Chapter Eight
Adam
Little Conor had fallen asleep in a milk coma after Lainey nursed him, so she put me back to work washing dishes while she took him upstairs to his crib. Once I was done with those, I stood around and watched as she and her friend, Kristy, made several batches of croissants and turnovers.
“They’re our best sellers,” Lainey explained as she pulled another pan of flaky goodness from the oven.
My mouth watered a little at the sight, and I realized I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
“I can understand why, they smell incredible. I think the only place I’ve ever had a real homemade croissant was in Paris.”
“That’s where Mrs. Riley, the lady I bought the bakery from, learned to make them.”
I glanced at my watch and saw it was five minutes after seven. Even though they weren’t quite finished, I said, “I’m going to head over to the pizza place and place our order. Can I get you anything, Kristy?”
The cute young woman about Lainey’s age smiled as she looked up from where she was rolling out the dough.
“Nope. I’ve got a hot date tonight.” She looked at Lainey. “Jonathan is taking me to Maxfield’s for dinner.”
“Ooh la la,” Lainey said. “Fancy.”
“I know right? Too fancy. I’m scared he’s going to pop the question.”
I couldn’t help but interject. “You’re scared? You don’t want to marry him?”
She stammered. “I—I mean, I do. I think. But in the future. Not right now.”
Lainey nodded. “I totally get it. I thought Shawn was going to ask me before he went overseas, and I wasn’t sure what I would have said. I mean, I was only twenty-two!”
Oh damn. Was that why Shawn could “never find the right time to ask her”?
She continued with a laugh. “Of course, I didn’t know I was pregnant then.”
Kristy’s eyes were like saucers.
“You never told me that! What if he would have asked and you’d said no? Do you think you would have broken up? Oh my God! That would have been horrible! You split up with him, and then find out you’re pregnant, and then he…”
The young woman’s voice trailed off when she realized what she’d been about to say.
Lainey was gracious and let it go with a smile.
“Well, he never asked, so I never had to make that decision.”
We were all quiet for a beat, and it felt like a good time for me to leave.
I hopped off the stool I’d been sitting on and enthusiastically said, “Okay, one pepperoni pizza. Should I get drinks?”
“If you want something other than water, orange juice, or Diet Coke.”
“Sounds good. Anything else?”
“Oh, you have to get their giant sugar cookie, too!” Kristy exclaimed.
Lainey put her hand on her hip. “Are you crazy? It’s bad enough I’m having pizza! I’m never going to get back into my pre-baby jeans if I don’t start watching what I eat.”
“I think you look amazing,” I blurted out without thinking.
Lainey rolled her eyes like she thought I was full of shit.
“I still have twenty pounds of baby weight to lose.”
I perused her luscious curves from head to toe, and back up again.
“Where? You’re perfect.”
Okay, now I’d said too much.
Lainey’s face softened, and she softly murmured, “That’s very sweet of you to say. But trust me, underneath these jeans is a definite mom bod.”
Damnit!
Now I was thinking about what she’d look like naked.
I think Kristy must have read my mind, because she pressed her lips together, as if to keep from laughing while she looked away.
I needed to get the hell out of there before I said something else inappropriate.
I clapped my hands together and declared, “Okay, I’ll be back with a pepperoni pizza and famous giant cookie!”
“I guess I can start my diet tomorrow,” Lainey murmured.
She didn’t need to diet. She didn’t need to change a damn thing about herself.
****
Lainey
The back door closed behind Adam, and Kristy turned to me with her mouth gaping open and eyes bugging out of her head.
“Girrrl, he is so into you! And he is hawt !”
I brushed her observation off, although it had sort of seemed like he was giving off that vibe.
But there was no way I’d even entertain the idea that he could actually be interested in me .
I was an overweight, hot-mess owner of a fledgling business, with an eight-week-old son.
What could I possibly bring to the table?
“I’ll give you that he’s handsome, but he’s hardly into me. He was a good friend of Shawn’s. If anything, he feels sorry for me.”
Kristy pursed her lips with raised brows.
“Oh, he feels something for you, all right. But it isn’t sorry.”
The absurdity of the idea made me laugh out loud.
“Could you imagine the scandal? The town’s old biddies’ tongues would fall off from wagging so much.”
“Good. Maybe it’d help them mind their own business.”
“This is Haven Springs,” I reminded her. “The town gossip is their business.”
“Well, if he wants to have a scandalous affair, I say you take him up on it. You deserve some fun. The old hags are going to talk, no matter what.”
“I know, but I’d rather they didn’t talk about me . I prefer to keep a low profile and not give them any fodder.”
“You realize the mere fact that he’s getting a pizza and bringing it back here is enough to get the rumor mill going.”
I let out a deep sigh. I knew she was probably right. Still, I tried to remain optimistic.
“Well, he went out the back door, so maybe no one saw where he came from.”
“Please. The fact that he’s using the back door, so to speak,” she chuckled at her own joke before continuing, “is going to make them all the more suspicious. Face it, babe. People are already talking, so you might as well get something out of it.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know? Laid? When was the last time you had sex?”
“Probably the night Conor was conceived.”
“Oof.” She pointed at my chest that seemed to have doubled in size in the last year. “Put those puppies to work! I saw him checking out your boobies.”
“You saw no such thing.”
She shrugged and put the last tray of croissants in the oven.
“If you say so. But, yeah he was.”
I’d kind of thought so, too. But I still refused to believe it.
“Wouldn’t that make me a terrible person? Hooking up with Shawn’s friend?”
“It’s not like you’re hooking up with Brian. That might be weird; we all used to hang out together. But you just met Adam today. That’s totally different.”
I wrinkled my nose.
“Mmm, is it though?”
“Yes. Not the same at all. You never spent any time with him while you were with Shawn.”
I think I wanted to agree with her, so I didn’t argue the point.
“I don’t need people gossiping about me.”
“They’re already gossiping. Adam’s not staying in town, so people can speculate all they want. But if he’s not around to take you on dates and confirm their suspicions, that’s all it would be—conjecture. And it’ll blow over when the next rumor gets started.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“I mean, how would I even go about seeing if he’s really interested without making a fool of myself?”
“Come on. It hasn’t been that long since you were single. You can’t tell me you’ve forgotten how to flirt.”
I winced.
“I think maybe I have.”