CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Scott
“You’re sure everything’s done exactly to the specifications she drew?” I asked.
The contractor, a middle-aged guy named Harold, sniffed. He was offended. “Yes. But I still don’t know why you thought using some housewife’s plans would be better than ours…”
“My wife was top of her class in architecture and interior design before she had to drop out to have our daughter.”
“Oh,” the guy said, chastened. “Cool. Well, we did everything just as the plans said.” He got a cautiously respectful look on his face. “They’re good. I’m just being a jackass.”
I nodded. “Good to know.”
He laughed. “You’re very reassuring.”
I smirked. “When will it be done?”
He thought for a minute. “Close of business day after tomorrow.”
“Great. The sign will be up and everything?”
“Yep.”
We shook hands, and I left. I stood back and looked at the building with satisfaction.
It was as close to perfect as we could get.
I’d managed to snag a coveted storefront space on the square in Indigo Falls.
Like most older Southern towns, Indigo Falls had other restaurants and places to go.
But the city center? The most coveted real estate?
It was on the square. Everyone went through the square during some part of their day, making it ideal for foot traffic or drop-in business.
This was going to be perfect. I could only hope she thought so, too.
She was just now starting to fill orders again, and I’d loved watching her work and seeing how happy she was. Now, she’d have a great space to do it in.
A couple of nights later, after the kids were either in bed or winding down in their bedrooms, I approached her. My heart was pounding in my chest, my palms were sweaty, and I felt like I was sixteen again.
I walked towards the kitchen and stopped, just watching her work on her cookies for a while. She was so good at it, and it was clear she loved doing it.
“Blair.”
“Good lord!” She jumped, her tool cutting right through the intricate design of her cookie. “You can’t sneak up on me like that.”
“Sorry,” I winced. “It came out louder than I intended.”
“I hope so. If we were on a mountain, it would have echoed.” She looked irritated, which was the exact opposite of what I was hoping she’d look like.
“I’d like to take you out. On a date.”
She blinked at me. “A date?”
I nodded. “A real date. I want us to get dressed up and go to Palermo’s. Would you go with me?”
“What day?” She was looking at her master calendar on the wall, assessing when we’d have some free time. Her calendar looked so much better now that she’d taken it back over. Maybe I’d eventually gotten the hang of it, but I was nowhere near as good as she was at it.
I glanced at the calendar, too. “Thursday?”
She nodded. “Okay. I’ll ask Gam to…”
“I have Harrison and Sadie on standby,” I interrupted.
“I know Gam’s getting older and to expect her to watch six kids is a lot.
I mean, technically she only has to watch three of them now but that can still be a handful.
” Sutton and the twins were old enough to stay by themselves, especially now that Sutton could drive.
She’d had a birthday since Blair had been home, and we’d gotten her a nice, used Mini Cooper that she loved.
Blair looked impressed, and I might have preened a little. “Wow. That’s… unexpected. You’ve never handled the details around us going out before.”
“Those days are over,” I promised.
“Well… sure. Why not? I love Palermo’s and haven’t really been out since the hospital.”
We’d eaten takeout from there soon after she’d come home, but to actually sit with her in the restaurant would be… heaven. “Great.” I winked at her. “I can’t wait.”
***
A couple of days later, we were eating at Palermo’s.
The candlelight was hitting the highlights in her hair just right.
They appeared extra shiny, extra bright.
Her face was slightly flushed from the glass of wine she’d had with dinner.
Her eyes sparkled, her smile was genuine, and she was just the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I could barely take my eyes off her.
I reached across the table and held her hand. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’ve given me another chance to prove myself.”
She nodded, her smile fading just a bit. “I need to talk to you about that.”
Oh God. She wanted the divorce. She was kicking me out. She didn’t love me anymore…
“I’ve thought a lot about what you’ve said, and I appreciate how involved you are now.
Especially with the kids. I… I want to give our marriage another shot.
This time around, I’m going to be more honest about my feelings.
If you’re not treating me right? I’m going to speak up about it.
” She took a deep breath, as if the next words were hard to say.
“But before I agree to this, I need you to know something.”
“Anything,” I said, scared to breathe.
“First, I want to go to couple’s therapy.
