With lunch done, we leisurely walk down the beach, hand-in-hand, the sand under our feet as we just enjoy the fresh air and time alone together.
“Ready to go?” I ask Harper. She’s checked the apartment twice for anything of hers she might have forgotten to pack. I’m sure she’s stalling, not wanting to go as much as I don’t want her to go.
“I guess so,” she says, the sadness evident in her words.
“Come here, babe,” I say, standing with my arms wide open. She quickly comes to me, hugging me tightly. I kiss the top of her head and an idea strikes me at that moment. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready to go.” I step away from her, heading straight for my bedroom. I dump the overnight bag out that I took to the beach, then grab a couple days’ worth of clothes and fill it back up.
“What are you doing?” she asks when I walk out of the room with my bag in hand.
“I’m coming with you. No reason for the jet to fly back empty. I’ll have the return flight changed to late Monday night or Tuesday morning,” I tell her. I slip my cell out of my pocket, shooting off a text to both Leo and Rose, letting them know of my change in plans.
“Just like that?” she asks, a little shocked.
“Just like that,” I confirm. “Perks of being the CEO of your own company.”
“Wow,” she says, but the smile that has replaced the sad face is well worth the spur of the moment decision.
We make our way down to the waiting town car, which quickly takes us to the private aircraft check-in.
“Welcome back,” Taylor greets us. “Mr. Bailey, I hear that you’ll be joining us now.”
“Yeah, wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye,” I tell her honestly.
“Ah, so sweet. Make yourselves comfortable and I’ll come back to take your drink order shortly. Ms. Taylor, I also got a few more of the good charcuterie boards you liked last time for the flight today.”
The flight flies by, no pun intended. With Harper by my side, everything in life just seems a little easier.
We head for her house. Since no one knows that I came back with her, I’m sure it won’t take long before word makes it around town that I’m back again.
“I still can’t believe you just hopped on the flight with me,” Harper states, curling up to my side in bed. We might have been tired after the weekend and then the flight, but I still made it a point to make love to her as soon as we crawled into bed. Once I head back home tomorrow night, I don’t know yet when I’ll see her again, so I’ll be taking advantage of every moment I can.
“I’d stay forever if I could,” I admit.
“Give me some time to figure out what to do with the bakery. I’m going to talk more with Lacey and see if she’d be interested in taking it over and buying it from me. I can’t imagine selling it to someone else. It’s been in my family for too many years to do that now.”
“Don’t forget about my offer as a silent investor. If doing so will make it so you can hire some full-time help, I’ll wire money right this second, especially if that means you can spend your time in California with me.”
“I know,” she says, yawning.
“Go to sleep, babe. You’ve got to be up early.”
She groans, “Don’t remind me.” And I just chuckle. Her alarm is going to go off in just a few short hours, and I know she’ll be tired tomorrow.
18
Harper
I roll out another batch of cinnamon roll dough, getting it just perfect before I baste it with melted butter and spread the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture all over it. The more the better, is my opinion. Once it is well covered, I roll the dough into a long roll, then slice, placing the rolls in the greased pans. I pop them into the waiting racks, allowing them to rise before they hit the ovens and out into the case to be sold.
“When will the next batch be ready?” Lacey asks, popping her head back into the kitchen. “I’m down to my last pan already.”
“Wow. Probably at least fifteen minutes,” I tell her, looking at the timers on the oven. I already have four more pans baking. I step away from the counter, heading for the mixer to make another batch of the cream cheese frosting we use on top.
“Yeah, it’s a crazy morning today. People must have known you’d be back for cinnamon roll day,” she muses before disappearing back out front to help the next customer in line.
I whip up the frosting, then pull the hot pans from the oven. I slather them with the cream cheese goodness, then take two piping-hot pans out to replace the empty spaces in the case.
“Fresh, hot ones ready to go,” I call out, to the cheers of people in line. I set down the hot pads, then get to helping Lacey as the line continues to grow.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the one woman I was hoping to see this morning,” Nathan’s grandmother calls out as she reaches the counter.
“Good morning, Betsy. It’s nice to see you this morning, what can I get you today?”
“I’ll take a cinnamon roll and your presence at my dinner table tonight. I hear that grandson of mine came home with you last night,” she states, no room for argument.
“He sure did,” I reply, no reason to deny it. “We weren’t ready to say goodbye to one another, so he came back. Although, we have to say goodbye tonight, as he has to get back by morning.”
“Perfect. It gives y’all time to come to my place for dinner,” she says, once again with no room for argument.
“I’ll let him know,” I tell her.
“Oh, he knows, sweetheart. I’ve already spoken with him this morning.” She smiles like the cat that got the canary.
“Oh, okay. What time do we need to be there?” I ask.
“Come on over whenever you get done here. It will give us some extra time to chat before everyone arrives for dinner at five thirty.”
“I’ll have to run home, first, so I can shower and change. No one will want to smell the bakery on me all evening.”
“Whatever floats your boat. I’ll see you this evening,” she states before taking her cinnamon roll over to her table as she joins her friends for their morning chat.
