Now, it seemed different. Slowly but surely, we were being drawn into something so much bigger than ourselves. We had a network, and I loved it.

Lauren smiled at me when I walked through the door.

“Look at you, up and walking without crutches or a giant brace or anything,” she said.

“And driving all by myself,” I said.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” I grinned and leaned on her desk a little. “So, I have officially been approved to come back on light duty.”

“Really?” Everett asked, coming out of his office.

I laughed. “Were you eavesdropping?”

“No. You two aren’t exactly the quietest of people in the world,” he said.

I feigned being shocked and deeply offended. “What are you trying to say?”

“I think he might be trying to say that you have a big mouth, but I know he would never actually say that because it would be mean and rude,” Deacon said, following him out.

“You too?” I asked, laughing as I hugged both men. “There’s just no hiding here. What happened to the revered confidentiality and ironclad privacy that exists between woman and office manager?”

“She’s right. Where’s my reverence?” Lauren asked.

Both men shot playful glares at Carter’s wife, and she went back to her work.

“Have you really been cleared?” Everett asked.

“Yep,” I said with a nod. “I have. Light duty online for a little bit. But I’m hoping that is brief and I’ll be able to get back to everything really soon.”

“Well, don’t overdo it,” Deacon said. “Now is just as crucial as any other point in your recovery. Maybe even more. If you push too hard, you might end up hurting yourself again, and it could be really disastrous.”

“That’s right,” Everett said. “We’re really excited to have you back, but we want that to be for good. Not just until you hurt yourself again and can’t do it.”

“Well, thank you for that vote of confidence and the very inspirational pep talk,” I said. “It was moving.”

The men laughed.

“Seriously, though,” Deacon said. “Welcome back. I’m really happy that you’re back on the crew.”

“She was always on the crew,” Everett said. “Just… satellite.”

“Not anymore,” I said. “Here and raring to go. Nothing can stop me now.”

The guys grinned, and I knew they were happy to hear I was doing so well and was looking forward to diving back into work. I just didn’t know if I was being completely honest with them. I was fairly certain I wasn’t. I told them nothing was going to stop me now, but that was a promise I really shouldn’t make because I didn’t know if I’d be able to keep it.

In my pocket, I was holding a piece of paper with a secret I had no idea what to do with. And when that secret got out, it was going to change everything.

23

FINN

Wendy was on my mind pretty much constantly. If I wasn’t thinking about food, I was thinking about her. She was everything I had ever wanted, even if I didn’t even know it.

Which was why I was suspicious.

I wasn’t exactly successful with relationships in the past. Most of the time, they fizzled out a month or two in, and they would move on. I never got terribly invested in the first place, so it wasn’t that big of a deal when they left. But it still left me feeling lonely overall.

Over the month, I helped her as best I could, cooking dinners, taking her to appointments. Olly was often around, but there were plenty of times where it was just the two of us. We would lounge on the couch or take showers together, finding any way possible to be just the two of us without sacrificing her time with her son.

While we spent the month recuperating her injuries, she did get a few lessons in as well. I joked that she was only having me come over for free lessons, but other than that, we never really addressed our situation. It was a subject that was deftly avoided, though it didn’t necessarily feel like we were avoiding it. It just never felt like a thing that organically could come up.

Plus, things were great. We had fallen into a rhythm and routine that was comfortable, nonconfrontational, and easy. We saw each other when I had the time off work and almost always at her place. Olly was always involved in some capacity, and we were pretty much acting like a couple. The only times it felt like we might not be were days where I had to work doubles or back to back closing to opening shifts, and I stayed at my own place for more than a night.

Then we would have lunch together the next day, I would go home to her at night, and everything would fall right back into place. I didn’t want to screw that up. No matter how much it bugged me to not really know the definition of what we were, I didn’t want to possibly not have something to define.

Tags: Natasha L. Black Romance
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