Page 14 of Something Like Shelter

“It’s actually for me. But she goes everywhere with me now. It’s just a, uh, postpartum check-up. But that should be at least an hour, probably more. Depending on how she does, maybe we’ll do an errand or two. I don’t know how long it would take…”

“Not as long as you’d think. Demo is fast. And it’s just the two walls.”

“And the floor.”

“I have hated that stone bottom since the day I moved in. Cleaning it is a nightmare. And if that is going, so is the rest of the floor.”

“What are you thinking of instead?”

“Is it outside the realm of possibilities to get a shower pan?”

“Your shower is huge. But anything can be custom-made. Might take a little longer, but it could be done.”

“Then let’s do that. So much cleaner. And it would go with the tile I picked.”

“Yeah? What did you settle on?”

“I really love the Calacatta Gold marble. What?” she asked.

“Nothing. It’s a good choice. It’s what I redid my primary bath with too. It’s warmer than the usual black veins.”

“Exactly. This whole place was black and white when I moved in. And I liked it then. But I’m drawn to warmer colors now. For whatever reason,” she said, glancing down at the baby as she made a cooing sound that sounded a lot like an owl.

“With how much tile you have in there, it’s going to look really stunning.”

“Right? I think it’ll be gorgeous. I was so wrapped up in the panic of it all that I forgot to ask if you even have it in your schedule to work on this.”

I didn’t. At all. And yet…

“If you’re flexible with time of day, I can work on it at any time.” At night. In my free time. Which I virtually never gave up, unless there was a real emergency.

“Well, we don’t have much of a schedule. I probably can’t look forward to a full night of sleep until she’s five or six months, at earliest, so I’m open to whenever works for you.”

“Okay, good. So I will do the demo while you’re out tomorrow.” I’d have to move another job around, but I wanted this as stressless as possible for her and the baby. “Then we can work on a schedule from there.”

“Perfect. I really appreciate it, Owen.”

She’d said my name dozens of times before. There was no reason for it to make my stomach swoop like it did right then.

But I was going to go ahead and not analyze that.

“Now, I would get out of your hair if I could get my dog to stop being enamored with the baby.”

“Well, can you blame him?” Willa asked, rubbing a finger down her daughter’s chubby cheek. “Is Tuna home alone all day when you’re working?”

“I have a dog-walker for mid day.”

“You’re welcome to bring him here when you come so he’s not alone. We don’t mind the company, do we?” she cooed at Adelaide.

“He’ll love that.” Especially since I would be cutting into my free time with him by working this job.

“Good. It’s settled then. You can be my new mommy’s assistant, right, bubba?” she asked, petting his big head.

“Come on, Tuna,” I called, patting my leg. “Wanna take a ride in the car?” I asked, using one of his favorite words. “And get a pup cup?”

That had him looking at me.

“And a cookie?” I added.