Page 15 of Candy Coated Curves

“I always thought those two belonged together. Glad they finally figured it out.” He puts a hand on my naked thigh and squeezes me. “So, I know you didn’t think about working in my candy shop when you were a little girl. What are your dreams, kitten?”

His question pulls at my heart and suddenly I’ve got tears stinging my eyes.

“Hey, what’s that about?” He leans up, thumbs rubbing beneath my eyes. “You can tell me anything; you know that don’t you?”

I nod and swallow the tight lump in my throat. “My mama died when I was pretty young. I was seven, I think. Jackie was older; she always took care of me. And we had our daddy.”

“But you lost him a couple of years ago,” Nash says. “Good man.”

A wistful smile tugs at my lips. “Yeah, he truly was. Anyways, it was just the three of us for so long.” I inhale slowly, taking as big of a breath as I can manage. “I can’t really explain it, but I felt out of place, like somehow I was supposed to be part of a bigger family. I’d look at Johnny and Madison in school and I was jealous of all their siblings. Some of the other larger sibling groups around too, like the Darling family.” I sigh.

“I know that probably sounds so stupid, but at some point, when it became clear I wasn’t going to get any more siblings, I figured I felt that way because it must mean I was intended to have a large family of my own.”

“I don’t think any of this sounds stupid, Roni.” He squeezes my hip again.

“Jackie had similar feelings, only hers were just about wanting to be a mom. I hope that Luca gives that to her. She deserves it. But yeah, I don’t really know what that thing is in me. I love kids. It’s why I worked at the pre-school before I worked for you. I thought it might help.”

“Did it?”

“No.” I shake my head against the pillow. “Just made my baby fever worse. That’s why I had to quit.” I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment. “That felt selfish and immature. Like I couldn’t handle being around other people’s kids.”

“Maybe you were just meant to come work with me. You did have that great idea to add the dreamsicle fudge, and it’s one of our top sellers.”

I give a watery laugh. “Maybe so.” I wish that meant he thought me working there is what finally brought us together and maybe we could make a big family.

“I didn’t have a big family either,” he says instead. “It was just me and Granny. I never met my mom. My dad dropped me off with his mom and he’d come back into to town periodically. He was in the service. Then when he got out, the booze got him, and well, he was younger than I am now when he died.”

“I’m sorry, Nash.”

“No, kitten, don’t be sorry. I never lacked for anything. He loved me enough to bring me to the woman he knew would raise me right. And she did.” His eyes shine as he speaks of his family. “Granny was a force. She was small like you, but fierce and had a mouth on her that could make a sailor blush. But she was on the third row of the Baptist church every Sunday.”

“I wish I could have met her.”

“She would have loved you.” Then he leans over and kisses me, pressing my back into the bed while he gives me a sweet, passionate kiss that seems to say something.

But I’m too inexperienced to decipher the hidden meaning. So, I just kiss him back and hope he knows how much I love him.

chapterseven

Nash

I didn’t want to let Roni go home to take a shower, but I couldn’t very well keep her hostage in the shitty apartment above my shop. I don’t even live there anymore. So we go our separate ways, but it will be temporary.

And the separation allows me to do a special errand I couldn’t have done with Roni. Thankfully most of the people in this town think fondly of me, or at least my sweets, because I was able to convince Mr. Fritz to open his jewelry store for me in exchange for a pound of our Christmas special peppermint candied fudge. It’s his and his wife’s favorite.

Now I’ve got a velvet black box weighing down my front pocket and I’m headed to find my girl. When I knock at her house though, there’s no answer. I try her phone, but she doesn’t answer there either.

So I shoot a quick text to Amber, because those two ladies talk all the time.

ME: Hey, it’s Nash. Do you happen to know where Roni is?

AMBER: Yeah. She’s actually at Gator’s with the rest of us. We’re on the back patio eating crawfish. They had an early batch come in.

ME: Keep her there for me. I’m on my way.

AMBER: Will do.

This is actually kinda perfect. I’m not really one for big romantic gestures, but Roni deserves for me to publicly claim her. She’s the most perfect woman in the world and I want everyone to know how I feel about her. I pat the ring box in my pocket and head to Gator’s, the Cajun restaurant owned by the Guidry family in town. Great people and great food.

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