“I’m ordering eggs from the chef if you want some? They’re doing waffles too.”
“I won’t say no to waffles.”
Westley waves to one of the chefs to add a serving of waffles to his order. He’s got another plate of food in his hand with hash browns, cooked tomatoes, a little yogurt tub, and some strawberries. I pinch a strawberry off his plate, popping it into my mouth with a wink as his fingers tickle up and down my back.
I close my eyes for a moment, inhaling his cologne as if it’s air. When I open my eyes again, I see his ex watching us from the other side of the garden.
I’m not sure if West notices too, but the chef hands him and Phil their plates of hot food, and I tell him to get started without me. I fill a small bowl with an assortment of berries while I wait for my waffles, admiring the roses around the garden.
“He wasn’t like that with me.”
My hand comes to my bangles, flicking them around my wrist where they’re hidden by the bowl in my hands, before I turn to look at Phoebe.
“I hope you treat him better than I did,” she murmurs, a plea hidden within the words, before she looks over her shoulder. I follow her gaze and watch where Westley sits, laughing with Phil. Rachel’s sitting solemnly between them as she nurses a steaming mug. “He deserves that.”
I already know Westley deserves every good thing that comes his way. I know the point of having me here this weekend wasn’t to cause hurt to his ex, though. It was quite the opposite.
“I hope you find happiness, too,” I tell her.
Phoebe smiles and nods, squeezing my wrist before stepping away.
“Waffles?” I turn, answering the chef’s call, and accept my plate, ready to join West.
My chair is already pulled out when I get to the table. The second I sit down, West’s hand finds my thigh.
“How was Aurora?” Westley asks, putting his cutlery down in favour of coffee.
I pick up my mocha and take a sip, groaning as soon as the creamy chocolate flavour hits my tongue. “She had fun. She and Callie spent the night watching musicals. They were heading to Sweet Escape for breakfast when I called.”
“Callie said she had a great time.”
“Did you talk to your sister?” I ask.
“Yeah. I called her while I walked over here.”
“So why’d you ask how Aurora’s night was when you already knew?” I chuckle, putting down my mug and reaching for the syrup in the middle of the table.
“Because I want to know about your daughter through you,” he says casually between bites.
I don’t have anything to say. I’m still not used to being around people so comfortable with their thoughts, who don’t have some hidden agenda that only serves themselves.
Westley pauses with a fork halfway to his mouth as he registers my silence. He twists his head, letting his eyes dart all over me. I both love and hate the way he reads me so well. I’m curious if it’s a skill Westley’s developed over time, being so attuned to people’s emotions, or if it’s some special perception reserved for me.
“Does that scare you?” he asks carefully, but something in the way he says it also feels like a challenge, an invitation for me to meet him in this new place we’ve found ourselves building in the last few weeks.
“Completely.”
His hand finds my thigh again, his thumb dipping into one of the holes in the denim and tracing my bare skin, back and forth.
“You don’t have to be scared with me.”
I smile as if I’m unaffected, all while my heart seizes in my chest. I lay a hand over his, fiddling with the ring on his pointer finger. He flips his palm and laces our fingers together.
“I don’t know about that.”
“How about this,” he says, turning in his chair to face me. “When you write your little pleasure pursuit list, you write another list, for yourself, of everything that scares you, and if you want to share it with me, I would love to help you with that one too.”
“Why would you go through all that trouble for me?”
