The One and Only: A Single Mom Second Chance Romance (Heart of Hope) Ajme Williams (books for new readers TXT) 📖

“And here are the chair covers,” I said, notebook in hand so that I could scribble down anything that caught Cade’s eye.

“Y’know, I think the Spanish Inquisition went about it the wrong way,” Cade mused. “They should’ve introduced their victims to an event furniture warehouse and made them listen to all the different kinds of chairs there are. They would’ve had a much higher success rate.”

I laughed. “I will remind you once again that you signed up for this wedding.”

“I should have just eloped.”

“And miss getting to spend time with me?” I batted my eyes at him in exaggeration.

Though I was just teasing, the look Cade gave me was soft and serious. “No,” he said, his voice quiet. “I wouldn’t want to miss out on that at all.”

I could feel my face flushing and looked away. “Umm…anyway, as I was saying—about the chair covers—”

“Laura,” Cade laid a hand on my arm, “In all seriousness, I’m overwhelmed with the choices here.” He bowed. “I am literally bowing to your superior knowledge.”

I chuckled and he straightened up, smiling at me.

“I want you to pick out what you think would look best. I don’t know which to pick and I don’t have a preference as long as it fits the overall blue and green thing we have going on. Nothing too frilly. I like simple. Classy.”

Honestly, it was so hard to dislike him when he was being like this. Cracking jokes and turning to me for my expertise. My heart felt like it was constantly on a rollercoaster, going up and down, unable to settle down.

“I think roundtables of ten will do nicely, we can put them on the expansive lawn behind the lake house. You can set up an arch under the big tree and have the ceremony there, and there should be room for a dance floor as well.”

“I was thinking about the gazebo for the ceremony,” Cade murmured.

My face felt hot as I remembered the last time I’d been in that gazebo. The way he’d passionately made love to me before taking me upstairs to his bedroom to make love to me over and over again, coming inside of me twice. I’d been certain there was no rush greater than the one I got when I felt him spilling inside me, making me feel hot and sated.

Of course, at the time, I hadn’t realized that he was getting me pregnant. The folly of youth, not wearing condoms, not on birth control, not thinking about anything other than being together and expressing our love.

“The slats on the gazebo,” I blurted out. “It’ll block the view for some people. And because it’s circular, depending on where people are, they’ll see just you or just the bride instead of both of you. Or their view will be blocked by the other person’s back. It’s better to have you both visible to everyone.”

“Once again, I submit myself to your knowledge,” Cade said, smiling. “Do you know what to order, then? Should we place it now?”

“That would be best.” We needed to reserve everything, so that we’d have it in time for the wedding before someone else booked the spot.

We placed the order, Cade agreeing to everything and not being upset by the price. He didn’t even blink hearing it, actually. Most of my clients would want to haggle, see what deals they could get. After all, events were expensive, especially weddings, and people who weren’t in the upper crust are concerned about costs. I could completely sympathize with them. But it was still frustrating when people tried to get deals all the time from vendors who were also trying to get a fair deal and their money’s worth for their products and work.

But Cade just smiled, and thanked Ben—the owner—for his work and we went on our way. It was a refreshing change.

We got into the car and Cade drove me back to the catering company, where I had left my car. I stared out the windows, remembering how Cade had been gifted a car by his parents for his sixteenth birthday, so we’d go riding around in it all the time. Of course, his car had been a rather a flashy one, fitting for a teenage boy who wanted to show off. Everyone in high school had drooled over the car. Or Cade. Or both.

“Hey, that’s Abbot Park,” Cade noted as we approached the turn for it, and he took it. “Sorry, I just have to take this trip down memory lane.”

He grinned at me. “Remember how we’d come here when we’d skip school after lunch?”

As if I could have forgotten. We had so many steamy make-out sessions beneath the trees in the park that I’d lost track. It had been fun—a place where nobody from high school or home would find us. We could be outdoors and in nature but safe and secret at the same time.

Cade’s smile turned wicked. “Remember the time you told your mom you were hanging out with a friend that night, and we snuck back to the park after dark and made love down by the water?”

I blushed. “Yes.” I managed to keep my voice under control. There was no way I was telling him about how I had replayed that particular memory more than once in my mind during the long and lonely nights after Cade had left me.

Cade stopped the car in the parking lot and got out. I followed him as he walked down to the water, his hands in his pockets. There was a melancholic air about him, and I wondered if this was about more than just remembering fun sexual escapades from when we were teenagers.

“You all right?” I asked. I wanted to reach out and touch him, to soothe him as I once had, but the rules were different now. We hadn’t seen each other in years, he’d broken my heart when we’d last seen