Walking across the yard and heaving the saw or the drill at his head would still be assault, but it might be a misdemeanor if he wasn’t on duty. Plus, if he was out of uniform, he was probably unarmed, which was something to consider. Chucking power tools at a guy with a gun wasn’t a good idea.
And he’d only lived next door for twenty-four hours.
Today was not only Sunday, but it was the weekend before Memorial Day weekend. Yard day. Today was the day she traditionally cleaned up any remaining debris from winter and made sure her lawn mower and edger were running okay. Sometimes the pavers around her perennial beds were shifted by snow and ice, and she’d check those. She had a lot of perennials and bushes because gardening wasn’t her favorite thing to do, but she liked her yard to look nice.
But Matt was out there. Sawing and drilling and hammering and, in general, being noisy. And Bear didn’t like the whiny pitch of the saw, so he’d bark like mad whenever it was running, and Matt would laugh.
And he had no shirt on again. The man seemed to have a serious problem with clothing and she wasn’t sure how that would go once it was the middle of summer. Then would come shorts, if he bothered. Worse, she wasn’t sure if she was dreading it or looking forward to it.
When a car pulled into her driveway, she frowned and went to the window. It was Paige’s car and Hailey felt a pang of concern. She rarely showed up unannounced and she hadn’t been out much at all since having the baby.
By the time she got outside, Paige had hung a massive diaper bag over her shoulder and was wrestling the car seat out of the backseat.
“Let me help you.” Hailey took Sarah’s seat while Paige kicked the car door closed.
“Are you busy?”
“Nope. Just drinking coffee and putting off my to-do list for the day.”
“I can help you with both of those things. Only one cup of coffee for me, though. I shouldn’t even have that because I had one this morning and I’m nursing, but I’m going to lose my mind if I don’t.”
Once they were inside, Hailey unbuckled Sarah, who was looking at her with solemn blue eyes. “You are the most perfect baby girl I’ve ever seen.”
“Don’t let her fool you,” Paige said, setting the diaper bag on a chair. “She’s a Kowalski. That love comes with a whole helping of crazy-making.”
Hailey lifted the baby out of her seat and cradled her, bouncing her gently. “I bet she’s worth the crazy.”
“She is.” Paige sighed. “So is her daddy.”
The saw started, Bear barked and Sarah startled in Hailey’s arms. “Sorry, doll. The horrible man who lives next door doesn’t care about us at all.”
Paige went to the window and looked out. “Oh, my.”
“He also doesn’t like to wear shirts.”
“Aunt Hailey’s a lucky lady.”
Hailey snorted. “Aunt Hailey was going to work in her yard today, but it sounds like a construction site now.”
“But what a view.”
“Hey, married lady. Come take your daughter and I’ll sneak you some caffeine.”
Paige laughed. “Ha. You keep my daughter and I’ll make my own coffee. I had to grab a few things at Fran’s and she fell asleep, so we’ve been driving around. I had the radio on and was singing and having a good time, but then she woke up and we were close, so we came to visit.”
“How long did you drive around?”
Paige shrugged. “I might need gas.”
“That’s not a good long term plan for coping with Mitch being on the road.”
“No, but it felt good to cruise around and sing for a while. And Rosie’s so eager to get her hands on Sarah, she’s pushing me to go back to work.”
Hailey sat down at the table because tiny little bundles of joy got hard on the back rather quickly. “What does Mitch think about that?”
“Mitch is a very smart man and thinks I should do whatever makes me happy.” Paige smiled and took a sip of the coffee she’d poured. “I don’t really need to be at the diner. Between Ava, Liz and Tori, they’ve got it covered. But it’s still my business. I might not wait tables, but I want to be there at least a few hours several days a week. I’ll get out of the house and Rose gets her fill of Sarah.”
Hailey looked into the baby’s face, trying to ignore the way her insides turned all warm and fuzzy. “I don’t know what I’d do if I had a baby.”
“Take it to work with you.”
She laughed. “Libraries are the perfect place for babies.”
