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27.

"How did the place pan out that Bo's friend owns?" Stefani inquired over dinner later that evening.

Instantly, he felt himself break out into a cold sweat. Somehow, he'd managed to convince Nick to give them until the end of the week to come up with the first month's rent, even going so far as to put down a deposit to hold the space. Dave insisted he was insane not to at least ask Stefani to lend him the money to flat out buy it, as Nick had offered, but he'd convinced the other man too, just to give him a little time to figure it all out.

Now, as he spooned some carrots on Lea's plate, meeting Stefani's green eyes alight with both curiosity and anticipation, he was unsure what to say. Lying to her was never an option but another part of him didn't want to admit the issue they were having was financial and it was the only thing keeping them from snatching the place up. He knew she would immediately offer to come to their aid and the risk of imminent failure was way too great.

"What's a few grand to her, Bradley?" Dave had tried to reason with him. "Probably like $20 is to normal people."

At Bradley's frosty expression, he threw his hands up, "okay, okay, I'm sorry. Shooting my mouth off again. What I meant was it's not that big a deal to invest in a building for her. Not only would she do anything for you, I'm sure she's given way more than that away to charity. This is for a great cause."

"You don't get it, man," Bradley shook his head, "that's not the point. She's already helped out more than she had to...made phone calls, put me in touch with her interior designer to handle our layout, getting her best friend to help me fill out the staff...she's done a lot, all while dealing with about a thousand things at once. I can't ask her to buy the building. And it's not because of the money."

Returning to the present, he tried to downplay it, shrugging a little as he grabbed a piece of bread. "It was nice," he responded nonchalantly, not quite able to meet her gaze.

"Really?" He could tell by the hint of skepticism in her tone that she didn't believe him. "Just nice? That doesn't sound very promising."

Bradley dug into his baked ziti, chewing slowly. "It was amazing, actually. It has a lot of potential."

"Daddy, can I pwease have more milk?" Lea cut in and he jumped up, a tad overeager.

"I'll get it."

Stefani shot him an odd look but she didn't bring up the topic again until they put the little girl to bed.

They were settled comfortably on the sofa, watching The Food Network and she was tucked into him, feet curled up toward his side, her head resting naturally on his chest. She was always stunning, always breathtaking, but he was particularly fond of the look that was her most effortless; sweatpants, no make-up, her hair tossed up in a casual ponytail.

His hand drifted over her back as they watched, his thumb unconsciously sliding into the press of her shoulder blade. She sighed, shifting further into his touch.

In the lamplight, she was as serene as she had appeared in weeks and he kissed her temple. "A break looks good on you."

"Mmm, it feels amazing. I wrote some music today and took time for me and then I picked Lea up from school and we bought her Halloween costume."

The smile on her pretty features completely illuminated them and he couldn't help but smile back in return. "Sounds like a great day. Do I get to know what you guys picked out or will I have to wait for the grand reveal?"

"Halloween is in two weeks. You'll just have to wait and see."

Quirking an eyebrow, he nudged her gently, "oh really? And tell me, did you get a costume, too?"