Chapter 12 #2
“It is now. Come on, Camryn. Get out and have some fun. Shine is great and all, but not exactly rife with evening activities for anyone under fifty who doesn’t have kids.
Bring Barrett. He can be your designated driver, and you can have a few drinks and let your hair down.
” Lucy looks at me with pleading eyes. “Plus, I have a limited amount of time before I join the mommy ranks, and I’d like to hang out with my girls. ”
“Having a kid doesn’t mean your life ends,” I tell her.
“No, of course not,” she responds. “But it does mean once my spawn makes her appearance, there will be a hell of a lot less opportunity for us to do this kind of stuff. Not that I’m complaining. I can’t wait to meet this one.” She places a hand on her belly and smiles.
I take a deep breath and slowly exhale. A night out does sound like fun and something I rarely did in New York the last few years.
And the girlfriends I had kind of fell off in the last few years when my weekend plans revolved around my niece.
They were still going to bars and living a single life, while I was kind of living a single-mom life.
Plus, Barrett and I are in bit of a weird place right now.
Maybe a night out with friends and some distraction is what we need to let whatever is going on between us blow over and put us back into normal territory.
“I’ll text Barrett and see if he wants to go,” I finally concede.
“Perfect. We’ll meet at our house around seven then head to Ayre.” Lucy’s smile is triumphant, and I feel like I got roped into something by the sheer will of the woman sitting across from me.
We chat for a few more minutes, and I grab some burgers from the diner down the street before making my way home. Barrett still isn’t here, so I pull out my phone.
Me: Hey. Grabbed burgers. Do you have any interest in going to Ayre to see a band tonight?
His response is almost immediate.
Barrett: Sure. I’ll be home in about twenty.
Easy as that. And it should be easy. I doubt he’s been obsessing all day about what would’ve happened had I let him kiss me last night.
We were in the moment, and emotions were high.
Plus, there was wine. Well, not much, but still, that could explain why I didn’t back away immediately when he looked at my lips like he had a thirst that only they could quench.
Fifteen minutes later, Barrett walks through the front door.
I’m sitting on the couch reading a book, well, attempting to read.
I’ve had to go over the same page I don’t know how many times.
I wish my damn mind would stop wandering back to what happened on this very couch last night.
Maybe I should also stop imagining what would have happened if Syd hadn’t come out of her room, and if I hadn’t run to mine.
“Hey,” Barrett greets from the entryway to the living room. He leans against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest and that delicious smirk tilting the corner of his mouth. “Thanks for grabbing dinner,” he says.
I’ve never lived with a mechanic or been around them, but there’s something to be said about a man coming home a little dirty and unkempt. Never thought I had a blue-collar kink, but here we are.
Oh my God. What am I even saying?
“Yeah,” I croak out, then clear my throat. “It was no problem. I said I would. Figured we would eat, then get ready and head over to Lucy’s.”
“I’m starved. You hungry?”
He’s not asking in any sort of way, but he kind of is. Though his tone isn’t suggestive, the look in his eyes is. And I don’t know what to make of whatever is going on between us.
“I could eat,” I reply.
“Great, I’ll wash up.”
Barrett heads into the kitchen, and I stand from the couch. “Get it together,” I whisper to myself as I walk in after him.
“What?” he asks, his hands and arms covered in soap as he rubs the grease away.
Watching a man clean up, his large hands scrubbing his thick forearms over and over, shouldn’t be causing my body temperature to spike the way it is. But apparently, arm porn is alive and well in this house.
“Nothing. Just reminding myself of something funny Lucy said.” What?
“That woman is a fucking pistol. I can’t wait to see her and Jude as parents.” He chuckles and shakes his head before turning the water off and grabbing a couple paper towels from the roll next to the sink.
“They don’t exactly seem like the parenting type,” I say.
Barrett shrugs and throws the damp towels in the trash. “You wouldn’t think it by a few conversations, but you weren’t there when Jude found out he was going to be a dad. I’ve never seen a man so fucking happy. Even after…well, where we came back from.”
“Where was that?”
Barrett pauses, and I can tell he doesn’t want to divulge that information.
“We had business out of state,” is all he says as he walks over to the bag of food sitting on the counter.
He opens it and pulls out two burgers and two orders of fries, setting them on the plates he’s taken out of the cupboard.
He reaches into the bag again and grabs a few stray fries, shoving them into his mouth.
“Mmm, so good.” He moans around the fries, and holy hell, my stomach muscles tighten at the sound.
Nope. Not at the sound. It’s hunger pangs, that’s all.
“Come on.” He sits at the table and nods toward the seat across from him. “You going to make me eat alone, pup?”
I walk over to the sink and grab a few paper towels then head to the table, tossing one at him.
“Here’s a napkin so you don’t get slop all over yourself like an animal.”
Barrett growls again as he takes a giant bite of his burger.
Oh, for fuck’s sake, Universe. Cut me some slack.