Page 23 of Colby
“No, no one has said anything to me.If you want the table, it’s yours.Just try to come in early so that if you stay late, the kids are out of here sooner.They’ve been loving all this business that we’ve been generating.The tips are really good too.”They both laughed, and Colby thanked him.“It’s perfectly fine.Come in about five-thirty, and things will work out great.You know, even if there wasn’t enough room tonight for you, I’d just slap another table onto it and you’d be eating with family.That would have been all right, too, right?”
“Perfectly fine with us.”He reached out to Emma to let her know and then asked Kayce.He was excited to be eating there as well since he’d not been there since the first night, before he’d opened.“Great.We’ll leave around five-fifteen and have plenty of time to have dinner.This way, if he needs to, he can turn the table again after we leave.I’m hungry for some fried chicken and mashed potatoes now.”
“That sounds terrific.I loved the chicken.However, my favorite of all he does is the sliced fried cornbread.That’s perfect with a few pieces of fried chicken.”They both agreed they’d be getting that, and he let Emma and Charlotte know they were in.“Since you wouldn’t allow me to pay for dinner last night, I will tonight.It’s the least I can do after you’ve been putting up with me all week so far.”
“Deal.I’ll leave the tip.”The two of them spoke off and on while he put in rows for Charlotte’s garden.She was already putting in peas and carrots when he was cleaning up the tiller for when she needed it the next time.He was going to have to borrow hers when he put in his own garden.Colby couldn’t wait until that happened.
The rest of the afternoon, he helped Charlotte put in her garden.He thought that she might well have been overdoing it, but he didn’t say anything.It was just her living in the house, and the amount of carrots she was putting in the ground was enough to feed a small army.But she was having fun, and he couldn’t have faulted her with that.
When Emma came over to her mom’s house, she did have a little to say about how big the garden had turned out to be.But like him, she didn’t say too much because her mom really was having some fun with it, and she was out in the sunshine too.He loved the outdoors too and was sure that’s why the job that he had was so suited to him.He could be outside and on the ocean at the same time.
Tomorrow he was going to go out again, this time with his new crew.He’d hired nine people and was going to keep them on the payroll so that he could have them ready and trained when the time was right for him to buy the next boat.He was contemplating getting it in the next two weeks, which was about three months ahead of the schedule that he had for himself.Excitement tingled over his body when he thought of how well he was doing with nothing more than a boat and a crew.
He had noticed that the people he took out seemed to enjoy themselves even if they didn’t catch anything but some smaller fish.It was when one of them caught something big—like the swordfish that had been caught two weeks ago—that the excitement would get going.They just seemed to have fun at what they were doing, and he was glad for that.So far, he’d not had any trouble with the fishing trips, and he was sure that a lot of that had to do with Parker putting something around him to keep himself and his crew safe.He’d certainly not had any calls like he did the one time.
They decided to dress up to go out to eat.Dressing up for him only meant that he wore a suit coat and tie.His jeans were brand-new, so he didn’t have to wear dress pants.Mostly, all he ever wore was shorts and a company logo shirt with some sturdy tennis shoes.So it was nice to have to put on a tie and jacket for a change.Besides, he thought that Emma looked fantastic in her dress and heels.She certainly didn’t look like the truck driver that she was.
Dinner was great, as usual.There was plenty enough to go around, and when the bill came, not nearly as much as it should have been, he left a generous tip for the girl who waited on them just as Jack told them to do.When they fed the family, they usually made enough on their tips to have a fantastic night.He supposed that’s why they never got the same staff twice; Jack was spreading around themoney like a good boss did.
~*~
Emma was glad to be home for the next three days.Her schedule was working out better than she could have wanted, and when she’d talked to Taylor about cutting back on her hours, she couldn’t have been nicer.In fact, she told her that she’d gone down to two days a week, too, so that she could spend more time with Jack and her grannie.
“I’ve been thinking about going down to not coming in at all when the babies come.I want a lot of children.Mostly because I can afford them, and again, I want to be heavy with Jack’s child.I think I might enjoy being a mom.”She didn’t say it, but she was betting that she was thinking of her own mom and how she’d treated her.“Did I tell you that they’re changing prisons for my mom?She’ll be in one that can be more helpful to her needs.She’ll not be getting to be the center of attention, but she will be able to see a doctor who can get her out of the habit of thinking that she is.I doubt that it’ll work, but then I don’t really care so long as they don’t let her out.”
“They can’t, can they?I mean, someone somewhere will have something to say about that, wouldn’t they?”Taylor said that she didn’t have a chance for parole, so that would help her stay inside.But the rest she’d not gotten involved in and wouldn’t unless it was necessary.“Colby was telling me of some of the things that she did to you and Jack.I’m so sorry for that.It must have been difficult to be around her all the time.I don’t know that I could have done it.”
