I’ve owned this business for years, and I’ve never seen a wedding on the pier before. Not once.
“Reece took care of it — I didn’t even want to know what he had to do to make that happen,” she informs me as she scrawls something down — some minor imperfection that she’ll straighten out, no doubt.
“You know, dimples? I think I should make friends with Reece. He sounds like a useful guy to have around.”
“He might not appreciate a friend like you.” She smirks at me as she finally pulls her eyes from her work.
“What’s wrong with my friendship skills?” I demand, putting on a show of sounding wounded, even though I know damn well all the dirt she’s got on me.
She shrugs. “I mean, nothing… If you like being called in the middle of the night drunk as a skunk, or propositioned for sex… Or getting five hundred texts while you’re trying to work.”
I roll my eyes. “You exaggerate. It was only about two hundred.”
“Fine, two hundred.” She grins. “But my argument still stands.”
“I see where you’re coming from… He wouldn’t be able to handle all of this.”
“I don’t quite know how I manage myself,” she drawls.
“Oh c’mon, you know you couldn’t live without me.”
She doesn’t answer, just smiles coyly and walks off in the direction of her best friend and most difficult client.
***
“Here, you deserve one of these.” I pop the cap and hand her a cold beer.
She’s out on my balcony, staring out at the sun setting behind the horizon.
“How did I not know about this view before now?” she asks as she takes the bottle from my outstretched hand.
I take a sip of my drink and shrug. “I dunno. Have you been here when it’s not dark or I’m not drunk?”
“It would seem not.”
“Another black mark against my friendship skills.” I sigh.
“You’re sure racking up those indiscretions, aren’t ya?” She smirks before taking a long drink of her beer.
I rest my elbows on the railing and look at the sunset.
“That’s the best thing about moving in here. I get to look at that whenever I want to.”
“It’s not a bad outlook, is it?” She sighs. “Where’d you live before?”
“Lizzie and I had a house downtown. She still lives there actually. That’s where I went that night,” I admit sheepishly.
“Is she still with the guy, your mate?”
I shrug. “You’d like to hope so. Since it ended an engagement and a friendship.”
“You hope they’re still together?” she asks in disbelief.
I chuckle and shake my head. “Nah, not really. I hope they made each other miserable within the first three days and now they’re both desperate and alone.”
“That sounds more like the Jackson I know and love,” she teases.
I’m shocked into silence by her casual use of the word. I know she’s not out here declaring her undying love for me or anything like that, but I haven’t heard anyone tell me they love me since Lizzie lied to my face and then screwed around with my mate behind my back.
“So, what was the plan?” she asks me, totally oblivious to my little moment. “For your life I mean… You were obviously going to get married. Did you want kids?”
I shake my head. “Lizzie didn’t want kids.”
“I didn’t ask what Lizzie wanted,” she says softly. “I asked if you wanted to have children.”
I think about it for a moment before realising that children is something that could be a possibility for me now. Lizzie never wanted them — she made that clear from the day we met. I didn’t think I was too fazed one way or the other, so I just accepted that we wouldn’t have them. It’s not until right now, when Katie has asked me what I want, that I realise I do want kids one day.
“One day… I think one day I could be a good dad.”
“What about getting married? Or has she put you off ever trying that again?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug.
I haven’t really thought about any of this until now, and while if anyone else was asking these questions, it would feel like an intrusion, with Katie is feels natural. Like she’s part of my thought process.
“I guess it would depend on the person and the timing. I think I’d know if I found the right person and it was the right time to ask that question again.”
“What about this place? Any big dreams you want to tell me about?”
I shrug and take a long pull from my bottle. “I’m not sure. I mean I guess I’ve always had plans to expand and build on from this, but I’m not sure about any of it anymore.”
“How long are you going to let this hold you back for?” she asks, and it’s not an accusation, it’s a genuine question. Her voice sounds sad, like it pains her to see me holding onto something that’s over and done and causing me nothing but grief.
It’s a weird thing, breaking up with someone you thought you’d spend your life with.
I can see the cracks in our relationship now that I’m looking back, but at the time, she felt like everything I’d ever wanted or needed. I thought we were solid.
I don’t know if it’s feelings, or pride or something else that’s holding me back from letting go of all that hurt, but I just can’t seem to release it entirely — I’m not even sure if I want to or not.
Maybe that’s the problem.
Maybe it’s me.
“She’s still got control over you, because you’re letting her. Holding onto your hurt isn’t affecting her, Jackson, it’s only affecting you. The only person you’re punishing is yourself.”
She sits her empty bottle on the handrail next to my arm and leans in to kiss me on the cheek.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she whispers before she turns and leaves.
I stay out there for a long time after she’s gone — even though I know I have things to do downstairs — and think about the truth in her words.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Katie
“Listen up, I want you to be prepared for anything here, just brace yourself, alright? She could turn on any of us at the drop of a hat.”
