Page 19 of Axe Backwards
“She does,” Jude agreed. “I’ll pick up the food. Help yourself to a beer. I brought some over, since this guy’s fridge is usually empty.”
Keeping my attention locked on my neighbor’s face rather than her tits, I made a mental note to punch my brother later.
The way Vic smiled at Tess banished the annoyance building inside me. In fact, watching the two of them together made me melt a little.
She looked different today. I’d seen her business-professional look, and I’d seen her in pj’s. But tonight, she wore dark jeans that molded to the curve of her hips, red sneakers, and a slouchy black T-shirt.
Fuck, she was pretty. Her eyes were bright and her lips were full. And fuck if the dimples that appeared when she smiled didn’t bowl me over.
Once Jude left, she and I fell into an easy rhythm. She gave me the rundown of the work she was doing at the food pantry and played on the floor with Tess while I cleaned up and marveled at how effortless she made it all sound.
“You’re good at what you do.”
She lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “I’ve learned a lot from Aunt Lou. And I have a background in corporate communications, so I’m keeping my head above water, but I wouldn’t say I was good.”
“Still, taking on the existing needs of the community while growing the offerings and connecting with new potential donors?”
“It’s the first time in my life I’ve had a job I’m passionate about,” she admitted. “For so long, I went through the motions, and now, it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like a calling.”
My heart thumped against my sternum. Her calling. I was familiar with the concept. With being called to serve a greater purpose. For years, I woke up day after day, knowing that it could be my last but that it would be worth it if I could save just one more person.
Until several months ago, I knew who I was and how I wanted to exist in this world.
Now?
Now I was an unemployed single dad without a clue.
“You okay?” Vic was suddenly standing next to me, holding Tess. “You were kind of staring into space.”
I shook my head. “Sorry. I do that sometimes. Get stuck in my own head.”
“I don’t mind. You seem upset.”
Usually, I would brush off a moment like this with sarcasm or by laughing at myself. But the way she looked at me, like she was genuinely concerned about me, made me think better of it.
She was close, very close, and Tess was comfortable with her. Yesterday, she’d been a stranger, and now she looked like she belonged in my house, holding my child.
There was something about her, something sad and complicated, that made me feel a little less alone.
I opened my mouth, searching for a way to explain what was going on in my head, but my words were cut off by the buzzer for the door downstairs.
“That’s Jude,” I said, scooping Tess out of her arms.
I expected him to come in with waffle fries and lumberjack stories and provide a necessary distraction from the unease swirling in my gut. Instead, he claimed there was a “work emergency,” handed me a bag of delicious-smelling food, and took off.
He was full of shit. It was spring, which meant there was far too much mud to make the roads to any of the logging sites navigable. On top of that, it was eight p.m. on a Friday night.
But Vic didn’t seem bothered. She happily pulled plates from the cabinet and beers from the fridge while I put Tess in her jammies and brushed her teeth. She was sleepy, but there was no way in hell she’d miss out on hanging with Vic, so I grabbed a wrap from the dresser in her room and got her situated.
When I walked into the kitchen, Vic froze with a French fry halfway to her mouth.
“You did not wrap up that baby and come out here to eat a burger.”
“Sure did.” I pressed a kiss to Tess’s head.
She wiggled, trying to get a peek at her new friend, but she loved the pressure of the wrap. The research I’d done indicated that it helped regulate a baby’s nervous system.
“She loves to sleep snuggled up like this.”
