Friends & Fortune Cookies: A Sudden Falls Romance (20 page)

My hands shook as I opened my cookie, and I trembled a little as I read my fortune. “Love is for the lucky and the brave.”

“There is a lesson in that for all of us, I think,” Mom said.

Joe gave me a pointed look and gently squeezed my thigh under the table.

The party broke up shortly thereafter. Everyone helped pick up, box up leftovers, and stack the dishwasher, and then we were off.

Joe and I were both quiet on the short drive to my apartment.

“Do you want me to come in?”

“Of course.”

“There’s no of course about it.”

“Joe, I want to spend every moment you have to give me. In four weeks, you are going back to Denver. And even if that’s not the end of this—and I can’t afford to forget the fact that it might be—but even if it’s not, we’re still going to be apart for who knows how long. And I want to savor whatever time we have together.”

Joe reached out a hand and dug his fingers into the hair at the back of my head, urging me forward. “Don’t give up on us…
Please.
” He kissed me, and it was sweet, with just a hint of anguish.

We made our way into the apartment, but it seemed a little dimmer than when we were last here.

Chapter 32 — Joe

I woke up the next morning, wrapped around Gracie. I could definitely get used to this. I’d gone to sleep in my boxer-briefs, but she was completely clothed in a pair of soft knit sleep pants and a camisole. I’d prefer
not
getting used to her sleeping completely clothed.

Things had been…
weird
… the night before. And while it had seemed like the most natural thing in the world to lie down beside Gracie and reach across her body to turn out the lamp, I don’t think either of us had been up for much more.

I recognized that I had a decision to make. Whether this change to our relationship survived hinged on whether or not I quit my job and moved back to Sudden Falls permanently. It should have been an easy decision, but it wasn’t. Some of it came down to loyalty. The kind of work the firm did required the team work as a unit that had trained together and trusted one another completely. I liked the work. I didn’t necessarily
love
it. But I was good at it, and for the most part, we did good in the world.

Brian had given me a job last year when I was at my lowest. He had done more for me than anyone on the planet outside of Uncle Tommy and Gracie’s family. He’d
saved my life
, for Christ’s sake. Twice. And that wasn’t something I could overlook.

But even if I could push that aside, I’d signed a two-year contract with the firm. To get out of it, I’d have to give back a substantial signing bonus, which I did not have. I’d socked every single penny into shoring up Baker Restoration and the
Rehab-a-rama
house. And it seemed inevitable that I’d have to rack up my credit cards and possibly take out a loan to finish the house up. We’d already gone way over what I’d budgeted for.

And yes. I’d get some of that back when the house sold. But there was no guarantee that it would sell quickly or for what I’d put into it. I didn’t want to start a life with Gracie deep in debt and where Baker Restoration was my only source of income.

But I didn’t want to give her up, either.

I tightened my arms around Gracie, enjoying the way she snuggled back into my arms, even though she was still mostly asleep. I felt the change in her the moment she came fully awake.

“Hi.” Her voice was sleepy and a little shy.

“G’mornin’.”

She turned to me, her thigh finding its way between mine. It took her about one-point-four seconds to notice that
all
of me was awake.

“Oh my... Is that for me?” Her arms came up around my neck.

“As much as you want.”

“I want all of it.” She pressed into me. “Now.”

And it was
on.
Her fingernails raked down my back and into the waistband of my shorts, which quickly found themselves tossed over the side of the bed along with the sheets and comforter. Her thin top joined them seconds later.

We each contributed to and hindered the process of slicking her sleep pants and silky underwear off. And then I found myself nestled in the cradle of her body, and I didn’t want to move, maybe for the rest of my life.

At least until she wrapped her legs around my hips and pulled me into her. She was hot and wet and ready. I slid home slowly but easily. And that was the last slow moment. Her gray eyes locked on mine, and I could read her every emotion. Happiness and heartache… ecstasy and agony… love and fear.