“It was all that I knew about her.She’d been that way my entire life.I think that’s why I want to have children so badly, so I can love them like I was never loved.”She said she could see that.“I knew that you would.You’re a good friend, Emma.I’m so happy that we got to meet one another and become family.I wished for that when I met you.That you’d be one of the others’ mates so that we could hang out with the other three.”
“I’m so glad that I was Colby’s mate, too.I didn’t want him to be anywhere near me at first, but I find that I can’t get enough of him when he’s not around.I love him so much.”She felt her face heat up a little for being so much in love with one person.“He rocks my world.I know that’s an old saying, but it’s just how he makes me feel when I’m around him.”
The two of them talked about business and what they’d been doing around their new homes.She’d been having so much fun filling out their home that she couldn’t wait for the last bit of furniture to arrive.Taylor said that she and Jack have been going to tag sales to find things to fill out the little places in their home.Then she told her about the teapot that she’d picked up recently.
“It’s blue and green, but to say it like that sounds so boring.It’s beautifully made, and the little teacups that go with it are so delicate and fragile-looking.There are cream and sugar containers that go with it, too.I guess I should be calling it a tea set, not just a teapot.I love using it when it’s just me, and when my grannie gets back the day after tomorrow, I’m going to have a nice cup of tea with her too.”She asked how her grannie was enjoying the cruise.“I don’t believe she is.Not toward the end of it anyway.I think she misses everyone here.That’s what she mostly talks about when we chat.”
“She’s been gone a month, right?”Taylor said she’d been gone just a little over that in that it would be thirty-eight days when she finally returned home.“I know that I couldn’t do a cruise for that long.I’d be missing everyone, too.It would be like I’ve lost my family for too long or something like that.”
“I know I could do it if it were just myself and Jack.”Emma said that would be different if it were just her and Colby.“Yes, I know it would be.For all we’d be hanging out with the other people on the cruise, we might as well be all alone on the big thing.”
“It would be so romantic to just be the two of us.I think I’d love that.No phone calls or business.No long hours in a truck.Yes, I could do that easily.Just the two of us on the ocean would be fantastic.So long as I don’t get seasick.That would really suck.”The two of them laughed, saying that it would be just like them to be the only people to get sick on an ocean liner while on a romantic trip with their husbands.“We should do that.All of us go on a trip like that.Before the babies come.I know that Ivy is already having a baby, but we could go on this trip one time before we don’t have time because ofthe children.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea.Not for a month, though.Too much is going on for us to be gone that long.But at least a week would be great.”They started planning it right then.It would be expensive, but so worth it.They were looking up prices and times they could go before the meeting for her next client came in.Emma went home that night with a list of things she was supposed to pick up.They were even going to try to convince their grandparents to go with them.It would be so much fun.
She’d spoken to Colby and Kayce about it last night, and they were both for it.Kayce was a little worried about his business and taking another week off, but he said he didn’t care; the other partners took time off all the time to go on trips with their families.
Emma had thought that Colby wouldn’t want to take a cruise, as he was on the ocean almost every day.But he told her that he was usually working when he was out, and to be on a cruise wouldn’t be nearly the same.He’d have fun being out on the water where someone else was in charge.
Since everyone agreed it would be a blast, all they needed to do was pick a date to leave and return.They were pushing for two weeks, not because they thought that it would be less than a month, but because they deserved it.And she thought that if anyone did, it would be this family.They’d given up so much just to be here in another state, but they had also worked so hard to be what they had become, too.
“Are you ready for bed?”She’d forgotten for a second where she was and smiled at Colby.“You looked lost there for a moment.Is everything all right?You don’t need me to slay any dragons for you, do you?”
“No, not tonight.”She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and looked up at him.He was such a handsome man that she would often wonder how she’d ended up with him.“I would like for you to make love to me tonight.I know that your brother has gone back to his place now, and we’ll have the entire house to ourselves.”
“I’d very much love to make love to you.Anytime or anyplace.”He kissed her then, taking her breath away with how thorough it was.“How about if I lock up and you go upstairs and get into bed.I’ll be up in a few minutes.”
Excitement rolled over her.As soon as she was in the bedroom, she had to decide what to wear and decided that nothing would be just fine for what she had in mind.She wanted to suck on his cock and have him come all over her.
When he came into the room, she was standing in the middle of the room with nothing on but some perfume that she had put behind her knees.She thought that he was disappointed because he stood so long at the door that she thought he was going to go out again.When she moved toward him, he told her to stop.
