Raymond poured us both a cup of coffee as Hunter helped Olivia in the kitchen. Hunter had always gotten on well with my best friend’s wife, and she had treated him like a practice baby, preparation for when their own had come along. They were baking something, I was pretty sure. I could hear them giggling and laughing away as they worked together.

“So, what do you think?” Raymond sat down opposite me and handed me a mug, and I drew my gaze from the kitchen and back to him.

“Hmm? Oh, with the company.” I nodded. We had been discussing work, a design of ours that seemed to have caught the eye of a business in the city. They seemed to like the look of it but were going back and forth for a lower price, which I wasn’t going to give them.

“I think they’re going to take it,” I said. “In fact, I’m certain of it. They just need to get their heads around the fact that they’re not going to find anyone better for the price, and I think they’ll be all right with it.”

“Right.” Raymond sank into a chair opposite me and pinched the bridge of his nose. I recognized the exhaustion on his face all too well. The baby had recently gone to sleep upstairs, and he was probably glad for the moment’s peace he was clinging to right now.

“You tired?”

“I didn’t even know it was possible to be this exhausted,” he replied, taking a sip of his coffee as though it was the only thing keeping him upright. “I have no idea how you did this with a business to run as well.”

“People keep saying that to me lately,” I muttered, remembering that Autumn had mentioned it a couple of times when we had been hanging out together. Or maybe it was that her words had a habit of getting stuck in my head. One or the other.

“Yeah, well, I feel like I’m hardly getting a moment to breathe, and I’m not running a business.” He leaned back and eyed me for a moment. “You sure you’re not some kind of superhuman?”

“I might have been back then, but I sure as hell am not now.” I chuckled.

“You ever think about packing the business in for a while?” he wondered. “I mean, you’ve probably made enough money to have you and Hunter and any kids he might have set up for life, don’t you?”

“Yeah, probably.” I agreed. “I guess I just… I like running the place, that’s all. Gave me a sense of purpose when I didn’t feel like I had one.”

“You’re not planning on expanding, are you?” he pressed, and I shook my head.

“Nah, I don’t want things to get any bigger than they already are,” I conceded. “It’s hard enough as it is now, balancing all of it. I don’t want any more than I’ve already got.”

“Right.” He shifted in his seat and watched me for a moment. Raymond knew me well enough that I sometimes felt he could peer straight through me, and I wasn’t sure if I appreciated that as a skill of his or not.

“I want to make a name for myself, for Hunter,” I replied, even though I knew he wasn’t trying to come out here attacking me. I didn’t know why I felt the urge to defend myself, maybe because I had started questioning my own life choices recently, and it had me second-guessing everything I’d ever done with my life so far.

“I do get that,” he replied. Raymond had been around me long enough to know what had kicked me into starting the company in the first place, and that was a wound he didn’t want to stick his fingers into.

“But you can’t live your entire life trying to make it right, buddy.” He leaned toward me. In the kitchen, Hunter let out a burst of laughter, and I smiled as I turned in the direction it was coming from. It was so good to hear him happy and interacting with somebody else. Ever since Autumn had taken me aside and let me know what she thought about his development, I had been hyperaware of the way he interacted with other people. I had been sure it was totally normal for a kid of his age to want to hold back a little, to be his own person before he started involving others. It was what I had been like when I was his age. But she knew better than I did. How many classes had she been through, helping kids like Hunter through the hard parts? I should have taken her seriously right off the bat, not dismissed her out of hand like she was out to get me personally.

“I know, I know.” I turned back to the conversation at hand. “And I’ve moved on from her. I don’t even think about her anymore.”

“All right.” He cocked an eyebrow, and I knew he was incredulous in the face of what I was saying. And I understood. I had spent most of my adult life doing everything I could to prove Hunter’s mother wrong about me, about the kind of person she was convinced I was.

“Hey, speaking of women.” He leaned forward with interest. “What’s happening with you and that woman?”

“Oh, the blind date?” I played it as cool as I could, even though the very mention of her name sent my pulse racing more than it should have. “Yeah, I guess things are going well. As friends, though.”

“Hmm.” He raised his other eyebrow. “Just friends, huh?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” I replied firmly, trying to convince myself as much as I was him. “She helped me pick out a suit the other day, says she’s going to find me some dates to wear it on.”

“Oh, is she now?” Raymond grinned widely. “Sounds fun. How do you feel about that?”

