Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
He didn’t look at me again. I noticed the absence of his stare as he worked his way around the room.
Law saved my booth for last, walking over, his voice low when he said, “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I know.” I looked up at him. “It’s great, Law. This place…it’s you.”
He gave a simple nod, as if he didn’t know what to say. It had never been like this with us before, but this wasn’t the first time it had been lately. I missed the constant ease between us.
“Listen…” I glanced around. No one was paying us any attention. “I don’t know what I expected coming here. I know you’re probably wondering where I’ve been, and I know we didn’t leave things on the best terms the other day, but…but I’m here. And I’m trying. I meant it when I said I wanted to be your friend. I need it.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, a bit longer than a blink, before he opened them again. “Can you hang around until we close? We can go for a walk or something?” He shook his head. “Shit. You might not want to do that.”
“No, I will.” Christ, I had to be able to take a fucking walk if I wanted to. “I’m sure you guys will have to clean up a bit after closing. I might go out to my car after I finish eating, but I’ll be there, waiting for you.”
“Yeah, okay.” He smiled, tapping his fingers on the table. “You like the food?”
“Of course I do. It’s delicious.”
“It’s on the house. I’ll tell Mary Beth.”
I nodded because I knew he wanted to do that for me.
I finished the rest of my lunch. When Mary Beth came back, she said, “I didn’t know you were an old friend of Law’s! He’s the best.”
“He is.”
“Anyway, he said it’s on the house. Did you like your burger?”
“I did,” I answered. She smiled and wandered away.
I stayed in the restaurant until a couple of minutes before closing time, then went out to my car and waited for Lawson Grant, like I’d been doing my whole life.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lawson
I made quick work of getting the café closed down. It had been surprising as hell to look up and see Remy sitting there earlier. But I liked it, liked seeing him in my café, eating my food, knowing what I did with my life.
“Don’t work at Grant’s.” He brushed a curl off my forehead as we lay in bed.
“It’s my family business. It’s what we do.”
“It doesn’t have to be what you do.” He leaned forward and kissed my neck. “I want your dreams to come true.”
“I don’t even know what they are.” My gut twisted and turned, tied itself into knots.
“You’ll figure it out.” He laid his head on my chest, brushing his finger back and forth over my nipple. “I think you’ll work with people. Something…simple. I see that. I don’t mean simple in a bad way, just…comfortable. People like talking to you. They’re drawn to you, so whatever you do, you’ll create an atmosphere where people want to be.”
“See? This is why I love you. You see how awesome I am. Like, I’m pretty sure there should be statues made in my honor. Ooh, or a day of the year that recognizes me.”
“Fucker.” Remy pinched my nipple.
“Ouch. Shit. Don’t be mean to me! I’m a national monument!”
He laughed, which made me laugh, before I rolled us over and settled between his legs, looking down at him. The tips of my fingers danced across his freckles, and I blew at the auburn strands of his hair and watched them wave. “As long as I make you comfortable and you want to talk to me and are drawn to me, that’s all that matters.”
“So sappy.” But I could see it in his eyes, what the words really meant.
You do make me comfortable.
I want to talk to you.
I’m drawn to you.
“What’s today?” I asked.
Remy grinned playfully. “National Lawson Grant Day.”
“Smart man,” I replied, and kissed him…
“Law? Lawson?” The concern in Mary Beth’s voice snapped me out of the memory.
“Sorry. I was spacing off.”
“It’s okay.” She continued sweeping. “Your friend…you’ve known him long?”
Mary Beth was great. She was about sixty years old, funny, kind, never met a stranger or someone she didn’t like.
“We, um…met when I was in college.”
“Did he move to Havenwood? It’s nice when we get someone new, ya know? Gives the old farts someone to talk about. But what they don’t know is, it’s expanding their world view. People around here get too comfortable. Don’t like city folks or different folks. I say, let people be and the more the merrier.”
I chuckled, agreeing with her, but also not knowing where she was going with this. “I know you do. That’s why you’re my favorite. But no, he didn’t move here. He’s…” Hell, I didn’t know what he was doing. He bought a damn house, but I knew Rem. His career wouldn’t allow for him to stay here long, and he wouldn’t live permanently away from his mom. “Here, give me the broom. I’ll finish sweeping. You can go early.”