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Bryce kissed his way back up her body, over her clothes, and pulled her into his arms. “I love you, tears and all.”
Chapter 30
Bryce sat in his home office finishing up some work before it was time to head into the city for Samantha’s last performance of the week. They hadn’t said anything more about moving in together, but in the two weeks since he brought her home from her canceled appointment, she’d only been to her place once to pick up clothes.
It wasn’t the easiest commute, so Bryce insisted on driving her back and forth as much as he could to take some of the burden off her. Their much-needed discussion cleared up a lot of things between them. It seemed to lessen the guilt, knowing they were each grieving Brandon in their own way. Samantha and Bryce weren’t together out of spite. It was just something that happened. A connection that couldn’t be ignored, no matter how hard they’d tried.
When his phone rang, he assumed it was Samantha, making sure he didn’t forget her. He had a lot of work to do, and she had made plans with Meka, so she talked him into dropping her off at the PATH station so she could take the train into the city. Instead of her name lighting up across the screen, it was Lizzy’s.
“Hello?” he answered hesitantly. Their relationship had grown almost to what someone might call a friendship, but it was strange for her to call him.
“Are you planning on coming into the city any time soon?” she asked without wasting any time.
“Yeah,” he said, hesitating once again. “Why?”
“I have a proposition for you,” she said before stopping to correct herself. “That didn’t sound right. A proposal? An offer?” She laughed. “Whatever you want to call it, if you can spare a few to meet up for coffee I can tell you about it.”
“Well, I need to leave in a little while to pick up Samantha. I have some time. I was just going to hang out at the coffee shop down from the theater until she’s ready anyway.”
“Perfect. I think I know the one. I’ll meet you there.”
She hung up before he had a chance to dig for information. With a heavy sigh, he stood from his desk, grabbed the book he planned to read while he waited, and headed to the door. He hated driving in a coat, so he carried his layers with him and tossed them all onto the passenger seat.
The drive wasn’t bad. It was nice driving opposite the heavy traffic pattern. He wouldn’t be able to drive her back and forth during the day, so they needed to come up with a different solution at some point. Knowing the drive like he knew the back of his hand, he used the time to try to figure out what Lizzy could want. The job was mostly complete, and she contacted him after business hours, so he figured it wasn’t work related.
By the time he parked his truck in a nearby parking garage and made the cold walk to the coffee shop, he was no closer to figuring out what she wanted. He could see her sitting in the back corner, her foot tapping as if she was nervous. The bells on the door jingled when he opened it, drawing her attention.
“Hey,” she said as he walked up to the table. “I’m glad you were able to meet me. How have you been? How’s Samantha?”
“She’s doing good. Busy, but good. Things are easier now that they are in production. Do you want a coffee?” he offered. “I’m going to go order one for myself.”
“Sure. Regular coffee with cream and sugar, please.”
While the coffee was being prepared, he went back to guessing what she could possibly want. It was silly since she was going to tell him in a few minutes, but he didn’t want to be blindsided by any bad news. Things were just beginning to calm down.
“Here you go.” He passed her a steaming mug of coffee before taking a seat across from her. “So, what’s up? Everything okay?”
“Everything is great, actually.” She took a sip of her coffee.
He waited patiently for her to continue, his feeling of unease growing with each passing moment. He sipped his coffee in an attempt to distract himself, but it wasn’t working. After another few minutes, he gave up.
“What do you want, Lizzy? Why did you have me meet you? Yes, we get along and shit, but we don’t just randomly meet for coffee.”
Lizzy chuckled. “Sorry. I just wanted to let you know my dad has a building in Bayonne. He was originally going to buy everyone out and do a full reno but decided not to. There’s an empty three-bedroom that’s been mostly gutted and is ready to be completed.”
He squinted in confusion as he looked at her. Once again, he waited for her to continue, but she didn’t. The way she shifted in her chair let him know she was nervous. “Okay, why did you call me here to tell me that? Not to sound like a dick, but you know I don’t do much residential work.”
“I hope I’m not overstepping, but with Samantha being pregnant, I kind of assumed you were thinking about getting a place together. If not, that’s fine. No judgment. But, Bayonne would be the perfect location. Easy to commute from.”
Bryce struggled to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. He hadn’t seen that one coming. He just knew it was going to be some bullshit bringing him to the coffee shop, not some potential good news.
“Oh. Well, for now, she’s been staying with me most of the time.”
“And she’s enjoying the forty-five minutes to an hour commute each way?”
He wasn’t sure why he was being so tight-lipped about it. The woman already knew Samantha was pregnant because of his big mouth; what difference did it make if she knew he wanted them to get a place together? There was no need to go into all of the details about how she wasn’t exactly on board with the idea.
“Not so much,” he admitted. “We’ve talked about it, but nothing more than that. I’m pretty sure we aren’t ready to buy, but thanks for letting me know.
