guest room, carrying my boots in my hand so I don’t wake her up. I pause at her door for a second, and the image of that fucking ring on her finger flashes in my mind. I turn away quickly and make my way downstairs. I’ve never spent time thinking on what it would be like to have a woman, but I’d burn my farm to the ground before I let her sleep in another man’s home. I didn’t realize I could have that kind of anger, and the reaction to her ring surprised me.
I’m lost in my thoughts when I get to the kitchen and don’t realize the light is on. I stop mid-step when I see Dotty in front of the stove frying up some country ham and gravy.
“Good morning.” She smiles over at me, and my chest tightens.
I open my mouth to say something, but I think I might be having a heart attack.
She’s got her blond hair in a messy bun with no makeup on. She’s got on an oversized T-shirt, long plaid sleep pants and she’s barefoot. There’s nothing sexy about what she has on, but I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.
Her honey-wheat eyes meet mine, and for a second I can see it. I can see her here in this house as my bride and the mother of my babies. I picture her down here every morning in the kitchen, barefoot and smiling at me as I leave for the day. I can almost feel her warm body pressed against mine as I hold her and just absorb her love into me before I have to go.
But the shine on her ring catches my attention, and the vision evaporates like smoke.
I nod as I walk past her and over to the small table in the kitchen because I never eat in the dining room. I pull on my boots and it’s then I glance around and see the kitchen is clean. All the dishes have been put away, and there’s no trace of my mess. God, how long has she been awake, or did she do this last night while I was gone?
“You hungry?” she asks, holding out the spatula to her side with her other hand on her round hip.
“Yeah.” I sit back and she serves up a plate with homemade biscuits, and my stomach rumbles. I can’t remember the last time I ate anything homemade that wasn’t me opening a can.
“I packed you lunch too.” She smiles as she moves around the kitchen like she’s used to being there.
I take a bite of the ham, biscuit and gravy, and groan. I lean back in my chair and close my eyes because I don’t know if I’ve ever had something so good. She laughs, but I can’t look at her. I can’t see what might be there as I enjoy what she’s made for me. In my mind I think that this is just for me, but she probably gets up early like this all the time and was making her own breakfast. I’ll reap the benefits of it, if that’s the case, but part of me wants to believe that it’s mine. I’m not used to this feeling in my chest, and once again it’s tight. It feels like jealousy, but that doesn’t make sense. Why would I be jealous she did all this when that’s what I’m paying her to do?
Speaking of paying her, she’s probably up early to get her money. I take my wallet out and pull out a stack of cash. “That’s yours.” I say and nod to the money.
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” She smiles again but doesn’t make a move to take it. I go back to eating while she turns on the water at the sink.
“You not eating?” I ask as I look over for another plate.
“I have a hard time eating right when I wake up. I usually just have coffee.” She holds up her mug and takes a sip.
I stop chewing and look at all the food then look back at her in question.
“I thought you might be hungry, and I knew you’d be up early. I just wanted to start the day off on a better foot than yesterday.” She reaches over and grabs a bagged lunch and places it beside me on the table. “I’m going to go take a shower, but feel free to eat the rest or it will go to waste.”
She turns around and walks away, and