My Fake Husband: A Secret Baby Romance (Rockford Falls 2) - Page 38

“Uh, I hadn’t figured on moving to Overton. I like Rockford Falls, and being close to you guys, coaching with Brody. Also, his job isn’t open,” I said in protest.

“I was just thinking out loud, if a man has a family to support, extra money doesn’t hurt,” my dad said.

“I don’t have a family to support, Dad. My temporary wife has a job. You might wanna order Mom some flowers from her,” I suggested, a little grumpy.

“How’s the cake, son?” Mom asked.

“It’s good,” I said. “I like the cinnamon topping.”

“I’m glad. Your dad scraped that part off and wanted frosting,” she rolled her eyes. “And I don’t need flowers. I got both my boys here and your sister’s making me a grandma finally. I have all I want.”

I kissed her cheek, “Thanks, Ma.”

“You might learn something from me. Be happy with what you have right now. Things could always be worse.”

“Wow, way to be an optimist, Mom,” I chuckled, not quite finding it funny.

Because she was right. Things could always be worse, like when Brody’s prediction came true and I lost Trixie because I didn’t speak up for her soon enough. I could just let her slip away and tell myself I was being a good friend. But good friends, they sometimes got left in the dust.

17

Trixie

I was nervous about Damon coming in to help at the shop. What if he joked around so much I didn’t get everything done? What if I spent so much time staring at his butt that I just ignored all the customers? I hardly slept that night worrying about it, and when he got home, I was hiding in my room pretending to sleep because I wanted to avoid whatever God-awful, letting-me-down-easy conversation he had been setting me up for when his phone rang.

The kiss had been amazing, but as I had every time, I felt like he’d just lost control of himself for a moment, given in to an impulse he’d been fighting. Like he was kissing me almost against his will. Like he couldn’t help but indulge in me for a moment, like I was some forbidden treat. It felt delicious and sad at the same time, like I could only have him when he let down his guard or his almighty sense of responsibility for everyone else.

I had a lot going for me in my life. Great friends, loving family, my shop reopening and getting tons of business. I should be able to concentrate on that, and not feel sorry for myself at all that a great guy and family friend had done me a tremendous favor but didn’t like me the same way I liked him. Okay, I had fallen for the man. No one could blame me because he was incredible. The best thing that ever happened to me. I wanted to write songs or poems for him. I wanted to write him a long, mushy letter that would embarrass us both and make things even worse. Because Damon Vance had helped me to become a better version of myself, with a pathway to success and happiness open before me. Just because he didn’t want my devotion didn’t make it disappear. So I’d have to live with it, with knowing I had feelings for him that he didn’t return. I sighed and went ahead with my day.

I only reread that note I’d saved from him a couple times before putting it in my jewelry box where I kept all my precious things. I had a lot more precious things than I had jewels to take up room in it, after all. I had ticket stubs from when Michelle, Nicole and I had gone to see Justin Timberlake in Atlanta a couple of years ago. I also had a business card from the florist shop in Savannah where I’d seen such gorgeous, naturalistic arrangements incorporating tall native grasses for texture that it inspired me, and I saved the card to remind me to think outside the box and be creative. I had the earrings my parents gave me, tiny pearls, when I graduated high school, and the clipping from the newspaper that my sister had saved which was really a wedding announcement but listed my shop as the floral designer. A ring from a stall at a flea market, turquoise and silver, that an ex-boyfriend had bought me a long time ago. And the note from Damon, my most precious of all my sentimental keepsakes.

At work, I made lists, entered receipts in the spreadsheet and totaled up expenses. I checked my budget, made adjustments to my incoming orders accordingly, and double-checked everything to be sure. I was making money. Good money. Pay-back-the-fake-husband money as well as pay-back-the-bank money. My tenant’s rent covered the mortgage at my house, and my only living expenses were the portion of the utilities I made Damon accept for letting me live with him. So it was all being saved for payments. That was my big plan now. To pay ahead on the business loan, and to give Damon a divorce present, a lump sum installment on the down payment he’d insisted on making to help out with buying the building. If everything went to plan, I’d definitely be able to make a dent in what I owed him, and encourage him to use part of it to take a trip. I knew he hadn’t taken a real vacation since he was a kid and went with his family. He’d had a trip to Mexico planned with some buddies, but that had been right around the time Brody’s first wife had died and he’d skipped the vacation to be there for his best friend. Because that’s the kind of guy Damon was. The kind I couldn’t help but fall for.

Tags: Natasha L. Black Rockford Falls Romance
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