And I’m sure she could see them all mirrored in my own gaze. I kissed her as she dug her heels into my hips, urging me into an even faster frenzy. I gave her all that I had to give, my heart pumping a million beats per minute—which, I’m a little ashamed to say, is about the entirety of the length of time I was able to last. But thankfully, she lasted even less.

Without disconnecting, I rolled to my back so as not to flatten her. “Dear God. What was that?” I asked.

“Morning calisthenics. I thought you’d have recognized that, soldier.” She giggled and the sound was pure happiness. I didn’t want to let this go.

“It looked a little different in the army.”

“One would hope.” She made a move to get up, and I tightened my arms around her.

“Stay.”

She relaxed into me and then tightened up again and sucked in a breath.

“What?”

“Guess what we forgot?”

“Oh, hell.” What good was buying an economy-sized box of condoms if you left them wrapped in their packaging in the nightstand?

“So I’m one-hundred-percent healthy. I had a checkup and blood work after I found out about Mike’s indiscretion and there hasn’t been anyone since.”

Not that I had been worried about that at all. “Same here. Because we go overseas so much, we get semi-annual physicals with blood work. That was last… June, I think? And I haven’t been with anyone since then.”

I’d only been with one woman since I left Sudden Falls last summer, and that had been a one-nighter that left me far lonelier afterward. And while an itch had been scratched, I hadn’t felt better for the experience.

“I guess the only question is… where are you in your cycle?” A question no man ever wants to have to ask.

“Late. We
should
be safe.” She nibbled on her lip and studied my face.

I brushed her mouth with my thumb. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out, whatever happens.” But wouldn’t that complicate an already ridiculously complicated situation?

“I feel like this is my fault. I was rushing you.”

I laughed. “Did you hear me complain? I’ve never forgotten in my life. So there’s that…”

“You want first dibs on the shower? Or are you going to join me?”

I looked over at the clock. Alex would be at the job site in thirty minutes. “I wish I had time. But I need to run home and get work clothes and my boots. And I think we can agree that joint showers aren’t exactly a timesaver for us.”

“Your loss,” she teased as she rolled off of me.

I sat up. “Believe me, I know it.”

“Will I see you tonight?”

“Yeah. Probably around dark. We have a lot to do today.”

She dropped a quick kiss on my lips. “Have a good day.”

I heard the shower come on before I let myself out. Which made for a nice little fantasy on my trip back to my apartment and a quick
cold
shower once I got there.

I was the last to arrive at the job site. “Nice of you to join us,” Alex said as I moved up the sidewalk to the front of the house, as much a spring in my step as the walking boot would allow. “How’s Grace?”

“Good. Much better.” Something in my face gave me away.

“
Really
.” He paused for effect. I wasn’t sure how, but I knew that he knew what had happened over the weekend. “Good for you. And let me say,
about damned time.
”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I couldn’t hide my grin.

“Bullshit.” He turned his attention to the house and the rest of the crew, who were looking back and forth between us, baffled. “We need to get the new siding on and the stone façade laid at the foundation today while the weather is good. The rest of the week, it’s carpet and flooring.”

The guys jumped to it, and Alex stopped me.

I hoped his plan wasn’t to razz me all day about Gracie, especially since we still didn’t know where we were going with this. “What’s up?”

“Can you order some additional flooring? The measurements downstairs got eff’d up, and we’re shy flooring in the kitchen and the foyer. Though we have more carpet than we’re going to need.”

That surprised me. Alex’s reading was obviously a problem, but we’d learned the adage measure-twice-cut-once in elementary school, and he was better at accurately guessing square footage than anyone I’d ever met.

“This time, it isn’t my fault. Well, it is because I didn’t check the numbers. But I didn’t mismeasure.”

“Who did?”

“Does it matter?”

I shrugged. “I guess not. Did you talk to whoever it was so it doesn’t happen again?”

He nodded. “He offered to work some hours off the clock to cover some of the expense. Of course, I can’t let him do that, legally. But he gets that it’s a big deal.”

“Flea?” Flea struck me as the only guy conscientious enough to make that offer. Plus, he was the only single guy on the crew, so he was the only one who had enough time to make that sort of offer.

