Page 42 of Honey Bee Library (Sweet Tea and a Southern Gentleman #7)

EMERY

I sighed and shifted on Timothy’s bed. My son was passed out asleep next to me, his dark hair tickling my face as his head slipped lower and lower down my shoulder. I quietly closed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and put it on the nightstand next to his bed.

My eyes felt heavy, and I rubbed them to wake myself up.

I still had a load of laundry to do and dishes to wash before I could crash.

A day of board meetings and interviews had left me exhausted.

Add an evening of running after Timothy, and I was ready to climb into my satin pajamas and pass out. But I couldn’t.

A mother’s work is never done.

I made sure to hold Timothy’s head as I slipped off his bed and twisted so that I could lower him down onto his pillow without waking him. Once he was tucked in with his nightlight on, I tiptoed out of his room and softly shut his door behind me.

Our condo was quiet as I made my way down the hall and into the kitchen, where I turned the faucet on so the water could heat up.

“He asleep?” Noah’s voice startled me. I turned to see him emerge out of the shadows.

I pressed my hand to my heart in hope of calming it to a manageable beat. “Yeah. Out like a light.” I offered him a weak smile. “You can go to bed if you want.” I yawned. “I’ve got a load of laundry to start and some dishes to do.” I nodded toward the sink.

“You sure?”

I nodded. Leave it to the board to assign me a bodyguard.

I was still getting used to having someone follow me around, much less my late husband’s best friend.

Carson and Noah were friends in high school, but then Carson went to college and Noah joined the military.

After Carson passed, Noah kept in contact with me and Timothy through letters, so I was shocked when I walked into my office a month ago to find Noah standing there in a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, sticking out like a sore thumb.

I tried to fight the board—I even went to Bash to get his support—but they wouldn’t listen. As the new CEO of Torres Investments and a single woman, I was going to have round the clock monitoring whether I liked it or not.

Noah shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and nodded. “Yeah, okay.” He glanced around and then back to me. “I’ll be just a room away if you need my help.”

I nodded. “Noted.”

He studied me for a moment longer before he turned and headed down the hallway. My body physically relaxed when I heard the handle on his door engage.

I turned back to the sink and stared at the bowls Timothy and I had dirtied after our chef, Pierre, left for the night.

I’d wanted a late-night snack of ice cream and warmed caramel.

I knew that Julia would tsk at me tomorrow when she got to my place to clean—she never liked it when I took care of the things that, in her words, “you pay me to take care of.” But I was starting to feel suffocated by my life here in New York.

Especially after I found the entry in Carson’s journal that I wasn’t quite ready to face. The entry in his journal that had one request of me.

If anything ever happens to me, I hope that she finds someone new. I hope that she doesn’t lose herself in her work. That she finds happiness once more. And if we have kids, she’ll make sure they have a father.

Tears pricked my eyes. I could see the journal entry in front of me as if it were physically in the sink and not tucked away in my nightstand drawer.

Carson had always been the freewheeling one in our relationship. In college, I was the keep your head down and work kind of girl, while he was kegs and red solo cups. We were the definition of opposites attract, and when he died, I’d allowed myself to fall back into my old habits.

But now, after finding that journal entry, I knew I couldn’t ignore it. It felt like a final wish from the man who had stolen my heart and ripped it out the day he passed.

I didn’t want to date, but I knew I could never live with myself if I didn’t at least try.

Problem was, I didn’t have time to date much less knew how to start.

I sighed and straightened, flipping the kitchen faucet back on.

I wasn’t going to worry about that tonight.

Right now, my focus was these dishes and nothing else.

Just as I finished rinsing the last item, my phone chimed. I glanced down to see that it was a text from Bash. I quickly placed the spoon into the utensil holder and shut the door with my hip as I hurried to pick up my phone.

Bash: Hey, Abigail could use a friend, and I want you to see how Silver Lake Hotel is coming along. Any chance you could make a trip to Harmony?

I tapped my finger on the top of my phone as I read over his words a few times. Then I sighed and shifted the phone so I could use both thumbs to type my response.

Me: Sure. I’ll head down in the next few days.