“Do you want me to stay longer?”
She just stared at Tessa, sleep weighing down her lids.
“I’ll let you go night-night,” Tessa said, leaning over to kiss her head. “Sweet dreams, Princess Olive.”
She snuggled into the blankets, then blinked. “Love you, Tess.”
Tessa’s entire body went still, her breath catching hard in her chest. For a split second, she didn’t dare move, afraid any reaction would break the moment.
Emotion surged up her throat, hot and overwhelming, but she swallowed it down, forcing herself to stay calm.
“I love you, too,” she whispered back, steady despite the way her heart was pounding.
Olive didn’t respond but slipped fully into sleep, her face relaxed, peaceful.
Tessa stayed curled there, holding her, the moment completely and utterly wonderful.
It was only later, when Tessa climbed back into bed and let her head hit the pillow, that she realized two people had professed love for her in the same day.
Nowthatwas a good day.
Lacey woke to her phone buzzing on the nightstand, the sound sharp and intrusive against the soft hush of early morning. For one disoriented second, she thought it might be Roman—some sweet, sleepy message about the drive, about coffee, about Jacksonville and the day they had planned.
Then she saw the name on the screen.
Tessa.
Her stomach dropped before she even answered. She was supposed to have today off.
She slid quietly out of bed, careful not to wake her mother—she really did need to change her living situation one way or the other—and padded across the room toward the balcony doors.
The sky beyond the glass was just beginning to lighten, that pale, silvery-blue moment before sunrise fully commits. Lacey stepped outside, pulling the door shut behind her and wrapping her arms around herself as she answered.
“Hey,” she said softly.
“Oh, thank God you’re awake.” Tessa’s voice sounded rushed, breathless, already wound tight. “I thought you might have left for your trip to Jacksonville.”
“Not for a while. Why?”
“Look, I know I gave you the day off, but…”
Lacey closed her eyes. “Tess?—”
“I just can’t do the Tidewater Estate walkthrough. And the couple is only in town today.”
A wedding walkthrough? She and Roman were leaving at eleven for Jacksonville and a walkthrough of their own. He’d scheduled a meeting to see a gorgeous downtown penthouse apartment close to the stadium and the airport with a move-in date of August 1st. It wouldn’t last if they didn’t decide today.
“But I?—”
“I know, I know, I promised you two days, and I will totally make it up to you, Lace. But I cannot leave this…child.”
Lacey blinked. “The one you’re babysitting for Dusty’s client?”
“Yes, and she’s…” Tessa let out a sigh unlike any Lacey had ever heard from her. “It’s a long and private story, as you know. But we—I, actually—had a breakthrough last night and I think it would be…no, no, Iknowit would be a bad time for me to leave her.”
Lacey leaned against the railing, the morning Gulf view forgotten as disappointment and frustration clawed all over her. The irony was she’d wanted desperately to do the Tidewater Estate walkthrough with Tessa for the experience.
If they got that job, it could open up a whole motherlode of wedding planning projects, a business they knew could be their bread and butter. But Roman had worked this schedule out to the minute.
