From Best Friend to Daddy

by Jules Bennett

  What had she been thinking, telling him not to use protection? Not that she didn’t believe him that he was safe, but that bold move was, well...bold. They’d taken their intimacy to another level when she knew full well they couldn’t do that ever, ever again.

  But when she’d been lying beneath him, cradled by his strength and seeing how he looked at her, she simply hadn’t wanted him to move away for anything. She’d wanted him and only him.

  Besides, they were fine. She was on the pill and neither of them had ever gone without protection before.

  “What’s up with the two of you lately?” Tara asked.

  Before Kate could answer, she was saved by the adorable five-year-old running around the tables and singing something Kate didn’t recognize.

  “Marley Jo Bailey,” Tara scolded. “You cannot run in here. I brought your bag in and put it back in the kitchen. You have crayons, a coloring book and your new baby doll to play with.”

  Marley stopped at her mother’s abrupt tone, or maybe it was the use of her full name. Either way, the little cutie started skipping toward the back of the building, where the kitchen was located.

  “Sorry about that,” Tara said, turning her focus back to Kate.

  She wasn’t sorry one bit. Marley’s running got Kate out of answering the question that had been weighing on her, because honestly, Kate had no idea what was going on with Gray.

  “Is Sam working?”

  Tara nodded. “He’s always good to keep her on meeting nights, but he got a new job and he’s worried about asking off.”

  Kate smiled. “Sounds like he’s getting things back in order.”

  “He left me another note.”

  “He wants forgiveness,” Kate stated. “It’s obvious he loves you.”

  Her friend nodded and glanced back toward the kitchen area. “I know he does. That’s never been the issue.”

  Kate couldn’t imagine what her friend struggled with. Between losing her husband to addiction only to have him fight and claw his way back, and having a sweet, innocent child in the mix...there was so much to take in and Tara was handling things like a champ.

  “So, back to Gray.”

  Kate resisted moaning. There was no way she was going to offer up everything that had happened between them. She and Gray were still friends and that’s what they’d stay, because the other night was it. No more taking her clothes off for her best friend.

  “He’s just going through some personal things right now and needed to escape and get some advice.”

  There. That wasn’t a total lie. She’d offered him advice, hadn’t she? She’d told him to take his clothes off.

  “And you gave him advice?” Tara asked, her raised brows almost mocking.

  “Well, I was trying to until he tossed my planner into the fire.”

  Something she was still pissed about, but seemed to have forgotten about the second he’d touched her and made her toes curl all over again. Damn that man for making her want things she couldn’t have—and for destroying her beloved planner.

  And in answer to her question from days ago, yes. Yes, the sex was just as fabulous as she’d remembered. Maybe more so since they’d both gotten out of their clothes this time. Gray had been rather thorough and her body continued to tingle at just the mere thought of how gloriously his hands had roamed over her as if memorizing every aspect.

  “The fire?” Tara gasped, throwing a hand to her chest. “Tell me he didn’t burn the cherished planner.”

  “Very funny.” Kate playfully smacked Tara’s shoulder. “He said I needed to relax.”

  Tara laughed. No, she doubled over laughing, which had Marley running from the kitchen with some blond baby doll tucked beneath her arm.

  “What’s so funny?” Marley asked, her wide eyes bouncing between her mother and Kate.

  “Oh, just something Kate said, honey.” Tara swiped beneath her eyes and attempted to control her laughter. “So he told you to relax, which I’m sure you immediately did. And then he watched your planner turn to ash?”

  Kate crossed her arms. “Pretty much.”

  “And he’s still breathing?”

  “Barely,” Kate replied. “He owes me a new planner and don’t think I’m not going to pick out the most expensive, thickest one I can find. It will have quotes on every page and a gold-embossed font, and I may just have him spring for the twenty-four-month one instead of the twelve.”

  Uninterested in the grown-ups’ conversation, Marley started skipping around the room with her baby in the air.

  “Oh, hitting him in his wallet.” Tara feigned a shudder. “That will teach him never to mess with your schedules.”

  Kate dropped her arms to her sides and rolled her shoulders. “I don’t know why the closest people in my life mock my work,” she joked. “I mean, I make a killer living off organizing lives. I could help with yours if you’d let me.”

  Tara held up her hands. “I already let you into my closet. I’m still afraid to mess up those white shirts hanging next to the gray for fear you’ve set some alarm in there and you’ll know if I get them out of order.”

  Kate laughed as she went to the food table on the back wall. “I’m not that bad,” she called over her shoulder. “Besides, your closet was a disaster.”

  After Sam had left, Tara had needed something to occupy her time, and she’d had Kate and Lucy come over for a girls’ night. One thing turned into another and the next thing Kate knew, she was knee-deep in a three-day project to revamp her friend’s closet.

  “I’m still upset you tossed my favorite sweatshirt,” Tara griped, coming to lean against the wall by the table.

  Kate rolled her eyes as she straightened up the plastic cups next to the lemonade and sweet tea. “That sweatshirt needed a proper burial and I just helped things along.”

  “It was a classic.”

