By the Book (Meant to Be #2)(75)

They both laughed.

“How did that end up happening?” Izzy asked. “You working for Beau, I mean.” She’d wondered this since the beginning and somehow had never asked Beau.

“Oh, that’s a long story,” Michaela said. Izzy wondered if that was her way of blowing her off and not telling the story, but then she started talking again. “I knew his grandparents—my dad worked for his grandfather a long time ago, and they stayed close, so I’ve known Beau forever. I always liked him, even though he had a reputation as kind of a jerk. He was never like that here. His grandma and I always used to drink tea together, and she gave me a teakettle for a present one year for my birthday, and I was so excited. He teased me about it, called me Kettle, and it kind of…stuck.” She laughed. “Anyway, after his grandfather died, the lawyers hired my dad to kind of keep an eye on the house, check on it every so often. And one day, one of the neighbors called my dad to say he’d seen someone coming in and out of the house, and just wanted to make sure it wasn’t him, before he called the police. My dad thought it might be Beau, so he and I—and baby Mikey—went up to the house to check. When I walked into the kitchen, it was”—her eyes widened—“total chaos, and Beau was standing there beating something in a bowl and getting it everywhere.”

Izzy smiled. Yeah, she could picture that.

“Was he furious that you were there?”

Michaela laughed. “I was going to say you can imagine, but you don’t have to imagine. When he realized who we were, he calmed down. We left him our numbers, and a few days later he texted me to ask if I knew anyone who could cook for him and stuff, since he was tired of getting takeout. I’d always worked in restaurants, but I’d just had the baby a few months before and was dreading going back to that world, so I said I’d do it. At first, it was just dropping food off for him a few times a week, and then I started sticking around to cook there and do the dishes and stuff, and then he had the idea for the foundation—he told you about that, right?”

Izzy nodded and tried to keep her expression neutral. Beau had told her about the foundation before they were anything more than just working together.

It wasn’t that she cared if Michaela knew there was something going on between her and Beau. But for the same reason she hadn’t told Priya, she didn’t quite want to say anything to Michaela. It felt good, for this to be between just her and Beau. At least for now.

“Anyway, he asked me if I could help him with that stuff, so somehow I ended up working for him full-time.” She shrugged. “It’s kind of a weird job, but it’s super flexible with a baby—Beau doesn’t care if I’m late some mornings if the baby has made it impossible to get out the door, or if I need an emergency day off because he’s sick, or if I bring him some days for an hour or two if I need to, or whatever.”

Izzy tried to imagine how Beau would have functioned for the past year if he hadn’t had Michaela around. She couldn’t.

“Well, thank goodness he had you,” Izzy said. “He would have been a mess otherwise.”

“More of a mess, you mean.” Michaela glanced over at Izzy. “I was worried about him, you know.”

“Oh?” Izzy looked at her, but her eyes were on the road. “Just in general, or…?”

Michaela nodded. “Just in general,” she said. “And or.”

Yeah. Anyone who saw Beau every day would have been worried about him. At least, anyone who cared about him would.

“I knew he was anxious about this book, even though—maybe especially because—he never talked about it,” Michaela said. “How’s it going now, anyway? Good, it seems?”

Izzy smiled. “Really good. I’m not even sure if Beau realizes how much he’s done and how far he’s gone. He’s worked so hard on it. I’m just really proud of him for everything he’s done—I think the book is going to be great.”

“Oh, that’s so good to hear,” Michaela said.

Izzy knew she was gushing, but it was true. He had worked so hard. But she really needed to stop talking about Beau before she said too much.

“Okay, tell me more about this wedding, and what kind of dress you’re looking for. We need a plan of attack.”

Michaela’s smile dropped away. “Ideally, I’d like something that looks roughly like a tea cozy. Can we find that?”

Izzy laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”





Friday, at the end of their library session, Beau closed his laptop and smiled at her.

“Want to go surfing tomorrow morning? It’s supposed to rain, so it won’t be that crowded at the beach.”

Izzy raised her eyebrows at him. “I feel like this is one of the times when the crowds have a point. Won’t it be freezing in the water? And won’t the waves be too big for me?”

Beau shook his head as they both got up to leave the library. “I checked the surf report—the waves won’t be that high. It’s not going to be windy, just a little rain. Perfect weather for a novice.” He reached for her shoulder as they walked toward the door but stopped himself. “Plus, I’ll be there. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Okay,” she said. “Surfing tomorrow morning sounds great.”