Fisher laughed and held up his hands in surrender. “All right. I just…I think Cooper and Zach would be open to you dating.”
Fisher was a brilliant man. Keen, and observant, and kind. But he hadn’t raised two sons by himself, nor did he completely understand the dynamics of a family and adding someone new to it after such a long period of time.
“When I meet someone I’m interested in,” Owen said as he stood. “I’ll talk to the boys about it. Until then….” He shrugged, glad he didn’t sound like he’d just fibbed.
Because he had met someone he was interested in, but he rather liked the idea of keeping the budding relationship a secret—from his boys and from everyone else.
Besides, he thought as he returned to his office and got back to work. Things with Gina are going to go very slowly. And he didn’t need Fisher or Stacey asking him about her every time he saw them.
Chapter Nine
Gina went to bed with a headache but woke feeling like she’d been reborn. Hopefully Doctor Blithe would be proven wrong, and Gina would feel better long before a week passed.
She’d enjoyed her afternoon with Lexie and had gone to bed early, thoughts of Owen swirling through her mind strong enough to influence her dreams.
She smiled as she thought about kissing him but frowned when she realized how much she’d have to reveal to get to that point.
She hadn’t told Lexie much more about her life in the foster care system, and while she knew it had formed a large part of who she was, she also knew it didn’t define her.
Since she had a breakfast date with Owen and a full afternoon of shopping ahead, Gina got out of bed and into the shower.
The nagging thought that she needed to find somewhere to live on the island wouldn’t leave her. Neither would the idea that she needed to find a therapist here too. She’d had a great one in Texas, and he’d helped her a lot. Maybe if she saw someone here, she wouldn’t mess things up with Owen.
Because of the time difference, when she got out of the shower, she was able to get the receptionist at her therapist’s office in Dallas.
“Hello, Felicia. It’s Gina Jackson.”
“Gina!” She sounded so happy to hear from her. “We haven’t seen you in so long.”
“I’m working in Hawaii right now.” Gina chuckled. “And I’m actually wondering if I can get a recommendation for someone here.”
“Oh, are you moving there permanently?”
“Possibly,” Gina said, unable to commit.
“Let me talk to Doctor Johns and I’ll give you a call back.”
“Thanks, Felicia.” Gina hung up, feeling like she’d accomplished a day’s worth of work with a single phone call.
She dressed, dried her hair and let it fall over her shoulders however it wanted, and put on mascara and lip gloss. She’d scrape her hair into a ponytail by the time breakfast ended, but she at least wanted to attempt to wear her hair down.
With several minutes to spare before she needed to head downstairs, she decided she should probably check in with her office manager at the Classy Closets headquarters in Dallas.
“Toni,” she said when the woman answered. “I’ve been getting your weekly emails. Things going okay?”
“Just fine, ma’am.” Toni had worked for Gina from the beginning of the company—she’d been Gina’s first employee—but she still called everyone “sir” or “ma’am.” Claimed it was because of the Southern manners her momma had beat into her.
“Tell me about the Hamilton job. It got done on time. Nicki was satisfied?” Nicki Hamilton had hired Gina to do all the closets in her home, one at a time, and she’d referred over a dozen people to Classy Closets over the years.
“All done. Filled out the online survey with rave reviews, as usual.”
“Good, good.” Gina had left in the middle of Nicki’s job, and while she’d visited with the woman before leaving for Getaway Bay, Gina had carried a bit of guilt at not staying to finish the job.
“And Mariah quit?”
“Her last day is next Friday, yes.”
“Do we have anyone to take her place?”
“You usually do all the hiring, ma’am. I did ask you about it in last week’s email.”
Gina closed her eyes, her mind a little slower than it normally was. “You’re right. You did.” She took in a big lungful of air and released it. “Well, I’m afraid I’m not going to be back for months.” She let the words hang there. She trusted Toni. “Toni, who would be a good general manager?” She thought of Owen and the complete trust between him and Fisher DuPont. She needed an Owen for her business, the way she’d once used Ian.