  “No, it was from the junior high volleyball camp we went to and it was hideous.”

  “Still fit,” Tara muttered.

  Kate patted her friend’s arm. “And that’s why I threw it away and secretly hate you. You have never gained an ounce of fat other than when you were pregnant.”

  Tara quirked a brow. “High metabolism and good gene pool?”

  “Still, I can hate you.” Kate stepped back and glanced around. “I think we’re good to go.”

  The meeting was due to start in fifteen minutes, which meant people should be rolling in anytime. They always had their regulars, accounting for about eight people. Randomly others would filter in. Some stayed only a few sessions. Some they never saw again.

  Ironically, this uplifting support group was how Lucy and Noah met. They would’ve eventually met at work since he was an officer and Lucy had been a dispatcher. But, as fate would have it, Noah had slipped into the back of the meeting one day and Lucy had made a beeline for him when he tried to sneak out. Noah had lost his wife before coming to Stonerock and Lucy had lost her husband in the war a few years ago. If nothing else came from Helping Hands, at least Lucy and Noah had found true love and a second chance at happiness.

  Kate wished that Tara and Sam could do the same, but things weren’t looking good. Marley skipped back into the room and ran up to her mom. Tara picked her daughter up and squeezed her tight.

  Something flipped in Kate’s chest. She wanted a family, a husband to share her life with. But she’d been too busy with her career, a failed engagement and the launch of Helping Hands to make it happen.

  An image of Gray flashed through her mind.

  No. That was not the direction she needed to take her thoughts. Gray wasn’t the marrying type. His father had pressured him over the past few years to settle down, but obviously that wasn’t something Gray wanted.

  And she needed to remember that he was her everything. She couldn’t allow herself to hope for more with him. No, when
she married and settled down it wouldn’t be with a hunky bar owner with a naughty side and a sleeve of tattoos.

  Chapter Ten

  Gray finished pulling the wood chairs off the tabletops. He still needed to complete the invoice for next week’s beer order and return a call to a new vendor before they opened in two hours.

  Owning a bar wasn’t just mixing drinks and writing paychecks. There was so much more that went into it, but he’d done it so long—hell, he’d grown up here—he pretty much did everything on autopilot.

  Is that how he wanted to spend the rest of his life? Doing the same thing day in and day out? How could a thirty-one-year-old man not have a clue what he wanted to do with his life?

  The tempting business proposal from the random stranger still weighed heavily on him and kept him awake at night.

  Granted, the looming deadline wasn’t the only thing keeping him awake. A raven-haired vixen posing as his best friend had him questioning everything he’d ever thought to be a truth.

  Gray set the last chair on the floor and turned to head toward his office. The old black-and-white picture hanging behind the bar stopped him. He’d seen that picture countless times, passed it constantly, but the image of his grandfather standing in his army uniform outside the bar on the day he bought it seemed to hit home this time.

  The back door opened and slammed shut. Only a handful of people used the back door. A sliver of hope hit him as he stared at the doorway to the hall, thinking he’d see Kate step through.

  But when his father rounded the corner, Gray smiled, hating how disappointment over not seeing Kate had been his first reaction.

  She’d retreated again after their trip. Her pattern shouldn’t surprise him, but it did. Whatever she was afraid of, he could battle it. Seriously. Did she not think all of this was freaking him out a little, as well? But there was no way in hell he was just going to ignore this pull toward her. He knew without a doubt that she was being pulled just as fiercely.

  “Want a beer?” Gray asked as he circled the bar.

  Reece Gallagher went to the opposite side of the bar and took a seat on one of the stools. “You know what I like.”

  Gray smiled as he reached for a frosted mug and flipped the tap of his father’s favorite brew. He tipped the mug enough to keep the head of the beer just right. Another thing he simply did without thinking.

  He’d been meaning to call his dad, but now that he was here, there was no better time to discuss the future of Gallagher’s.

  Gray set the beer in front of his dad, the frothy top spilling over. He pulled a rag from below the counter and swiped up the moisture.

  “Had a visitor the other day,” he told his dad.

  “Oh, yeah?” Reece took a hearty drink of his beer before setting the mug back on the bar. “Something tells me there’s more to the story.”

  “He offered me more money than I’d know what to do with if I sell him this bar.”

  His father’s dark eyes instantly met his. “Sell Gallagher’s? I hope you told him where he could stick his money. Who the hell was this guy?”

  Gray swallowed, resting his palms on the smooth bar top. “Businessman from Knoxville. He left me his card and told me I had a month to think about it.”

  His dad’s silver brows drew in as he shifted on his stool and seemed as if he was about ready to come over the bar. “What’s there to think about, son?”

  Gray figured his father would have this reaction. The bar had been in their family for years and selling had never been an option. Hell, Gray had never thought about selling the place until he’d been presented with the option.

  He had to be honest with his dad. There was no reason to gloss this over and pretend everything was fine and he wasn’t contemplating the change.

  “Maybe I’m not meant to run this bar.”

  Silence settled between them as the words hung in the air. Gray didn’t back down. If his father and the military taught him one thing, it was to never back down from what you believed in.

