I shook her arms and grinned. “Charli.”
She stopped and blinked a couple of times. “Did you just say, I’m right?”
“I did.”
“And you couldn’t have told me this in your voice mail?”
I laughed. “I was actually about to leave for the airport. I was going to come and tell you this in person.”
She gasped. “No way!”
I quickly yanked my phone out of my back pocket and pulled up my email. “See,” I said and handed it to her.
She looked up at me in amazement. “You were going to fly all the way to Minnesota? For me?”
“For us.” I took my phone and set it on the coffee table before pulling her into my arms. “When I first heard you went to Minnesota, I was so scared that I’d lost you forever.” I looked away because I was ashamed. “I know I accused you of being just like my mother in my voice mail, but it took me a little while to realize that I was the one being like my mother.”
“How so?”
“I don’t think she ever gave Vermont, my dad, or even Max and me a real chance. And that’s what I was doing with you. But rather than running away, I was pushing you away.” I kissed Charli’s cheek. “And I don’t want to do that. I want to be with you. One hundred and ten percent. No half-assing it. I want to be with you, and I want to be a father to our child.”
I ran my thumb over her cheek to catch her tear.
“And I’m incredibly sorry for everything I said in that voice mail. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions without getting the whole story. That wasn’t right or fair to you.”
“How did that happen? Did whoever was working at The Busy Bean tell you why I’d left?”
My cheeks actually started to heat at this question. “Audrey did, but I kind of cut her off before she could finish.”
“Not wise.”
“Oh, I know. She came outside and yelled at me.”
Charli bit her lip to keep from laughing. “That’s funny.”
“It is, and I deserved it. I came home with my tail between my legs and found your note. I’m sorry I overreacted. I should not have flown off the handle without listening.”
She grabbed on to my shirt. “Normally, I’d say, don’t do it again, but I think overreacting worked out in this case. You wouldn’t have realized you’d missed me so much otherwise.”
I laughed and kissed her. “How’s your grandma? Why’d you come back so soon?”
“To talk to you. She insisted, which means she is doing very well. She made me promise to bring you to Minnesota once she’s out of the hospital, so she can meet you.”
“Wow. I already got Granny’s approval.”
“We’ll see. I still have to tell her we made up and that I made you grovel.”
“You made me grovel?” I asked, surprised.
“Yes. Now, get on your knees and show me how sorry you are,” she joked.
I held up a finger. “One question.”
“Shoot.”
“What did the doctor say about the baby? Is everything okay?”
She grinned. “Yes, everything is great. She said that even though it might have been hard for me to get pregnant—”
“Well, not that hard,” I interjected. I had yet to give myself a pat on the back for doing something her ex hadn’t been able to do in all the years they’d been together.
She rolled her eyes. “She said it might have been hard for me to get pregnant, but now that I am, my PCOS shouldn’t affect me keeping the baby any more than any other pregnant woman.”
“Good.” I swung her up in my arms. “That means, I can take you to my bedroom and show you how sorry I am with my mouth.”
She tsked. “Gabe, you’re so naughty,” she teased.
“We haven’t had sex for over a week. I’m horny, Charli.”
She threw her head back and laughed as I carried her to the bedroom.
39
Charli
A few months later
I smacked the back of my hand against Gabe’s shoulder blade, and he made a noise.
“I want one of Audrey’s scones.” I rubbed my big, round stomach. “And the baby wants one too.”
Gabe opened one eye. His other was buried in his pillow. “Now?”
“Yes.”
“It’s seven in the morning on a Saturday.”
“You weren’t too tired to have sex ten minutes ago,” I pointed out. “And now, I need fuel. Having sex burns calories.”
“But, babe, I’m so comfortable.” He rolled onto his side and pulled me into his arms. “And the point of Saturday morning sex is that we get to lie in bed afterward. We don’t have to get up and go anywhere.”
He did have a point. Our bed was comfy, and I liked being in his arms.
I was just about to tell him I could wait when my stomach growled loudly, and the baby kicked his hand.
Gabe rolled onto his back and sighed jokingly. “Fine, I’ll go and pick up some scones and coffee.”
He climbed out of bed, and I admired my husband’s naked ass as he went to put on clothes.
“Thank you,” I told him. “As a reward, I’ll give you the best blow job ever.”
Laughing, he came over and kissed me on the forehead. “I’ll go because I love you. Besides, you gave me the best blow job last night. And a couple of days ago. And last week. And—”
I playfully hit him with a pillow. “I can’t help it. My pregnancy has made me horny.” My cheeks felt like they were on fire.
“Hey, I’m not complaining.” He grinned. “I like it.”
“Good. Otherwise, I might take my BJ talents somewhere else.”
Gabe just laughed as he walked backward to the en suite bathroom door.
I frowned and sat up. “You’re supposed to act all jealous.”
“Nah.”
“Nah?”
“Yeah. Nah.” He pointed to my belly. “Not only do we live in a small town, but you have also been marked as Gabe Hughes’s woman.”
“I won’t be pregnant forever.”
“I was pointing to your wedding ring.”
