Page 70 of A Package Deal

I should have written up the bill before I drank the German beer. The numbers were all swimming and my head was starting to feel fuzzy. Georgia was on the jungle gym, trying to swing from bar to bar like a monkey. A few other kids were there and she had made friends instantly, unlike her mama. I sighed and put the invoice aside. I could work on it tonight. I flicked an ant off my leg forlornly.

Savannah and Pip looked at each other, but it was Savannah who had the nerve to finally speak. “Soo…it’s clear there’s something wrong between you and Warrick. Want to talk about it?”

I dropped my head back against the tree trunk I was resting on. “Is it that obvious?”

Pip snorted. “You’re as unhappy as a pig in a car wash.”

Savannah and I looked at each other, not understanding Pip’s phrases even on a good day. I waved away the confusion and told them everything that had happened with Cayden being in town. They gasped and made appropriate noises during my story. When I ended with the fight with Warrick, they remained perfectly quiet.

“So, that’s why Georgia and I stayed at a hotel last night.”

“Because you are mad at Warrick? Or at Cayden?” Pip looked confused.

I thought about it. “Maybe both? And don’t forget myself. I’m probably mad at myself too.”

“What? Why?” Savannah sat up straighter, listening intently.

I spread my hands, gaze on Georgia as she played. “I want Warrick to communicate more, I want Cayden to stay out of my life, and I want to be able to fully trust a man again.”

“If there was ever a man you could trust again, it would be Warrick.” Savannah nodded at me. “He clearly adores you and Georgia. You remember that day I was late to work a couple weeks ago? I got a flat tire just down the road from his mom’s house and he saw me when he left for the day. He went into town to get a new tire and even put it on my truck for me while I went to work. Said he didn’t want me to hassle with it myself, be even later to work, and cause you stress. That’s a sweet man right there.”

I gaped at her. I hadn’t known that. I wished Savannah would have told me.

Pip cracked open another beer and took a sip. “One day I suggested he put some proper German brats on that barbecue of his, but he refused. Said he’d only do steak and chicken because that’s the only meat Georgia would eat.” She shrugged her massive shoulders. “Seems quite nice for a man to notice eating habits like that. If a man brought me a case of beer, I’d sit on him until he agreed to marry me.”

I managed a smile. “He does do a lot of things for Georgia and me. I guess I just never noticed or took it for granted. Like maybe he was doing those things only to get in our good graces. Maybe he had an ulterior motive, you know?”

“Like, to make you love him in return? Wow. So terrible,” Savannah deadpanned.

I opened my mouth to say…something, but Pip beat me to it.

“But do not be with him because of the things he does for you. That makes you no better than the other women in his life. Be with him because you can’t take a full breath without him. Because the sun isn’t as bright if he is not there when you wake up. Because you love him so much you cannot imagine growing old without him by your side.”

She quit talking and took another sip, like she hadn’t just spouted off something so profound that Savannah and I were left speechless.

“That’s beautiful, Pip.”

She held up one thick finger like she wasn’t done. “Because without his sexy backside in those jeans, even the finest German beer tastes flat.”

Savannah and I grinned. That sounded more like Pip. But she’d made her point. Warrick had bent over backwards to prove I could trust him and I’d continuously come up with reasons to throw it all back in his face. I’d been too scared to acknowledge the feelings growing between us. Hell, he’d told me he loved me and I’d clammed up, not able to say it back. Even then he hadn’t gotten frustrated with me.

“Do you love him?” Savannah asked quietly.

I watched Georgia swing next to another little girl, her smile bright and carefree and so, so precious to me. She’d always be my priority, but for the first time in a long time, I felt like my heart had room for someone else too. That maybe we’d both be better off with a man in our lives. One specific man.

“I think I do.”

Savannah sighed over the romantic declaration. Pip just took another sip and smacked her lips.

“Then you better get your backside to his house and show him. Get your wiener schnitzel, girl!” She cackled at her own joke.

She was right though.

Not about the wiener schnitzel.

I needed to strip myself bare for him and let him truly see that I was letting him in. And then I’d have to hope to God I wasn’t too late. The thought of what I’d need to do had me shaking in my boots, but I was more scared to lose him.

Just like Paisley had tried to tell me days ago.

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