When I was around Hayden, I could feel how much he cared for me. It was in the way he touched me, and held my gaze, and put his hand at the small of my back. When we were apart though, like now, doubt crept in.
No. I had to take a leap of faith. He told me to never doubt how he felt, even if things became weird. I had to believe him, or this would never work.
My small home was located about twenty minutes from Hayden’s, and I quickly threw in some laundry, wiped the counters, and fidgeted.
He had asked me to spend the night. It seemed so simple while we were at the resort, where we could hide from reality. Going to his house, with his parents and daughter, that felt more real. I tossed a work outfit, pajamas, and toiletries into an actual duffel bag. Hayden would be proud. I had no idea what to do. Did I wait a few hours? Go now?
I might’ve been freaking out. Slightly. A flurry of chaotic butterflies twisted in my gut. There were a few presents left to be wrapped in my room, but I preferred having a glass of wine and making an event of it. Plus I was too distracted.
My phone buzzed, saving me from making a choice when Hayden Porter’s name popped up. “Hi,” I said, my voice shaking a little bit. “How are you?”
Soft laugher carried through the phone. “I can picture you blushing right now.”
“Am not.”I most definitely am.
“You definitely are.” He sighed, and I wanted to bottle up the cuteness. He sounded happy. “I wanted to make sure you weren’t… how do I say this? Freaking out?”
“Am I that obvious?”
“It’s not just you. As soon as I said hi to Gwen and chatted with my parents, I had all these damn questions going on, and I’m a simple guy. You have millions of questions on the daily, so I wanted to make sure you weren’t about to change your mind on me.”
“Ha. I was standing here debating when it would be cool to come over. Is now too desperate? Is an hour from now better?”
“Char, any second you could be here, I want you. Don’t wait an hour because you think it’s what I want. Do what you need first, but I’d love for you to be here. We’re watchingElfin a bit, and I’m making popcorn.”
“That sounds nice.” My smile came easier. “This is gonna take some getting used to, isn’t it?”
“No way around it. I don’t think we’ve spoken on the phone for more than a few sentences in years. I like your phone voice. Might be fun to call you on away trips.”
I snorted. “Okay, already asking for phone sex, and we’ve been dating twenty-four hours.”
“You miss the shots you don’t take.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll leave here in five minutes. Thank you, Hayden. I needed the encouragement.”
“You’re welcome.” His voice went all deep, like he truly meant the words. “Gwen is excited to see you.”
I could almost hear the smile in his voice. “I’m excited to see her. I have something for her too, if it’s alright?”
“Char, baby,” he said, his voice gravelly and low. “It just makes me love you more when you dote on my daughter. Get your ass over here. Safely, of course.”
My heart skipped a beat.Love you more.Each thud was a reminder that I had it bad for Hayden. The fact that he knew to call me was incredible. Maybe everything happened for a reason. Maybe we went through the last three years to get to the point we were now. It filled me with hope, and I just had to cling to it whenever worry crept in.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
HAYDEN
My parents had been out of town seven days already, and I was doing fine. I missed them, and Gwen missed them a ton, but I wasn’t flailing around with my head cut off. Charlotte was a huge factor in that. I knew that. But maybe I needed to prove to myself that I could do this. Foolish, probably, but despite one major throw-up incident and having to cancel one night with Charlotte, we’d been okay.
“I can’t believe we have to pretend we aren’t together.” Charlotte’s voice came over the speaker in my truck. Gwen and I were on our way to the annual Calhoun Week Before Christmas potluck. This year’s landed on a Sunday. So did the wedding, one week away.
Charlotte spent almost every night at my house, sneaking over after Gwen went to bed, and sneaking out before she woke up. I didn’t want Gwen to be confused about Charlotte yet—she was just Aunt Lotte to my daughter. Whenever Ithought about explaining what Charlotte meant to me, my chest tightened, and I froze.
I loved Charlotte, but I wasn’t ready to bring Gwen into it yet.
I sighed. “I know. Why did we agree to this again?”
“My brother,” she groaned. “Is it silly that I missed you last night?”
