Page 108 of Escape
She accepted my words without hesitation.
And after I kissed her once more, feeling grateful for all that I had with her, I lifted her up and carried her to the bathroom, where we got ourselves cleaned up before heading downstairs to have breakfast.
Josie
After our eventful and enlightening morning in his bed, Huck and I sat down to eat breakfast and had both gotten in a few bites before he said, “I’m so glad you didn’t have to work today, so we can enjoy the day together. Do you have anything special you’d like to do?”
I placed my toast back on my plate as I shook my head. “Nothing specific. I just want to be able to spend the day with you, doing whatever we feel like doing.”
Huck cocked a brow, sent a mischievous look my way, and shared, “I can think of a few things I might want to do with you.”
“Oh yeah? Am I to assume we might not ever leave this house again?” I teased, loving the way he made my belly dip with excitement so often.
He shrugged. “I’m not saying I’d be opposed to the idea. At least for a little while, anyway. I think there’s plenty I can think of that I’d like to do with you. Sadly, I know we’ll both be back at work tomorrow, so I want to take advantage of the time we have together today to do a lot of the things I’ve been fantasizing about for a few weeks now.”
I swallowed another bite of my eggs as a shudder moved through me. “I’m curious to see just what things you’ve had going on in your mind the last few weeks, because I’ll be honest, there were quite a few moments when I thought you were trying to just be a good friend and didn’t have any interest in me in that way.”
Huck lifted a piece of bacon in his hand, but he didn’t take a bite. “Oh, I had plenty of interest in you, Josie. But I was trying to be a good friend, too. At the start, I just wanted you to be able to heal, and after what you went through, I thought the last thing you needed was me coming along and pressuring you into another relationship before you felt ready for it.”
My features softened, and I could feel my eyes dancing. He had made me happier than I thought possible. “You’ve been so good to me.”
He smiled back at me before popping that piece of bacon into his mouth.
We both returned our attention to our food again, and following a few beats of silence while we did that, I said, “Speaking of work, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Sure. What’s going on?”
“Everything has been so busy lately, and until Kerri reminded me the day you came in with your coworkers, I had completely forgotten about it. One of the other waitresses at the diner is pregnant, and the girls were planning to throw a little baby shower for her. They’re planning it for next weekend, and I’d really like to go. Would it be alright with you if I went?”
Huck lowered his fork to his plate, sat back in his seat, and studied me for a long time. I hadn’t initially believed it would be a problem for him, but now I wasn’t so sure. I couldn’t quite read the look on his face, but I had a feeling whatever was going through his mind wasn’t good.
“Josie, I love that you want to share things like this with me, and I’m thrilled to hear that you are taking steps to make meaningful friendships with your coworkers,” he started. “If this is just about telling me what you’ve got going on, that’s great. But if you’re asking for my permission to go, that’s unnecessary.”
Until he pointed it out, I hadn’t realized the way it would come out. I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to him, because I felt like I’d just stuck my foot in my mouth. When we were upstairs in his bedroom, I’d made him think I thought the worst of him, and I was doing it again now.
“I’m really sorry, Huck,” I lamented. “I think it’s going to take me some time to break old habits. Or maybe that’s not even the right way to look at this, because I never would have even brought this up in my former situation. So, I guess it’s not necessarily an old habit so much as it’s an uncertainty I feel.”
Huck reached his hand out and covered mine. “Then this was progress, wasn’t it? At least you brought it up. I’m not going to tell you what to do, Josie. You’re a grown woman who can make her own decisions. Unless I’m concerned about your safety, I’m not going to talk you out of doing anything you want to do, especially not joining your coworkers out for a night of fun to celebrate with one of them.”
“Thank you for being so patient and understanding with me. I think I probably need to start talking to my therapist about this kind of thinking,” I said.
“That’s probably not a bad idea.”
I smiled at him, feeling relieved, and asked, “Could I make one request for today?”
“Anything you want.”
“Would you mind taking me out so I can buy her a gift for the baby?”
His lips twitched. “I’m sure we could fit that into our schedule today.”
With that, knowing Huck and I were in store for a day of fun regardless of what we wound up doing, I got back to my breakfast and let go of the guilt I was feeling over the mistakes I’d made that morning with Huck.
He wasn’t holding any grudges, and for now, I needed to just be happy that I had him the way I did and be thankful this was the real deal.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Josie