Jackson chuckles at me. “We’re going through menu options, not handling a baby dinosaur.”
“Trust me, dreamboat, at this point they’re one and the same.”
He looks at me as though I’ve lost my mind, but he’ll see soon enough what I’m dealing with.
“I hope you had Bryn make plenty of food, she’s been living off carrots for the past two weeks and the woman is hangry.”
“You’re overreacting.”
“You’re under-reacting.”
“That’s not a thing.”
I hear the door open behind me and I glance over my shoulder to see Tillie strolling in.
“Oh, trust me it’s about to become a thing.”
He just laughs at me and waves out a hello to Tillie before disappearing into the kitchen to safety.
“Chicken shit,” I mutter under my breath. “Good morning, how’s my most difficult client doing today?” I ask Tillie sweetly as she approaches.
She rolls her eyes at me and pouts. “You make me sound like I’m hard work or something.”
“That’s because you are hard work, sweetie. Now, where’s your man? I was relying on his presence to keep you sane.”
“He’s running late.” She frowns, and I send up a silent prayer for Reece, that Tillie gets some carbs into her before he shows up, because he’s bound to get a tune up for not arriving on time.
“Sit,” I instruct. “Jackson has gone to get some samples.”
Surprisingly, she sits without arguing. “Lover boy better be bringing me something good,” she grumbles.
I look around for Jackson, and when I catch his eye across the room, I tap at my wrist, indicating that he should hurry the hell up.
We have the whole place to ourselves. It doesn’t open for a
nother hour yet, so it’s just us and Jackson’s staff here.
I can hear Bryn banging around in the kitchen and Jackson gives me a thumbs up and a cheeky grin.
I can’t help but smile. I’m turning into a total sucker for that man and I don’t even think I care anymore.
That’s the thing about chemistry and relationships. You can’t force it and you can’t help the way you feel about someone, so there’s really nothing more to do than hold on and see where the ride takes you.
“You’ve got a goofy look on your face.” Tillie says as Jackson approaches, holding a tray of something that is bound to be delicious.
“And you’ve got a resting bitch face,” I tell her with a poorly concealed giggle.
She’s about to say something smart in retaliation, when Jackson arrives and slides the tray in front of Tillie.
“How’s my favourite bride doing today?” he asks her.
I roll my eyes at his obvious ass kissing.
“You could learn a thing or two from this guy, Katie,” Tillie tells me as she eyes up the plate of food.
Jackson rattles off exactly what the choices are while I watch Tillie practically dribbling.
“Eat,” I tell her. “I’ll get you a glass of water.”
I stand up and wink at Jackson as I leave him alone with my best friend.
He shoots me daggers and then plasters a smile on his face before turning back to Tillie.
I make it about halfway across the dining room when I hear a ‘psssst’ noise.
I glance around but come up empty.
“Pssssst.” The noise goes again, but this time I see a grinning Bryn inside the doorway of the kitchen. “Katie!” he whisper shouts, “Come here.”
I walk over to where he’s lurking, studying him curiously as I go. “Did you just ‘pssst’ me?”
“That’s not important, what is important is getting that stupid fool over there to open his eyes.”
I stand in front of him and cross my arms over my chest.
Bryn is an intimidating guy, if for no other reason than the sheer size of the man. He’s huge, but I get the impression he’s a big teddy bear on the inside.
“What exactly is it that he’s opening his eyes to?”
“You,” he says, as though it’s the most obvious answer in the world.
“Me?” I reply loudly.
“Shhhhh,” he hisses as he drags me a little further inside the door frame. “He’s so obviously into you.”
“I’m pretty confident that that is entirely inaccurate,” I retort.
“I told him I was going to ask you out,” he says with a wide grin, as though that’s some kind of explanation for this bizarre conversation.
He’s backed me up so that my back is pressed against the door, and he’s leaning over me as he talks in a hushed voice — his toned bicep isn’t far from my face and his hand is resting against the wall next to my head. He’s effectively blocking me off from the dining room.
I look up at him. “No offence, but I think that’ll be a no.”
He chuckles softly. “You cut me deep, Katie, but that’s not what I mean. I’m only doing this to make him jealous.”
“He’s got no reason to be jealous, Bryn, so there’s a slight flaw in your genius plan.”
He shakes his head at me as though I’m stupid. “Look, let’s quit beating around the bush. Are you into him, or what?”
“Yeah, I’ve got feelings for him, but I’m not going to use those feelings to pressure him. That’s not how I work. I don’t play games, I don’t manipulate.”
“It’s not manipulating, it’s just like a gentle slap across the face,” he says with a shrug and a grin.
“Well you can slap him all you like, but I’m not doing it. I like Jackson, I like where we’re at. I just want him to be happy and the rest will just be whatever it will be.”
“Don’t you just want to shake some sense into him?”
