“It would be so fun for all of us to get together,” Frannie says. “We’ll have to set something up.”
“That would be awesome,” James agrees. “I definitely want her to meet Cas.” He looks over at me with a smile.
I lift my tumbler of scotch. I really want to meet Caroline too.
Because she’s important to James and they have history. But also because I have an idea forming.
Frannie moves off, returning to the kitchen. She’s a pastry chef here at the restaurant so not free to stand and chat for too long.
James turns back to me, his smile warm and wide.
“I love seeing you happy like this,” I tell him.
He picks up his water glass and takes a long drink. “I had a great day.”
He’s also mentioned that three times now.
I smile. “I’m glad. Sounds like it was eventful.”
He chuckles. “It was. Wait until you see Grayson with Evelyn. He’s a mess. But it’s kind of adorable.” He leans in. “I’m sorry. I know you’ve seen Grayson and Evelyn together. I just mean, now that Caroline is going to be right next door and around more, I’ll be seeing more of her, and that probably means more of Grayson, too.”
“Not to mention she’s now an employee,” I say, fighting my smile.
He really has no idea how much he’s talked about all of them. We’ve met Grayson and his daughter before this, of course, but haven’t spent time with them. It seems now that James is enamored with little Evelyn as well.
James gives me a sheepish look. “I’m sorry I didn’t wait and run the idea of hiring Caroline past you before I said something to her.”
I shake my head. “It’s your gym. You don’t have to run those decisions past me. She’s your friend. If you want her around while she’s here in town, that’s cool with me.“
“It’s not just that, though it was great to see her and I’m looking forward to spending time with her,” James says. He chews on his bottom lip and then says, “I have to confess that it’s been a little tougher to juggle all the business stuff and Noah than I thought it would be. The idea of having someone else around to help feels really nice.”
Fuck. He’s been doing an amazing job with Noah and everything while I’m driving to Charleston every day. I don’t want him to get burned out. I’m the primary breadwinner and we agreed that he’d be more of a stay-at-home dad here in the beginning, but I don’t want him overwhelmed.
I reach over and take his hand, stroking my thumb over the back of his knuckles. “You’re doing an amazing job. You have my full support, no matter what you want or need. If you want to wait on the gym until Noah is older?—”
“No. The gym is great. I love it. And everybody coming in is telling me how much they love it. Plus, it’s something I can do with Noah as he grows.”
I was lucky to be taken on by the practice in Charleston, and only have a thirty-minute commute, but my hours are often long, and James is definitely left with the heavy lifting on the baby end of things. “We could hire a nanny, like Grayson did.”
James laughs. “Maybe I’ll ask Caroline if she just wants to watch Noah and Evelyn together.”
“That would leave her with very little free time,” I say.
He turns his hand over so our palms rest against one another. “True. I assume while she’s in town, she wants to have a life and have some fun, too.”
Yes. I would assume so, too. In fact, I hope so.
Caroline is obviously James’s type. They have a past. She’s only in town temporarily.
She might be the perfect thing I can give my husband to show him how much I appreciate him and that not everything in our life has to feel different and turned upside down.
Or at least maybe we can have some fun and work off some stress in the midst of everything that’s turned upside down.
We definitely look like two nice guys who fell in love, got married, had an adorable little boy, and are now starting a business, putting down roots, and becoming part of a small town community.
But just like I’ve got tattoos under my very nice suit sleeves and a motorcycle in my garage, behind our closed bedroom door, we really love to have a dirty good time.
“So when can I meet Caroline?” I ask.
