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His gut clenched. An odd reaction, really. Lauren and her ex had a friendly relationship. There was no reason Tom shouldn’t be here. But, there was no reason he should be here, either.
He glanced at the single long stemmed red rose and the take out basket from The Harbor House lying on the passenger seat of his car. He’d ordered the same thing they’d had on their date—the salmon with the house vegetables for her, and a surf and turf for him. He’d also bought a bottle of the Pinot Noir, along with two big slabs of cheesecake. He told the hostess the take out was for a special occasion and she’d presented him with a wicker basket, complete with top of the line disposable plates, silver ware, tablecloth and even candles.
He could keep it all in the car. He could walk into the shop and act causal like he’d just stopped by to say hello. And if for some reason things didn’t seem…right, he wouldn’t make an ass of himself.
But his gut kept telling him that Lanie was wrong. Lauren wouldn’t lie to him. Of course, his gut had also told him that proposing to Jessica was a good thing. But Lauren wasn’t Jessica.
The hell with it. He scooped up the rose and the basket of food. As long as there wasn’t someone around taping him for the benefit of YouTube, he could survive whatever happened tonight.
He opened the shop door. A bell above the entrance chimed. Laughter, hers, mixed with a deeper, masculine laugh, drifted from somewhere in the back of the store. His ears began to buzz. He gripped the rose a little too tightly, causing a thorn to nick his finger.
“Sorry! We’re closed!” he heard Lauren shout. She walked out to the front of the shop with a grin on her face and her cheeks flushed. She had on a dress he’d seen her wear to work before, a short sleeved blue thing that brought out the color of her eyes. But she had on flip flops and her hair was pulled back in a headband, like she’d dressed down to do physical work. There was a smudge of dirt on her nose. She startled when she saw him. “Nate. What are you doing here?”
“I came to bring you dinner. And this.” He thrust the flower at her. “Happy birthday.”
“Oh!” She glanced inside the basket. “You brought all this for me? This is incredible.” She noticed the blood on his finger and grabbed a Kleenex from a box she kept on the check-out counter, then pressed it against his finger to staunch the trickle. She looked surprised, but happy. Nate had a sudden urge to pick her up, lay her across the counter and—
“Hi, Nate,” Henry said cheerfully. He and Tom came walking out of the back storeroom. Both of them had dust in their hair, like they’d been working, too. Henry took in the rose and the basket and his face went blank.
Tom shook his hand. “Hey, man. Good to see you.” Tom’s gaze was more discreet than his son’s, but he, too, was checking out the situation with the flower and the food.
Lauren glanced between all three males, and smiled. “Tom and Henry came by with some balloons for my birthday,” she explained to Nate. “Unfortunately for them, I roped them into moving some stuff out of the storeroom.”
“We wanted to take her out for dinner, but Mom says she has too much work to do to eat,” Henry said. It was subtly put, but a message, nonetheless.
Lauren put her arm around her son’s shoulder. “This guy already surprised me this morning with breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, fresh squeezed orange juice. All my favorites.”
“Ah. Very nice,” Nate said.
“Do you need me to walk Hector tomorrow morning?” Henry asked. “Because I can if you do. I just need to do it early, on account of Dad and me going fishing.”
“As a matter of fact, I have Hector covered for the morning, so, no worries.”
“Okay, cool,” Henry said, his tone neither friendly nor unfriendly. He pointed to the wicker basket. “What’s in there?”
“Just some seafood. And cheesecake,” Nate said.
“Mom likes key-lime pie better than cheesecake,” Henry said.
Lauren and Tom exchanged a look. She gave Tom some kind of unspoken signal with her eyebrows. He hesitated a moment, then went into action. “Hey, son, why don’t we go grab that pizza we talked about and let your mom get back to work?”
“On her birthday?” Henry said.
Lauren hugged her son. “Oh, baby, you’ve already done so much. And I love my balloons. Go on with your dad. Remember, we’re officially celebrating tomorrow with dinner at Grandma and Grandpa’s.”
“Okay,” Henry said reluctantly. “But don’t forget to bring your balloons home.”
“I won’t,” Lauren promised.
Henry gave Nate a parting look that said the jury was still out on whether or not he approved of them. Lauren waited till they were out the door, then she locked it and flipped the sign to read CLOSED.
She walked over and reached up to kiss him on the cheek. “I love my son to pieces, but I thought they’d never leave.”
“So, it’s okay that I came by? Or, should I leave, too?” Just because she seemed happy to see him didn’t mean she wanted him to stay. He knew how important this maternity clothing line was to her and how much work she’d already put into it. Her display at the Spring Into Summer festival could be a big opportunity for her.
“Okay? Let’s see,” she teased, “You just brought me a rose and dinner. Yeah, I’d say that’s okay.”
“What about Henry? I didn’t think you wanted him to know about us.”
