knew he shouldn’t have this little spurt of happiness that she had been looking for him, not when she had made it clear she thought they were a disastrous combination.
“I spent the weekend in Denver with my brother and his family. Ethan and I were helping do some things around their house to help make things ready for them to rent it out while they’re in Europe. I drove back this morning and headed straight for the job site.”
“Oh. That explains it.”
“And I’ve been working every spare minute at the recreation center.”
“Are you finished?”
“Close. We’ve got a few more things to do.”
Hard work was good for the soul, right? He continued to pet her dog, something else good for the soul.
“You needed me for