We’ve had enough problems in the past that I think we need professional help to fix…
us. We both came to this marriage with baggage—you from the loss of your parents at such an early age and me from my parents not wanting me—and all we’ve done is accumulate a lot more of it. We can’t fix those issues alone.”
“Done. No problem. In fact, I had the same thought while you were in the hospital. I got a name from one of my patients at the dental office.”
She gave me a look. “Your patients know we’ve been having marriage troubles?”
I felt myself deflate a bit. “Blair, I think the whole town knows we’ve had problems as a couple. And it’s my fault. Believe me, everyone has given me their opinion about it.” I grimaced. “It hasn’t been a well-kept secret, apparently.”
“That’s fair. I think we both know the drama going on with all of the PTO ladies and their husbands. Why wouldn’t they know about ours? It wasn’t a secret before, and after the accident? Nothing was going to hide what was going on in our marriage from this town.”
My eyes got wide. “Speaking of the PTO drama… I had no idea until I agreed to help set up the ‘after party’ at one of the ladies’ homes. There was wine, charcuterie, desserts, and more wine. The secrets came out, let me tell you.”
She giggled, and I enjoyed the sound. I hadn’t given her much to laugh about in our time together, but I wanted that to change. Permanently.
“Yeah, I quit going to the PTO meeting ‘after parties.’ They were fun a couple of times, but when a few of them had too much wine, the claws came out.”
“I can guess who.” I paused, knowing there was more. “What other conditions did you have?”
“The other one is pretty simple. This is the last chance, Scott. I’m serious.” Her face was firm, and her eyes were sad. “Any drama with other women, if you become indifferent to everyone again, or you behave disrespectfully to me—I’m done. I’ll file divorce papers immediately.”
I knew she meant what she said. “That’s more than fair. It’s honestly more than I deserve.”
She sighed. “I’m glad that’s over with. So, the next step is you moving back into our bedroom.”
I couldn’t fucking wait to get back in that room. I wanted to hold her, to put my hands and mouth all over her body, to show her how much I still desired her. “Any time you’re ready.”
She grinned. “You seem pretty interested in that part.” She leaned in. “I have to say, so am I. It’s been way too long. I keep imaging all the things we can do…”
“Baby, you have to stop. You’re making me hard, and I really don’t want to walk through Palermo’s with a tent in my pants.”
She bit her lip. “I wish we could find a place somewhere here.” She looked around, but I shook my head.
“No?” Her eyebrows shot up.
“No. Believe me, I want to. So badly. But I have somewhere else to take you first.”
“Really? The date’s not over?”
“Not even close. Do you want dessert?” I was so excited to show her the bakery that for once I hoped she said no.
“I’m stuffed. Maybe we should get some cannoli to go.”
“Good idea.” I motioned for our waiter, and soon we were walking out the door. I had a box of cannoli in one hand and her hand in my other. It was a nice night. It was spring now, that perfect time in Georgia when it was warm enough to be out without a jacket but cool enough not to sweat.
There was a light breeze blowing the scent of some sort of flower our way.
The streetlights the mayor had put in recently had been updated to give the downtown a bit more flair.
He’d also had all of the trees that lined the sidewalks along the square upgraded.
They’d been pretty before. Now, with fairy lights wrapped around the trunks, they gave the downtown a more upscale feel.
The moon was full, too, and all in all it was a perfect night. Magical even.
I couldn’t have picked a better night to show her the bakery.
I’d driven by earlier and made sure the sign was up.
I’d been terrified that someone was going to call her and ruin the surprise, but I’d told our closest friends and family what I was doing.
Still, every time her phone rang my muscles tensed up.
I was also worried that she wouldn’t like it or that she’d changed her mind about the design.
But what was done was done.
“Wait—we passed the car. Where are you going?”
“It’s such a nice night. I thought we’d walk around the square for a bit.”
“Oh.” She smiled. “That sounds… wonderful.” She glanced up at me. “You never would’ve done something like this before.”
Why not? Why hadn’t I tried harder to enjoy myself? I’d been sleepwalking through life in a lot of ways. I regretted it so much but knew I could only do better—a lot better—going forward. “I hate that. I missed out on so much.”