CHAPTER ONE
Alexis Bennett stepped into her kitchen and let out an enormous yawn. She caught sight of her reflection in a mirror and burst out laughing.
Oh, I look a sight,she thought with a good-natured grimace.But who can blame me?
Her hair was a mess, and she had her bathrobe tied on sloppily over disheveled pajamas. Not that she normally came downstairs in the morning looking like a beauty queen—even when she’d been a model, she’d never been that put-together. But normally she woke up with her hair in a somewhat tidy braid that she redid before washing her face and applying skin creams. She didn’t usually shuffle downstairs to make breakfast until she’d taken a shower and changed into her outfit for the day.
Last night, however, had upended more than her morning routine, it had completely upended her sleep schedule. She and her husband Grayson were the proud parents of a baby boy, and since he was still only a few months old, he wasn’t used to dealing with normal people things like sleeping during the night without waking up and crying every hour.
She rubbed her eyes as she walked over to the cupboard and opened it. Normally she liked to make something a little specialfor breakfast, like waffles or muffins or egg sandwiches, but today she was choosing plain and simple oatmeal. She figured she and Grayson could doctor the plain dish up with additions like peanut butter or blueberries.
She started the oatmeal cooking and then started to brew a cup of coffee on the Keurig machine. She used a reusable K cup with coffee grounds inside, and before she put the bag of coffee grounds away, she inhaled the rich, nutty aroma eagerly, feeling that even the fumes of her favorite beverage were helping her feel more awake.
I hope Cash starts sleeping better soon,she thought, shaking her head as she got out bowls and spoons for herself and Grayson.I don’t think I can take another sleepless night like this.
Normally, Cash woke them up every few hours, but lately he’d been fitful and vocal almost all night. Since they took turns getting up to take care of him, she and Grayson had both been up almost all night. It had felt as though every time she was just starting to fall asleep, the sound of Cash’s cries were coming through the baby monitor again.
At least he’s asleep now,she thought with a sigh.Maybe I can get a good nap in after we eat this breakfast. Poor Grayson.
She felt bad for her husband, who was about to go to work for eight hours. Ordinarily, she’d be getting ready to go to work as well, but she’d been on maternity leave ever since Cash had been born. It was easy to go on an extended maternity leave when she worked at her family’s restaurant, The Lighthouse Grill, and everyone in her family kept insisting she didn’t go back to work yet.
She smiled to herself, reflecting that she was incredibly lucky to have the family that she did. If it had been up to her, she might have planned on returning to work by then, since she was used to working hard all the time. When she and Graysonhad lived in L.A., she had been a model, a career that required much more work than most people gave it credit for. Since returning to Rosewood Beach, Connecticut, she’d been working as a waitress at The Lighthouse Grill and running her own online jewelry business. Managing both jobs had taken a great deal of effort and had often left her feeling exhausted, even though she was a determined person who thrived on bursts of adrenaline. Motherhood, however, was a whole new level of tired.
She chuckled as she thought about how tired she had felt after a long shift waitressing at The Lighthouse Grill. Her family’s pub was arguably the most popular place in town, and things were often hectic there during the lunch and dinner rushes. No matter how much she’d run around waiting on customers and cleaning up messes, literal and metaphorical, however, she’d never been as tired as she’d been lately while taking care of Cash.
It was more than worth it, though. She’d loved her job as a waitress, but it didn’t come with a fraction of the perks that motherhood came with. Whenever she held Cash, she felt as though she had the most precious human in the world in her arms. She loved to simply stare at him, thinking that everything he did was the cutest thing she’d ever seen. She felt as though her whole heart had become bigger than it had ever been before, making room for the miracle of the person that she and Grayson were responsible for caring for.
She heard someone yawn, and she turned around to see Grayson shuffling into the kitchen. Even though he was dressed in business casual clothes for work, he still looked rumpled and half-asleep.
“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” she asked, giving him a hug.
“Tired.” He stifled another yawn and then gave her a big kiss. “How are you?”
She was about to answer, but a yawn overtook her. He caught it from her, and they both yawned hugely before starting to laugh about the incident.
“Oh, we’re a pair.” He chuckled. “I’m going to need about seven cups of coffee today.”
“You can have your first one in a minute here, along with your breakfast. Sorry it’s just oatmeal today. I’m too tired to whip together anything else.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said, kissing her head. “You don’t have to make me breakfast at all. I appreciate it very much, even if it’s oatmeal. Do we still have those bananas?”
“The bananas turned brown.” She sighed. “So I put them in the freezer to use for banana bread. But we have blueberries.”
“Blueberries sound great—and a promise of banana bread sounds even better.”
They began to dish out their oatmeal, and soon they were sitting down at the kitchen table together to eat breakfast. Grayson spiced up his oatmeal with blueberries and cinnamon, and Alexis plopped a large spoonful of peanut butter into her bowl along with a handful of chocolate chips.
“You still like peanut butter, huh?” he asked with a chuckle.
Alexis grinned. “Yes, thank goodness. It looks like my new favorite food is going to stay my favorite food indefinitely.” When she’d been pregnant with Cash, she’d been overcome with an intense craving for peanut butter, something that she’d always loathed until her pregnancy. Her family, including Grayson, were still teasing her about how much she loved to put it on everything—even ice cream sometimes. She’d been worried that once her pregnancy was over, she was going to go back to disliking it, but she’d been thrilled to find that wasn’t the case.
“You want some?” she offered, holding up the jar. “Protein would probably give you some extra energy. And if you don’t like crunchy, we’ve got creamy peanut butter in the cupboard too.”
He shook his head, laughing. “I’m okay. I don’t think peanut butter and blueberries would go well together.”
“Sure they would.”
“You’re crazy.”