She’d been stressed with the interview process. Both in hunting them down and taking applications. Three of her more promising people had fallen through. Each time it happened, I’d get dragged away for a rage fuck.
I wasn’t quite sure how to react to her need to get distracted with orgasms. I’d tried to talk to her about it, but I’d only gotten a growl in response. One time had ended in a blow job behind my truck just to shut me up.
Her words.
Other times, it was perfect. Dinners in the café after hours. She practiced endless forms of hot chocolate on Dani. She even encouraged my daughter to name them.
Dani had been delighted to see her concoctions make the menu board more often than not. She was getting closer to Macy every day while her mother was even more distant.
The anvil of her custody demands was forever hovering over our heads. Again and again, Jessica had been blowing me off in favor of meetings with her agent or auditions for some new project she was after.
Talks about taking Dani for more visitation had all but stopped, but she wouldn’t give me a straight answer about any of it.
Lu
ckily, the restaurant was almost done. Most of my crew had moved onto other projects. The late fall season was full of wrapping up outdoor projects. Some of my older clients needed winterization before the brutal cold came through.
Central New York was no joke when it came to snow and blustering winds off the lake. The lake effect alone ground a lot of my jobs to a halt. It was just too hard to get supplies in and out when a foot of snow could come out of nowhere.
Frankie jogged into the main dining room with a stack of papers that instantly gave me an eye twitch. “Hey, boss.”
“Don’t tell me Spinelli screwed up another order.”
Frankie rubbed the back of his neck. “Wish I could. Two dozen bat candle holders that are supposed to go along the vestibule are wrong.”
I sighed. “Macy will be thrilled. What did we get instead?”
He handed me the top form.
I skimmed the order and groaned. “Flower mason jars? What the fu—”
“Did you say mason jars?”
I looked up at the voice. “What the hell are you doing here?” I handed the papers back to Frankie and crossed to the prodigal son who had returned to Crescent Cove a few months ago. We shook hands and did a half hug. “Where you been, man?”
Mason Brooks flipped the brim of his baseball hat around and gave me a dimpled grin. “Been here and there. Couch surfing at Jared’s house was getting old. Besides, he’s all rules and regulations these days.”
“Comes with the badge.”
“Tell me about it. My brother, the sheriff. Not quite sure how that happened. And if those nosy busybodies in the town council knew the shit he got into when we were younger, they would’ve never voted him in.”
“Yeah, well, Jared was always a wiley one. You were the one who kept getting caught.” I wasn’t from Crescent Cove, but I’d played baseball and ran in the same circles as the Brooks brothers.
“Guilty.” He gave me a sheepish grin. “I blame Charlotte Burke and her perfect breasts.”
“Well, they were pretty spectacular. Still are, to be truthful.”
“Very distracting.”
“You just here to shoot the shit? I have to deal with this order, but we can grab something in the café if you want.” I could use the distraction and maybe I’d get a bonus round with Macy.
“Actually, I’m here to talk business. And I’ll take a look at those mason jars.”
I nodded to Frankie. “I’ll take care of the delivery.”
Frankie gave me a grateful smile. “Thanks. I’ll go work on the chair railings.”
“Great.” I gestured for Mason to walk ahead. “What’s up? Did you finally buy a house?”