“Unspeakable. They’ve made children cry.”
I laugh as the weight that’s been on my chest all day begins to lift. “Should I be concerned that you’re showing your bare feet to children?”
“Jesus, Gracie, no,” he says with a laugh. “I swim a little. Subjecting innocent strangers to my feet at the public pool is just collateral damage.”
“Will the horrors never cease?” I ask, even though my mind is now a slow-motion film of his broad chest and shoulders emerging from chlorinated water. “Tell me you don’t wear a Speedo, at least.”
I hear a rustle of bedsheets on the other end of the line before he says, “Leopard print.”
“Honestly, I think Agatha would approve,” I say, laughing again, andGod, why is it so easy to talk to him? How does he make me grin like this when I’ve been on the verge of tears all day? After shutting me out of his decision about the estate (again), I told myself that I’d stop this kind of thing. No more texting about Taco or anything that isn’t strictly wedding related. But now I’ve called him, practically in the middle of the night, and the truth is, I don’t want to let go of this invisible tether between us. Instead, I want to wrap myself in it andpull, until he’s so close that neither of us will have to face this pain alone again.
He’s silent for a long moment before saying, “Thanks for calling me, Gracie. Today was… shitty.”
His voice sounds different over the phone. Somehow farther away and more intimate at the same time. Cradling my phone a little closer, I say, “Same, except…”
“What?” he asks, and if I close my eyes, it’s almost like he’s lying right beside me in the dark. I know I shouldn’t picture it, but it’s so hard to resist the feeling of being less alone.
“You made my day a lot better than it could have been,” I admit.
“Did I?” he asks, his voice surprised but pleased.
“I called to check on my former clients whose weddings were canceled,” I explain. “They told me what you did for them.”
“Ah,” he says, and I can hear him shift his weight, like he’s suddenly uncomfortable. “I didn’t realize you would follow up with them.”
“Of course I did, I’ve been worried sick about them.”
“Some of their weddings will need to be on weekdays, but—”
“It’s fine. More than fine. They’re over the moon, Jude. I can’t thank you enough,” I tell him, hoping he can hear how much I mean it.
He’s quiet again before saying, “It was the least I could do.” And even though he never expected me to find out, and even though the favors he pulled were for my clients, the way he says those words makes me feel like he did it just for me.
We’re both silent for so long, and the rain is so soothing in the pitch-dark, that I don’t realize I’m half-asleep until he wakes me with a soft, “Hey.”
“Mmm?”
“Did Henry ever stop by your place?”
I yawn and stretch my free arm above my head, but don’t open my eyes. “Yeah, he came by with the cottage paperwork a few days ago. I guess it’s officially mine now.”
“No, I mean more recently. Sunday.”
My eyebrows scrunch together as my sleep-fogged brain struggles to remember. “Sunday? I don’t know, I was at my mom’s house all day. Why? Does he have more paperwork for me?”
“No, nothing like that,” Jude says, and I hear the rustle of hissheets again. They sound nice, like they’d be crisp and cool around his large, warm body. My thighs press together and— “We were on a run, and he said he might stop by to say hi.”
“Oh,” I say, a little surprised as he interrupts my sleepy, wayward thoughts. “What a sweetheart.”
“Yeah,” he says stiffly. “Anyway, I should let you sleep.”
“And what about you?” I ask, unwilling to let him hang up just yet. “Shouldn’t your man feet get some beauty rest, too?”
“Unfortunately, they’re beyond help, and I’m still working.”
“You’re working in bed? Isn’t that a no-no?”
“How can you tell I’m in bed?”
