I opened the door to the house and waved Cade in behind me. He’d refused to let me try to shove all the materials I was buying at the hardware store into my car and instead followed me home in his truck. I unhooked Gunner’s leash and let him run free, already having let him potty in the front yard.
Glancing around the nearly empty rooms, I winced. I hadn’t let anyone in since Mark moved out. “If you want to set the stuff down there, I can take it from here.”
With a crusty glare at the Christmas decorations, he placed the box of the reindeer lawn ornaments that I’d bought, then set several large bags down on the floor where I’d indicated. His gaze moved over the bare room. I hadn’t bothered to replace any of the furniture that Mark took besides the couch.
“Just move in?” he asked.
“No.” I didn’t meet his eyes. “Just got rid of some dead weight.” I fidgeted with my bare ring finger.
“Jeremy said you were engaged.” He walked into the kitchen. “Did he even leave you a spoon?”
“Two,” I quipped and I followed him. “And a few cups. But he took most everything else.” I’d at least replaced the kitchen essentials.
Cade shook his head. “What a peach. Where can I find him?”
I rolled my eyes, hard. “Don’t you start. I have to work with the bastard. The last thing I need is him getting roughed up and me losing my job.” I took two glasses from my new set in the cupboard and filled them with water and handed one to Cade. “So that was crazy running into Sara.”
“Thanks for playing along. But I’m not expecting you to actually go to the party or anything.” He took a long drink.
I straightened. “Are you kidding? I’m not letting you off that easy.” The minute he’d put his arm around me and went along with Sara’s misconception of us being a couple, a plan had formed in my mind. One that benefitted both of us. “We’re going to that party.”
He eyed me like a wild animal. What was it with guys giving me looks like that lately? Maybe I was a bit crazy. Maybe I really didn’t care anymore.
“Why would we do that?” he choked out.
“How many Christmas and New Year’s parties are you going to in the next two months that she might be at?” I asked.
He set his glass on the counter. “I’m not going to any. I hate Christmas.”
“Come on. You’re going to stay home and hide? Let her win? Like when she chased you out of town?” His face hardened and for a second I worried that I’d pushed too far. I softened my voice. “You should be out seeing friends that you haven’t seen in years without worrying that you’ll run into that bitch.”
“Why do you care so much if I go to parties?” he asked.
I rounded the island and cocked my head to the side. “Because I care about you.” I waited a beat. “And I might need your help as well.”
The no that had been forming on his lips died there. “With your ex?”
Refusing to let myself cry, I blinked and nodded. “I have to see him at the company party, not to mention two others that mutual friends are throwing.” I gripped his forearm. “We can help each other get through all of it.” He opened his mouth, but I rushed on. “You’d be doing me a huge favor and we’d have fun. We always had fun together.”
He put his hands on my shoulder to stop my tirade. “Okay, Remi. Okay. You have me convinced.”
“Really?” I’d never thought he’d really go for it. But the thought of missing all the things that I loved about the next two months had been driving me crazy for weeks. No way I could show my face all alone at those parties and watch Mark and Kerri all over each other.
But I could with Cade by my side.
“I don’t care as much about missing the parties, but I have to admit that I liked the surprise on Sara’s face.” He grinned at the memory.
I hoped I could measure up to the tall blonde. “I promise to look extra hot to make her jealous.”
He scoffed. “Like you have to try.” He shook his head, his attention out the back windows to the unfenced yard.
I bit my lip as heat flooded my cheeks. His nonchalance at the statement tickled my stomach. Sara was model beautiful by any standards. My shorter, curvier build was more a matter of preference.
A grating sound broke me from my thoughts. “Gunner,” I called. A fuzzy head poked around the corner, the wooden leg of the barstool in his mouth. “No, naughty puppy. Drop it.”
He wagged his tail and trotted out, the entire barstool, which was twice his size, dragging behind him on the floor.
“I said drop it,” I repeated.
Gunner sat on his haunches and chewed the wood in earnest while he gazed innocently at me with his huge puppy eyes.
“Drop it.” Cade’s voice echoed through the empty space and off the vaulted ceilings.
