Page 89 of This Baby Business
Frank blinked as if he couldn’t believe he’d heard right. “Yeah.”
She led the way to her room in the small cottage to the right of the main building. Due to its exorbitant price, it had been the only vacancy, so she’d splurged. The honeymoon suite had lots of privacy, which she didn’t need. Truth be told, she’d be helping Frank pay the bill off when they returned home, even if it meant substitute teaching again.
“This is very nice,” Frank said, nodding as he glanced around the room, his gaze lingering on the fireplace that took up half a wall. “You were right. This is much better than the Budget Inn.”
Her gaze stayed riveted to the man she’d been married to for over twenty years. He’d gotten older when she wasn’t looking. When they’d been busy with daily life, but notnoticingeach other. He had gray hairs, many of which she’d probably given him. Wrinkles around his eyes, laugh lines around his mouth. A deep worry groove between his eyebrows, which had surely formed when she’d been rushed to an emergency C-section with Meg.
In that moment she realized she’d never find anyone else who could take his place. She’d been so stupid to think she could walk away from him. From their shared history.
“I miss you,” she blurted out.
How long had she held that in, afraid to say it out loud? Afraid it would seem…selfish.
“I’m right here.”
She rolled her eyes. “I think you know what I mean.”
He met her eyes. “I understand. And I’m sorry. It’s just I…things haven’t been…”
“I know.”
“Honey, you have to know—I didn’t mean—” His voice shook.
Her big and strong man who’d been knocked to his knees by life. She went into his arms. “Frank, I miss her too. Sometimes it feels like I’ll never be the same again. I have good days and bad days too. But you haven’t allowed yourself to have any good days. I can’t stand watching you hurt like this. Let’s just start over. Can we?”
“At our age?” He chuckled, holding her tight.
“I love you, Frank. We’ve both got a lot of living left to do, and I don’t know about you, but I want to do that together.”
“That’s all I want, too.” He stroked her back. “I’ve lost so much in my life, but the one thing I can’t stand to lose is you.”
She glanced at the California king–size bed that she’d slept in alone. “What do you say we start by breaking in that monster bed?”
Frank grinned. “Yeah?”
They held each other all night long, which turned out to be a good beginning.
CHAPTER36
Levi
As resident NFG, Levi understood he got the grunt work. He’d occasionally be tasked with a morning coffee run to the Drip, a lunch run and all the difficult passengers. Even the nonhuman ones. But he would only be NFG until Stone hired someone new. He’d been talking about that a lot recently, in addition to buying another plane. Hell, he’d been planning to buy a whole fleet of planes, according to the latest word. Things were moving right along at Mcallister Charters in a forward trajectory, and Levi liked the way it looked for him. Because pretty soon he wouldn’t be NFG anymore.
“What are you smiling about?” Matt walked up to the Snack Shack, where Levi sat nursing a cup of coffee between flights.
Pick one. For the first time in a while, he had a list of things to smile about. Grace was sleeping through the night—mostly—and any lack of sleep on his part was for all therightreasons. Those reasons being Carly and the kind of chemistry and connection he hadn’t experienced with anyone in a while. Or ever, if he was being honest. To top it off, he had no concern that he’d lose Grace or be stuck paying legal fees for years. And he had Carly to thank for that, too.
“I’ve got my reasons.”
“Two of those reasons are named Carly and Grace, I take it.”
“We’ve been spending some time together, yeah.”
“Drove by the other night and saw you three at the Lick `n’ Spoon.”
“Yeah?” It had been his idea to go out for ice cream even though the October nights were getting chillier. And when he’d given Grace a taste, he’d loved seeing her eyes grow wide at the cold and sweet taste. She was definitely Daddy’s girl. “Why didn’t you say hi?”
“I was on my way home with a pizza. And anyway, it looked pretty cozy there. Didn’t want to interrupt.”
