she knew plenty of stay-at-home moms and women with partners who felt it, too.
Why women put that on themselves, she had no idea. Trying to be everything to everyone and feeling like they were failing at everything as the balls they constantly juggled came crashing down on their heads. This job being a classic example.
But suddenly…Cole was here.
Jane had no earthly idea why she trusted him with her son on such short acquaintance. The reality was she barely knew Cole Hauser. Yet…she did trust him. Why? Because right from the start, he’d ceded to all her requests. He’d left her bed when she’d demanded it the night he’d crawled into it, obviously in pain and looking more exhausted than she’d ever seen another human being look. He hadn’t expected her to wait on him hand and foot. And when she’d asked him to avoid them and stay away, he’d done that, too.
Not to mention that Wade had spoken very highly of him and, of course, the easy way he’d clicked with Finn from their first meeting. And, lastly, there was this absolute certainty in her gut. The one thing she’d always trusted and had never led her wrong.
Tad being a classic example.
Her gut had been hinky from the start with him, but she’d been infatuated with his skinny rocker ass enough to ignore the almost constant state of dyspepsia. And when they’d been together long enough for her to think that maybe she loved him, she’d let her hormones override this very visceral signal.
She’d sworn the day Tad had walked out on her and Finn, when he’d been not quite one year old, she’d never, never, ignore her gut again.
And her gut was telling her Cole Hauser was a good guy.
Hell, the man had just given her two precious hours. Two preciously productive daylight hours when she was alert and awake and her energy levels were high. Unlike at night, when she was so tired from her early starts and long days with Finn she could barely keep her eyes open and her productivity was mediocre at best.
She was not thrilled about Cole sitting on his ass all day and doing nothing, but that really wasn’t any of her business. Just because Tad had proven to be an idle man-baby and she really disliked lazy men, didn’t mean Cole was cut from the same cloth. She’d googled him. He was a professional athlete, or he had been. That wasn’t compatible with laziness. That took hours of training and dedication.
It took drive.
Granted, he didn’t seem particularly driven at the moment, unless she counted his appetite for Pop-Tarts, beer, and ESPN, but from what she’d read, his career was pretty much over and he’d come to Credence—to this house—to get away from things. Surely, he was entitled to exist on junk food, booze, and television and get himself a square ass if he wanted. And if he didn’t want to shave or brush his hair, well…that wasn’t any of her business, either.
Jane shook her head at that distracting thought. She would not think about the developing scruff on Cole Hauser’s jawline. She didn’t need another injured thumb! Instead, she took a moment to admire how much she’d achieved today. Hell, she’d been more productive in this couple of hours than she’d been all last night.
Removing the tiles was a painstaking job. Normally, she’d take a sledgehammer to a room full of tiles—smash them up and remove them, quick and easy. But here, in this historically significant house, they had to be pried off individually and with great care. There were areas of the parquetry beneath that were in bad shape, fragile due to age and water damage, and she had to proceed with caution.
Which meant patience and a gentle touch. Ordinarily, that would’ve been fine. Jane loved a slow reveal and knowing she was doing everything in her power to safeguard the historical provenance of a house. And she had allowed herself ample time to do this job.
But that had been predicated on Finn being at his father’s.
With Finn here and her time limited, she was acutely aware of how behind she was, and the urge to work faster—to catch up—warred with the imperative to take things slowly and carefully to preserve the integrity of the valuable parquetry.
If push came to shove, she knew she could send out an SOS to company headquarters in Ventura. Alonzo, who’d been with her from the beginning, would come running to give her a hand. He