“I’ve got an empire of Hot Landscaper Guy lovers to thrill with a behind-the-scenes interview on getting dirty with fertilizer on Insta,” Dean said grandly. He pointed at Silas. “And then I have a date with your brother.”

“I guess I have an asshole dog to wash,” Silas said, shoving his hands in his back pockets. Still feeling unnerved. Something had changed in Maggie, and he needed to figure out what exactly that meant. “I can pick up some groceries for dinner tonight, since we’re cooking,” he offered.

“Sounds great. See you later,” she said, rising on tiptoe to brush a distracted kiss over his cheek.

Silas washed the dog and managed to hose the worst of the mud off the cats as they sprinted by. Then he fixed the timing belt on the mower before talking Cody into driving him into town so he could keep an eye on the kid’s driving habits.

They picked up the groceries and swung by the hardware store before it closed to get Maggie a new drill bit to replace one she’d misplaced. And since they were there at the counter, Silas bought two little succulents in hammered-copper pots that would like the light in the kitchen and play off the range hood.

By the time they got back to the house, it was almost seven.

Cody took the groceries into the kitchen and started to unpack them with Dayana while Silas went in search of Maggie.

He found her—with Kevin and the kittens, of course—in her office, behind her laptop on the same paint-splattered worktable. She was wearing the noise-canceling headphones and peering intently at the screen.

Silas started to lean in, planning to snap her out of her trance with a kiss on her neck, when he read a few lines of the document she was looking at.

“Maggie, what the hell is this?”

She jumped and yanked the headphones off. “You scared the crap out of me,” she said, minimizing the document.

“Is that an offer from the Welcome Home Network?” he asked, his voice low and calmer than he felt.

Silas felt like he’d been sucker punched.

He’d just assumed that he’d win. That she would fall for him like he’d fallen for her. That they’d stay—preferably—or go together.

Yet here she was making plans for her future. Not theirs.

“They offered me my own show,” she said.

“When?”

“On Cody’s graduation day.”

Silas put his hands on his hips so he wouldn’t be tempted to strangle her. “You’ve been sitting on this offer for a month, and you didn’t think to mention it to me?”

“It was unexpected. I didn’t even know if it was something I’d be interested in,” she said. “It’s on the East Coast. At least two seasons.”