Wynn admitted. “I guess he’d noticed me, as well. Things started happening when he found out his daughter was coming to stay and he asked for my help to get the house ready. Since then we’ve been hanging out a lot and getting to know each other.”
“And the sex part?”
“No,” Cade said. “Just no. Please?”
“But she has to tell me now. Joylyn is coming to lunch tomorrow, and I can’t ask in front of his daughter.”
“Text her later. Just don’t talk about it now. Please?”
Garrick returned to the table.
“And?” Wynn asked.
“The shower is on, but Alisha started crying when she realized she’d totally forgotten to give her only daughter a baby shower.”
Wynn squeezed his hand. “That’s not your fault.”
“I still feel guilty. I don’t like making women cry.”
“But if you can bring a guy to tears?” Cade asked.
Garrick grinned. “That’s different. It shouldn’t be but it is. Anyway, I’m going to talk to Joylyn when I get home and ask her if she wants the shower. If she does, Alisha will contact her friends and get it all going.”
He looked at Wynn. “It’s going to be at my house, and I’ll need help pulling it all together.”
“I’d love to help.” She smiled at Bethany. “With all my friends popping out babies, I’m something of an expert.”
“You’ll need a theme,” Bethany told him. “Once you have that, it helps with all the other decisions.”
“Do you know how she wants to decorate the baby’s room?” Wynn asked him.
“Light blue and yellow with a lot of Winnie the Pooh.”
“There you go,” she said. “We have a theme. We’ll go online and get some ideas. We can pull it together.”
His gaze locked with hers. She felt the connection flow between them and immediately wished they were alone. But they weren’t, and this was their first date and she should enjoy it instead of thinking about how much she wanted to make love with him.
The servers walked around, handing out Trivial Pursuit games to every table. As they set up the board, Wynn felt Garrick’s leg press against hers. She looked at him and he smiled. She smiled back, ignoring the not-very-subtle aching in her heart.
He got to her in ways she hadn’t expected, and she liked how they were together. She had a feeling that while they’d been busy living their lives, she’d been slowly, quietly, falling in love with him. Which meant there was no escaping her feelings. She could only ride them out and hope that he was falling for her, as well.
* * *
WYNN LEFT WORK at eleven thirty. She needed to swing by her place and pick up the Christmas cookies she’d made for the girlfriend lunch. She was also going to get Joylyn, who would be joining her.
She pulled into the driveway and stopped the car. Before she’d even climbed out, Joylyn was locking the front door to Garrick’s house and heading her way.
“I’m excited,” she said with a sheepish smile. “I didn’t want to wait for you to come get me.”
Wynn laughed. “Not a problem. We appreciate enthusiasm. I just need to grab the cookies I made for lunch today. Oh, Natalie made enchiladas. Did you take an antacid?”
“Yes. About forty minutes ago. Thanks for the warning. I’m ready for the feast.”
Wynn left her car open and hurried into the house. She’d already packed up the cookies in a container. She returned to the car to find Joylyn in the passenger seat.
“Thank you for inviting me to hang out with your friends,” Joylyn said earnestly. “It’s really thoughtful.”
“We’re happy to have you join us. You already know me, Silver and Renee. Everyone else is very friendly.” She backed out of the driveway. “Usually we have kids running around, but today everyone agreed to leave them at home, so it’s just going to be a lot of girl talk.”
“I’ve missed having that in my life,” Joylyn said. “Thanks for taking me under your wing and making my stay here so great. My dad’s lucky to have you in his life.”
“I’ve been happy to get to know you,” Wynn said automatically, trying not to react to the unexpected comment. Nor was she comfortable asking what Joylyn meant. Have her in his life? As in they were dating? Had Joylyn figured that out? Had she known all along—although technically they hadn’t started “dating” until last night. And if Joylyn knew, had she talked about it to Hunter? Should Wynn discuss the situation with him? Not that she knew what she was