Page 53 of The Undercover Billionaire's Baby

I dredged up a smile I hoped looked convincing. “Glad you enjoyed it.”

“You got more like that? Doesn’t have to be fishing, but, y’know, nature? The kind where you read it and you want to be there?” He peered at the shelves like they’d pop up by magic, like googling “nature” and the pictures appear.

“This way,” I said. “I can think of a few.”

Rex followed me back to the outdoor section and stood fidgeting while I picked out some titles.

“How’s Sam?” he said. “He coming back soon?”

I fumbled for a response to that, beyond I don’t know. I had no answer to either question, how Sam was doing or what he had planned. Two weeks ago, he’d leaned out his truck window, kissed me one last time, and promised to call. He’d promised, as well, he’d try for that weekend, to come for a visit so we could catch up. That weekend had come and gone, then the one after, and now I thought of it, it’d been almost three weeks.

“He, uh… He’s busier than he thought he would be.”

Rex nodded. “The Elkins Group, I read up on that. That’s a huge company for one man to run.”

“He has VPs, though. A huge staff. His board.” In truth, I had little idea how these things worked, but I’d looked it up too, and the Elkins Group was huge. Sam had a whole army working for him, so why was he so tired? Too tired to call me?

“Let him know the bass have been biting like crazy. Next time he’s around, he’s got to come fishing. Then we’ll have a cookout on my new deck.”

“I’ll tell him,” I said, a lump in my throat. Not only had Sam swooped in and stolen my heart, he’d yoinked the whole town’s hearts into the bargain. Everyone loved him, and with good reason. He’d done repairs for a lot of them, most at a discount. He’d pulled them together for the fun run. He’d become one of us, and now he was gone.

Rex bought three books and said he’d be back soon. I went back to my rage-cleaning, ignoring Alice. She was watching me now. I could feel her eyes on my back. But I couldn’t tell even her what I wished wasn’t true: Sam was ghosting me by slow degrees. We’d lost our goodnight calls, and now our good mornings. Next would come texts, and then… nothing.

Closing up that night, I took my time. I swept the café out twice. Vacuumed the front. Cleaned the keys on the register with the compressed air duster. I checked the safe, then checked it again. Filled up the soap in the tiny restroom. I didn’t want to go upstairs and wait for Sam’s call — a call which I knew I’d await in vain.

Maybe it was better this way, for us both. Our lives were so different. Sam must’ve seen that. It must’ve been plain. He’d jumped into his new job and seen clear as day, there’d be no reconciling our separate lives.

Still… still, he’d promised. We’d promised to try.

Maybe he was just tired.

Maybe he’d call tonight.

Sam didn’t call that night, or the night after. If I texted, he’d respond to me, but the pauses got longer — an hour, then two hours, then half a day. When my phone rang that Saturday, I thought it was Alice.

“Hey, hon,” I said, not checking the caller. “I’m just getting breakfast. Pick me up around ten?”

Silence hung on the line. Then came a cough.

“You’ve got a date with some other guy? Forgot me already?”

I nearly dropped my phone. “Sam!”

“You thought I was Alice?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I did. We’re going shopping.”

“Well, don’t tire yourself out, because, guess what?” Sam’s mounting excitement made my heart leap. Was he coming back to me? Had he quit his job?

“Don’t make me guess.”

“I have tonight free. I’m coming to you. I’m taking you to Belden’s and we’re having steak, then I want to dance with you till I can’t feel my feet.”

My heart plunged, then raced, disappointment. Delight. He wasn’t back-back, but he was coming to see me! Maybe this whole time, he’d been building to this, working himself ragged to get the night free. And tonight at Belden’s, he’d explain the whole thing, how he’d never meant to ghost me. How he wouldn’t again.

“I think all my ducks are finally in a row. No more late nights or three a.m. starts. I know I’ve been awful at keeping in touch, but I want a new start for us. To do this right.”

My pulse beat so hard I almost blacked out. I caught myself on the counter, lightheaded, laughing. All the words I’d been waiting for, dying to hear. Of course he’d be here for me. Of course he was mine.

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