“I’m serious. Maybe you don’t realize how much this town loves you, Hailey. You could bring a baby in a bassinet and nobody would mind. Cutting back the hours a little wouldn’t hurt anybody, and you might get a few people turn cranky if the baby was crying, but overall you could make it work. By the time the baby’s ready to need some running around room, you’d be ready to find child care.”
“I almost believe you. Not that it matters. I’ve yet to meet the hypothetical child’s father yet.”
“Hypothetically, you need to come look out this window.”
Hailey threw her a dark look. “Matt Barnett is not the father of my hypothetical child, even hypothetically. I have no desire to raise a little pack of forest urchins, running around barefoot with no shirts on in the mud.”
“Forest urchins?” Paige returned the look. “Why are you being so hard on this guy?”
Hailey sighed. “Because he touched the back of my neck and I wanted to climb him like a horny monkey.”
Coffee almost sprayed from Paige’s mouth as she tried to choke down it and a startled laugh at the same time. “Seriously, Hailey?”
“Seriously. Just looking at him makes me want him. Then he put some cream on the bug bite on the back of my neck yesterday and...just that was almost enough, if you know what I mean. Oh, and that was after he carried me into the house.”
“What? Why?”
Hailey told her the entire story, leaving nothing out because this was her best friend, after all. She could trust Paige to keep her best interests at heart.
“Hailey, you need to climb that man like the horny monkey you are.”
Or not. “He looks good right now, especially with the whole sweat-glistening naked torso thing, but he’s not my type.”
“I didn’t say to marry him. A horny monkey can climb a tree, then climb back down and choose another.”
“I’m starting to regret the horny monkey thing.”
“Yeah, it’s not very sexy.”
Sarah wriggled in Hailey’s arms, making squeaking sounds. “What is she doing?”
“She’s ready for breakfast. Again.”
“Good. Then it’s my turn for coffee.” Hailey handed Sarah off to her mother. “After you feed her, you can take a nap if you want. I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“Thanks, but I’m going to head over to the lodge after. Business has picked up enough that we’re going to go through the food budget. We’re looking into the feasibility and legalities of purchasing their kitchen supplies through my suppliers.” She went to the couch and grabbed throw pillows to make herself comfortable for feeding Sarah. “And, bonus, Rosie will get to fuss over her grandbaby.”
Even though the Kowalskis weren’t Rose’s biologically, which was good considering Josh and Katie’s relationship, she considered them as good as hers, and therefore their children were her grandchildren. Johnny, Sean Kowalski’s son with his wife, Emma, was about to have his first birthday, but they lived in New Hampshire, so Rose was ecstatic to have a baby close enough to smother with love.
Hailey curled up at the other end of the couch and drank her coffee while Paige nursed Sarah, making small talk about nothing. But her mind kept bouncing back and forth between thoughts of Matt and wishing she had a baby of her own. As much as the former sounded like a delicious treat, if she was going to ever get the latter, she couldn’t afford to be sidetracked.
“I need to start going into the city on the Saturdays I have off,” she said suddenly, and Paige rolled her eyes.
“And do what? You’re just going to bump into Mr. Right by hanging out at the mall every other Saturday?”
“Or the movie theater or a bowling alley. I’m sure as hell not going to find him at the library, am I?”
The saw fired up again and Paige gave her a meaningful look. Hailey looked back at her coffee mug and ignored her. There would be no climbing of Matt Barnett.
IT TOOK MATT most of the day to put in the swinging door for Bear, between installing the frame itself and wiring the alarm. He’d taken a long break midmorning, then gone out for a run with the dog, which had eaten up more time than he’d anticipated. Bear still wanted to investigate his new surroundings more than exercise.
Once the construction was wrapped up, he’d put away his tools and had a very late lunch in the form of a small microwave pizza. He was going to need to make a run to a real grocery store soon and stock up on essentials. Thankfully, there was a chest freezer in the garage. It worked and barbecue season was coming, so he’d fill it with meat.
Now he was out in the grass, doing one of the more unpleasant chores that came with owning a dog. Especially a large dog who ate a lot. With a spade in one hand and a rake in the other, he moved through his yard.