Chapter 39
Birthday wishes.
Iwalked around my store, hugging myself, settling my nerves because, at any minute, Grey would walk through those glass doors.
He would be the first to see my new space.
It was only fitting since we used to talk about our dreams while hanging out at my house in high school and then in the dorm rooms at college.
I’d been proud of myself for negotiating a three-year commercial lease instead of the typical five-year one before I signed on the dotted line yesterday.
Three years would be long enough to determine if my business would thrive or fail.
I held the keys in my hand, proud that I decided to do something for myself.
I wanted to call Carter and celebrate as he’d always done with me when he accomplished a goal.
I’d pictured us celebrating with our twins with a glass of sparkling cider.
Yet, until this morning, he hadn’t wanted to talk about Sunday night and our fight. Or anything for that matter.
Carter would be livid when I told him what I did since we’d never made a major decision until we both agreed.
He would see it as a sign of rebellion and a mark against our marriage.
I didn’t want to lose out on an opportunity to have a store in one of my favorite communities, waiting for my stubborn husband, who didn’t see how important this store was to me.
Especially if we continued on the path we’d been on since the summer when Carter began his disappearing acts.
A path that led to separation or divorce if we didn’t fix it.
Had I known he’d planned for us to take a trip to Napa, I would’ve at least waited before signing the lease for us to talk.
As I anxiously waited for Grey, I thought of my husband.
If Carter knew I asked Grey to meet me here, he would divorce me in a heartbeat.
Not that I would blame him. I wouldn’t want him to feel about another woman, like I still felt about Grey.
Asking him to meet me on my birthday meant I still saw Grey as special.
This meant I was willing to risk seeing him again on a day, usually for my husband and family.
I called the spa and had my appointment postponed until next week.
Then, I packed a light overnight bag and placed it in my car.
I would spend as much time with Grey as possible before heading to the airport.
I had no intention of returning home until tomorrow night.
My morning would be spent with Grey, and then my evening with Carter.
Right or wrong, I needed to see if I still had feelings or if it was just a memory of what used to be or could’ve been.
Needed to test the waters about how he really felt about family and how to introduce him to Elle.
Most of all, it was my birthday, and I wanted to celebrate with the man who’d been a part of my every birthday until I fell for Carter.
I’d been back and forth on where to meet with Grey.
We couldn’t meet in public if someone recognized him or me, and a hotel or a house was too intimate and tempting.
I didn’t decide where to meet until I signed the paperwork and couldn’t call my husband.
Grey was the only person who would truly understand the magnitude of this moment, and it became clear where we would meet alone for the first time in eight years.
The space had a few tables and chairs in the back of the building, and I dragged one table to the side of the room.
In a spur-of-the-moment decision, I placed a blanket I kept in my trunk on top of the table.
We would sit on the table cross-legged like Samantha and Jake at the end of Sixteen Candles, one of my favorite movies he tolerated because I loved watching.
As I backed up, admiring my set-up, I wondered if I had made the setting seem too romantic when I really wanted it to be fun.
The door swung open, and I closed my eyes, pressing down the burst of butterflies that suddenly swarmed in my stomach.
Inhaling deeply and pushing my breath out of my lungs, I turned around and watched him approach.
He wore khakis and an off-white button-up shirt, and his sleeves were rolled up a little past his sinewy forearms. His naturally sun-kissed skin appeared bronze in the bright California sun.
The crinkles at the corners of his hazel eyes enhanced his broad grin.
In this light, I could see the grown man he'd become.
Confident. Assured. Happy. Unbelievably sexy.
Grey. My Grey. I smiled, feeling the tears behind my eyes. His presence immediately settled me, and my butterflies stilled. When he neared me, he stopped, shaking his head. “I don’t know how I managed to be without you all these years.”
Tears escaped my lids, and I wiped them, annoyed, “Why did you have to go and say something like that?”
He curved his palm to my cheek and took one thumb to wipe the tears from my right eye. “It’s the truth.”
His touch thrilled and comforted me at the same time.
I was in so much trouble. I yearned for this man with every fiber of my being.
He studied my face as if memorizing this moment, neither of us probably imagined would ever happen again.
If we weren't careful, we would succumb to our burning need for each other.
We stared at each other, locked in the past and the present.
The uncertainty of the future made it impossible for us to move past right now.
I whispered, “Still can’t believe you’re in front of me.”
“All you ever had to do was ask.” Grey took his other thumb and wiped the tears that finally stopped falling.
His palms held my face, and his gaze drifted to my lips.
I closed my eyes to break the desire building between us, and I patted his hands to release me.
Grey reluctantly dropped his hands, though he smiled.
“I can’t believe I'm celebrating your birthday with you again. Ha -”
“Wait,” I yelled.
Grey frowned. “I was just going to wish you –“
“OMG, can’t you just shut up?” I gestured to the table. “You can’t tell me ‘Happy Birthday’ until we’re sitting on that table cross-legged, ready for me to blow out my candles with a cake you bought for me.”
"Sixteen candles?" His warm eyes sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight.
"Yep." I poked his hard chest and half-teased, “You better have a cake and the ingredients for my Sprite floaties in your car.”
“Have I ever disappointed you on your birthday?” He laughed before he jogged out of the store.
I gripped the table, needing to right the axis of my world that flipped the fuck over.
I needed to run far, far away from the temptation named Grant Jameson.
In a few hours, I will be with my husband on a romantic trip for my birthday, and I’m here with another man, playing with my own heart and his.
I was certifiably crazy and back in the mess I was in the year I turned twenty-one, except now I had every fucking thing to lose. I sent a silent prayer that I would remember my marriage vows and that Grey would remember he was engaged to another woman.
And when Grey walked back in with the brightest smile, holding a pink cake box, I needed more than prayers to save me from falling for him again.