“You look better.”
Looking over at her, I smiled. “I feel better. I was getting ready to make a big order at Yin Chang. I didn’t want to bother you guys, but I should have asked if you all wanted to join me. Do you want anything?”
“We already ate, but thanks for asking. I just wanted to come over and check on you. I saw you had your laptop with you, so…” She paused, waiting to see if I would finish the thought.
“I went to get coffee and breakfast down at The Dream Bean when I realized I had no food. I have no idea how long I was there. Not once did I look at the time, but I wrote three chapters.” I leaned back into the cushion of my couch with a happy smile on my face. “I can’t remember the last time it was that easy to get down my words. When I woke up today...I felt like a new woman. Something inside of me changed. I’m not saying I’m not still sad because I am, but I know I’m going to get through this. I’m going to write this book, and then I’m going to look into starting a family of my own. When I close my eyes, I can see myself holding a little baby in my arms.”
Rushing over to me, Lexie plopped down beside me and hugged me to her sides. “This is good news.” She shook me a little, making me laugh as I hugged her back. “I have to say I was worried about you. I even thought about calling Pen.”
“I’ll call her after I eat.” Starving, I woke up my phone. “If you’re sure you don’t want any Chinese, I’m going to get my order going.”
“I’m positive. Ryder made Delilah and me some amazing chicken Alfredo, and I’m stuffed. That’s why we were out on the beach. I was trying to work off some of it.”
“And what did your poor husband eat?” I felt bad for him when he’d watch us all eat whatever our hearts desired while he stuck to a regimen of almost all chicken and vegetables.
“He actually had a tiny portion of the noodles and sauce, and then he had a chicken breast and broccoli.” She let out a dreamy sigh. “I don’t know how he does it, but I admire his dedication to his body. I worship it nightly.”
I bet she did.
“Soon, you’ll be pregnant with baby number two if you’re not already.”
“I don’t know. You can never tell how long it will take once you stop taking birth control, but it doesn’t matter to me because I’ll have fun trying to get pregnant all the same.” Getting up from the couch, Lexie looked outside. Probably to where her family was still out playing on the beach. “Now that I know you’re doing okay, I’m going to get back to them. Even though the air isn’t too bad, I still don’t want Delilah out in it too much.”
I understood that. Who knew what it might do to her little lungs?
“But if you need anything, and I mean anything, you know where to find me. Day or night, you know I got you.”
Even more than when we met, I knew I was one lucky bitch to get Lexie and her family as my neighbors. She was the best.
Standing from my perch on the couch, I gave her a big hug. “I feel like I’m always saying this on repeat with you, but thank you. Don’t bother to hesitate to call me if you need anything. In fact, if you and Ryder want to go out or have a night alone, I’d love to watch Delilah for you.”
“We’ll definitely take you up on babysitting.” Opening the sliding glass door, she looked over her shoulder. “Enjoy your Chinese. Next time you plan to order the entire menu, let me know, and I’ll join you.”
“Deal,” I laughed. “At least I have a good excuse. I need the leftovers since I have no food in my house.”
“You never need to have an excuse for ordering from there. If I could, I’d eat it every day, but then my husband would probably kill me. It’s one of his only food weaknesses.”
I tapped my temple. “I’ll remember that.”
“Enjoy the rest of your night, and congrats on your chapters. If you keep that up, you’ll have your book finished in no time,” she said before she closed the door and walked back to her family.
My fingers were already itching to get back to hitting the keys on my keyboard. Maybe if I was lucky, I could write another chapter before my food got here.
Taking one final look at my neighbors as Ryder ran through the water with Delilah on his shoulders, I let out a sigh.
Soon.
Soon I’d have something like that—minus the dad.
20
Remy
“You don’t look like a guy who passed his test,” Eric said as he sat on the stool beside me.
I shrugged and finished off my drink.
“How long are you going to mope about this girl? You’ve been back a month, and every time I see you, you look like someone kicked your puppy.”
“I guess when I stop thinking about her every second that I’m not working or studying. Now that I don’t have to study, I guess I’ll have more time on my hands to try and get over her.”
Eric let out a frustrated huff before he lifted two fingers in the air and then motioned down to my beer. A few moments later, the bartender set a beer down in front of each of us.
“From what you told me, which isn’t much I might add, you’re the one that broke up with her. There had to be a reason.” He took a sip of his beer and then placed both elbows on the sticky bar, not seeming to care what he was sticking to. “Why did you cut things off with this woman if you’re so hung up on her, huh? Did she cheat on you?”
Narrowing my eyes at him, I growled. “Stella did absolutely nothing wrong. It was all me. I was the stupid motherfucker.”
Turning on his stool, Eric squared his shoulders as he took me in. “Why the fuck did you cheat on her if you like her so damn much?”
“I didn’t cheat on her asshole. That’s not who I am.” Never in a thousand years would I cheat on Stella, not after what she told me her ex-husband had done.
“Then what did you do to fuck up so royally?”
Closing my eyes, I tried to center myself even though I knew it wouldn’t do much good. “I’m not good enough for her, plain and simple.”
“Why do you say that? Women seem to gravitate toward you wherever you go. You’ve got to have something they like.”
His words made me chuckle. It was obvious Eric didn’t usually have these types of conversations, so it was something he was trying with me.
“I have no problem getting women. That’s not the problem. I saw some things when I was deployed no person should ever have to see” Looking straight ahead, I told Eric the whole story.
Eric clapped a hand on my shoulder and gave me a tight smile. “You don’t have to keep talking if you don’t want to, man. I’ve heard nightmare stories from buddies who’ve been over there.”
I nodded that I heard him, but I kept going. “If it wasn’t for another guy in my unit, I probably wouldn’t be here right now. He saved me one day when my mind wasn’t on the mission. After not resisting, I decided to make some easy cash by working on yachts.”
Eric’s brows rose. “Yachts, really? What are you doing here then?”
“My life doesn’t feel right unless I’m helping people, and as much as working on boats helped me not think about my past, it wasn’t fulfilling. Anyway, one morning when I was alone, I was on Instagram checking to see if Stella had posted anything new and decided to see how Tyler, the guy who saved me, was doing. He posted as often as possible, and it helped keep me connected with the guys still over there. When I went to his account, I found out he’d died over there.” Picking up my beer, I slammed the whole thing and still wanted more. I signaled for the bartender to bring me another while I stared down at my empty beer bottle, running my fingertip around the edge of the lip. “The guilt of not being there for him the way he was for me was tough. I knew then my time on the boats was over after that season. I’d wanted to be a fireman before, but something was holding me back. After that day, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed to be out there helping people instead of hiding out in Spain.”