Page 136 of The Homemaker

I look right before crossing the one-way street. Then Ilook back at the house I wanted to buy before the current residents outbid me.

“What are you talking about?” I ask, taking hesitant steps up the driveway behind his parked truck.

“You know, a Ribeye or New York strip.” He takes my hand and pulls me to the front door, then he slides a set of keys from his pocket and unlocks it.

“Murphy,” I whisper.

“Don’t forget the house rules: shoes off.” He toes off his sneakers just inside the door of the modest, light green split-level.

I don’t move, so he lowers in front of me to remove my shoes, then takes my hand and leads me up four steps to the main level with oak wood floors and white woodwork. The sun-drenched living room has a wall of windows overlooking a lush backyard. A cozy wood-burning stove sits in the corner.

I turn in a slow circle.

“I was lost,” he says. “Grieving one woman while feeling unworthy of another. I hated how wanting you and being with you was wrong. My heart couldn’t reconcile that. So I moved in with my mom and I told her everything she never knew.” He grins. “She asked what I was doing wasting time with her. That’s when I dug out the program from theAlice in Wonderlandplay and looked for a Cameron. When I discovered his last name is Beckett, it made it easier to track down his house. I knew it had to be close to the one you looked at across the street. Sadly, that house was no longer available, so I started knocking on doors, seeing who would be interested in selling their house to me.”

“Murphy …” Emotion punches me in the chest.

“The day they accepted the offer was the day I met our son.”

Our son.

“His parents are really great. He’s a well-spoken young man with good manners. And he was kicking a soccer ball around the yard that day, so I kicked it around with him. I asked if he played, and he said yes, but his coach was moving, so they needed a new one.” Murphy shrugs. “I had the time.”

I laugh, wiping my eyes.

“So what are we going to do, beautiful?” He slides his arms around my waist. “Be our son’s neighbors? Coach him? Hire him to mow our lawn? Bake him cookies? Go to his plays?”

I scrape my teeth over my lip and sniffle. “Is that weird?”

He wipes my cheeks and shakes his head. “Yes. And I’m so on board. We’re stalkers, but the good kind. Secret guardians.”

“Just to be clear, you’re asking me to live with you, correct?”

His lips twitch. “Well, since I’ve told everyone I have a wife, I think you living with me is a good idea.”

“When were you going to find me and tell me you bought this house?”

“Never. I knew you’d show up.” He grabs the back of my legs and lifts me to him.

I wrap them around his waist. “So my new role is pretending to be your wife? Your homemaker?”

“Who said anything about pretending?” He kisses my neck. “Wanna see the rest of our house?”

I tease my fingers through his hair and kiss the shell of his ear. “Yes.”

“Let’s start in the bedroom,” he says, dragging his mouth up my neck while walking us down the hallway.

I giggle when he eases me to my feet then kicks the door shut while shrugging off his shirt.

“Choose me,” I say as he pushes his shorts down his legs.

Murphy glances up, eyeing me for a moment like my words haven’t registered.

“I wanted you to choose me.”

He grins. “I know. I’d already chosen you. I just wanted you to say it, to feel worthy of this kind of love and happiness.” He unbuttons my shorts and pulls them down my legs along with my underwear while I remove my shirt. “But you’re broken, baby.” He kisses a trail up my leg. “And that’s okay, I’m good at fixing things.”

“I’m not broken.” I roll my eyes.