Hayden crawled into bed and relaxed thinking of Austin and the adorable newborn piglets. She couldn't help but feel like tonight her life had changed a little. She was involved in something bigger, and although she was just an assistant, she hadn't dropped a single squirming squealing baby and every one of them had ended up alive with a mother happy and healthy.
Austin was amazing, handling the whole situation without so much as breaking a sweat and she found herself imagining him carrying one of the baby pigs in a swaddling blanket while giving it a bottle, it was weird, but the image made her deliriously happy.
It was freeing to be in a friendship with Austin and watch him work. It felt like she was part of something bigger, even if it were just wiping newborn piglets from birth goop, she didn't quiver or whine and she rose to the occasion. In that moment, Austin hadn't been sexy, or strange, just focused and until she turned weird at the end, semi asking him to come upstairs, it had been a pretty perfect evening.
She wished she'd had some male friends growing up, maybe then she would have some understanding of relationships between men and women that didn't involve dating or sex.
Her knowledge of straight men was always boxed up into either giving them compliments, tying to avoid being wanted by them, or tying to get their attention. But maybe a guy was just a girl without the giggles, if a relationship status wasn't in the front and center.
She tried to imagine being friends with Austin and it was easy, eating, laughing, hanging out while yelling about something silly on television. She could totally see it working as long as he didn't take his shirt off.
She tried to do the same with Warren. There would be talking, and laughing, but that's where it ended. She couldn't see herself sitting on a couch with Warren and not reaching out to touch him or not going crazy if her were watching the television. She immediately thought of her escapade in the water at the memorial service. Warren wasn't a friend. He had friend qualities, but she couldn't imagine herself ever just being social with him. From the first day in his office, he made her insides sing and her heart bang out of control to get closer.
It may be one sided, she may be chasing an impossible dream, but as much as she loved having Austin in her life, it was Warren that made her look at her phone twenty five times a day. It was Warren she wished were next to her in the morning and whose voice she wished to hear every day.
Tomorrow she would tell Austin that she wasn't his "one", it was only fair. If love did exist it shouldn't be convenience, or proximity, it should be someone who makes you think about breathing and someone you want to talk to most when times go bad. Maybe that wasn't possible with Austin, he had made it pretty clear he had some level of interest in dating, but other than casual dates and a few random comments it didn't seem like it was consuming him. Maybe.
She groaned at stupid Elvis and all his songs about easy and tidy love that made sense. Warren was far away and it would never work, but he'd be the reason she second guessed every man that was close and available. It was more than depressing.
If he asked her, she'd move in a heartbeat; give up the resort, the smell of the beach, the dreams of being an independent woman with a crazy family she hid from; and get up at six to make sure he ate a home cooked breakfast before work.
But there was her problem, Warren hadn't asked. What did a girl do when she finally figured it all out- all those crazy mixed up feelings and emotions only to discover it meant a life of weekends and random meetings when "business called"?
She put on her pajamas and pulled up her proverbial big girl pants. Maybe it wasn't a perfect relationship. Maybe Warren was even more attractive because he wasn't here all the time. She could use that energy to make the resort flourish. Either way, he was her Big Hunk O' Love and she was sticking with him until he pried her off.
Hayden resolved to talk to Angie first thing in the morning. If the resort was going to be successful they had to work as a team. And if there was one redeeming quality about Mason it was that he had vision. He was a royal dirtbag, but he knew the resort could be more. Maybe he went about it the wrong way, but there was no doubt that Dee needed to make some changes, and she trusted Hayden to make it happen.
Adrenalin surged through her veins and she grabbed her notebook and started making plans to make the resort fit in a little better with the big scale thriving neighbors. Staring with a kitchen that served more than bar and grill greasy foods that people ate because it was close. Her resort should have an elegant menu and that was only the beginning. Hayden smiled as she imagined all it could be with her heart and the vision bigger than hunk of month contests. Not that she wouldn't keep those.
She headed to her hand me down desk and wrote until her hand hurt. After the glowing pages were full, and her eyes were burning from lack of sleep, she crawled into bed and took one last glance at her phone. A text from Warren was there -
miss you - talk tomorrow? Xoxo
It wasn't Shakespeare, but he was thinking of her, and it was enough. She looked at the clock it read 3:00 am. She would still meet with Angie tomorrow, just not for a power breakfast. She was more of a brunch/lunch person anyway.
For tonight, she was fierce, exhausted, and had taken back her mojo. Not to mention she had helped in the life and death struggle of Supper and her piglets. If life were a point game, today she was definitely ahead of the game.
She awoke to the room phone ringing in the sunlight. It was 9 am, way too early to be getting calls. Her cell phone beeped next snd she unwillingly rolled over and checked it with one blurry eye. The text was from Angie.
THE INTERVIEW IS ON. ONE HOUR. MY OFFICE.
Whoever it was would be in for a surprise, Hayden was back on top of her game and ready to be what Dee had expected her to be. The fact that she had bed head and a nervous pit in her stomach didn't mean a thing.
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The next chapter has a surprise!! One that I've been waiting for. Thanks so much for following along on this crazy train. ChickLit has been one of my hardest genres to tackle and you guys made it amazing.
Elvis released Big Hunk O' Love in 1973. Seems like only yesterday😂