Page 81 of The Last Second Chance
“I thought so, too, the last time he stopped by the house,” Gia said, catching the drift. “Is he under the weather?” she asked Summer.
Summer frowned and shook her head. “No. He’s as healthy as a California vegan.”
“Maybe he’s just working too much,” Joey said.
“He’s probably just got a lot on his mind what with the farm and the brewery and the twins,” Gia mused.
“I’ve been getting work emails from him in the middle of the night,” Joey improvised.
“The other week he mentioned something about going away for the weekend,” Summer confessed. “But I told him it wasn’t a good time with the magazine and everything.” She chewed on her lip.
“You’re probably right,” Gia said. “You’ve got a lot on your plate and you probably wouldn’t even be able to relax.”
“Well, I do need to vet a substitute editor for when I’m on maternity leave,” Summer sighed.
“Like a short-term dry run. That’s not a horrible idea.” Joey tried to keep the gloat out of her voice. “And maybe you could use the vacation to confess to Carter that you already know the sex of the babies.”
Summer stuck her tongue out at Joey. “Funny. It’s very important to Carter that we’re surprised. So we are going to be surprised. This is my way of proving how much I love him.”
“By doing something completely against your nature?” Joey asked.
“Exactly,” Summer nodded.
Joey rolled her eyes. Love made normally smart people do very stupid things. At least by casually seeing Jax, she’d be able to keep her wits about her.
Summer was busy rolling with the idea of a weekend away. “I suppose it could work. I could afford to take a few days off. If we work ahead with the editorial calendar and have the content scheduled out.”
“I don’t think it would be a problem,” Gia nodded.
Joey slapped her palm on the top of her desk. “You should surprise him!”
“What?”
“Yeah! Plan the trip, book it, and then tell him about it. Jax and I can cover the farm. He won’t have an excuse not to go.”
“Yeah,” Summer nodded. “Yeah! I can do this. I can surprise my husband with a getaway and use the time to work out the kinks with a new editor. I’m gonna do it!” She pulled out her phone and started swiping furiously through screens. “Now, where should we go?”
Joey shot Gia her cockiest grin. Behind Summer’s chair, Gia bowed in unworthiness.
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It wasearly afternoon before Jax was able to catch back up with Joey. She had a self-satisfied smile on her face as she loosened the girth on Tucker’s saddle.
“I like seeing you smile,” he told her, stepping in with the dual purpose to help and to be closer to her.
Joey snorted. “You like seeing a lot more than my smile.”
“You speak the truth.” Jax pulled the saddle and blanket off of the big bay and placed it on the bench that Waffles was wriggling under to investigate one of the barn cats. He sent the dog into a spiral of delight with a good belly scratch.
“What could possibly put you in such a good mood today?” he asked with a devilish grin.
“Keep your happy wand in your pants, Ace. I just orchestrated some high level mental espionage that I’m feeling really good about.”
“Care to elaborate?”
Joey unclipped Tucker’s lead from the eyehook on the wall. “I may have convinced Summer to take a long weekend trip with Carter. I also may have made it her idea.”
Jax took the lead rope from her. “You’re so sexy when you’re manipulative.”
