“I’m happy for them, I guess. But also annoyed. We tried for more children and it just didn’t happen. And now...surprise! As soon as he leaves me, he’s having a baby.” Her gaze met his. “My point in telling you is that parenthood and having children or not having children...it’s all really fucking complicated, okay? All you can do is your best, and then cross your fingers that your best is good enough.”

“Do you want another child?”

She laughed, and his mood lightened immediately at the sound. “Oh, hell no! Hazel’s thirteen—no way do I want to go back to changing diapers again. No, thank you.” Her laughter faded. “There was a time when she was younger that I would have liked to have another, but that moment has passed.” She tipped her head to the side. “And this is a conversation I never expected us to have. We’ve talked about everything else in the world, but wanting babies is...whew.”

“Yeah.” It was a dumb response, but it was all he had right now. Zoey was still showing up in his dreams at night—more so since that little moment they had last week when they got lost in each other’s eyes. Something had shifted in their relationship without either of them doing anything to create that shift. It was just...there. She was just there. In his thoughts. In his dreams. All this baby talk and the hug and the deep sharing was not helping. Hopefully, this odd little phase they were in would pass before either one of them did something stupid.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“THERE YOU GO, IRIS. Your old vacuum cleaner should run good as new now.”

Zoey set the twenty-year-old upright vacuum inside the door to Iris’s apartment at the Taggart Inn. She didn’t always offer pick up and return service, but when her client was over eighty, she made an exception.

“Thanks so much.” Iris looked at the vacuum with approval. “Logan offered to buy me a new one, but I’ve never been a fan of this trend where everything is disposable. This one is light enough for me to use easily, and as long as it keeps sucking up dirt, I’ll keep using it.”

Zoey reached in her pocket. “That reminds me...the vacuum picked up more than dirt this time.” She handed Iris a small cat toy shaped like a bird. “This was stuck in the intake tube, and that’s why it lost suction.”

“Well, hell.” Iris scowled at the toy. “That darned Mr. Whiskers must have batted it under the bed or something. I’ll be more careful. What do I owe you?”

“Nothing.” Zoey talked over Iris’s protests. “I charged you for a tune-up just last month, and all I did was spend sixty seconds pulling out the cat toy.”