She nodded. “It was.” In many ways, it was the night she’d fallen in love with him.
Now, he was staring into her eyes. He set his fork down and took a deep breath. “I am so glad you’re back in my life.”
“I feel the same way about you.”
“Do you ever…do you ever think about what might have happened if you hadn’t moved?”
Now it was her turn to be honest. “For a long time, it was all I thought about.”
“Why didn’t you get married?”
That question made her breath catch in her throat. Telling him the truth meant revealing a lot about herself. She shrugged and just said, “The right man never came along, I guess.” She lifted her chin. “Did you have doubts about marrying Emily?”
His mouth opened, then closed. He took a drink. “Yeah, I did. But…” He stopped looking at Maude, fixing his gaze on a spot on the table between them. “I figured no one was ever going to measure up to you. I thought that I’d created this idealized image of the right woman. That there was no way you were everything I remembered you being. That I should just face reality and settle.”
She could feel her heart beating in her chest as though it had just started. She wanted to laugh and cry and kiss him.
He met her eyes again. “You kind of ruined me for other women, Maudie.”
If she started crying, she was going to make a huge scene. She would not do that to him, not where he worked. Not where everyone knew who he was. He’d already warned her about the gossip factory that existed at this hospital.
So she just nodded. “You kind of ruined me for other men.”
He reached across the table. She met him halfway. His fingers curled around hers. “Do you think we can get it right this time?”
She held onto him. “I think we’d be morons not to at least try.”
Chapter Eleven
Seagulls keened overhead, held aloft by thermals rising off the Gulf, and the sun turned the water to diamonds, glittering impossibly bright. Paige had already taken a walk and recorded lots of footage, along with some Beach Outfit and What I Bring To The Beach content.
Now, she let out a contented sigh from her chair under the canopy. Randi was on her towel in the sun, hoping to get some color before she headed home tomorrow. Barkley had decided early on that he preferred the shade, and so he was snoozing in Randi’s empty chair.
Paige did a quick video of Barkley enjoying himself. Cute animals were always good content.
She put her phone back into the side pocket on the chair and dug her toes into the sand. It was easily one of the nicest days Paige had spent on the beach in a long time. Of course, she could have been anywhere with Randi and enjoyed herself. Just being with her daughter was a treat.
She leaned her ereader against her body to look at her daughter. “We should really do this more often.”
Randi, sunglasses on, smiled and gave a little nod. “It’s so nice, isn’t it? Too bad I have to work.”
Paige said softly, “I know.” She could change that. She could give her daughter money, enough that she could retire and be a stay-at-home mom, but Randi would never take it. And Paige worried that it might damage Sean’s ego.
He wasn’t that kind of guy at all, but what would it do to a man to take money from his mother-in-law like that? Deep down, it might make him uneasy, at the very least. Paige had a good relationship with him. She didn’t want to jeopardize it.
They both knew they could come to her with any need and she would help them. It was up to them to ask.
She knew that Randi liked her work, too. Even if it did wear her out at times.
What mother didn’t want the easy life for her child? Paige went back to her book. She’d been concerned about the book, hoping it would be as good as the reviews made it out to be, and so far it was.
If one of the Queen Bees didn’t like it, they’d be sure to say so at the next meeting. All of them seemed more than capable of expressing themselves truthfully. She valued that.
She worried about Essie and this whole situation with her stepdaughter, but Frank had the kind of resources that could secure the very best legal advice. Paige was sure it was being handled.
Still, Essie had to be concerned about it. This kind of stress was what gave men of Frank’s age heart attacks. She hoped he was in good health. If anything happened to that man, Essie would be devastated. It was clear they were well-matched and very much in love.
Imagine getting a second chance like that, both of them having lost their spouses to cancer.
