Page 78 of Second Chance Baby

My sadness faded after his tirade. Now I had to keep my lips from twitching. “Um, just a tad. But maybe you should hide your attitude behind a smile until we kill this shoot? Theshoot, not each other or any bystanders.”

“I was in a great fucking mood after last night.” He reached over to cup my cheek. “But Cam was right about one thing, I did make a huge mistake.”

I covered his hand. “I’m pretty sure most of the mistakes were on my end.”

“That’s not true. The fact that you had any reason to believe we weren’t going to make it forever will always be my greatest mistake. I’m going to marry you, Bridget Sheppard. Any objections?”

My lips trembled open. “Um, no.”

“But I’m going to do it right, which means it will take some time. I’m going to make sure you never doubt again how much you mean to me and Carrington.”

I reached over to grab his hand. “You realize what I want most is just what we’re doing. Making new memories with you and Care and taking advantage of every moment we have. I don’t need any big fuss.”

“Maybe I fucking do. We deserve a big fuss. Carrington deserves to see me shout from the rooftops how much I love you.”

“Do you feel like you missed out there?” I asked quietly, interlocking my fingers together.

“I do, but not because there’s some public scorecard. Just I feel like we deserved those big moments too, including a crazy engagement and wedding. That’s all. Cam just made me realize how much I missed out on.”

“Are you sure? It’s okay if you’re mad. You have every right to be. I know I didn’t handle things well. I truly do.” He tightened his hold on my hand, and it grounded me as it always did. “I’m back, and I’m ready to do the work now. No matter how long it takes. I heard you mention therapy to Care.” I swallowed deeply. “Honestly, I’m good with that. I know I could use someone to talk to.”

He glanced at me, studying me carefully. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I didn’t want to keep falling back on bad patterns and that meant I needed some help. “I’m willing to do anything. This is important to me, Travis. Whatever it takes.”

He reached over with his other hand to tuck back a lock of my hair. “We’ll do this shoot, then we’ll go see my mom. See what she has to say, other than that Minerva crap.”

I had to laugh. “It really isn’t that bad of a name.”

“Uh, yes, it is. She can go fish on that one. We better get out there before we add more fuel to the grapevine.”

There were quite a few cars about for midmorning in the Cove. Some people were part of the crew, some must’ve just wanted to watch. Maybe others yet wanted to see if we’d turn our respectable outdoor shoot into something…not.

We’d need to walk a couple of blocks to reach the gazebo. The day was breezy and overcast, the wind rising to skitter colorful leaves all over the sidewalk. October was turning out along the lake with trees bursting with fiery reds and soft golds. Travis walked around to my side to open my door and then he tookmy hand, swinging it between us as we dodged pedestrians and lookie-loos on our way past the park.

“Wow, don’t you two make a picture,” Daphne exclaimed, stopping us in the middle of the sidewalk. “Are you both good with some lifestyle shots? Rita’s rebranding her author name and looking to re-cover her lakeside small town book and when she saw your chemistry, she thought you two would be perfect for it.”

Travis stepped closer to her. “Uh, what about the first shoot?” He lowered his voice. “Wasn’t it necessary for us to reshoot some of that? Since, uh, kinda not family friendly for an autism charity calendar?”

“Actually, the graphic designer said they could work some magic and make it work for the calendar. I’m not sure you’re aware of the author drama surrounding that particular book.”

I nodded. “I’ve seen a little on social media, but I confess I’ve been a little distracted.”

“I just bet.” Daphne gave me a wink.

“Date with Disasteris getting picked up by a publisher so they want to do their own covers and things for the future. But we have so many great shots we’re going to offer a bonus charity add-on for those who want the more risqué pictures in a blazing hot mini calendar. Just more money to the charity, so it works for us and Rita.” Daphne shrugged. “We didn’t figure you’d be too upset if you didn’t have to do reshoots.”

“Oh, we wouldn’t mind.” Travis shot me a knowing look, and my cheeks started to burn. “But we never break a contract.”

“And we want Rita to be happy with what we did. I mean, as happy as she can be. Our shoot got a bit out of hand.”

“Oh, she loved the shoot. Don’t worry about that. In fact, that was why she wanted more pictures while the weather is good. We had to move on it since you’re not local, Bridget.”

“She will be very soon. We’re going to pick up her clothing and belongings from the city this weekend, actually,” Travis announced, looking too closely at me as if he expected me to argue.

He wouldn’t hear me arguing. I had no desire to return to the city for even one more night, never mind long enough to leave him and Care.

“Yeah, I’m moving back to my hometown.” I smiled. “This is where I’m meant to be.”

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