“I’m not going to say.”

“Fair enough. Give me the info, and I’ll order the flooring.”

Every penny I put into this house pulled me one step further away from Gracie, and that made me want to grab my checkbook in my fist and run from this money pit as fast as I could.

Chapter 33 — Grace

“My father felt his job wasn’t done unless he’d scared each of my high-school boyfriends into joining the priesthood. Which was particularly unfortunate for Efraim Mankiewicz.”
~ Luddite in Love: A Cautionary Tale of Dating in the Modern Age,
Grace Mendoza

I woke Thursday, once again wrapped tightly in Joe’s embrace. A girl could get used to sleeping like this. But I recognized
this girl
shouldn’t. I wanted to stop time. I wanted to find a way to make this work out.

The day before, I’d even gone so far as to contact all of the papers in and around Denver to see if any were interested in an experienced columnist or even if they were hiring a basic reporter. Unfortunately, every paper I spoke to had recently performed layoffs, and all had hiring freezes. Newspapers as we once knew them were dying.

“I can practically hear the cogs grinding around in your head.” Joe’s breath ruffled the sensitive hairs on the back of my ears. “Coming up with solutions to the world’s problems?”

“I can’t even come up with the answers to our problems. The rest of the world’s on its own.”

He pulled me close. “I know this is hard. I’m sure it doesn’t make it any easier, but it’s hard for me, too.”

“No. Your suffering doesn’t make my own any more tolerable.”

I chanced a glance over at the alarm clock. “We need to get to work.”

Monday night, Joe had shown up with a rucksack full of clothes and hadn’t been back to his apartment since. It didn’t take him long to pull on a Baker Restoration tee-shirt and his jeans and work boots. He kissed me before he left, and I found myself clinging to him with a desperation that annoyed me.

“Have a good day. I’ll see you tonight,” I said.

“You, too. I’ll be back about nine.” And then he was gone. Seven minutes from horizontal to out the door. I should marvel at his efficiency—the same efficiency with which he was breaking my heart.

I got to work earlier than usual and finished two blogs and a column in a couple of hours. I hit send and off they went to Dave for editing as I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. That was the end of my modern dating assignment. Thank God! No more blind dates. No more hookup apps or speed-dates or dating services.

Within minutes, Dave showed up at my office door. “So what’s up next?” he asked.

“I’m going to send out my book proposal today. I need to run out, though, if that’s okay? I left both my phone and my backup drive at home.”

“Sure. Take the rest of the day if you need it.”

“Thanks, Boss!”

I arrived home with the intention of doing a final read-through before I sent the manuscript to a few agents. Then I realized that I’d left my thumb drive at my parents’ house on Sunday. I was forgetting everything lately.

Might as well grab my phone as long as I was here. It wasn’t on the hall table nor in the kitchen, and I’d already checked my purse and briefcase about fourteen times. I headed back to the bedroom when I heard it ring. There it was on the nightstand. A local number I didn’t recognize, but I answered it anyway.

“Grace. Hi. It’s Rob Starzman, from
It’s Just Coffee…
with the non-hypoallergenic dog.”

I laughed at that. “Hi, Rob.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thanks. Rough weekend.” That wasn’t entirely true, at least not for the reasons he was imagining.

“Glad to hear it. Are you willing to risk it again? I’m free this evening if you are?”

He seemed like a nice guy. Just not the right guy for me. The right guy for me was the one who was moving back to Denver in a few short weeks. “I’m not, actually.”

While I mentally crafted a better explanation than
“It was a rough weekend because I let my best guy friend jump my bones, and I think I might be in love with him, so you are now officially out of luck. Sorry. ‘kay? Bye!”
he gave me the perfect out.

“The dog’s a kick-out, isn’t he?”

As good an excuse as any. “I’m afraid so.”

“Bummer. I understand. I’ll see you around town at the next festival?” he said, and I remembered that during our coffee date he’d made a joke about Sudden Falls being the town of the never-ending festival.

I laughed. “Absolutely! I’ll see you there.”

“It really was nice meeting you, Grace.”