“Sorry about that,” Liam said afterward. He’d never had unprotected sex before.
“It’s okay. I should be fine. No worries.”
“I didn’t mean to do it.” He’d just lost control like never before. He didn’t know what it was about her, but every time he was around her, it was like the green flag being dropped at the Daytona 500. Maybe it was the easy acceptance from his mother that just sealed the deal today.
Or maybe it was that he saw himself falling in love with her for a while now and he was hoping that she was hitting the gas and coming out of the fourth turn with him on the final lap. It had been her idea to tell their mothers and he figured that was a good sign.
“I think I’ll be safe.”
“I’m not worried,” he said. If she accidentally got pregnant just now, he wasn’t stressing in the least. Matter of fact, once that thought crossed his mind he realized there wasn’t panic, but joy in it. He couldn’t wait to settle down and have a family. He just hadn’t found the right person yet, but now he was thinking—no, he knew—he found that person in Ali Rogers.
“Let’s not think about it and ruin what just happened.”
She was smiling, but he tried to guess what was really going on behind her eyes. He’d let it go for now.
He stood and pulled her up with him, then fastened his jeans. “I’ll go get dinner ready while you make yourself presentable.”
She looked down and laughed at herself. She was standing there in a wrinkled shirt and rainbow-colored socks. Yeah, it was a funny sight.
They were sitting at the table eating dinner twenty minutes later. “How was your day?” he asked her.
She looked up and stared at him for a minute. “Good, why?”
“Just asking. No reason to look so stunned over it. Am I not allowed to see how your day went?”
“No. It’s just you’ve never asked before. It was fine. Fourth graders can be little wiseasses now and again, but for the most part, they’re a good age. I love my job. I love having a steady job.”
“You said you subbed?”
“Yes. After graduation, I didn’t get hired for anything I applied for and once the school year starts, it’s even harder to find a teaching position. I took advantage of the time and started working on my master’s. I guess subbing in all the districts gave me a leg up this time around. I filled in for three months while someone was on maternity leave and when an opening came in that school, they were pleased with me.”
“I’m sure you’re a great teacher.”
“Why is that?”
“Are you looking for compliments?” he asked, still eating and smirking at her.
“Not really. Just more curious. You’ve only seen me doing things on the farm, which is completely different than teaching.”
“Not so much. Every time you’re showing me something on the farm, you’re teaching me. You have a patience I didn’t expect. Especially since you don’t seem to show it other times.”
She laughed. “Can I help it if you turn me on and I don’t want to wait?”
“Not at all.” He reached his hand over and laid it on hers. “I’m just saying that you listen to my questions and you make sure I have the answers. Not only that, I see how you are with the customers and the kids that come in. It’s like you were made for working with the kids. Not to mention your skill at crafts.”
“Those are fun though,” she said. “Even interacting with the kids.”
“Do you want kids someday?” he asked. Might as well find that all out now.
“Of course I do. What about you?”
“I do. Not a ton, but I think more than one. I joked about being an only child, but at times I think it would have been nice to have had a sibling when I was the new one in school.”
“That had to be hard. I’ve lived here my whole life.”
“You never wanted to move?”
“Nope. This is where I want to be. This small town is comfortable to me and I like being comfortable.”
He looked around her apartment. “I would have never guessed.”
“Comfort isn’t always physical. Sometimes it’s mental.”
“That’s why you wanted to hold onto the farm. It’s a comfort level?”
“At times. But I’m realizing now that it was the wrong kind of comfort. It was never going to be for me. I just liked the fun stuff there, like the haunted house and working in the store. I know deep down I couldn’t do it day in and out like my mother has.”
“Your father never helped?” Maybe now was the time to ask that too.
She snorted. “No. The farm was the reason for their divorce.”
“What?” he asked. He didn’t want to say he’d heard that her father cheated on Belinda.
“My father hated the farm. He didn’t want to do any work on it and he didn’t want my mother spending as much time on it either. They fought all the time and then they pulled me in the middle.”
“How so?” he asked.
“My father used to say it was no life for me as a kid. I hated being put on the spot like that and tried to leave when I could.”
“Did you feel like it was no life for you?” he asked, not really thinking that since she always worked there and wasn’t thrilled over the sale in the beginning.
“I never thought one way or another. Like I said, I had fun with the stuff I did. It was work, sure, and sometimes it was hard, but I didn’t mind it. I just liked being around my grandfather and that was one of the ways I could do it.”
“You’ve got no relationship with your father at all right now?”
“Funny you bring that up,” she said.
“Why?”
“I haven’t talked to him in a few years. He didn’t even show up for my college graduation. But out of the blue, he called me today.”
“What for?”
“He said he heard the farm was for sale. I told him it wasn’t. In my mind, it’s not. Or at least actively for sale. What you and my mother have is a done deal, right?”
“I’m not backing out of it, so it’s a done deal in my mind. Why would he care?”
“No clue. I don’t even know how he found out. Have you told anyone?”
“People that work for me know, Ali. I own a lot of businesses.”
“You do?” she asked, looking surprised.
Might be a good time to talk about this too. “I started out in construction, but that is only part of it. I own a lot of properties and rent them all year round. I’m also a silent partner in multiple businesses in this area. Though I haven’t told too many people I’m buying the farm, it’s not a secret. All my staff know, my lawyer, your mother and the staff at the farm. It’s not hard pressed to think that it’s getting out there.”
“Oh,” she said.
“What’s the problem? Do you think your father is going to cause trouble? I’ve seen the deed. It’s only in your mother’s name.”
“There’s nothing he can do. It’s my mother’s property. I just thought maybe he left some things there and wanted them. No clue, but I told him to call my mother.”
Liam thought for a second. “Would your father go out to the farm for any reason or try to find what he might have left there?”
“I have no clue. Maybe to talk to my mom, why?”
“I’m wondering if he tried to get in the house and found it locked.”
“You think he broke in?”
“Would he?” Liam asked.
“I don’t know. It’s never been locked before, and he’d know that. It’s possible he’s gone there before and no one knew. My mother has never said a word, so you’d have to talk to her. Again, I have no idea why though. It has nothing to do with him.”
“You’d be surprised,” he said and let it drop.