Owen ruffled her hair. “Of course, Fluff.”
“I could get used to staying here,” Frankie said with a smile.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Owen’s heart cracked wide open when Frankie said she could get used to staying here. After the cold reception earlier by the other patrons in Jenny’s, he feared she wanted as far away as possible from here.
He watched Frankie drizzle maple syrup all over her top pancake and almost missed what Tara said.
“I used to get up at night and peel oranges. Just for the smell of them. So weird how your sense of smell changes during pregnancy.”
Caitlin chuckled. “You just smelled them?”
Tara’s cheeks pinked. “Okay… I know it sounds weird.”
“No, not at all. The first thing I’ll do after breakfast is stepping into the kitchen in the big house and ask Lauren where she keeps the oranges.”
“Ugh, and since my pregnancy I eat peanut butter like it goes out of style…” Tara said.
Owen scrunched his nose. Tara always hated the stuff, even asking him to brush his teeth after one peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
While Caitlin and Tara laughed, Owen’s tight grip on his glass of water almost broke the thing into a thousand pieces. Tara and Caitlin fell silent when he clanked the glass on the table with more force than necessary.
Caitlin’s miraculous pregnancy had surprised the entire family a few months ago. Owen had stood by, watching his brother Adam fawn over Caitlin. Even though he was ecstatically happy for them, it also made him realize what he exactly had missed out on.
He would have loved nothing more than to go up in the middle of the night and peel dozens of oranges for Tara if that would have made her happy. He would have done everything for her.
After she had left town and didn’t answer any of his phone calls, he wouldn’t get out of bed and slowly slipped into a depression. His father, Frank, finally had enough of his wallowing and made him help around the B&B with all kinds of chores.
While renovating the three apartments behind the big house alongside his father, Owen had finally found something that took his mind off Tara. He’d worked his ass off all day and had been too tired at night to do anything but sleep.
Many months later, when he finally accepted the harsh reality that Tara wasn’t coming back, he made plans for starting his construction company. It took him some time after that to even look at another woman, let alone have sex with someone else but Tara.
Tara’s talk about her pregnancy painfully reminded him how she had broken his heart and had started a new life without him while he had no clue where she’d gone. She had even created a new life without him knowing.
“I love orange juice,” Frankie said out of nowhere.
“Do you also smell the oranges?” Caitlin asked her jokingly.
Frankie scrunched her nose. “No? That’s weird.”
Tara smiled and said, “You don’t remember it now, but you used to do that when you were little, sweetie.”
“You must have got that from your mother,” Caitlin said.
Owen’s jaw ticked. He missed out on so much these past years. He almost knew nothing about Frankie and what things she liked or didn’t like. He could never get those years back.
Owen cleared his throat as he brushed a strand of hair from his face. He needed to get out of here and get some air.
“Is something wrong?” Tara asked as she eyed him.
“Nope. Nothing at all. Are you ready to go shopping, Fluff?” he asked while pushing away his half-finished plate. He wasn’t going to act on this sudden wave of pure anger taking over him.
“Yes! See you later, Mommy?”
Tara gave their daughter a loving smile. “Sure, sweetie. I’ll catch up with you later at the house, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy.”