I was there just a few weeks before John passed away. We weren’t super close, but I did go out and visit him once every couple of months just to make sure he was doing okay. So, I know the house isn’t dilapidated or full of creepy dolls or something equally as weird.
“I do like the idea of having an activity. I was just planning on downloading a new book to read while he writes music, but this could be more fun. Even if he needs to write and doesn’t want to play, it will at least keep me entertained for a bit. Oh, I know. I’ll take s’mores stuff too so we can use their firepit.”
“Sounds fun,” Becca says with a smile.
And for the first time since Jaxon Reid walked back into my life, I am inclined to agree. It does sound fun.
Chapter twenty-five
Jaxon
“Thisplacehasn’tchangeda bit,” I say as I slide into the booth across from Carter at Wild Bluffs Café. “It even has the same burned coffee smell. Shit, I’d forgotten all about that.”
“Kinda trippy, isn’t it?” Carter asks. “When I first moved back here, it was like I was thrown back to high school every time I’d walk in.”
“Yeah, I have a weird urge to order pancakes with a Mountain Dew to drink,” I say, scanning the menu to decide on something a bit more adult to eat for breakfast. Maybe pancakes with coffee.
“Thanks for meeting me here,” Carter says. “My mom is down to working just a couple hours a day, and I like to be here during her shifts whenever possible.”
Carter’s mom was diagnosed with dementia a few years ago, and as her only family, he moved back a few years ago to help care for her. Now, the Harpers have absorbed them both intotheir family, and Carter seems much happier than he was when he first started working for me last year.
I put my menu down, deciding on a couple eggs instead of the pancakes. Not having a home gym like my one in Nashville has really put my physical fitness on the backburner.
“Of course. I love the diner, and your mom is great. Plus, it means I can ditch Nash for an hour. It’s getting awkward having him sit in a car in front of my house.”
“You could invite him in, you know.”
I shake my head. “Not there. You both know he’s welcome in my Nashville house at any time, but not here.”
Carter’s mom stops by and takes our orders, chatting with her son about the weather and some TV show they’re watching.
Being the good friend and head of security that he is, Carter waits until after his mom leaves to start interrogating me about his sister-in-law.
“So, what’s going on with you and Iz? Town seems to think you two are dating, but as the person who had to tuck you into bed after she all but called you an inept idiot a couple of weeks ago, it feels like I’m missing something.”
Izzy and I texted about this, making sure we had our story straight, but now that it’s time to tell it, I’m worried it might be too flimsy.
“You know I apologized,” I say.
He raises his eyebrow.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I say.
“I’m just surprised she accepted. But go on.”
I continue, “We decided to let bygones be bygones, and we started hanging out again. It’s been fun.”
None of this is technically a lie. I did apologize to Izzy. And we are hanging out again. And it’s really fucking fun. In fact, it was about the mostfunI’ve ever had watching Iz as I tried to get her off with a dildo. Shit, even just lying in bed holding her as sheworked through her emotions by watching embarrassing videos of me was one of my top five moments of my last decade, and I went on seven international tours during that time.
I also realized I needed to step up my game. The internet is a terrifying place, but people have lots of ideas about how to help women get off. Izzy had better be prepared for Thursday because I have big plans for our second attempt.
“So, you’re just friends?” Carter asks, the height of his eyebrows a clear giveaway to just how skeptical he is.
What do normal people say when they’re just hanging out with someone, but they want to be dating them a month from now?
Shoot. Maybe I should’ve spent more time searching for the answer to that on the internet instead of ways for Izzy not to get distracted by her to-do list when having sex.
“We’re seeing where things go?”
