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When she got home, her father was on the deck and followed her to her place.
“You’re smiling,” her father said.
“I am. I just met with Duke to go over a few more things. Things are falling into place. I got a cake order for a wedding too. I don’t think I’ve been this happy or excited in a long time.”
“That’s great to hear, Hadley. Your mother and I are so happy for you. You look good too. Not just happy overall, but you put some of your weight back on.”
She wasn’t going to comment on him being the second person who said that to her today. She must have looked really bad for people to have noticed it before.
Or maybe Duke had been paying more attention to her than she realized early on. She was doing the same to him.
“I’m eating good,” she said. “It’s all of Mom’s cooking.”
“Your mother likes to baby you too. I know that is part of why you left,” her father said. “You felt that at times we smothered you, right?”
“No,” she said. “You didn’t. I am an only child and I just knew there was more to life out there than what I had growing up. I went to college and had fun. I liked the area and decided to stay. It was nothing more than that.”
“Are you sure?” her father asked.
“Positive. I’m okay being home. I am. Working for Duke has been great so far.”
“I’m glad. Have you been sending out any resumes since you’ve been here?”
“Nothing yet,” she said. “But right now with my tips and the baking and the marketing that I’m doing for Duke, I’m making more than I was. On top of that, I don’t have any expenses for the most part. I should be able to chip away at my credit card debt this way.”
“We don’t normally talk to you about money. You clam up, but is he paying you appropriately?”
“Yes, Dad,” she said.“Better than I expected.”
She wasn’t going to say anything to her father about the kiss with Duke or the date tomorrow. No reason to. They would think it was too soon after Eddie, but they didn’t know she and Eddie weren’t even together for over a month before his death. Nor did they know anything she’d felt for him was long gone before he died.
Sometimes it was just better to let things go. It’s not like she wanted any advice from anyone.
“If you are happy, then we are happy.”
“I am,” she said. “Trust me.”
15
More Womanly
The next day, Hadley got out of work at four and ran home to shower. She was meeting Duke at his place tonight. They were going to have a picnic on the beach. She thought it was a great idea and he said he’d take care of the food.
She didn’t know if he decided to do that so people wouldn’t see him out with her or that he didn’t like other people’s cooking as well as his own.
It didn’t seem like the thing to ask when she was all excited over this.
Guess her telling him that she liked to walk the beach when she wasn’t working was enough for him to realize that she found some comfort there. She hoped it was that and he wasn’t playing her.
No, Duke wasn’t anything like Eddie.
He wasn’t charming, he wasn’t a bull crapper, and he wasn’t someone to take advantage of another person.
She’d seen all of that already and had to keep reminding herself to put one foot in front of the other and go in with an open mind.
No comparisons with her ex, but she was never going to let herself get into a situation like that ever again.
After some debate, she put a sundress on knowing that it’d be comfortable and make her feel a bit more womanly.
