Page 69 of The Other Plan

He chuckled. “He was pretty well behaved. Valentina, on the other hand, was pretty wasted when I saw her.”

“You saw them? I thought we had a timeline laid out so the parties wouldn’t collide.” I panicked for a moment, thinking I’d messed something up, but quickly concluded that unless they’d gone off schedule, the trolley I’d rented both parties should have missed each other by miles.

“You did. Your schedule was just perfect, but Valentina missed Eric, so they took a detour to The Bayside.”

I put a hand on my chest. “Oh, good. I was having a heart attack I screwed up.”

“You? Screw up?” He arched an eyebrow. “Impossible. Even your plans have plans.”

Chuckling, I shrugged. “I can’t help it. I like to plan for everything.”

“Almost everything.” He slid his arms around my waist. “You didn’t plan on me.”

With a sigh, I leaned back against him as I poured the coffee into the cups. “Isn’t that the truth.”

His lips peppered kisses along my neck. “And now that I’m here, what’s your plan? I know you have one.”

Laughing, I shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Well, let’s hear it. Because I know you well enough to know that you’ve been working up a plan for us to work in your head.”

“Well, I kinda have.” I spun around and handed him the mug. “At least a temporary plan.”

Carter hopped up and sat on my counter. His black boxer briefs didn’t do much to hide any part of his admirable body.

I slid up on the counter beside him. “So, I was thinking. Cassie is my friend, and she owns a company in New York City. She lives here with her husband, Jake, full time and does most of her work from here. But she flies back to New York at least a few times a month. So, I was thinking, maybe we could just catch a ride back and forth with her regularly. She’s got a private jet, and she’s just the nicest person you’ve ever met. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. That could work really well so we can see each other at least a couple times a month.”

His face didn’t light up with the enthusiasm I’d hoped for.

“I mean, I know it’s not a permanent solution, but it could work for a while. And then in the winter, when I don’t have as many weddings, I could come stay for longer times, like a couple weeks at a time even. And in the summer, when I’m busy, you can do the traveling and come stay here with me more.”

“Yeah. That could work,” he said unconvincingly.

“Not a good plan?”

“No. I mean, yes, it is. It’s a great plan for now. But like you said, it’s not a long-term solution. It’s way too much time apart. I can barely stand the thought of being away from you for a night, much less weeks on end.”

“And your job? Can you work remotely like Cassie does? She does ninety percent of her work from her porch in Baileys Harbor. She’s Cassandra Davenport and a pretty big deal. If she can do it, I would hope maybe you could too?”

“Wait, we’re talking about Cassandra Davenport? Like from Davenport Industries?”

I nodded. “Well, now she’s Cassie Alton since she married Jake, but yep. That one.”

“Wow. She’s a big deal in New York. One of the top execs in the city.”

“Exactly!” I said, getting more excited. “And she lives here almost all year round.”

He sighed and shook his head. “I wish that I could do my work remotely like she does, but unfortunately, a lot of my work is hands-on and in-person. I could maybe do some of it over a computer, but not enough to make a full-time move to Door County.”

“Oh,” I said, my dreams of having the same setup as Jake and Cassie getting dashed to pieces. “Well, that sucks. I guess then I need to get back to planning. We’ll figure it out.” I bumped him with my shoulder, surprised by my own certainty after I’d been so panicked about this exact problem.

“Well, I do have an idea if you want to hear it.” He peeked over at me, and his dimples deepened with his soft smile.

“Well, let’s hear it!”

“You move to New York.”

My eyes went big.