Ryan gave me custody of her, though, because he knew I would love her as if she were my own daughter. I’m a better person because Ryan challenged me to be one. He supported me when I needed him most, but then he made sure I was strong enough to stand on my own. As much as I want Skye to be happy, what am I teaching her if I say yes? How much do we accept from Delinda? Where’s the line? “I don’t know what to do.”
In a deep, sympathetic tone, Alessandro said, “I have one daughter, and she has given me all of these gray hairs.” He touched her shoulder gently. “My advice, even though you haven’t asked for it, is: Pick your battles. You’ve already lost this one, but regroup. There’s a chance you may win the next.”
Shaking her head, Hailey laughed without humor. “I thought I knew what I was doing, but now I wonder if I’m doing anything right.”
“I remember that feeling, but it passes. Have faith in yourself. My daughter now has children of her own, and I am able to enjoy watching her fumble through the process. It’s not easy for anyone, but love goes a long way to smooth out the mistakes we make.”
I just hope my greatest mistake wasn’t in coming here. “I know Delinda means well, but—”
“She is as giddy and excited as your niece. You could take that from her, but do you want to?”
The image of Skye stomping her foot returned. She definitely needed to be reined in. How do I do that without being the killer of all joy? “Tell me it gets easier.”
“It doesn’t, but I would do every stage all over again if I could. Come, let’s go see which pony you’re adding to your family.” They started walking, and he asked, “Is your back cold?”
Only when he said it did Hailey realize part of it was. Her hand automatically sought the source. Ice cream—a nice blob of it was smeared into the back of her shirt. “Perfect. Just perfect.”
Alessandro chuckled. “Children—a blessing and a bane. Go change, and I’ll stall the equine adoption process until you return.”
With a nod, Hailey sprinted down the steps and across the lawn to the guesthouse. She rushed to her bedroom and pulled her shirt over her head, then dropped it in the bathtub. She had just finished pulling on a new shirt when her phone rang. It’s probably a zoo calling to announce the delivery of lions or fucking unicorns.
She answered her phone while striding out of her bedroom. “Hello?”
“Hailey, it’s Spencer.”
She froze. “Hi.” She almost asked him how he got her number, but decided it didn’t matter.
“I haven’t been able to concentrate since I saw you.”
What was the proper response to that? “I’m sorry?” she said in a joking tone.
“Don’t be.” His voice lowered to a deep purr. “Dinner tomorrow night—six o’clock. Tell me where to pick you up.”
“No.”
“Thursday, then.”
She hesitated. Yes . . . No. What am I thinking? Of course I can’t see him. “I can’t.”
“Lunch, then.”
She chuckled nervously. Spencer had never lacked in confidence. It was what had drawn her to him in the beginning. If he cared what anyone thought of him, it hadn’t been his college classmates.
And in the end—not even me.
After not hearing from him for so long it should have been easy to turn him down, but it wasn’t. The boy had become a man who knew what he wanted and, for the moment at least, that appeared to be her. We always did have bad timing. “It wasn’t the time of day that was the issue.”
“There are things we never talked about—things we should have.”
Some of her frustration with Delinda and Skye spilled over into her response. “I’m allowed to say no. It doesn’t make me a bad person. It doesn’t mean that I don’t want everyone to be happy. Sometimes no is the right answer. Of course I want to agree to everything. Who wouldn’t? But where does it all lead? I can’t just throw caution to the wind and fill my life with ponies and ex-boyfriends and think there won’t be consequences.” She stopped to take a breath and groaned. Yeah.
“Consequences?” he asked slowly.
“We don’t have anything left to say to each other, Spencer. It’s too late.” She walked to the front of the guesthouse and watched Skye being led up and down the long driveway on a white pony with a long flowing mane and tail. The exhilaration on her face mirrored Delinda’s. “We can’t always do what we want and think there won’t be a price for it later.”
“You asked me if I ever cared about you. I did, Sunshine. I still do.”
Tears welled in Hailey’s eyes, but she blinked them back. “It wasn’t all you, Spencer. When my father died, I kind of crumbled.”
“I should have been there for you.”
“Maybe you would have been if I’d been able to tell you what I needed, but I didn’t know how. All I knew was that I needed to feel safe again.”
“Is that why you jumped right into another relationship?”
“I did what?”
“I saw you with him—the guy you left me for. You were all over him.”
“What guy?”
“Tall with curly hair and glasses.”
“Greg? You saw me with Greg? He was my brother’s friend.”
Spencer growled. “He looked pretty damn friendly toward you when I saw you with him.”
“Honestly, I don’t remember. But he did try to cheer me up when I first moved in with Ryan.” Like every other man besides Spencer, he’d faded away, unimportant and easily forgotten.
“Did you date him?”
“No, he asked me out, but—” But I was in love with you and devastated when you didn’t come for me. “So that’s why I never heard from you again? You saw me with Greg, and that was it? You were done?”
“You said we were over.”
Tears filled Hailey’s eyes. “It doesn’t matter, I guess.”
He sighed harshly. “It does. I was jealous as hell when I saw you with him. The idea of another man touching you made me—still makes me—” He swore. “I thought you had moved on.”
The emotion in his voice dissolved the years away. For just a moment she was a young woman hearing her boyfriend open up in a way he never had.
No. He’s not mine anymore. I’m not his. We’re just two people who had something a long time ago. Love came when neither of us was ready for it. “I went home to be with my brother because I didn’t feel like I had anyone else.”
He swore again. “Meet me tomorrow.”
It would never be the same. Not to mention how dangerous it is to even consider starting something with Spencer while working for his grandmother. “It’s hard for me to get away right now. My employer—”
“Lunch. Everyone is allowed one. Tell me where you work, and I’ll pick you up.”
“No. Don’t come here.” Oh, God, why does it feel so good to know he wants to see me?
“I’m not giving up. Not this time.”
Yep, that’s why. Spencer 2.0 is everything I liked about the earlier version and more. Saying yes would be so easy, but then what?
Saying no was impossible.
Delinda wasn’t the only one who was lonely. Hailey couldn’t remember the last time she’d done something for herself. Her social life had come to an abrupt halt when she’d taken Skye in. Meeting Spencer for one lunch didn’t need to lead to anything else. It can’t. I’ll have to be clear about that. “One lunch. It wouldn’t be a date.”
He chuckled softly. “Just two people meeting for old times’ sake.”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember Mangiarelli’s Pizza?”