Page 16 of Something Like Shelter

“I do.”

“Then I will be right out.”

“Thanks, Jazz.”

That was another perk of a town you’d lived in all your life, with places you’d gone to often enough to be known. People went above and beyond for you.

A couple of minutes later, Jazzy burst out the door with her tanned skin and lilac hair.

I’d only ordered two coffees.

But she’d brought a pastry box out with her too.

“Don’t worry,” she said as she hopped in the backseat. “I’m not going to touch her. This is a ‘look only’ visit.”

She passed the coffees and box up to me before leaning over to look in the car seat. “Oh, Willa. She’s a little angel.”

“Isn’t she?”

“Totally. I bet she’s going to look just like you. So how are you doing, Mama?”

“I’m… adjusting,” I said, half turning to look back at her.

“That’s the best you can do, right? I remember those days. So tired that everything around you is blurry and you don’t remember what month, let alone day, it is, and you’re eating crap and you’re unwashed and you have no clean clothes because you’ve leaked through everything…”

“That has been my life,” I agreed.

“It’s good that you’re getting out. Even for just a few minutes. And I’m hoping you’re letting that giant family of yours take care of you too.”

“I am. I mean, I’m pretty sure half of them would move in with me if I let them, but—”

“But you want to learn to navigate this new normal too.”

“Exactly.”

“You’re doing great, Mama. Treat yourself to the treats in the bag. Okay. I’m out. I’ll hip-check the door so she doesn’t freak out.”

With that, Jazzy was gone, and I had coffee and treats to bring home with us.

The new dumpster had arrived at the crack of dawn this morning, waking Adelaide out of a dead sleep and getting our morning started early.

But as I pulled into the driveway, I saw random pieces of drywall sticking out of the top.

Owen had shown up after we’d left and had gotten right to work, it seemed.

His van was still parked up near the garage, and there was no logical reason for the way a weird fluttery sensation moved across my chest at its presence.

I grabbed Adelaide’s carrier and set the pastry box on her legs. “You’re gonna have to forgive me for this,” I told her as she slept away. I picked up the tray of coffee then made my way to the door.

Inside, there was some slight banging coming from upstairs, but Adelaide stayed quiet as I brought her into the living room, turned her fan on, and placed her in the playard to finish her nap.

With that, I took the coffees with me upstairs.

“Hey, buddy,” I greeted Tuna, who was asleep in the hallway but woke up with a wagging tail as soon as he heard my voice. “Let me go say hi to your dad—oh, hey,” I said when Owen stepped into my bedroom.

I’d never really understood the appeal many women had for a man who was dirty from work. Greasy mechanics, dirt-covered farmers. That kind of thing had never appealed to me as someone who tended to like myself and my environment tidy.

But Owen’s dark wash jeans and navy-colored henley were both covered in drywall dust. There was even a little clinging to the ends of his hair.