Page 2 of Wishes at Water's Edge
“Mmm, crazy for you.”
They shared another kiss across the table and then shared a yawn.
“Hey, do you think you’d be able to stop by the doctor’s office sometime today?” she asked when she was halfway through her oatmeal.
He looked concerned. “Why? Are we waiting for a report or something?”
“No.” She laughed. “I borrowed that cozy mystery book from Hazel and I finished it last night while I was sitting up with Cash. I was hoping you could return it to her.”
Alexis’s sister, Hazel, worked as a receptionist at the Rosewood Beach doctor’s office, which was directly next to the office space where Grayson worked at his finance job.
“Oh, sure.” He smiled. “No problem. I’ll stop there on my break.”
“Perfect, thank you. I can’t remember if she’s working there today or not, but if she isn’t, you can just leave the book with whoever is there.”
He nodded and they shared a smile. Their simple life in Rosewood Beach was a far cry from the glamorous, big-city life they’d had together in L.A., but it was so much better. In L.A. Grayson had been consumed by his company, working long hours and hardly ever spending time with Alexis. She’d felt lost and listless in their giant house, and as though she didn’t have any kind of purpose after her modeling career had slowed down significantly. She knew that Grayson felt the same way she did—that their friendlier, more down-to-earth life that they were building together in Rosewood Beach was truly the life of theirdreams, even though they’d once thought that being rich and successful was the way to achieve lasting happiness.
As Grayson stood up to put his oatmeal bowl into the sink, she noticed that the buttons on his purple dress shirt were misaligned.
“Come here, sweetie,” she said, standing up and going over to him. “Let me fix your shirt.”
He looked down. “What? It’s—oh.” He sighed. “Thanks, sweetheart. Good thing I’m married to you or I’d be walking out the door looking like a bum.”
She laughed as she fixed his shirt. “Hardly. Besides, you smell too nice for that. Although—” Once she’d finished fixing his shirt, she reached up and smoothed down his hair. “Your hair was a little messy too.”
“See?” He was overcome with another yawn. “I’m a mess without you. You said there was some coffee?”
“Yes, under the—” She turned toward the Keurig and froze. “Oh NO!”
In her fatigue, she had forgotten to put a cup underneath the dispenser. There was coffee all over the machine, the counter, and even the floor.
“It’s okay, I can make coffee at the office,” he assured her as she squeaked and hurried across the room to start mopping up the coffee. He sounded as though he was trying not to laugh. She grabbed a dish rag off the stove and began to wipe up the coffee that had spread across the counter.
“I can’t believe I did that,” she said, wanting to laugh too. “I’ve never been spacey like this before.”
“You’ve never been sleep-deprived like this before,” he reminded her.
“So true.” She pursed her lips and went over to the refrigerator. “I’ll finish cleaning it up later, I don’t want you to be late. Let me get your lunch box for you.”
She pulled his lunch box out of the refrigerator, expecting it to be heavy. Ordinarily, she never put it into the refrigerator unless she’d stocked it with a lunch for Grayson. As soon as she picked it up, however, she could tell by the lightness that there was nothing inside.
She turned toward Grayson with an expression of dismay. “Oh. It’s empty. I’ve been seeing it in the fridge since yesterday afternoon, and I thought I made you a sandwich or something—but I guess I just thought I made you a sandwich…” Her voice trailed off.
He burst out laughing. “Come here,” he said, taking her into his arms. “You try to get some sleep, okay? I’ll go out for lunch. It’ll be fun for me.”
She smiled weakly. “Okay.” Going back to sleep sounded absolutely glorious.
Grayson hurried out the door, and she finished cleaning up the spilled coffee. Part of her wanted to leave it until later, since she felt tired enough to fall asleep standing up, but she didn’t want it to stain the floor or the counter.
Once she was in cleaning mode, she stayed in it for a few more minutes. She cleaned out her and Grayson’s oatmeal bowls so that the oatmeal that was left in them wouldn’t become crusty and difficult to remove. Then she went into the living room and cleaned up the baby toys that she’d been too exhausted to pick up the night before.
She was just stepping inside her bedroom, ready to dive into her sheets and fall blissfully back asleep, when she heard Cash starting to cry again.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she murmured. “You need to work on your timing.”
She chuckled as she made her way to the nursery. She could get a little more sleep later on. Right now, her sweet baby needed her.
CHAPTER TWO
