“Have a seat. I had planned on baked ziti, but there was no more sauce in Mom’s freezer, so I pulled together spaghetti carbonara. I used to make it for Morgan all the time in college and she loved it, but I wanted a little better for you tonight.”
Was this what it was like to have a woman who supported what I did instead of resenting it? I’d come home wanting to tell Amy all about the progress we’d made at the bakery, and she’d roll her eyes and ask me if it was all worth it.
It was, and now I had someone who made everything else worth it.
“I’m sure it’s great, and as long as I have you tonight, I’m happy.”
Olivia froze, almost scaring me that I might’ve said something wrong. We’d grown up barely giving each other pleasantries, so I guessed nice words from me were still a bit of a novelty.
“You have me tonight,” she whispered, a rare shy smile pulling at her mouth. “Go sit and relax. I’m sure you didn’t get a second to rest today.”
“No, but that’s how Sundays are.” I sat at her kitchen table and noticed what looked like a bottle of champagne.
“It’s sparkling cider,” she told me as she set a plate of pasta in front of me. “It’s boring, just like decaf coffee, but rules are rules.”
I never forgot that she was pregnant. Hell, I thought about it all damn day. But sometimes, the gravity of our situation barreled over me when I was reminded of it. A baby wasn’t why we were spending more time together, it was just what made me stop denying how much I wanted to be with Olivia all along.
Maybe my kid could somehow help me take it the rest of the way so I could make her mine for good, but that was a worry I’d push away for another time.
It was good to finally unwind, not have to be on all day long when old and new customers came in to chat about the article. I finally started to relax when I caught Olivia’s smirk.
“What’s with the staring, Sanchez?” I asked as I swirled my fork around more spaghetti.
“You still slurp your spaghetti.”
I set my fork down to glare back at her. “I don’t slurp my spaghetti.”
She crinkled her nose and nodded. “You do. I’m not giving you a hard time—it’s cute. Whenever I’d come back from your house when we were kids, I’d slurp it too. Until I got into trouble for making a mess. I never said anything because I knew if I did, you’d stop doing it.”
“So haircuts and slurping spaghetti are what does it for you?” I lifted a brow.
“When it’s you, I guess it does.” A tiny blush stained her cheeks. Olivia’s focus on me always exhausted me as a kid, but I had to hide a wide grin whenever we reminisced about it now.
I almost married a woman who couldn’t care less about me, a total contrast from the one who could never stay away, no matter how many times I’d told her to leave me alone.
“Did you get a chance to see the comments on the online piece?” Olivia asked, clearing her throat as she emptied the rest of the cider into her glass.
“No, not yet. Why?” I asked when she smiled around the rim of her glass.
“I told you that you were a thirst trap. The comments wereamazing. My favorite so far is the one offeringyoupie.”
“Ugh,” I groaned, scrubbing my hand down my face.
“It’s so adorable how uncomfortable this makes you.” She reached over to squeeze the back of my neck. “How many women tried to slip you their number today?” She raised a brow.
“A few,” I admitted. “Couple of guys too. I guess if it brings in business it’s fine. Attention was never my thing. That was all you.”
She narrowed her eyes at me as she tore off a piece of bread. “You never knew how good you looked in a baseball uniform? Please. So you just had to peel your shirt off at practice?”
“Baseball uniforms look the same on every— Wait. Practice? When were you at practice?”
Her cheeks blushed red for a moment. “Once. Not at the field, but a bunch of us hung out outside. I found it so unfair that someone with such a miserable personality had muscles and abs to spare. And before you get on me, yes, I looked. And so did everyone else.”
“But onlyyouwere there for me, right?”
“Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Go sit in the living room while I clean up.”
“I can help you clean up.”
