Page 3 of Remind Me
“I’m sorry about that. I hated keeping shit from you.”
“I know, Sug, I did too.”
“We can’t do that again; we need to be a team.”
“We will always be a team, nothing’s gonna change that.”
“I am happy for you, I really am. I’m not sure if I have expressed that or not.”
“You have, Sug, but I know, even if you hadn’t, you will always be my number one fan and biggest supporter. Just as I have always been yours.”
“Good, I am glad you know that.”
“You know if there was anything you wanted to do, like open another shop or anything like that, I would back you, don’t you?”
“I know, baby but honestly, I am happy with my little shop in my little corner of the world. Although I have been thinking of maybe getting rid of that section in front of the bookshop and making that its own separate space. I was going to move it next door, but Austin needed the space more than me.”
“Well, your shop is quite big. It could be done. We could talk to the ones working next door at Austin’s place, once they are done, they can come and work on yours.”
“I’ll talk to the contractor and get him to quote it for me. Would just give Belle more room to work with. If only the café wasn’t on the corner though. I would love to have that as a café cross bookshop where they could come and sit down, read and relax.”
“The only thing stopping you is the shop next door. I’m sure if that opened up and you spoke to Mrs. Collins from the café, she would work out something with you. Two birds, one stone kinda deal.”
“I guess, although I don’t see Old Man Rodgers leaving anytime soon. He has his hooks firmly into that place.” The conversation was interrupted by the doorbell. Cash got up and moved through the house to answer it. I looked around. Did we really need a house this big? I loved it but at the same time, it was a lot to maintain and Cash and I were rarely home long. I couldn’t imagine wanting to clean something this big after the baby was born. When Cash came back holding pizza from Gianno’s, he stopped and raised a brow at me.
“What? You were asleep and I thought this was a safe bet.”
“I want to move.”
“Okay…” The look of confusion on his face made me want to crack up laughing. Talk about out of left field.
“What I mean is, and if you were in my head that would have made sense, I want to move to a new house. This is a really big house and unless we are gonna hire a nanny or cleaner, I’m not sure it’s right for a new family.” His body relaxed and he nodded.
“I had that thought while you were asleep. I was going to talk to you about which room we were going to make the nursery so we could start to clean it out to redecorate and all that, but if you want to, we can find something smaller. Maybe something without stairs. A little safer for when they start to crawl and walk. Also, we don’t have to climb them when we are dead tired.” I nodded and stood up. Going into the kitchen, I took a glass out and poured me some juice, grabbing a beer for him.
“Where are we eating?”
“On the couch is fine. We can keep watchingCriminal Mindswhile we do.” He grabbed some napkins from the drawer and went back to the media room. Taking the drinks, I followed after him. Setting mine on a coaster, I handed his drink to him and took the napkins he handed me. Once we were both settled with our pizza, I cuddled back into him as we watched the TV. I knew it would be a matter of time before I was asleep again. I was always tired after camping weekends. I just tried to hold out long enough that I wouldn’t wake at some stupid hour. I was stubborn though and would always end up falling asleep on the couch. Cash then ended up carrying me up to bed when he couldn’t persuade me to wake up. On so many occasions, it would hit me just how lucky I was to have him.
* * *
The sound of a ringing phone woke me up. Opening my eyes and seeing that it was still pitch-black, I heard Cash mumble “sorry” before rolling away from me to answer it. Curling up onto my side, I caught a glimpse of the clock and saw that it was three in the morning. I waited for Cash to curl back up with me after his phone call, but when he didn’t, I turned on the light and cursed at the brightness, waiting for my eyes to adjust to it.
“Go back to sleep, Sug.”
“Is everything okay?”
“No, something’s happened and they need me in. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I watched him get up and get dressed. Moving around to my side of the bed. “Come on, get comfy. You need to sleep.” I nodded and laid back down. He pulled the covers up over me and pressed his lips to mine.
“I love you, Sug. Sleep well.” He switched off the light.
“I love you, to infinity and beyond, baby.” He chuckled and left the room. He always joked that he should change my nickname to Buzz Lightyear. To know that thought was going through his head right now made me smile. Closing my eyes, I let myself drift back off to sleep. I was woken a few hours later by my alarm. Turning it off and rolling onto my back, I frowned not seeing Cash there. What the hell had kept him for so long? Pulling the covers back, I went downstairs and didn’t see him there either. I moved into the kitchen and took my phone off charge before walking around and taking my mug from where I left it on the counter, there was really no use putting it away. I grabbed the tea I had switched to drinking and put the tea leaves into the infuser. Turning on the kettle, I waited for the water to boil. Putting the infuser into my mug, I poured the hot water in. Carrying it over to the counter, I sat it down and got up onto the stool. Pulling up my last message to Cash, I sent him a text.
Me: Morning. Hope everything is okay. About to get ready for work but just wanted to message that I was thinking of you and say good morning. I love you and will talk to you later xoxo
I blew on my tea until it was cool enough to drink and took a small test sip. When it didn’t burn my mouth, I took a bigger drink. When nothing had come through by the time I had finished my tea, I slid off the stool and went to wash up my mug before heading upstairs to shower and get ready for work. Something wasn’t sitting well with me and I didn’t like it. Maybe I was just overreacting, who knows. It made me want to get to work though and see if Beau had been called out too. Please, for the love of all that is holy, don’t have let something happen to him.
Chapter Three
