Page 47 of A Lifetime of Afters
“What?” I laughed. “Do I have toothpaste on my face?”
He didn’t smile back. “You’re perfect, Noelle. Utterly perfect.” His eyes raced over my face.
Too serious. He was much too serious. “What? What is it?” I whispered, my heart in my throat.
“Give me until the Christmas party to come to terms with everything. Then we’ll sit down and talk. And we’ll tell everyone we’re together.”
I shot up straight in my chair. “Yeah?”
His mouth tilted into a sweet smile, though his eyes remained sad. “Yeah.”
I slid over onto his lap and looped my arms around his neck. “I’m going to make you so happy, Hawkley,” I promised. “I’m going to chase away the sadness in your eyes. I’m going to beat it back. You’re going to see.”
“You do make me happy, baby. Happier than I deserve to be. Happier than I ever imagined a person could be.”
I hugged him tight, happiness lending strength to my arms. “Eek!”
Chuckling, he wrapped me up and rocked me back and forth.
“I’m going to keep making you happy, Hawk. That's a promise.”
A promise that would prove difficult to keep.
Chapter Nineteen - Limits
“Daire’s coming to the party?”
At home, curled up in my mother’s favorite chair, I waited for my dad. Every year, the first week of December, Sage Ridge hosted a staff Christmas party. I had missed every single one for the past ten years but nothing would keep me away from this one. Hawk gave tonight as the deadline, and he’d given me no reason to doubt him.
We weren’t going together, but I pictured us walking out together by the end of the night. Our families surprised but happy.
Fantasies of weddings and babies danced through my dreams, asleep and awake. It didn’t help that my job revolved around planning those blessed nuptials for other couples. Now, every idea or wish list item expressed by a bride or groom went through my mental Hawk-Noelle wedding checklist. I wondered how involved he’d want to be. Probably not very, I smiled.
“He is,” Max grinned. “Do you still have a crush on him? He’s pretty interested in seeing you again.”
Lost in thoughts of Hawk, it took me a moment to remember my question. Surprised that he’d want to fix me up with a friend, I raised an imperious eyebrow. “And you’re okay with that?”
His mouth twisted. “Not if I think about it too long, but he’s a good guy. Why wouldn’t I want you to have a good guy?”
That boded well, I thought happily.
Max laughed, “So you are excited to see him again!”
“No, no, I just think it’s funny. Harley had a massive crush on him, not me. Why is he coming anyway? Have you guys kept in touch all these years?”
“Yes, and we also run into each other occasionally through loose work circles. He’s considering a job offer here in town.”
“Is he a shrink, too?” I teased.
“No, actually, he’s a kindergarten teacher.”
My mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding!”
His brow furrowed. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Wrong?” I laughed and patted his chest. “Absolutely nothing is wrong with that. You poor man, you just don’t understand women.”
“Well,” he growled, “explain it then!”
