Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“What time is it really,” she says into my chest.
“Time for you to not move.”
“We have a house to clean, meat to marinate, and potatoes to peel.”
“In a bit.” I tighten the arm around her. “Stay here. Be useless with me a while longer.”
She huffs a laugh and stays. A gray Sunday, a warm woman, nowhere to be. I’d have torched every stage I ever stood on to be sure I’d end up right here, and for a long time I wasn’t sure at all. That part’s mine to carry. I carry it quietly, with my hand in her hair, and I don’t let it touch the morning.
Eventually she gets up, because one of us has to, and she steals my shirt off the floor on the way to the bathroom. Down the hall, I hear Paige’s music, her way of alerting us that she’s awake and whatever we’re doing in our bedroom, we should stop. I love our daughter, but I can’t wait for us to be empty nesters. Then, we can sleep naked, fuck wherever we want and not have to worry about people walking in.
Hell, I might even change the locks.
The idea of coffee is what gets me moving. I’ve got two mugs poured by the time she comes down in my shirt and a pair of leggings, glasses shoved up in her hair, and she takes hers and hitches herself up onto the counter instead of a stool.
I lean against the counter across from her and cross my ankles.
“You’re trying for round two with those damn sweats on,” she says, motioning toward my gray sweats.
“They were clean.”
“You have others.”
I eye her. She does my laundry and yet these were on top of all the others.
Josie laughs. “So, you finally caved. No who, no how.” She has a wicked glint in her eye and clearly enjoying herself. “No why.”
“What or where?” I tease. “Wait, isn’t there a fifth one?”
She looks at me over the rim of her mug. “When, but I know you were at the bar so clearly that’s the when and where. What I don’t know is who and why you decided to even think about someone when you told me no.”
“Teagan Lowery,” I say without trying to come up with some answer to her convoluted statement.
Josie sets her coffee down. “Teagan came into the shop her first week, ordering flowers for an assembly. I liked her.” She takes a sip of her coffee. When she puts her mug down, I refill it. “You want her for Nick?”
“I don’t know if want is the right word.”
She shakes her head. “Nick already knows her. She’s technically his boss and he’s coaching her son. Plus, Nick fills in when the trainer is gone sometimes. They’re in and out of the same building every day.” She tips her head.
“Knowing her and seeing her aren’t the same thing.” I drink my coffee. “I wasn’t going to get involved because, hello frenemy. Except Nick came in last night and he gave me some updates on Mack, like my opinion matters. We got to talking and I feel bad for him. The shit Aubrey did—that could’ve really messed him up. He put the kids first, put his practice on hold, and went to South Africa to make sure Amelie was taken care of.”
“He’s a good dad,” she says. “Always has been.”
The last bit stings. I’m not going to say anything to her about it because I deserve it.
“Anyway, we talk while Amelie was at dance class.” I shrug. “And then Teagan came in, and we start talking.”
“You’re a real Dr. Phil.”
Her words give me an idea. “I wonder how I can get one of those honorary doctorates? Then everyone would have to call me Dr. Liam.”
Josie covers her face with her hand and mutters something unintelligible.
“Teagan’s a widow and I got the impression she’s looking for friends. Who better of a friend than the single doctor in town.”
Josie’s grinning at me over her mug now, and it’s the grin that means she’s already three moves ahead and enjoying the view.
“So what do you want from me,” she says, testing me. “They already share a parking lot. I can’t introduce two people who say good morning to each other.”
“They’re past that.” And here’s the part that’s been eating me since she left the bar yesterday. “I think they need to be in a room where they have to talk as Nick and Teagan. Not Mr. Ashford and Ms. Lowery, coach and boss, dad and principal.”
Josie tips her head, studying me, and something moves behind her eyes that I like a lot better than the teasing.
“Look at you,” she says. “Thinking past your own nose.”
“It happens when you give me a challenge. You knew I wouldn’t back down.”
“Rarely.” She sets the mug down beside her on the counter. “So you’re telling me you found Nick someone and have no idea how to get them together?”