Page 34 of A Return For Ren
She opened her backdoor and put the security code in. “Do you need the security for a reason?” he asked.
“No. I have it at the daycare because it’s smart and a liability. It helps with my insurance rates and, honestly, the guilt if something were to happen to the kids because a stranger walked in the door. When they were installing it at the daycare it made sense to continue to my house for just a fraction of the cost at that point.
“Shoes on or off?” he asked at the backdoor.
“You can keep them on,” she said. “Come in. I had hoped you could stay for dinner. I’ve got hamburgers and will throw some fries in the oven. It won’t take long.”
“I’ve got the time,” he said. “If I didn’t, I’d make it. I guess I owe it to you.”
“You guess?” she asked, turning and lifting an eyebrow.
“I do owe it to you. I think I owe it to us.”
She nodded her head and got to work in the kitchen.
11
Wanted More
Ren didn’t think he’d be in Zara’s kitchen while she cooked him dinner.
He was more worried she was going to tell him that it was best if they avoided each other and only talked about Max. That he’d messed up so royally that there was no shot of him having a normal conversation with her again let alone more.
He really wanted more.
And when his knuckles touched her cheek this morning, he’d seen the look in her eyes.
The same look that was there so many years ago when they were young and foolish and sexually inexperienced.
He could get lost in her blue eyes. The depth of them. The freedom he saw half the time and the love the other times.
He wanted to feel that again. And yet was clueless how to get there.
Talking to his mother helped him realize that it wasn’t going to happen if he couldn’t open his mind to the idea of moving here.
He never would have imagined that she was selling the marina for him.
Notonlyfor him, his mother had said. But close enough.
“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Zara said. “I want to talk about us.”
He took Max’s jacket off and set it on another chair. There was a highchair attached to the table already and he sat Max in it. “Is this chair always here?”
“No,” she said. “It was Willow’s. I brought it out this weekend. As I said, I’d hoped we could talk. I knew Max would be with you and it’s easier this way. There is a bin in the living room full of toys if you want to grab him something. It’s not all girl toys either.”
He grinned and walked the few feet into her living room and lifted the lid from the bin while he looked through it.
He was paying more attention to her home.
She’d always been so happy and cheerful and he could see that in her decor.
It was bright and colorful. The walls were a light yellow, the furniture gray, but there were pillows and throw blankets in shades of yellow, blue and gray.
There was artwork on the walls. Nothing matched but yet it all flowed well.
“Are you finding anything?” she asked loudly.
He grabbed a toy car that had buttons and lights on it. It was on top.