“Of course I do sometimes, but not so that he’ll decide he loves me all of a sudden.”
“So, you won’t go out with me to try and make him jealous?”
“That would be a negative.”
“Well he’s looked over here at least half a dozen times already so maybe we don’t need the date.”
“Bryn!” I scold him as I shove at his chest to get him away from me. “Get back in that damn kitchen, stop making trouble and start making some food.”
He salutes me like a soldier as he walks backwards into the kitchen.
I hear him start whistling and banging around and I take a deep breath.
Mother of god.
I just confessed to having feelings for a guy — to his best friend, who seems to have a mouth that’s considerably too big, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that.
I don’t want to pressure Jackson or lose our friendship. I like what we have. I like that I can talk to him about anything, and that he’ll tell me things no one else has ever heard.
The last thing I want is for him to be pressured into feeling something he isn’t feeling. He’s still hung up on his ex, and that is what it is. He won’t be ready to move on until he decides he’s closed that chapter of his life — and nothing I can say or do will change that.
I exhale and go in search of the water I should have well and truly been back with by now.
By the time I get back to the table, Jackson is nowhere to be seen.
***
“I forgot how good carbs taste.” Tillie groans in appreciation as she sucks the last of the flavouring off one of her fingers. “Those are definitely going on the menu.”
“You’ve said that about every option so far,” I say with a laugh.
“I’m not even sorry.” She smirks. “And Reece isn’t here to give his opinion, so we’re just going to have to have them all I think.”
She’s much more emotionally stable with some decent food under her belt. Bryn might be a right pain in my ass, but I owe him for that at least.
And compared to the other extravagant requests I’ve had thrown my way, courtesy of Tillie, this is barely even a big deal.
“Where did lover boy go?” she asks as she looks around the room.
I shrug. “I’m not sure.”
“You’re falling for this guy, aren’t you?” she asks, her tone serious.
Apparently, this is confess-your-feelings Thursday.
There’s no point in hiding things from Tillie or changing the subject, she knows me well enough to know when I’m lying or trying to avoid talking about something.
“I’m falling hard, Tills, and even though I know he’s not going to be there to catch me, I can’t make it stop.”
I wouldn’t want to make it stop either, this is the path my life is taking — whether or not he joins me on this trail is still very much up for debate, but either way, it doesn’t change the direction I’m heading.
“He might surprise you.”
I shrug. “He might.”
“And if he doesn’t?” she asks.
“Then he doesn’t.”
“You’re so reasonable.” She says it like it’s a foreign concept to her, because quite frankly, being reasonable isn’t Tillie’s specialty.
I laugh. “And that makes one of us.”
I hear the door open again and I see Reece rushing through it.
“He’s here,” I tell her brightly.
She smiles instead of scowls so I figure it’s safe to leave them alone.
“I’m going to go find Jackson and tell him you want it all, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“See you then.”
“Get some of this to take away and eat it before I see you again. You’re less scary when you’re full.”
“Oh, ha ha,” she mocks as I walk away.
I give Reece a quick hello and a kiss on the cheek before heading off in search of Jackson.
One of the servers points me in the direction of Jackson’s apartment so I climb the stairs and knock on the door
.
I can’t explain why, but I’m filled with nerves as I wait for him to answer.
I hear his footsteps as he approaches the door before the handle turns and it opens in front of me.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jackson
I knew she wouldn’t just leave without saying goodbye, yet when I open the door and she’s standing there in front of me, somehow looking even more beautiful than she did half an hour ago, it still surprises me enough to render me speechless.
She smiles at me. “You disappeared.”
I most certainly did.
After I saw her talking to Bryn I couldn’t stomach being there anymore. I had to get the fuck out and try and make sense of my head.
I’ve never seen red like that in my life.
A surge of jealously raged through my body as I watched her looking up at him, taking over my blood stream and pumping envy through my veins.
It came from nowhere and caught me completely off guard.
What made it worse, was the fact that Tillie had a front-row seat to my moment of realisation.
“Look, I know that Katie is all about letting people figure things out for themselves and all that, but I’m more of a ‘dude, what the fuck?’ kinda girl — so news flash, she likes you. And I’m pretty sure you’re into her too.”
I stood there like an idiot, as I listened to someone else point out the way I’m feeling, because I am feeling.
I’m feeling a whole lot for the woman in front of me.
She frowns at me when I don’t answer her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good,” I find myself saying, even though I feel anything but.
“Can I come in?”
I push the door open wider so she can walk through, but I make no effort to move out of her way.
Her arm brushes against mine as she walks by and the floral scent of her perfume fills my nose.
She doesn’t sit like she normally would, instead she tosses her bag onto the couch and slides off her sandals, then she just stands there, looking at me.
She’s such a beautiful woman, that I just stare right back at her.
Mr. February: A One Night Stand Romance (Calendar Boys Book 2) Page 8