Page 79 of Worth the Want
“I wouldn’t say you would be completelyunexpected,” he teases. I think for a moment. This isn’t exactly how I planned for the evening to go, but I’m selfish. I want this time with him.
“Okay, just let me change.”
“You mean you don’t want to show up naked?”
“You’re full of jokes, aren’t you, Mr. Holloway?”
“I’ve never been accused of that before.” At that, I do laugh because I believe it.
“Maybe you just haven’t been with the right person,” I joke.
“If it wasn’t you, it wasn’t the right person,” he says.
I melt into a puddle, emotion getting stuck in my throat. When he says things like that to me, it makes me happier than I’ve ever been in my life. But then I get this sinking feeling in my stomach, like letting Knox say things like that to me when he doesn’t know everything is wrong.
I have to tell him. If I don’t, I might end up losing him.
My first dinner at the Holloway house is now one of my favorite memories. It’s full of laughter and even a little bit of roughhousing between the brothers. I sip a glass of wine with Winnie and Florence on the deck; Hazel is lying across my lap while I absently play with her hair. Watching all the siblings interact with each other is fun but also fills me with longing.
“Ugh boys! Stop before you hurt yourselves! Aren’t you getting a little old for this?” Mary yells from the open window.
“Sorry, Mom!” Comes a trio of voices. We all laugh as they make their way up the deck.
“Do you have any siblings, Indie?”
“Just a sister,” I answer.
“Yeah? Is she as annoying as any of my brothers?”
I force a laugh. “She’s a handful, that’s for sure.”
“I’ve met her before. Remember?” Knox asks from the wooden railing.
“Mm-hmm. At the bar.”
“She was pretending to be twenty-one.”
“She was trying to get you to buy her a drink,” I say, and he laughs.
“Is she still so forward?”
“She’s always been that way. No is not an answer she’s ever been willing to hear,” I muse, then turn to Florence. “Were you still wanting me to work on the hotel website?”
“Please. Could you come by next week?” she asks me.
“Yes! With Anna wanting to take over the management side of things, I’m only at the bakery on Wednesday. How about I come that evening? Will you still be there?”
“I will be there.”
“Are you sure you aren’t upset with me cutting your hours at the bakery?” Winnie asks.
“Of course not. I understand, and I’m loving running the website. I think I have enough work to keep me busy between everyone y'all have put me in touch with.”
“Okay, I just feel bad because you moved here for this job, and now…”
“And now I’m staying for—other reasons,” I say, looking down at the sleeping girl on my lap.
“You about ready to head out, Honey?”