“Honestly, I know I should be getting back out there,” I admitted, “but I’m not sure I’ll find someone who fits with Hunter and me, you know? That seems like a long shot.”

“A guy like you, with your success, with a cute son to match?” Raymond remarked. “I don’t think you’re going to have all that much trouble.”

“You flatter me,” I replied dryly. “But they haven’t exactly been beating down my door the last nine years.”

“Hey, it’s not like you’ve ever opened that door to check,” he pointed out, and I cocked my head, conceding the point.

“I suppose you’re right,” I agreed. “But I’ve been so busy. I don’t see that changing in a major way.”

“But it will, now that Hunter’s older,” he pointed out. “You’re going to have more and more time the older he gets, don’t you think?”

“I guess I don’t want that yet,” I confessed. “Him growing away from me, I mean. I want him to be his own man, but it’s only been the two of us for so long, you know?”

“Well, you might get luckier than you think.” He held his hands up. “Plenty of women who would fit with you guys. Someone good with kids. A school teacher, off the top of my head.”

“Oh, come on.” I rolled my eyes at him. “You know we can be friends and that’s fine, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. So, you seeing her again? To convene on potential dates for you?”

“Actually, we are.” A smile spread across my face. “I’m looking forward to it, for what it’s worth.”

“So tell me, what are you doing with her?” he asked. “Something platonic, no doubt?”

“I’m taking her out on the yacht.” I shrugged, and he spluttered into his coffee.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I wanted to get to know her better,” I said. “She needs to get to know me and Hunter if she’s going to find a woman who’s a fit for both of us.”

“Taking her out on your yacht, though?” he remarked. “That’s tailor-made to impress her, you must know that.”

“I’m only showing her what the reality of my life is,” I replied calmly. I knew where he was coming from. I could see why he might have thought I was coming out here to make a point about what kind of guy I was, but it wasn’t like that. No matter how much he seemed to hope it was.

“Yeah, but the reality of your life is that you don’t spend so much time out on that thing, do you?” he reminded me.

“Yeah, but Hunter loves it, and I want to show her what he’s like outside of school,” I explained. “She only knows him as the quiet kid in her class, and I want her to see that he’s so much more than that.”

“And show her that you’ve got more to you than meets the eye as well, no doubt?” Raymond added for me. I shook my head, not wanting to admit he was somewhat right. I mean, if she did wind up liking the yacht, even being a little impressed by it, then that was no bad thing, was it? I was showing her everything that came with my life, so she would be able to better match me with someone who shared or wanted to share the same kind of lifestyle as I did.

“Well, I’m just saying, the yacht is a lot,” Raymond said with a laugh. “I can’t imagine how I’d react if someone showed me something like that within the first few dates.”

“Not dates, remember?” I corrected him. “We’re friends. This is all in aid of trying to find me a date in the first place.”

“Mm-hmm, yeah, sure.” he nodded, eyes wide and faux-serious, as though he didn’t buy a word of what was coming out of my mouth.

“You think the yacht is a little much?” I asked. I hadn’t been around anyone new in my personal life for so long, I had no idea where the line between appropriate and showing the fuck off was any longer.

“Maybe,” he said, lifting a hand to head off any protest. “But if you say it’s platonic, and she’s clear on that too, I don’t see much of an issue. At least you know she’s going to remember this.”

“Right.” I settled back into my seat, somewhat more satisfied than I had been. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps he was right that this was a little too much.

“Dad!” a voice came from the kitchen, and I glanced up, pulling out of the weird place in my head I had dropped into for a minute there. I ran my hands over my head and got to my feet, heading to find my son.

“What’s up, little guy?” I asked, grinning at Olivia in greeting as I joined them.

“We just finished making cookies,” Olivia told me. “And Hunter wants you to try one.”

“Let me get my coffee, and I’ll be right back,” I said, eyeing the fresh-made batch of cookies sitting on the counter in front of them. They did look good, I had to admit. I grinned as I headed to grab my cup, happy to have some time with the people I loved most in the world. No wonder I had never bothered seeking out anyone new. Why would I when I was already surrounded by so many amazing people?

Still, my mind strayed to her and our day on the yacht I had planned. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when she saw what I had prepared for us. In fact, I just couldn’t wait to see her face, full stop. And maybe there was more to that than I would have cared to admit. Even to myself.