The hours feel like they speed by today. Between going through more cinnamon rolls this morning than I think we’ve ever gone through in one day, to working on some custom orders that had afternoon pickup times, my day hasn’t slowed since I walked through the doors at just after five this morning. When my alarm went off, I didn’t want to get out of bed, but I knew I had to.
I startle when hands slide around my hips and lips land on my neck. “Hello, gorgeous.” Nathan’s voice fills my ears. I melt into his embrace, the exhaustion from the day catching up to me.
“Hey, yourself,” I greet, turning halfway so I can kiss him.
“Been a busy day?” he asks.
“I’ve been moving since I walked in the door. I can’t even begin to tell you the last time it was this crazy in here.”
“That’s good. Are you ready to get out of here?”
“Yeah.” I yawn. “My bed is calling my name.”
“A few hours before you can go to bed, we’ve been summoned to my grandmother’s.”
“Oh, I’m aware. She came in this morning and already told me all about how we’re expected at dinner tonight. She told me to come over as soon as I left here so we can have some extra time to talk before everyone else arrives,” I tell him.
Nathan laughs. “She told me the same thing when she called me this morning asking when I was going to tell her I was in town. How she found out, I’ll never know; it isn’t like we went anywhere after landing.”
“I told her I’d need to go home, first, to shower and change. I didn’t want to show up smelling like the bakery.”
“You smell good enough to eat,” he teases, leaning in to sniff my neck.
“Still doesn’t alter the fact I’d like to shower and change before dinner. A shower might help to wake me up, because I’m seriously not sure how I’m awake at the moment. I’m kinda glad today was so busy an
d I didn’t have time to slow down. It kept me from falling asleep on my feet.”
“Then let’s get you home and showered. The earlier we get to Grandma’s, the earlier we can get out. Plus, we’ll have the excuse that I have to get to the airport, and you have to get home to bed to get up early to open the bakery tomorrow.”
“Okay, let me just grab the deposit so I can drop it at the bank on our way by.”
I head into my office, grabbing the deposit that Lacey put together for me earlier. I check around, making sure everything is put away, then stop and make sure everything in the kitchen is turned off. I don’t need to forget to turn an oven off and have a fire start overnight.
“Ready?” Nathan asks as I join him out in the lobby.
“Yep, double-checked the kitchen,” I tell him. I follow him out the door, stopping to lock it up for the night. I walk across the parking lot and drop the deposit in the night drop. The bank is still open, but I just don’t have the energy to go inside and wait for them to make the depost right now.
“How about I drive you home, you look exhausted,” Nathan offers, taking my keys from my hand. I don’t even argue, I just open the passenger door and get in. I watch as he adjusts the driver’s side to fit him. I giggle at how far back he moves the seat. I don’t think I’ll even be able to reach the pedals when I get back in, at that distance.
“What did you do today?” I ask once we’re on the road.
“Did some work, I had a conference call for a few hours this morning, then I spent another few hours on the phone, hashing out details with Leo.”
“A new deal, or something you’ve been working on for a while?”
“Actually, this is a new proposition. We were approached with an offer to start up a new sports team. We’ve been in talks with the league, and figuring out all the logistics of what it takes to start a team from scratch. It is a hefty price tag, plus, all the logistics of having an arena, practice facility, the support of the region, amongst so many other things.”
“Wow, sounds interesting. Do you think you’ll do it?”
“We’re leaning that way. We’re waiting to hear back from the league on the next steps, and an invite to the owners meeting. They meet only once a year, so it will be months before we even know some information. If everything is approved and we’re allowed to move forward, and the team actually gets accepted into the league, we’d be looking at a few years before we actually start playing.”
“That long?” I ask, a little shocked at the amount of time.
“Yep.” He chuckles. “It isn’t something that can be done overnight. Not only do we have to assure that we’ll have all the facilities in place, but we’ll also have to have fan commitment. One of the steps is to put tickets on sale, and if we get enough people to commit to become season ticket holders, then we can move to the next step. They aren’t actually charged, at that point, but they sign binding contracts with the intent that we’re moving forward and will become a full-fledged team.”
“Sounds very interesting and stressful at the same time. Lots of moving parts, as well.”
“It will be a learning curve, that’s for sure,” he muses. “I’ve already learned so much and we’ve only been discussing it for a couple months. Today’s conference call with the league commissioner went well, but also just ended with a hurry up and wait outcome.”
“When do you think you’ll know more?” I ask as he pulls into my driveway.
“We don’t. As open-ended as that answer is, it is the god-honest truth. We just have to sit back and prepare for the next call that will hopefully be the next few steps that we have to follow to pursue this opportunity.”
“Interesting, very interesting,” I tell him as we walk inside. “Not to change the subject or anything, but I’m going to go get in the shower. If I sit down any longer, I’m going to fall asleep. So, if we have any hope to make it out of here and over to your grandmother’s, I need to keep moving.”
“Go, I’m good out here,” Nathan states, taking a seat on the couch.
