“I’ll tell them I got fat.”
“And then lost all the weight, and we suddenly have two babies?”
I shrug. “Sounds legit to me.”
Shirley interrupts us and winks while dropping a turkey bacon club and our drinks in front of us. “You two enjoy.”
“You ready to come up with a plan yet?” Dallas asks when I take my first bite.
“Nope,” I answer after chewing.
He nods, telling me the conversation isn’t over but that he’ll save it for later. “What’s your favorite food?”
I look up from my plate. “What?”
“Your favorite food. We can’t sit here in silence, and I figure we’ll ask each other questions we never did when we worked together.”
I tell him it’s a tie between sushi and tacos. His is his mom’s carrot cake. We throw questions at each other back and forth while we eat. Having a normal conversation with him feels right. It’s comfortable. It doesn’t feel like first-date awkwardness because this is definitely not a date.
My dream vacation is staying in one of those tiki huts in Bora Bora. His is Yosemite. Black-and-white movies are my thing. He’s not much of a movie buff, but we both agree that anything with Tom Cruise is overrated.
Shirley collects our plates and comes back to set a delicious piece of blueberry pie in front of me.
“Oh no, I didn’t order this,” I say.
She smiles. “It’s on the house, honey. First slice for a newcomer is always free.”
“Thank you.” I take a bite and groan at the deliciousness. “Shirley is officially my favorite person in this town.”
He smiles in amusement. “She’s bribing you. The first piece is never free.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t think I’m the only one hoping you stay in Blue Beech.”
Chapter Seventeen
Willow
“Guess who’s back, back again. Willow’s back, tell a friend,” Stella sings when I slide into the passenger seat of her BMW SUV.
My best friend might’ve shut the door on the celebrity lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean she gave up her love of expensive handbags and foreign cars or that she doesn’t stop gifting those cars to her favorite personal assistant.
She’s grinning, her eyes pinned on me, and her charcoal-colored hair is pulled back into a high ponytail that shows off her Spanish features.
I buckle my seat belt while groaning. “I’m officially putting my two-weeks’ notice in.”
It’s my first day back at work since moving to Blue Beech, and it feels good being around Stella again. We went from spending endless days side by side to communicating through video conferences and text messages.
Her lips curl into a smile. “You’d miss me too much, but you can bet your ass I’ll be giving you maternity leave for as long as you’d like, and then you can bring the cute munchkin to work.”
No one knows we’re having twins yet, and Dallas promised to keep it that way until I was ready. I need time to wrap my head around everything in my life being multiplied.
“Paid leave, right?” I ask.
“Duh.” She wiggles in her seat before shifting the car into drive. “So … does this mean, you’re staying?”
I’ve lost count of the number of times Stella has asked me to move here—before and after the Dallas situation. I would’ve been fired for refusing to relocate if I worked for anyone else.
“Undecided. I’m giving it a chance, but I can’t make any promises. I still need to come up with my single-mom plan.”
We don’t leave the parking lot because she puts her car back in park to give me her full attention.
Her face fills with worry. “You’re not a single mom, Wills. You have Dallas.”
I’m single. I’m going to be a mom. Hence, single mom.
“Not sure that makes a difference,” I mutter.
Her hand tenderly brushes against my arm. “If you’re worried about that, I can assure you, Dallas will be there for your baby … for you. He’ll change diapers and wake up when the baby is screaming bloody murder in the middle of the night. He’ll help financially. If that’s not someone supporting you, I don’t know what is.”
I snort. She has a point, but I still want to see him as the jackass I thought he was that morning.
“Why are you so uneasy about a man being a good man? If I recall correctly, you were jumping my ass when Hudson and I were going through a rough patch. It’s your turn to listen.”
I hate when my actions come back to bite me in the ass. “Different circumstances.”
“How are they different circumstances?”
“Hudson had cheating fiancée baggage. He wasn’t a single dad who lost his wife. What’s Dallas going to do? Have sleepovers with Maven at my apartment? I won’t be stepping foot into his house after what happened there.”
She rolls her eyes, her understanding moving into aggravation. “Grow up. He was going through a rough time.”
“He didn’t seem to have a problem with me in his bed when we were screwing—only when it was time to face his mistake.”
“He doesn’t see you as a mistake.”
“You didn’t see his reaction. The way he still looks at me.”
“I’ll pay better attention today.”
“Today?”
She shrugs casually with a mischievous smile. “We’re bringing them lunch.”
“We?” I turn around to view the backseat. “Do you have someone shoved in your trunk?”
“You and me. Us. We’re bringing the guys lunch.”
“They’re grown men. Can’t they feed themselves?”
I’ve texted Dallas a few times on the phone, but I haven’t seen him since the diner. I’m still in the process of getting comfortable with him when we’re alone. Hudson and Stella breathing over our shoulders won’t make it any easier.
Chapter Eighteen
Dallas
I wipe my hands on a shop towel and toss it to the ground when my stomach growls. “Shirley’s for lunch?” I ask Hudson. “I’m fucking starving.”
I’ve been here since five in the morning, finishing up an engine on a tractor for my father’s friend who needed it done yesterday. One of our biggest battles of working with agriculture and construction customers is that they’re seasonal. They want their equipment done the moment they drop it off, or they’re losing money.
Good for our pockets.
Bad for our stress levels.
He shakes his head. “Nah, Stella is bringing me food.”
“Ah, yeah. Forgot about your little lunch dates.” I smirk. “Cute kids, you. Reminds me of when I was in third grade, trying to convince Lucy to kiss me by bringing her pieces of Mom’s pie on the playground.”
“Asshole.” He throws his towel at me and slides off a stool. “Want to join us? She brings enough to feed an army.”
“I’ll pass.”