Livy beamed at the praise of her daughter. “I think so.”
“You’re a great Mom, Liv. You really are.”
“And it looks like you’re getting the hang of this mom thing, too.” Livy raised her beer bottle. “To motherhood—even with all its challenges.”
“Motherhood.” Heather clinked her bottle with Livy’s. It was strange to think of herself as a mother. Although technically, she had been since the day Blake was born. But still, the opportunity to be in his life now? It still amazed her that she’d been given this chance.
“So, you’re going over to Jesse’s for breakfast now?” Livy raised an eyebrow. “Is this a daily thing?”
“No, notdaily.” Okay, she had gone three times this week, but who’s counting?
“How’s Jesse doing these days?” Livy set her bottle on the bar.
“He’s… exasperating. He’s so overwhelmed with everything. The Destiny, Blake, the legal stuff.”
“Trying to balance running a company and being a parent is hard.”
“I told him to let me help more. But he thinks he has to do everything for everyone himself.”
“Sooner or later, he’ll be asking for help. You’ll see.”
“Maybe. But you know Jesse. He’s pretty headstrong.”
“And I know you, and you are, too.” Livy grinned. “Just keep offering help. He’ll say yes.”
She hoped her cousin was right.
Blake was sitting at the kitchen table doing homework when Jesse got home that night. It had taken him longer than usual to get The Destiny all cleaned up and closed for the night. He dropped to the chair across from Blake. “Did you get dinner?”
“I did. Evelyn gave me a sandwich, a salad, and a malt.”
“Good. How was your day today?” It still amazed him that he could sit here with hissonand talk about his day.
“Well… I kind of have a date.” Blake glanced up with a sheepish look on his face. “I asked Angela, just like you said. Well, not exactly like you said. I blurted it out when Jeanie came over and asked me—more liketoldme—to take her to the Sandcastle Festival. So I said, no, I was going to ask Angela. And Angela was sitting right there next to me. And I’m such a goof. Saying it like that. But Angela said yes.”
Jesse grinned. “You might as well learn early that dealing with women gets complicated and rarely works out like you planned.”
“I’ll say. It was all so awkward. And Jeanie was so mad. She called us all losers and stomped away.”
“So, maybe she got the hint that you’re not interested in dating her?”
“Yeah, she did. But I didn’t want to make her mad or anything.”
“She’ll get over it soon.”
“I hope so.” Blake leaned back in his chair. “So is it this complicated between you and Heather, too?”
Jesse closed his eyes for a moment, remembering his conversation with Heather this morning. Complicated? Yes. He opened his eyes and nodded. “It is. A bit. Everything is new right now, you know?”
“Like finding out you had a kid? And then having him live with you?” Blake grinned.
Jesse smiled. “Like that. But I’m glad it happened.” He chewed his lip. “So… sometimes when I’m working late… do you think you’d want to have dinner with Heather? She offered.”
“Sure, I’d like that.”
That would make Heather happy. And he wanted her to be happy. It was just the coordination of everything in his life right now that he was kind of struggling with.
“Jesse?” Blake looked at him.