  “You’re actually considering this.”

  Gray nodded even though his father hadn’t actually asked. “Something is missing in my life,” he said.

  His father’s response was another pull of his beer. Gray figured he should just lay it all out there. His dad might not like the direction of Gray’s thoughts, but he did appreciate and expect honesty.

  “I’m thankful for this, all of it. I know you and Grandpa worked hard.” He pulled in a deep breath. “I’m just not sure this is what I was meant to do in life.”

  Reece Gallagher tapped the side of his mug. Whatever was rolling around in his mind, Gray knew his father was formulating a plan to convince him to stay.

  “How much were you offered?” his dad finally asked.

  Gray threw out the number which resulted in a long, slow whistle from his father.

  “That’s a hell of a number,” he agreed. “And you think this money will ultimately buy you what you want in life? Which is what, exactly?”

  Gray shrugged. “I have no clue. There’s a void, though. I haven’t been able to put my finger on it.”

  “A wife? Kids?” his dad suggested. “Settling down is a logical step.”

  Gray pushed off the bar. He was going to need a beer of his own if this was the path the conversation was going to head down.

  “I’m not looking for a wife, let alone children.”

  He pulled a bottle from the cooler behind the bar. Quickly he popped the top and tossed it into the trash.

  “I know that’s what worked for you and Grandpa,” he went on, resting his bottle on the bar. “But I’m not you or him. I’m my own person, and is it so bad that I’m not sure what I want?”

  “No,” his father agreed. “But I also don’t want you making decisions based on money alone, and I certainly don’t want you letting all of this go only to find that what you were looking for was here all along.”

  What the hell did that mean? Stonerock was a great town, but it wasn’t necessarily where he wanted to spend his future.

  “The decision is ultimately up to you,” he dad went on. “You have to understand that I’m not giving you my blessing if you choose to sell. What does he want to do with the bar, anyway?”

  Gray took a drink of his beer, then leaned onto his elbows. “He and his business partner want to make Stonerock like a mini-Nashville. I guess they’re looking to buy more businesses in the area and revamp them to draw more tourists.”

  Reece wrinkled his nose. “That’s absurd. Stonerock is just fine the way it is.”

  Gray finished his beer and tossed his bottle. Then he grabbed his dad’s empty mug and set it in the sink below the bar.

  “I won’t contact him without talking to you first,” Gray assured his dad. “I don’t want you to think that your opinion doesn’t matter or that I’m only looking at dollar signs.”

  His dad came to his feet and tapped his fingertips on the bar. “I know money can sound good, especially that much, but family is everything, Gray. At the end of the day you only have a few friends and your family that you can count on. Money is just paper.”

  Why did his dad have to make him feel guilty? Why did he have to add more doubts in his head when he was so close to making a decision?

  Reece headed for the back hallway.

  “Wait a second,” Gray called out. “What did you stop by for to begin with?”

  Tossing a glance over his shoulder, his father shook his head. “It’s not important.”

  His footsteps echoed down the hall until they disappeared behind the closing door. Gray stared out at the empty bar, knowing that in just over an hour it would be bustling. That was definitely the main perk to this place. He’d never had to worry about patrons or making money. Gallagher’s was the only bar in town and it was a nice place to hang. He was proud of that accom
plishment, of the tradition he carried on here.

  Emotions filled his throat and squeezed his chest. No matter the decision he made, he’d always wonder if he’d made the right one. If he left, he’d look back and wonder if his father thought him a disappointment. If he stayed, he’d always be looking for something to fill the void. Could he achieve what his heart desired?

  Gray wasn’t going to be making any decisions tonight. Between the bar and Kate, he wasn’t sure how the hell he was supposed to maintain his sanity.

  * * *

  “I have to go,” Kate said around a yawn. “I have to meet a client early in the morning to discuss reorganizing her basement for a play-work area.”

  Lucy put a hand on Kate’s arm. “Don’t go. I haven’t even gotten to the part about the hammock.”

  Tara busted out laughing and Kate groaned. “Seriously, Lucy. Keep the honeymoon stories to yourself. You came back just as pale as when you left so I know what you were doing.”

  Lucy shrugged. “But the hammock story is hilarious. Can you even imagine how difficult—”

  Kate held up her hands. “I’m getting the visual.”

  Lucy had been back from her honeymoon only a day, but they’d been in need of some long overdue girl time. The wedding planning and showers and anticipation had filled their schedules over the past several months.

  Tara had invited them over to her house and opened a bottle of wine, and they’d proceeded to just decompress and gossip. Sweet Marley had gone to bed an hour ago, leaving the women to some much-needed adult conversation that wasn’t centered around dresses, registries and invitations.

  Kate didn’t partake in the wine, though. The last time she drank, the only time she’d drunk, had changed her entire life, and she was still reeling from the results. Maybe this would just her new normal and she’d have to get used to these unfamiliar emotions that seemed to have taken up residence in her heart.

  “Will you hang a bit longer if I promise to hold off on describing the hammock incident?” Lucy asked as she refilled her own wineglass.