6. Chapter Six
When I make my way down the hall, there’s an eerie silence as I step into the kitchen and I catch sight of a note taped to the fridge. After I snuck out of Easton’s bed last night, I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning. Thankfully I don’t have to face him right now as it looks like he got a call to head back out of town and won’t be back for another few days.
There’s a schedule written at the bottom of the paper, letting me again know what time Bethany needs to be at school and the activities she does afterwards. I glance at the clock and note that we only have fifteen minutes to get ready and out the door if I want to get to school on time. Being late isn’t an option when Easton is giving me a trial run.
“Bethany!” I say from the bottom of the steps. “Your dad’s been called out of town again. Are you ready? We need to get going.”
Her footsteps are muffled against the carpet upstairs and she pokes her head around the corner, looking down at me. “Dad’s gone again?” she asks with a frown.
“Yes. I’m taking you to school. Are you ready?”
She nods and says, “I just have to grab my backpack, then I’ll be down. We usually pick up a couple of friends along the way, if that’s okay.”
I give her a small smile. “Of course.”
A few minutes later she comes running down the stairs with her backpack and a large gym bag hanging off her shoulder. She’s got softball practice after school today, so I won’t need to pick her up until around five and I’ve been ordered to make sure her homework is done when she gets home.
It’s going to be weird not having her around here throughout the day, but at least I’ll be able to relax for a little while and not think about the scorching sex Easton and I engaged in last night.
You keep telling yourself that.
Ever since Easton texted me a little while ago to make sure Bethany made it to school okay, my mind has only been on one thing and one thing only – sex with Easton. Savanna had asked me if I’d want to go get lunch today and talk about her wedding, but I’m nervous my emotions will give away everything that’s happened since I last saw her and evaded the question.
If I don’t go to lunch with her though, she’ll wonder what’s going on with me and try to figure it out herself and I can’t let that happen either.
As if reading my mind, my phone rings on the coffee table in front of me and I sigh at Savanna’s name on the screen. I could ignore the call and act like I’m taking a nap, which actually sounds like a good idea considering the lack of sleep I had last night, but Savanna would see right through that.
The only thing I can do is answer the call.
“Sav, hey,” I say, then clear my throat. “What’s up?”
“We doing lunch or what?”
“Sure, where do you want to meet? At the diner?”
“I was thinking we could go to the cafe instead. Change it up a bit.”
Great.
Elijah owns that place and the last thing I want to do is give Easton another way of knowing what I’m doing. Instead of objecting to the idea, I nod against the phone and smile. “Sure, no problem. What time?”
“I can be there in ten minutes,” she says excitedly.
I’m sure she’s more excited to talk about the wedding plans rather than seeing me, considering marrying Dawson is all she’s ever dreamed of doing, so if she wants to talk at the cafe, that’s where we’ll talk.
I grab my purse and keys from the kitchen table and head out the front door with nerves wracking through me. There’s no way I’m going to be able to hide anything from Savanna for much longer. She knows me too well.
The traffic heading onto the main street is slow, which isn’t much of a surprise, and it doesnt take me long to find an empty parking spot near the cafe. It also doesn’t surprise me when a few women standing on the sidewalk glare at me as I walk by, not bothering to hide their disdain.
This is the thing I dislike the most about small towns. The gossip and judgment are never-ending. Within minutes the whole town knows when something happens and it spreads like wildfire. I’m sure most of the single women in this town tried to interview for Easton’s nannying job and they’re mad that he hired me. I’m the last person everyone had expected him to hire, considering my sketchy employment record, but that’s not what they are mad about.
They’re mad that I get to be around Easton as often as I am, which is what they wanted. Bethany was their gateway to get into his bed and they’re pissed that I’m the one who’s close enough to do that. Little do they know I’ve already been there and it was incredible.
I give them a smug smile and finger wave before pushing through the cafe door. Elijah is behind the counter when I go up to it and he gives me a nod in greeting. “You look like you could use a good coffee.”
“Gee, thanks,” I mutter. “I’m meeting Savanna. Can you just bring over my usual when it’s ready?”
“Sure thing,” he says.
Without another word I head over to a table and slip into the seat, my gaze casting out the window and watching as the people walk by. A few kids run along, laughing as they chase each other, and I jump when Savanna drops her purse on the table.
“They’re cheerful this afternoon aren’t they?” She says, nudging her head toward the middle of the cafe where the women are now standing.
They’ve still got scowls on their faces as they stare at me and I scoff. “Doesnt bother me any,” I tell her.
She sighs and slips into the empty chair across from me, then pulls out a giant binder that has me widening my gaze. “Well, let’s get into it then, shall we?”
“What are you planning? One wedding or ten?”