“Wait,” Gina said. “Do you want to be the general manager? You’d do the hiring, the payroll, all that kind of stuff. We could move someone into your job of managing the schedule, the jobs, the reports….” Gina felt a ray of hope cut through her.
It felt like a huge step to be hiring someone to replace Ian. Because it wasn’t a simple hiring. It was Gina placing her utmost trust in a person, something that scared her beyond reason. She swallowed, waiting for Toni to say something.
“Well, Gina,” Toni said, and Gina knew she was serious when she used her name and not ma’am.
Gina pulled in a breath and held it. “You’ve been with me forever,” she said. “You know what happened with Ian.”
“I do,” Toni said. “And I’d love to be your general manager.”
“Yeah?” Gina laughed, the sound quite nervous. “That’s great.”
“I know what this means,” Toni said.
Gina sobered. “Yeah, I know you do.” A moment passed and though the two women were thousands of miles apart, Gina felt a connection to Toni. “I’ll get the paperwork over to you by tonight.” She cleared her throat. “And you can hire someone to be a designer to replace Mariah, and someone to take your job.” Gina smiled just thinking about what she’d done. Not only had she allowed herself to trust someone again, she was making it so she could stay in Getaway Bay permanently.
But Toni didn’t need to know that right now. It was enough that the job at Sweet Breeze would take months and months, so someone was needed to make sure operations in Dallas kept going. Simple as that.
“I’ll keep you informed, ma’am,” Toni said, and Gina said goodbye, now late to meet Owen for coffee.
She hurried to the elevator and once in the lobby, found him loitering near the check-in desk with Jason Burnes.
As soon as he saw her, he nodded to Jason and left the counter in favor of joining her. “Sorry I’m late,” she said. “I had to call Dallas.”
Owen didn’t touch her and the expression on his face didn’t show any emotion. “How are things in the company?”
“Great.” She grinned up at him, wanting to lace her fingers through his, pull him closer so she could smell his woodsy cologne, and tell him everything. “I hired a general manager to take care of things there.”
Owen’s eyebrows lifted. “Oh?”
“It’s a big step for me,” she said, swallowing back her fear. She hadn’t run anything past Lexie yet, but she wasn’t sure she needed to. “See, I used to have a partner.”
They started to walk at a leisurely pace toward the exit, plenty of proper distance between them.
“His name was Ian,” Gina said, the name bitter on her tongue. “He…stole half of my clients, my license to the design software I’d paid thousands to obtain, and started his own competing company.”
A hiss leaked from Owen’s mouth. “That’s terrible. Did you get your license back?”
“I did, but it cost a lot in legal fees. And…I lost the ability to trust people for a while.”
Owen nodded to the valet, who left to get his car. His fingers brushed Gina’s, but he didn’t grab hold of her hand the way she wanted. “I understand that. You should know I haven’t dated since Linda left me.”
Their eyes locked and every muscle cell in her body melted. “So we’re both trying something new.” She
ran her fingers down the side of his face. “I kinda liked you with a beard.”
She dropped her hand like his jaw had caught fire when his car came around the corner. She wanted to spring back a few steps to put more distance between them, but forced herself to do it more casually, almost like she was moving to step around the car as it came to a stop.
“Thank you, Sterling,” Owen said, his voice as smooth and perfect as ever. He ducked behind the wheel, and Gina joined him in the passenger seat.
“So, coffee or do you want a full breakfast?” he asked as he put the car in drive.
“A full breakfast,” she said, knowing that Owen would rather eat than drink first thing in the morning. “I know you like that place over on Tiki Road.”
“The Broken Yolk.” Owen grinned. “Yes.”
“How was Cooper’s game?” she asked, and Owen’s smile widened.
“He won. Made the game-winning shot, too.”
