I lay on my side facing Grey and looked into his beautiful gaze. His hand came up and stroked my face, brushing aside a stray lock of my brown hair.
"You're the most beautiful woman in the world and I'm so lucky to have you as a fiancée. I can't wait for the day I can call you my wife."
"I can't wait for the day I can call you my husband," I replied as I snuggled in closer.
"I still can't believe after all these years, you aren't married to someone else. I keep thinking that I'll wake up and it will all have been a dream."
"I can pinch you to give you a reality check if you like," I joked.
"I think I'd rather the dream last as long as possible, if that's okay with you," he said as he leaned in to kiss me.
At first the kiss was tentative, but soon Grey relaxed into it and I felt the tension melt away from his muscles as I kissed him more fervently.
I pulled back, a little breathless, and looked at my fiancé. I could see a war going on in his eyes. He wanted me, yet he was also desperately tired. It would be selfish of me to try and instigate more just because it had been a couple of weeks and I had missed him. I kissed him once more, just a short sweet kiss, then whispered good night.
"Good night, Carls. I love you."
"Love you, too. Sleep well," I said as I turned over and nestled myself in his embrace.
Sleep was a long time coming for me because my mind ticked over what Grey had told me earlier. I hadn't had time to think on it at the time, but as soon as Grey's breathing evened out into sleep, my thoughts resurfaced and refused to let me rest.
The next morning I had a shift at Jim's, so I left a note for Grey. I'd just got into work when I got a text from him.
Can I take you out for lunch after your shift? Not Jim's, somewhere a little more private?
G xx
I smiled to myself. Hopefully, together, we could face anything head on and win.
Of course. See you at 1pm. C xx
I put my phone on silent and walked into the office to put my things away in my locker and tie on an apron.
"Morning, Carly," Jim said from behind me.
"Morning, Jim."
"Jodie called in sick, so Khelsey is covering her shift."
"Oh, okay, thanks for letting me know."
I quickly took out my phone and tapped out a message to Jodie, telling her to get better soon. As soon as that was done, I tied my hair back into a ponytail and walked out into the restaurant. We weren't too busy, the lunch shift was always busier, but there were enough customers to take my mind off Grey and his worries.
As I was bussing my final table of the day, Grey walked in. He was talking on the phone as he entered Jim's.
"Yes, Mother, I'm fine. Stop worrying. See you later," he said before hanging up.
"Afternoon, babe," I said as I walked up and kissed him on the cheek.
"Good afternoon."
"I won't be a minute, I'll just collect my bag and put away my apron."
"Okay," he sounded a little happier than he had last night. If I was to guess, I would say that was because he had unburdened himself by finally telling me what was going on.
I grabbed my things from my locker, shook my hair out of its ponytail, ran a comb through it, and took off my apron.
"See you on Thursday, Jim," I said to my boss as he was frantically looking round the office for something.
"What? Oh … yes … sorry, Carly, see you Thursday," he replied.
"Anything you need help with before I go, Jim?"
"No need, I'll find it in a minute, I'm sure."
"Find what? If I knew what you were searching for, I might know where to find it."
"Oh, just the sample of the new menu from the printers. They need me to sign off on it before they print them."
"New menu? Are we changing what we serve?"
"A little, nothing to worry yourself about. We've added a couple of new dishes."
"First I've heard of it, Jim."
"Yes, well, I was going to tell you and the others but haven't really had the chance. It's been chaos for me this last few days."
"Okay, well, I'm sure we can handle things. A couple of extra dishes is nothing to worry about."
"No, but the new menu design is. Look, I was going to tell you all together, but I guess I should really tell you now I've opened my mouth."
"Go on," I urged as I pulled out the chair opposite him.
"Well, there's a new restaurant opening up not far from here. I wasn't supposed to know but I know a lad working on the site and he let it slip, thought it only fair to tell me."
"New restaurant? Where? Are we in danger of losing custom to them?"
"Well, that's just the thing, I don't really know what they'll be serving. I don't know what type of restaurant, Max didn't say-just said that it was a restaurant and we'd have competition on our hands."
"Oh right, well, what's the new menu like? Surely our regulars will remain loyal?"
"I just wanted to add a few things in that we don't already serve. You know, just in case."
"Oh seriously, Jim, if we don't already serve it, it means we don't need to."
"Well, that may be the case, Carly, but I really need to hedge my bets. Now if I could just find the menu … " he trailed off as he continued opening drawers and rifling through.
"Well, I'll get out of your hair, Jim, but honestly, I think we'll be just fine."
I didn't know what would happen if the new restaurant took all our customers. A little competition isn't always a bad thing, but I'd hate to lose my job at Jim's because he couldn't afford to keep it open anymore.
I walked down the little hallway and out into the restaurant. Grey's smile was the first thing I saw.
"Ready to go?" he asked.
"Sure."
"Well, I've got the car, so you don't have to drive, but we'll have to come by and get yours later," he said as he stood up from his stool and placed a kiss on my lips.
I inhaled and knew he had taken a shower and put on some of my favorite cologne.
I got lost in thought. Maybe things would turn out all right after all. I hated things where the outcome was so uncertain, but I knew that if Grey turned out to be Kai's father, he would step up and do the right thing. If he was a match for the transplant, he would get it done and then sort out the issue of whether Selena allowed contact. I knew I didn't have all the answers but I also knew that I would stand by Grey whether he was Kai's father or not. I also knew that if he wasn't the father but by some fluke was a match to donate, then he would. He doesn't have a malicious bone in his body, and if he could help someone out, then he would, especially if it was a child.
"Hey Carls, come in, space cadet!" Grey waved his hand in front of my face.
"Sorry, I was just thinking," I said as I took hold of his outstretched hand and walked out of Jim's.
"About what?"
"There's a new restaurant opening not far from here-I was just wondering how Jim's would be affected."
I couldn't tell him the truth about what I was thinking. Not because I wanted to lie, but because Grey deserved some time without having to think or talk about the situation.
"So where are you taking me for lunch?"
"I thought the lake house. Tim and Naomi are away for a couple of weeks, Naomi's mother is poorly, so they've gone to look after her."
"I wish we'd been able to buy the lake house, you know," I blurted randomly.
"Oh?" The question was obvious in his voice.
"I mean when you and I were together, I always loved that place so much. It holds a lot of memories for me."
"For me too. I often wondered what would have happened if I'd stayed in town. Would we have stayed together? Would we have been the ones to buy the lake house? But you can't live life on what if's."
We talked for a little while about what we thought might have happened if things had been different. Would we have kids by now? That sort of thing.
We pulled up at the lake house and Grey got out to retrieve the spare key from under the plant pot.
"Don't worry, they know we're coming. I spoke with Tim on the phone earlier."
"Oh good," I said as I got out of the car.
I walked round the car up to the front door. Grey had it open and had wandered inside. He walked back to the door with a blanket in one hand and a picnic hamper in the other.
"I thought we could eat down by the lake."
"Sounds good."
We wandered down towards the water in relative silence. Grey must've been here earlier to organize the picnic. I smiled to myself as I considered how thoughtful and romantic my fiancé was, even with things hanging over his head as they were.
Grey laid the blanket on the ground and then pulled me down beside him.
I sat down and he started unpacking the contents of the hamper. There was fresh fruit, salad, pasta, an assortment of sandwiches, and a small bottle of cava with two glasses.
"Wow, this looks great!"