Page 29 of Starting Over in Cedarwood

“You look sad.” She leaned on the doorframe and folded her arms. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.” He sagged in his chair. “I’m lovesick, that’s what I am. Isn’t that terrible?”

“Lovesick? Over Kevin?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s not terrible.” She shrugged. “You’ve got a new relationship. You want to be with him—which is normal.”

“He’s always busy.” He sounded whiny, but he didn’t care. He needed to hit the release valve and let some of it out. “I’m sorry, but it’s just that I thought I loved Jonah and it fizzled, but how I felt about him was never like this. Because this is new?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ve never been in this deep and I don’t know what to do.”

“You’re exclusive, right? He’s not seeing anyone else, I assume, so don’t sweat it.” She stood tall. “It sure seems like you’re holding on too tight and don’t have to, but I get it. Remember, he’s yours, so enjoy yourself. Just because he doesn’t call you or whatever doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. Have faith in him and in yourself.”

“You don’t think it’s my biological clock or anything?”

She snorted. “Probably. You’re cruising toward middle age and afraid you’ll end up alone. I get that because I feel the same way, but it’s not necessarily our fate. You’ve got a good man and I’ll find mine. Don’t let your insecurities get the better of you.”

She had a point. His issues all boiled down to insecurities. He’d been hurt before and feared he would be again. It seemed like his worry was getting the better of him and threatening to destroy his faith. It could destroy his relationship with Kevin, too.

“It’s cool that you’re concerned. You should be. Life is crazy, but give yourself a chance,” she said.

He nodded. “Thanks.” She’d given him a ton to think about.

“So, do you want to come along, now that you’ve unloaded? Ned, Francis, Gail, Serena and I are heading to the Diner.” She rapped her knuckles on the doorframe. “Hmm?”

“I’m going to stay here and cool my heels. Thanks,” Shaun said. “How about another time? Kevin should be by any minute now.”

“Well, that’s a better offer.” She smiled. “I’ll check on you later.” She left him alone with his thoughts.

Shaun sighed and thought back to his time with Jonah. Things had fallen apart because he and Jonah had wanted different things. He wanted to be married and settle down. Jonah had wanted to roam. Instead of listening to Jonah’s cues, Shaun had blundered ahead with his plans and ended up hurt. Now he’d blown forward and jumped in deep with Kevin, mentioning marriage. Cara was right. He needed to slow down. The good feelings concerning Kevin buoyed him and he saw the future with Kevin. Why would he want to destroy things when they were just getting started?

A knock on the door yanked him from his thoughts. “Are you home?”

“Kevin.” He met Kevin’s gaze. His man was there, dressed in board shorts, a T-shirt and running shoes. So casual, but he also looked happy.

“In the flesh.” Kevin held a bag and grinned. “I brought food.”

“Thanks.” Shaun moved the clutter from his desk. “Come in.”

“I wanted to text you last night, but we got creamed and food service got slammed.” Kevin ventured into the office and placed the bag on the desk. “Then I got the nerve up to mention we needed help, but I got my ass handed to me by my boss because there isn’t money coming in to pay for more people.”

“Kevin.” Damn. He wished he could’ve saved Kevin the headache.

“I know. I shouldn’t have aimed above my station at this time, but we were so overwhelmed and I got tired of it.” Kevin sat across from him. “I brought gyros. The gyro truck has awesome food.”

“Smells delicious.” He withdrew a bottle of hand sanitizer out of his desk. “Have some.” He cleaned his hands. “I haven’t had a chance to visit most of the food trucks. The taco one is good.”

“Agreed.” Kevin used the sanitizer. “Anyway, I asked for help and got reamed and as a result, I lost two of the smaller concession counters. It condenses the workforce, so it gives us better numbers, but sucks because we’ll probably lose money.”

“Because the team is on a skid?” Shaun opened the foil around his gyro. The scent swirled around him. His mouth watered. “You know what? I don’t care about work. I’m glad you’re here. I missed you.”

“I missed you, too. I wish we could’ve had a run this morning, but we’ll get a schedule going.” Kevin withdrew two bottles of water. “I wanted lemonade, but they’d run out.”

“Oh well.” Shaun groaned as he bit into his gyro. “This is so good.” He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until now and devoured the sandwich. The flavors melted on his tongue. He wanted to continue the conversation, but the gyro was too delicious.

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