“That’s great.” Gina hugged her arms around herself, not wanting to think about trying to step into those boys’ lives and be something she had no idea how to be. Be something she’d never wanted to be.
Owen said nothing more, and the gentle pressure of his hand on the small of her back as he guided her into the breakfast bar made sparks race through her bloodstream.
They waited for a table, as this Friday morning seemed to be quite busy. Once the hostess had taken them back, Owen seemed to relax.
“You look a little tired,” she said.
“I had a lot of work to catch up on after the game.” He yawned, actually yawned, and Gina had never seen him do that before.
“Do you ever take a day off?” she asked, a wild idea occurring to her. “Like an entire day, where you don’t work, even remotely?”
He looked at her, a wariness to his gaze she actually liked. She was so used to him knowing her every move—heck, five moves ahead—that she felt like maybe she had him cornered this time.
“Sometimes,” he said coolly.
“Liar.” She laughed. “I’d like to know the last time you took a day off.”
“I don’t know the exact date.”
Gina tossed her hair over her shoulder and laughed again. “Since I’m supposed to be taking it easy, and you need a day off, I was wondering if you wanted to go snorkeling with me. I’ve never been, and I heard there’s this great cove around the island by that dude ranch?” She glanced up as a waitress arrived. “Do you snorkel?”
He didn’t answer right away, instead ordering his coffee full of creamers and caramel and looking at her.
She ordered black coffee and the waitress left.
“I’ve been snorkeling,” he said. “I grew up in Getaway Bay.”
“So you have your own gear?”
“I haven’t been in years.”
Gina lifted one shoulder, a coyness pulling through her she hoped showed on her face. “So I’ll hire someone to take me.”
Owen looked at the menu when he said, “I’ll take you. It’s not hard.”
“I don’t have gear.”
“We’ll go buy you some.” He glanced up. “When do you want to go?”
“Sunday? Can you take Sunday off?”
Owen lifted his chin. “I can, sure. I’ll just need to talk to Fisher.”
Gina leaned her elbows on the table. “Ooh, what will you tell him?”
“That I’m taking the day off with the boys. They love snorkeling.”
Gina’s heart beat too hard. “Maybe I’ll be feeling better by then. Maybe we should just work on the closets.” After all, this injury had set them back a week already.
The waitress arrived with their coffee and asked, “Are you ready to order?”
“Yes, I’ll have the BELT,” Gina practically yelled. She’d probably take two bites and switch to coffee, but then Owen wouldn’t feel like she’d suggested breakfast simply for him.
“And I’ll have the western omelet, with avocado and some of that pico de gallo. And the kielbasa.”
Gina’s worst nightmare was a bunch of vegetables, meats, and cheeses mixed into eggs, but she simply smiled as she handed the menu back to the waitress.
Owen studied her once they were alone again. “Tell me why you don’t want to go snorkeling with me and my family.”
“It’s not that I don’t,” Gina said, aware of how false her voice sounded. “I just thought we were keeping this low key.”
Owen sipped his coffee without looking away from her. “But not from them. I don’t…I can’t do that to them.”
“I don’t want to be a mother,” she blurted out. Her eyes widened as her pulse thundered.
Owen blinked at her and couldn’t seem to come up with anything to say. The chatter of people around them, the clinking of silverware against dishes, filled the air as Gina’s horror and disbelief continued to build.
“I’m sorry,” she said at the same time Owen said, “We’re a package, Gina. I’d be interested to know why you don’t want to be a mother, but I’m afraid that my boys come with me.” He lifted his chin, a dark glint entering his eyes. “I understand if you don’t want to pursue anything with me.” He leaned forward. “But my sons are deal-breakers. They will always come first for me.”
Gina nodded, said, “Of course,” and tried to think of how to fix, well, herself. She couldn’t come up with anything, and Owen’s intensity dropped a few notches so that by the time their food came, he was able to say something about the best place to buy snorkeling gear.