I head for the bathroom on auto pilot. As soon as the hot water hits my sore and tired muscles, I lean against the shower wall and let the water relax me for a few moments. Before I fall asleep standing up, I quickly wash and condition my hair, then run a razor over my legs before shutting the water off and getting out. I wrap my hair up in a towel as I dry the rest of my body off.
I head into my bedroom, pulling out a pair of jeans and a cute top to pull on. I don’t want to look too desperate or like I’m trying to make a big impression. I’ve known Nathan’s grandmother my entire life. She’s practically like a third one to me already, but there’s just something about being invited over to her house for the first time as his girlfriend.
Once dressed, I head back into the bathroom. I apply a little bit of makeup, hoping that I can hide the bags under my eyes from how tired I am. I scrunch some product into my hair, making the decision to let it air dry today. It might bite me in the ass later, if it gets super humid, but I’ll deal with that if it happens.
“I’m ready,” I call out, coming back down the hall. Nathan is still on the couch, this time with the TV muted and his phone to his ear. He’s writing something down on a pad of paper I must have had on the end table, so I head into the kitchen to grab something to drink before we head out. I hear him end the call, so I re-join him in the living room. “Everything okay?” I ask, taking another drink from the bottle I’m holding.
“Yep, just a work call,” he says, sliding the piece of paper into his pocket. “Let’s go. Grandma already texted me asking when we’d get there. She’s an impatient little thing.” He chuckles.
I follow him out the door. He stops and locks up, since he’s got my keys, then leads me to the car, opening the passenger door for me and waiting until I’m safely inside before he closes my door.
“Finally!” Grandma Betsy calls out when she opens the door for us. “I thought you’d never get here.”
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Harper needed to go home, first,” Nathan reminds her.
“I know how you work; you’d skip out on this little visit if you thought you could get away with it. I know how your mind works, Nathan Bailey,” she scolds him, and I can’t help but giggle at the way she is.
“Thank you for having us,” I interject, not wanting things to turn sour before they even begin.
“Anytime, dear, now come in, let’s sit and chat.”
We follow Grandma Betsy into her small living room. I’m impressed that, at ninety years old, she’s still living on her own. Still getting around pretty good and is in good health, from what I’ve overheard.
“I’m not stupid, I know the two of you are having sex, so tell me when I should expect the wedding invitation. Do you plan to get married here in Sweet Valley, or do I need to prepare to fly somewhere? I’m not sure I can handle flying, but I’ll do it, if you insist.”
I look at Nathan, I’m sure my eyes are ready to pop out of my head at the straightforward questions she’s just come out and asked. I guess I’m thankful that she asked us here early rather than ask such a question in front of anyone else.
“Well, G-Ma,” Nathan starts to say, stopping to clear his throat a second time. “We’ve not yet discussed those kinds of things, but when the time is right and we do, we’ll make sure to keep you informed. The level of intimacy we choose to engage in is our business, so please respect Harper’s privacy and don’t ask her things like that, especially in public. You might be able to get away with asking some crazy questions because you’re old, but that doesn’t mean she has to be comfortable answering them.”
I sit, slacked jawed at Nathan’s answers. I never thought he’d be so firm, but I also can’t help but swoon at how he took over and protected me the entire time.
“Oh, child.” Betsy starts to laugh. “I got you both so good.” She falls back against the chair, her laughter getting louder and louder as the laugh becomes bigger.
“You we
re joking?” I ask, the giggles starting to get stronger, until I can’t hold them back and just give in.
“Oh my, yes.” She laughs again, wiping at her eyes as tears start to stream down her face. “I’ve been thinking all day what kind of outrageous questions I could ask the two of you to see how far you’d let me take my little questioning session, but after that answer, I know this one,” she pauses, hooking a thumb in Nathan’s direction, “won’t be up for any more of my shenanigans.”
“You really had me fooled,” I admit.
“One point for G-Ma!” Betsy cheers, putting her fists in the air.
“G-Ma.” Nathan finally laughs, finding her shenanigans funny. “You are a real piece of work, please don’t ever change. I love you, even if you did get me going there, for a second.”
“I love you, too, child. I’m still going to hound you every chance I get on when you’re going to give me another wedding to attend and a great grandbaby to spoil. I’m not getting any younger over here, ya know.”
“We’ll take that into consideration.” Nathan laughs and slides a hand over my shoulders, his fingers massaging the tight muscles of my neck.
I still can’t get over the forwardness of Betsy’s questions, but we talk about my time in California. Nathan tells her a little bit about what he was telling me in the car about possibly starting a new professional hockey team.
Before we know it, an hour has passed, and Nathan’s parents are joining us. His mother comes in, carrying a casserole dish that she takes straight to the kitchen. His dad also carries in a bag full of items, following his wife into the kitchen.
“Nice to see you again so soon, son,” his mother greets him. He kisses her cheek, then pulls her into a hug once she’s set down her dish.
“Nice to see you again, even if it is just a quick visit,” he states. “My flight takes off in a few hours.”
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