From Best Friend To Daddy. Jules Bennett

“He is. He left me a note on my windshield this morning.”

      How could anyone not find Sam and his handwritten notes simply heart-melting? He’d done that when they’d been married and since their split, he continued to leave her notes. Tara always mentioned them and Kate wondered what it would be like to have a man who cared that much.

      The man was a hopeless romantic who’d just made some bad choices. Kate didn’t blame Tara for being cautious, though. Some obstacles were just too great to overcome.

      “We should get back out there.” Kate came to her feet and stared down at her heels. “If I ever get married, we’re all going barefoot.”

      Tara laughed as she stood up. “Deal.”

      Kate had pushed marriage thoughts out of her head long ago when her engagement ended. The whole ordeal had left her a bit jaded, but seeing Noah and Lucy come together after they’d both experienced such devastation in their lives gave Kate hope. She wanted to marry one day, to have a husband who loved her, start a family and live in the picturesque mountains of Tennessee.

      One day, she vowed. But first she was going to have to figure out how to get back on that friendship ground with Gray. Every time she thought of him now, she only remembered him tearing off her underwear and climbing up on that bar to get to her.

      And her body heated all over again. She had a feeling the line they’d crossed had been erased. There was nowhere for them to go that was familiar and comfortable because they were both in unknown territory.

       Chapter Five

      Gray slid another tray of glasses beneath the bar. For the past five days he’d gone about his business and mundane, day-to-day activities. This wasn’t the first time, and wouldn’t be the last, that he couldn’t shake the void inside him. Something was missing, had been for quite some time, but he’d never been able to quite place it.

      His father always said it was a wife and children, but Gray didn’t believe that. He wasn’t looking to settle down and worry about feeding a relationship. His parents had been completely in love up until his mother’s death when Gray had been five. He’d seen how the loss had affected his father, seen how the man had mourned for decades. Gray didn’t want to subject himself to that type of pain.

      Besides, he’d never found anyone who would make him even think about marriage.

      He’d been hand-delivered this bar when he’d come home from the army, just like his father before him. Gray’s grandfather, Ewan Gallagher, had opened the doors when he’d retired from the army after World War II. Right after that, he’d married the love of his life and started a family. Same with Gray’s father, Reece.

      They’d both had a plan and been the happiest men Gray had ever known. Not that Gray wasn’t happy. He knew how fortunate he was to have served his country and come home to a business with deep familial roots and heritage. Some men never came home, and some guys who did weren’t even close to the men they’d been before they were deployed.

      But beyond all of that, something inside him felt empty. The void that accompanied him every single day had settled in deep and he had no clue how to rid himself of it.

      Gray pushed those thoughts aside and headed to the back office. He needed to get his payroll done before they opened this afternoon.

      He sank into his worn leather office chair and blew out a sigh. He couldn’t even lie to himself. It wasn’t just the monotonous life he led that had him in a pissy mood. He hadn’t seen Kate once since she’d deserted him on the dance floor.