But Gina felt near tears, so that when her phone rang and she saw the number to her therapist’s office in Dallas, she said, “I have to take this. Excuse me,” and all but ran from the table. And Owen.
Chapter Ten
Owen finished breakfast by himself, noting that Gina had taken exactly three bites of her bacon, egg, lettuce, and tomato sandwich before scurrying away with her phone at her ear.
He sighed. He probably shouldn’t have been so emphatic about how he and his sons were a package deal, but he’d felt like he needed to be. In that moment, with her pure panic etched in her eyes, he needed her to know that he wasn’t going to sneak around on Zach and Cooper. He’d meant he didn’t need everyone—his boss, his friends, and his employees at Sweet Breeze—knowing he was sweet on the closet designer he’d hired.
That was all.
True, Cooper and Zach spent a fair amount of time with Stacey and Fisher, but Owen felt confident he could have a frank conversation with his boys about his relationship with Gina, when they were ready to reveal it.
And if she wanted him to take a day off work and spend it with her, she had to know that meant they had to tell his sons about them.
“Well, you got that point across.” He took another bite of his omelet, but he could barely swallow it.
He set his fork down and finished his coffee. Still, Gina had not returned. He picked up his phone and found a half-dozen messages for three different people. None of them were Gina.
He ignored the work-related texts and found Gina’s thread. Instead of texting, he called her, finding that sometimes things were more easily worked out with words rather than letters.
“Hey,” he said when she answered. “Please come back inside. I don’t care if we don’t tell Zach and Cooper about us right away. Honestly, I don’t. I was simply saying that if we’re going to do more than a few meals that can be interpreted as us dating, that I’d want to tell them.”
“Okay.”
“But I’ll wait as long as you want. I’m fine with coffee in the morning, and running when you’re back up for it, and…waiting.” He swallowed, telling himself to stop talking.
“Okay.”
“Where are you?” He held up one finger for the waitress who had just arrived. “Should I have your food boxed?”
“No.” Her voice sounded in his ear and behind him. He twisted to find her almost back to the table and he hung up his phone.
She slid into the seat across from him, her face carrying a hea
lthy blush that only made her more attractive.
Gina didn’t touch her sandwich, instead going for the coffee. “So maybe snorkeling is down the road,” she said, her voice a tone of forced casualness Owen didn’t particularly like.
“I will always have two sons,” he said, reaching across the table and placing his hands around hers as she curled them around her coffee cup. “But that doesn’t mean you’ll be their mother.”
He struggled to find the right words. “As I’ve said, I’ve never dated. So it’ll be brand new for all of us when we finally tell them. But it doesn’t have to be on Sunday.”
She nodded, but Owen still saw the flicker of fear in her face.
“Maybe you could tell me a bit about why you don’t want to be a mother,” he said gently, pulling his hands back.
She flinched but turned her hand to grip his instead of letting him pull away. Satisfaction flowed through Owen, and he really enjoyed holding Gina’s hand.
She cleared her throat. “That call was from my therapist’s office in Dallas.”
Owen masked his emotions and merely nodded.
“I asked them for a reference for someone here. I haven’t gone for a while, and I need to.”
“Of course.” Owen believed in talking to a professional. “My boys go. Well, Cooper still does. I told Zach he could stop when he turned eighteen, and he did. I wish he’d still go, but.” Owen lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “He’s an adult now. He gets to decide.”
“Have you ever gone?”
“For a while, after the divorce. But not for years now.” Not since starting at Sweet Breeze, actually, when Fisher had become better at listening to Owen than the doctor he paid. “I’m glad you’re going. Who are you seeing?”
“A woman named Lucinda White.”
“Oh, she’s in the same building where Cooper goes.” Owen put a smile on his face he hoped was gentle, encouraging, and soft. “You’ll have to tell me how it goes.”
Gina met his eye, naked worry in hers. “All right.” She drew in a deep breath and seemed to cast off the cobwebs from her soul. “Now can we please go back to the hotel and do some work? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with myself all day.”