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“Hello?” I said.
“How’s Mark?” He asked.
“Sleeping right now,” I said, gazing at the sleeping boy.
“Okay, can you come a little earlier than we agreed?” He asked, his voice hesitant, like he was expecting me to rebuff him again.
“Why?” I asked.
“I was hoping we could have dinner together while we watched the sunset, the view from the windows, it’s stunning. You’ll love it,” he said.
I could say no and push him away again or I could say yes and pick up the pieces of my heart later. That wouldn’t work, not with the cafe and everything else that I had on my plate.
“Fine, I’ll come, but this doesn’t mean you’re forgiven, and I plan on making that abundantly clear,” I said.
“You do hold a strong grudge, Becca Hamilton,” he replied, his voice drawing out my name and doing strange things to me. I stared ahead for a moment, remembering how he used to pull my name out, just to annoy me.
“And you, Hunter Cohen, you’re still as annoying as ever,” I said finally.
“I realize that Becca, I’m working on it,” he said, his voice seductively soft. I could feel my body responding to it, all on its own.
I shook my head and broke the spell. It would be crazy if I went asking for trouble by falling for Hunter. I laughed aloud.
“Fine Hunter, I’ll see you later,” I said, before hanging up on him.
Tonight, would either convince me that we could work or it would tell me if I should avoid Hunter. I wasn’t certain which I wanted, none of the options sounded too good.
***
Hunter’s POV
I stirred the pasta on the stove slowly, adding the ingredients I had chopped and diced and simmered all afternoon. I was crazy to be inviting Becca over, but I couldn’t help wanting to impress her.
Maybe if I cooked well enough, she’d overlook my misdemeanors from the other night. She’d bring Mark over soon or at least she had said she would. I wasn’t worried about Mark, she would never harm him, but I wanted to share the sunset with her.
Appreciating nature always mellowed me out and I couldn’t imagine that it wouldn’t work on her too. Maybe she’d even agree to spend more time here. With Mark. The boy was a hound dog when he wanted something.
If I wanted her to let go of my wrongdoings from the past, then the easiest way to prove I had changed would be by letting her see that I had instead of just saying that I had. Seeing and not only hearing would change her mind.
I heard Becca’s car outside. She’d arrived even earlier than I had expected. The meal wasn’t even ready yet.
I walked down to the door and pulled it open before she could ring the doorbell. Mark ran all the way up the driveway to me, hugging me hard when I bent over to pick him up.
“Someone missed me,” I said, giving him a kiss on the forehead.
“I and Becca had seafood last night,” he said like that answered my question before wriggling off and walking back to Becca to take her hands and lead her into the house. Becca gave me a warm greeting before she followed Mark up the stairs. It was obvious that he was leading her to his room.
I went back into the kitchen to complete the cooking, then I dished the food into three plates and laid them out on the table. With that done, I picked a wine and let it sit before running up the stairs to Mark’s room.
His toys were all over the floor and Becca was doing a good job of acting impressed by them. He was currently showing a pirate battleship and the accompanying eye mask.
“Okay Pirates, dinner is ready, let’s go before it gets cold,” I told them both.
Mark ignored me, still chattering to Becca.
She looked up at me and smiled before shaking her head.
“Mark, how about we go eat some dinner now, we’ll come back to the toys later,” she said to the boy.
