“So, the mom is Rhett’s sister-in-law?”
“Well, the wedding isn’t until next month. Remember? You’re invited.”
“Don’t be like that, Theo. You know what I’m asking.”
My teeth graze along my bottom lip as I stare up at the white popcorn-style ceiling. Since I failed to put up any blinds, morning light has filled the room, and the blue hue gives the space a cool, serene vibe that reminds me of Winter.
“Yeah. It’s her.”
“Huh. That girl, huh? Well, I can’t wait to meet her.”
“Vivienne?”
“No. Well, yes. But Winter too.”
I smile up at the ceiling. “Yeah, I think you’ll like her.”
“How is she holding up? I was never a single mom with a baby. But I remember your dad going on the road and leaving me home alone with you two. I would practically toss you at him and walk out the door the minute he got back, just so I could have a few minutes by myself.”
“I think she’s okay. Happy but overwhelmed, if that makes sense?”
“That makes perfect sense. If I wrote a dictionary, that might be the definition I put under motherhood.”
I laugh, lighter already for having talked to my mom.
“Theo, honey, the question any good dad would ask himself now is: what are you going to do to make her feel less overwhelmed?”
14
Winter
Sloane: Should I kick him out? I’d kick him out for
you.
Winter: It’s fine.
Sloane: Should I come back from vacation and beat him up?
Winter: I would pay good money to watch you beat someone up.
Sloane: Is that a yes or a no?
Winter: Just don’t tell anyone. It’s his story to tell.
Sloane: What story? I don’t even know what you’re talking about.
Sloane: LMAO. See what I did there?
Winter: Did Jasper fuck all the brain cells out of your head with his massive dick?
Sloane: You love me.
Winter: I do.
Theo Silva is standing on my front porch at 10 a.m. on the dot. I can see him on the screen of my phone, awkwardly shifting his weight on his feet, with a paper coffee cup in each hand.
I’ve been ready for this. For him. Yesterday, I got the sense he wouldn’t be taking off into the sunset after finding out about Vivi. And I spent the entire night awake thinking about it.
He must hate me deep down. How could he not? But I want him to have a relationship with his daughter. I don’t want her to live with the fraught tension that I grew up around. I’m a grown-ass woman. A doctor. I know that I’m not warm and fuzzy, but I’m mature.
Ish.
I have my moments, and this needs to be one of them. For Vivi. I won’t worry about Theo liking me, and I’ll ignore how painfully attractive he is and chalk him up to an excellent specimen.
Vivienne will thank me for those genes one day.
Tugging at the bottom hem, I glance down at my vintage Rainbow Brite T-shirt. I paired it with baggy boyfriend jeans because none of my jeans from before fit that well anymore.
Something I try not to think about too much.
At least my tits look great.
Not that it matters. Because Theo is my . . . co-parent. We’re like business partners. Yes. I like how that feels. Tidy and non-threatening. Like we’re a team but can go our separate ways at the end of the day.
With a sure nod, I pocket my phone and open the door.
“Dr. Hamilton, were you waiting for me?” He winks, and all that composure evaporates like it was barely ever there. I’m plunged back to that night at the gas station. His undone boots and cocky grin.
Me staring like a total idiot.
The rush I felt when he hiked my dress up over my thighs like he was unwrapping a present. His fingers hooking inside my panties without even hesitating.
I clear my throat. “Looked more like you were waiting for me from what I could see on the camera.”
He glances up, eyes shifting until they land on the little square with a lens in the corner. “Good. I’m glad you have a security system. I was going to offer to put one in.”
I nibble at my lip and blink away. Why is he so . . . nice?
It’s unnerving. People are never this nice unless they want something from you. It’s not normal.
“Why don’t you just knock or ring the doorbell?”
He shrugs. “I don’t want to wake her up again.”
“I can give you my number.”
“I have it already.”
“How do you have it already?”
He clears his throat and then says, “I put it into my phone that night.”
I blink. “That night?”
