“Do you boys want to go with us to the reception?” Mom asks and takes my hand in hers when we stand.
“I don’t think so,” I reply. I can’t bear the thought of watching Meredith with that man for the next few hours.
No way.
“I need to get back to Nat and the kids,” Luke says and kisses our Mom’s cheek.
“What you said was really nice, son,” Dad says and claps his hand on my shoulder. “Addie would have liked that.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
I glance around the room one last time and see Mer wiping her eyes and hugging one of her former neighbors.
“Let’s go, man,” I murmur to Luke.
“You don’t want to say goodbye?”
I shake my head and glance over at the most beautiful woman in the room. “I already have.”
We say our goodbyes to our parents and make a hasty exit back to my Jeep.
“Well, that went better than I expected,” Luke comments and sighs.
“It was a funeral, dude. What did you expect to happen?”
“Don’t be an ass. Mer looks great. And she hugged you. That surprised me.”
“She’s grieving.” I shrug like it’s no big deal, but my stomach is still in knots. “I’m familiar. Had I seen her on the street two months ago, it wouldn’t have gone like that.”
“If you say so.”
“What are you trying to do? Set me up with her? She has a man. Cupcake man.”
“Who the fuck calls his woman ‘cupcake’?” Luke asks with a laugh.
“My thoughts exactly. And how in the hell can she stand that?”
“It’s pretty cheesy,” he agrees with a nod. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Come inside,” Luke says when we pull up to his house. “Looks like Jules and Nate are here.”
“I haven’t seen the baby since she was born.” We climb out of the Jeep and when we step inside, we hear Jules and Nat laughing. Nate is lying on the floor on his belly and Livie is climbing all over him.
“We buy her a state-of-the-art jungle gym out back, and all she wants to climb on is Nate,” Luke mutters in disgust.
“I like climbing on Nate myself,” Jules replies and wiggles her brows. “Hey, handsome.” She stands and wraps her arms around me. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you, beautiful.” I hug her hard and kiss her forehead before she pulls away then I make a beeline for the gorgeous baby girl in Nat’s arms. “My turn.”
“Who knew you’d be such a sucker for the babies?” Nate says and pushes himself up off the floor.
“I’m a sucker for the ladies,” I reply and grin down at a newborn Stella Montgomery McKenna. “Hello, gorgeous girl.”
“It’s kind of hot to see you with a baby,” Nat says thoughtfully.
“I’m glad you approve. It’s good to know the woman I’m going to steal from my brother thinks I’m hot.”
“Not gonna happen,” Luke replies as he passes a sleeping Keaton to Nat then scoops her into his arms, then sits with her in his lap. “Get your own girl.”
“I found one,” I reply and grin down at Stella who is watching me with big, sober blue eyes. “God, Jules, she’s awesome.”
“I know.” She sighs and leans on Nate’s arm, watching us. Livie toddles between Nate’s knees, begging to be held. Nat is holding Keaton.
“It looks like a daycare in here.”
Natalie laughs and kisses her son’s blond head. Where Livie was born with dark hair, her younger brother has light hair like Luke.
“Brynna’s due anytime, right?” Nate asks Jules, referring to her sister-in-law.
“Yep, just a few more weeks.”
“You’re all a bunch of baby making machines. But thanks for taking the pressure off me with Mom and Dad.” I wink at Luke who laughs and gently rubs his fingertips on Keaton’s head.
“You’re welcome. Anytime.”
Stella’s tiny pink lips pucker, and suddenly she lets out a loud wail.
“Oh, okay, this is my cue to leave.” I gently pass the crying baby to her mama and back away with my hands raised in surrender. “I don’t do crying women.”
“Pussy,” Luke taunts me.
“Call me all the names you want. I don’t like to make a girl cry.” I kiss each of the girls on the cheek and back away toward the front door. “Have a good afternoon, guys.”
“Bye!” They all wave and I return to my Jeep and toward the house I recently bought in north Seattle. It’s a fixer-upper, but I got it for a steal, and since I work construction for a living, I figure I can fix it up for a song and flip it for a tidy profit.
Win-win.
I wonder what Mer’s gonna do with her mom’s place? Will she keep it? Live in it? With Jax?
Why does the thought of that make me violent?
Because I still think of her as mine. After all this time, when I think of Meredith, she’s my Meredith. Irrational? Yes.
Stupid? Most definitely.
But I don’t give a fuck.
I take a deep breath and scrub my hand over my face and suddenly feel… heavy. As of right now it feels final. Over. Maybe I held out hope for all of those years that she’d come to her senses and come running back to me. Fuck, I don’t know what I thought. But seeing her today, hugging her so tightly and hearing her voice in my ear call me M, then seeing the other man claim her, finally hammered it home.
She’s not mine. She hasn’t been mine in a very, very long time.
It’s time to move the fuck on.
Chapter Two
Three Months Later
Meredith
“Madison, not to be confused with Madeline, so we do not say Maddie, forgot her shoes at home,” Jax says in a hurry as he bustles past me back stage. “So her mom is making a mad dash home to fetch them.”
“It’s fine, we have like thirty minutes,” I say and prop my hands on my hips to survey the area. Little girls are admiring themselves in the mirrors, in their pretty dance tutus and makeup. “I can’t believe we gave in to the tutus,” I mutter.
“The moms like to see them in frilly dance clothes.” Jax shrugs and then laughs when a little girl, while watching herself in the mirror, makes a complete turn, transfixed by the sight before her. “And the girls like it too.”