“Of course, hon. Just take deep breaths. In through your nose, out through your mouth, okay?” Fitz walked out and smiled warmly. “Good morning, Noel.”
“Fitz.” Noel sighed. “Is Merry okay?” He craned his neck to see around Fitz, but the swinging door to the small kitchen was closed. At least he couldn’t see poor Merry hyperventilating in the back.
“He’ll be fine.” He winked at Noel. “He just realized he left the oven on. We might have some extra crispy cookies on our hands.” Fitz grabbed Noel’s coffee cup and handed it to him. Noel reached for his wallet, and Fitz waved a hand in dismissal. “On the house. For the, um, inconvenience.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yep.”
Noel leaned in to whisper. “Now what?”
“Does he have your number?”
Noel nodded. “Yeah.” His cheeks got a little red. “I, um, gave it to him when he first moved here. I was called out to replace his garbage disposal.”
Interesting.
“Wait, did he talk to you then?”
“Not really. He murmured something that sounded like a ‘thank you.’ But he didn’t run away, which was good. Though he didn’t have anywhere to run to since we were in his house.”
Very interesting. “I’ll think of something.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Noel left, and Fitz sighed.
“It’s safe to come out now. He’s gone.”
Merry groaned as he walked through the swinging door. “I can’t believe I messed that up. It was one word.Hi. Who can’t sayhi? Me, apparently.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. We’ll figure something else out.”
Merry shook his head. “I’m not like you, all beautiful, confident, and perfect.”
“Oh, honey. That’s sweet, but don’t let this fool you,” Fitz said, motioning to himself. “It took a lot of heartache, therapy, and ice cream to be this confident, and even then, I have days when I’m feeling so crappy, all I want to do is curl up on the couch under a cozy blanket with Duchess and a of cup of tea and watch re-runs ofThe Great British Bake Off.”
“Really?”
Fitz nodded as he walked to the couch and sat, Merry sat beside him. “When I met Jack, I was a hot mess. I’d just gotten out of a ten-year relationship with a man I thought I was going to marry, only to discover it would never happen because he wasalreadymarried. Had been for years.”
Merry’s eyes went huge. “While you were together?”
“Yep.”
“That’s awful!”
“It was, but it was also a blessing in disguise. The moment I saw Jack, I knew he was someone special. Of course, nothing happened when we first met. It wouldn’t have been fair to either of us to start something with someone like Jack when I was still picking up the pieces.”
Merry cocked his head to one side. “What do you mean, someone like Jack?”
“Jack is different from any guy I’ve ever dated. He’s a genuinely nice person. Sweet, adorkable, and incredibly smart. He’s also a former soldier with a lot of baggage from his military days. Not that I don’t have plenty of my own baggage. Talk about daddy issues. Anyway, when Jack put his arm around me, I knew he was the kind of man you built a life with. I wasn’t ready for that.”
“So what happened?”
“I got help. Went to therapy. Got my life together. Did something I had never done before. I focused on myself. Then, I retired from the fashion industry and opened my own salon. By then, it had been two years, and I hadn’t answered any of Jack’s messages. He was so sweet, checking up on me. We had no idea we were checking on each other through mutual friends. After two years of not talking to him, I figured he probably thought I was a jerk. But thanks to our meddling friends, we got together. Then someone kidnapped him and tried to kill us. More therapy ensued. It was a whole thing.”
Merry blinked at him. “What?”
“That’s a story for another day. My point is, I’m far from perfect.”