“That night.” The word drips with innuendo. There’s no mistaking what night he’s talking about.
“You took my number without asking?”
Pink tinges the top of his ears, and he has the sense to look a little chagrined. “Figured I’d need it someday.”
I don’t know what to make of his revelation, and truthfully, don’t feel equipped to deal with it. I opt to forge ahead, leaving whatever complicated shit that is in the rear-view mirror. “So . . . you were just going to wait out here until I, what? Checked my mail?”
A deep rumble rolls in his chest and he smiles. Fuck, his smile is blinding. “I don’t know, Winter. I didn’t have a big plan. I grabbed you a coffee and decided to figure it out from there.”
He holds one hand out to me, steam wafting up through the hole in the lid. “Got it in town. Thought you might need one as much as me.” The corners of his eyes pinch, and I recognize how tired he appears. His golden skin has blue smudges beneath his dark eyes, and the stubble on his jaw has grown a little longer than his usual curated scruff. “It’s just an Americano.” He gestures the cup to me again.
I take it, realizing I’m staring at him, wondering why he’s bringing me coffee.
“I didn’t know what you like.”
I stare down at the lid, almost teary over the fact he’s here. Even though I dropped a bomb on him last night, he’s bringing me coffee.
“Other than tequila and doggy style—fuck.” He swipes a hand through his perfectly tousled hair. “Sorry. Can you say something so I stop making awkward jokes to fill the silence?”
I peek up at him through shrink-wrapped eyes. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
His brow furrows and his face shows genuine confusion. It strikes me as unusual how he wears his heart on his sleeve, the way every emotion and thought almost prints itself on his face.
“Winter, I think we’ve been through this once before. You keep looking for some ulterior motive with me, and there isn’t one. Can I come in? I want to see . . .” He pauses and clears his throat, like it’s still a struggle to say this out loud. “Vivi. I’d like to spend some time with her and talk to you some more.”
With a nod, I step aside and usher him in.
For a normal meeting.
A business meeting.
Watching Theo hold Vivienne for the first time does a lot of things to me. First, it makes me want to hurl in much the same way he did last night. There’s something profoundly overwhelming about seeing his eyes latch onto hers while her small hand wraps around his finger. “Hi, baby girl,” he murmurs. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
The sweet cooing noise she makes back at him, like she’s an instant goner for this man, makes me want to cry. And I never cry. It’s just not my thing. It’s pointless, and I always feel tired and bereft afterward—not better.
But when I can see him getting emotional just looking at her, holding her in his arms so naturally, it hits me in a way I never, ever saw coming. He stands and bounces gently, walking toward the big bay window that overlooks the front street.
He turns them toward his yard. “That’s where I live. Right next door. So, if your mom says it’s okay, I could come visit now and then.”
I sit on a stool at the kitchen island and try to remember the last time I just sat and drank a coffee that was still hot. Not hot out of the microwave, but truly fresh. I feel like I’m in this constant cycle of not having anything specific to do all day, yet the day goes by so damn fast.
Cooking, cleaning, sleeping, entertaining, snuggling, nursing, socializing. It seems like it should be easy. I work in chaos for a living, but this is so much harder.
Which is why I cannot, for the life of me, account for the way my body reacts to the sight before me. Theo was already hot as fuck, and Theo holding a baby is even hotter. If he goes out in public with Vivienne, he’s going to get more pussy thrown at him than he already does.
And somehow that makes me irrationally jealous.
“Look how beautiful you are.” The sun lights Theo and Vivienne’s faces in the same warm, golden hue. “You look just like your mom.”
Vivienne stares up at him and giggles, small hands reaching for the stubble on his cheeks, squealing when it rasps against her palms.
“Fuck,” I mutter, blinking faster than a hummingbird’s wings as I try to burn my tongue on the coffee just to give myself something less mushy and unhinged to cry over.
I’ve seen Rhett hold her a million times, and it’s never been like this. No, this is all Theo.
“Did you sleep okay?” he asks as he turns back to face me.