There’s the sound of metal clinking against glass, and I turn to see Gwen and Jackson at the end of the table, wine goblets raised.
Gwen smiles. “I want to thank you all for coming and helping us run through the menu before the private event. Your support and honest feedback have been invaluable to us, and we can’t ever repay you. If you’re at this table tonight, it’s because you’re important to us, and we love you, and I’m so happy you’re here. I know it’s late, so not tonight, but tomorrow, we’d like to sit down with each one of you individually and go over all the dishes—what you loved, what was okay, what you hated.”
Payton shakes her head and yells, “You know everything was fantastic.”
It was. I can’t think of a bad thing to say. They are both so good at this. Their passion shows in everything they touch. And even though here seems like the worst place to have a restaurant, I’m positive people will come from all over the country just for a chance to eat.
Gwen chuckles and shrugs. “You have no idea how many fights Jackson and I had to get to this point, and it’s safe to say we are the most stubborn, hard-headed people on the planet.”
There’s laughter around the table.
Gwen continues. “Which is why you can be assured that the only things on the menu are things we both feel passionate about. But that doesn’t mean we don’t want feedback. So if you have anything horrible to say, we want to hear it.”
Servers come into the room and start putting small plates of pasta with a large scallop on top in front of us.
Gwen waves her hands. “Time for more eating.”
“Wait. I have something to say.” Jackson puts his hand on Gwen’s hip.
This surprises me. Jackson isn’t one for speeches, so I’m curious.
He gestures toward the plates. “I made this for Gwen when I was desperately trying and failing to win her back. It didn’t do the trick, but she still ate every bite.”
“I did.” She laughs.
He tugs her close, kissing the top of her head. “Before we continue, every person in this room needs to hear me say this.”
Gwen tilts her head to look at him.
He brushes his mouth over hers. “Someone was looking out for Natalie and me the day you walked into our lives, because no matter how hard I tried to ruin it, we kept getting pulled back together.”
My chest grows tight, filling with emotion and happiness. Those were dark times, and Jackson was a broody asshole, but he was my brother, and I hated how much he hurt. I’m so glad it worked out for him.
He puts his hand on her cheek. “You are the best thing that ever happened to Nat and me. I couldn’t ask for a better business partner or mother for my child, and I sure as hell don’t deserve you as a wife. But I love you and will work to make you happy every day of my life. Thank you, Gwyneth—for putting up with me when I’m impossible, for making me a better man, but most of all for being you.”
Gwen blinks away the swell of tears and hits him on the shoulder. “How dare you make me cry.”
He hugs her, kisses her, and raises his glass. “Cheers.”
I clink my glass with Caden’s, look into his eyes, and a fantasy springs to life. A foolish one, but I can’t help it. It blooms like a time-lapsed flower in my mind, opening and expanding and taking over rational thought.
Maybe that could be us someday.
Happy and in love.
I’m almost there. I can almost reach out and touch it.
I want it.
To feel wrapped up and secure, safe in the knowledge that I’m in this life together with someone. Logically, I know Caden is a dangerous man to have those thoughts about, but as I said before…
Tonight, I live dangerously.
20
Caden
My fingers trail over Cat’s glistening skin, tracing each of her ribs as she lies sprawled out in the grass after that moonlight swim she’d been craving. She smiles at me like I hung the moon. I can’t deny it fills me with a content, happy satisfaction I’m not sure I’ve ever felt in my thirty-six years.
She makes me feel like I’m God’s personal gift to her.
But under the lazy relaxation, there’s an undercurrent of tension in me I want desperately to forget about, but it lingers like an illness.