Gunner took his mouth off the leg and stared at Cade like he was a soldier and Cade was his superior officer.
I blew out a breath. “How do you do that?”
Cade walked over to where Gunner sat, as if waiting for him. “Good drop.” He took the barstool and set it in front of the countertop. It now leaned toward the one side with the shorter, chewed leg. “You sound like you’re asking him. Not telling him.”
I crossed my arms. “I’ve had dogs before. I know how to train them. He doesn’t listen.”
“You’ve obviously taught him commands. He knows the meaning.” Cade ruffled Gunner’s head. “He doesn’t think he has to listen to you. What kind of dog is he?”
I closed my eyes and rolled them. How I’d argued against getting such a high need dog. “Half German Shepherd and half Belgian Malinois. Mark bought him.”
“Malinois?” Cade asked. “Geez. No wonder he knows all the commands.” He spoke to Gunner. “You’re a smart boy, aren’t you? But you need a lot of structure.”
“I work with him and walk him three times a day since he can’t run outside.” I motioned to the unfenced yard. “But he seems to be getting more unruly.”
“I didn’t say you weren’t trying.” Cade’s attention settled on the roll of chain link in his truck bed. “You’re going to build an enclosure for him out of that?”
I nodded.
“I’ll be back in a bit.” He started for the door.
“Where are you going?” I called. “We need to plan out the party schedule.”
“Back to the hardware store. You’re going to need an actual wooden fence.”
Watching Cade in a t-shirt, even in the chilly November weather, was more distracting than it should have been. I’d known the guy nearly my entire life. He was practically a brother. The thought sent gross feelings racing up my spine. Okay, maybe not like a brother.
The sensation of his lips pressed against my forehead when he kissed me flashed in my mind. That had brought up some feelings as well. But the total opposite of gross.
He was out in my backyard, building me a fence—like around the entire backyard. I shook my head and watched him measure out where the posts needed to go. Another man had come with some equipment to do locates before Cade had dug with the auger—a huge corkscrew type machine that dug holes. Man, did that look like a workout.
He’d handed the man some cash for coming out on a Saturday at such short notice. Nice thing about having friends in the trades.
I slipped my jacket on and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and Gunner’s leash, then clipped him on. When Cade turned at the sound of the door opening, a smile cracked his serious expression. He took the water. “Thanks.”
Gunner sniffed the fresh dirt and immediately began digging, sending dirt flying everywhere.
Cade shook his head.
“Should I tell him to stop?” I asked, not enjoying being so unsure of myself. But it was a feeling that seemed to permeate my bones the last month. Ever since I’d found out about the affair and the baby.
“Do you want him digging in your yard all the time?” Cade asked evenly.
Good way to look at it. I tried to put force behind my voice. “Gunner, leave it.”
The pup completely ignored me, and his paws continued to fly through the earth.
Cade took the leash, gave it a sharp tug, and spoke, not loudly but firmly. “Leave it.”
The dog stopped and sat down.
I threw my hands up in the air. “Geez. You should take him. He likes you better.”
“Has nothing to do with who he likes, and you know it.” Cade laid one arm over my shoulder in a comforting gesture.
I scrunched my mouth. “I’ve trained dogs before,” I repeated. “Just never one this stubborn.”
“Well, he needs a job. He’s a working dog.”
“Can he learn to do dishes?” I took the leash and walked Gunner over to where I’d taught him to do his business. “Go potty.”
He leaned forward and peed.
“See,” Cade said. “He listens to you.”
I rolled my eyes for about the hundredth time. “So, when are the parties that you are invited to?”
He rested on the shovel that he’d been using to clean out loosened dirt from a hole. “You sure you want to do this? Do you think anyone will even believe we’re a couple?”
“I’m sure.” I walked back and leaned into him. My shoulder fit perfectly to the space on his ribcage and my head rested neatly against his chest. I considered his surprised eyes and nearly purred. “I think we can be plenty convincing.”
I might have been crazy, but I swore something sparked in his eyes. Yeah, this was Cade we were talking about. I was probably crazy.