Savanna chuckles and shakes her head. “When I come up with one thing, Dawson comes up with another and this is the result. You, my dear best friend and maid of honor, are going to help me narrow shit down.”
“Great,” I mutter, then plaster a bright smile on my face. “Happy to help.”
She cocks her head to the side and frowns. “Everything okay with you?”
That gets my attention and I sit up in my seat, straightening my spine. “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”
“You’re just acting weird and you look like you haven’t slept.”
I knew that she would be able to tell something was up. Every time I lose sleep, I look like the dead coming back to life. Instead of getting into it, I clear my throat and point to the binder. “I’m fine. Shall we get started?” This is bound to exhaust me by the time we are done and I still have to get Bethany from her softball practice.
“Here you go, ladies,” Elijah interrupts with my flat white and cream cheese bagel. “Savannah, can I get you anything?”
“Hey, Elijah,” she says. “Can I just get an iced water? I had a big breakfast thanks to Dawson.”
“Coming right up.”
When he leaves to get her water, Savannah eyes me warily, but opens the binder. “Okay. First, the venue. I want it at a vineyard while Dawson wants to have it in a barn. I’ve got details for both. Which one do you think would be best?”
I glance at the images throughout the binder, committing it all to memory and then slide the binder back over to her. “The vineyard seems more you than the barn, but maybe you guys can compromise?”
“How on Earth do we manage to do that?”
“You could always have the ceremony in the barn, then hold the reception at the vineyard.”
Savanna sighs. “You don’t think that would be too much?”
I shrug. “I think it would be a good way of incorporating both of your ideas.”
“Okay, yeah, I’ll talk to him about doing it like that.” She flips a few pages and holds the binder out to me again. “Second, the color scheme. Dawson and I have been going back and forth with these two sets. He likes bright colors, while I prefer fall colors.”
I nod and chew on my bottom lip. “When is the wedding again?” For some reason, even being the maid of honor, I can’t keep the wedding date firm in my brain. I’m going to need it tattooed somewhere at this point.
“Next spring.”
“I’d say do the bright colors, but maybe do an accent fall color. Possibly pale pink and tan? Something like that.”
Savanna smiles brightly. “God, you’re a lifesaver. At the rate Dawson and I have been going, the wedding would have to be extended until further notice.”
I chuckle and shrug my shoulders. “That’s what best friends are for, right? What’s next?”
“Well, Dawson seems to think we need to release doves after we kiss, but I was thinking something more simple than that. Maybe both of us pour sand into a jar at the same time,” she says excitedly. “Our names could be engraved on the jar and the color of the sand we each pour would be our favorite. The colors mix together as we pour them. Symbolic. What do you think?”
“Doves?” Dawson would do everything in the world for Savanna, but there are times where I question where his head is at. Who the heck needs doves to fly around at a wedding? “I think the sand idea seems more manageable, so I’d go with that. What is he thinking?”
“I honestly have no clue. He’s more obsessed with planning this wedding than I am.”
In my opinion, I think Dawson is making up for all the years they spent apart and wants to make it a fairytale wedding instead of something simple. He’s more than proved himself to her over the last few months, going out of his way to do romantic things with her that he didn’t get to do before. While I’m ecstatically happy for my bestie, it definitely makes me a little envious.
What would it feel like to have someone love me so unconditionally?
“Okay, girl, is there anything else?” I ask as I swallow the last bite of my bagel. “I’ve got to head back to your brother’s and get the house cleaned up a bit before I have to pick Bethany up from practice.”
She blows out a long breath of relief and nods. “I think we’re good for now. For sure, this is the most progress I’ve made since planning began.” Her gaze lands on the women who are likely still eyeing me up and she glares at them with a shake of her head before she stands up and puts her binder in her tote bag
“Call me when you want to do this again, okay?” I tell her.
“Will do. Love you and give Bethy a hug for me.”
As soon as she walks out of the cafe, I finish the last of my coffee and then give Elijah a small wave goodbye, thinking of all the things I need to do before I pick up Bethany.
“Okay, Bethany,” I say as she drops her gym bag onto the floor with a thud. “If you have homework, get it done while I start on dinner.”
“Already? I just walked through the door.”
I scoff. “Yeah, well, if you don’t get it done now you’ll never get it done and it will be my job on the line. Do you need help with anything?”
She shakes her head and frowns. “No thanks. Just holler for me when dinner’s done. I’ll be up in my room.”
Every so often I’ll think about what it would be like to do these things with my own child. Picking him or her up from school, helping with homework, or fixing a nice dinner. Then I remember that I don’t have anyone in my life like that and can’t have that fantasy.
Except something different is happening right now. All I can think about is Easton and me sitting at the kitchen table with a grown-up Bethany and a little boy or girl of our own.