“Oh.” I held it up and watched it sparkle. “Yeah, there is that.”
“And if you take that off, I’m going to have to get my name tattooed on your ass.”
I laughed. “I like it.”
“I’m going to shower quickly, and then I’ll be off to The Busy Bean.”
When he got out of the bathroom, I was already dressed and waiting for him on our living room couch with my shoes on. A couple of months ago, we had bought a house together and sold the duplex, so we could have more room once the baby came.
“You’re coming with me?” Gabe asked when he came down the stairs.
“Yeah, I figured it would be nice to get out. Plus, I have some bad heartburn, so it’s better if I don’t lie in bed.”
He held out his hand, so I could grab it and stand up. “Does this mean, no blow job?”
Patting his arm, I said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure that will happen again soon enough.”
It was a beautiful day, so we walked to The Busy Bean since we lived less than a mile away. Even though I didn’t work there anymore, I liked to go a few times a week.
I had just published my second book, but fulfilling my dreams of being an author was not why I’d quit the shop.
Lee’s memory had gotten too bad for him to stay at Hughes Hardware, so I had stepped in and started working there. After all, I was a Hughes now. And I didn’t have to work full-time, so it gave me time to write when I was home. But that would probably slow down once the baby came.
I didn’t care though. I couldn’t wait to meet our baby, and almost more than that, I couldn’t wait to see how Gabe reacted to being a father. He was still a grump with most people, but he was a Care Bear with me. He was Grumpy Bear, but Grumpy Bear was still a Care Bear. And I had a feeling he was going to be a different person when it came to his child.
When we reached the café, Gabe held the
door open for me, and I inhaled the familiar scent of coffee. Thankfully, the smell had only bothered me for the first couple months of my pregnancy.
“Why don’t you find a spot to sit while I order?”
I nodded in agreement and was headed over to an empty table, but I stopped when a familiar quote caught my eye.
Sometimes, not knowing where you’re going will lead you to where you need to be.
I must have been staring at it for a few minutes because Gabe came up behind me.
“I thought you were going to sit?”
I smiled. “I was, but then I saw this quote. It was the reason that I stayed here in Colebury.”
“Which one?”
I pointed to it, and Gabe started laughing.
“I’m all about a good joke, but I must be missing something.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “That’s my mom’s quote.”
I felt my eyes widen in surprise. “What? How did it end up there?”
Zara was walking past at that moment and stopped. “I wanted some local quotes on the wall instead of famous ones all the time. I found that in an old yearbook. It was under Gabe’s senior picture,” she said as she continued past us.
“No way. Gabe, you actually quoted your mom?”
Although a part of him was never going to forgive her for leaving him and his brother, we’d talked about her a lot in the last few months. I thought he’d realized that his mother had been extremely unhappy in Colebury and that she had tried to stay. Her unhappiness hadn’t given her a right to ditch her kids, but he understood why she’d left his dad. But I was still surprised that high school Gabe had quoted her.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t know she had said it. My dad used to say it all the time, and when the yearbook committee asked for my quote, I didn’t know what else to put down. It wasn’t until the books came out at the end of the year that my dad told me it wasn’t his quote, but my mom’s.”
“It’s a good thing you didn’t know.”
“Why’s that?”
“If you had known, you would have never used it in the yearbook. Then, it wouldn’t have been up on the wall, and I would have never seen it and stayed.” I kissed him. “Just think, you’re the one who brought us together.”
“Technically, my mom did.”
I laughed. “Either way, I’m happy I read the quote and listened to the universe.”
He smiled down at me. “You came along and really sidetracked all my life plans, but I’m sure as hell glad you did.”
T H E
E N D
Thank you for reading Sidetracked by R. L. Kenderson! Want a bonus scene for Charli and Gabe? Click here.
You can get all the links to all the Busy Bean books here. Or turn the page for even more World of True North titles!
You Will Also Enjoy…
More Busy Bean:
Fireproof by Delancey Stewart
Doubletalk by Teralyn Mitchell
Footnote by Alexa Gregory
Afterglow by Aria Wyatt
And more!
R.L. Kenderson’s Books Include:
A Love Like That Series
Dirty Love Series
Not Another Romance Series
Acknowledgments
First, we want to thank Sarina Bowen for giving us the opportunity to write in her world. We discovered Sarina when someone suggested the book Him by her and Elle Kennedy, and we’ve been a fan ever since. When we found out we were accepted into the True North World, we were ecstatic. Thank you, Sarina, for giving us a chance to share our words with your readers!
We also want to thank Sarina’s team for all their help! Jane Haertel, Jenn Gaffney, and Natasha Leskiw. They’re always available to answer questions when we had them, and they did so much to help us throughout this entire project.
Also, thank you to our wonderful editor, Jovana Shirley. She is seriously the best editor anyone can ask for and we are so lucky to have her in our corner.
Lastly, we’d like to thank the readers. If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have anyone to share our work with! Thank you to the old and new readers for giving us a chance!
With love,
Renae & Lara
Sidetracked (The Busy Bean) Page 15