Page 41 of Accidental Baby Daddy

I smiled, thinking of the sleeping boy he’d been carrying a few nights ago at his house. I would have known that the little boy was his, even at a glance. He looked just like the pictures I had seen of Oliver when he was a kid.

The thought of little Olivers running around, calling me mommy, made my heart squeeze in my chest. I had fully expected for that to be my future for so long. I had imagined how our kids would look as they grew, had picked out their names and everything.

I didn’t want to examine how much it had hurt to see Oliver cradling a child and carrying him to bed when Iknew that the future I had always imagined would never come to pass.

“See you later?” Oliver said hopefully as he got his food, and I nodded briefly as Gillian just stared at the two of us, mouth wide open.

“You havegotto spill what’s going on there,” she whispered as soon as the door closed behind him.

“There’s nothing to tell,” I muttered, knowing that was a lie. There was plenty to tell, but I didn’t know where to even start.

“You were crazy about him in high school,” Gillian pointed out. “I remember that much.”

“That was a long time ago,” I mumbled, picking at my napkin, and tearing it into little pieces.

Gillian narrowed her eyes. “You know, I was so happy when you came back to town. I thought maybe I could finally have my sister be my best friend. But you’re just so stiff and closed off, Lex.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again, looking up at her with a small smile. “I’ll try to be better.” I took in a deep breath. “Oliver offered me a job.”

“A job?” she asked incredulously. “That’s all?”

“That’s not all,” I said quietly. “We’ve been... well, we’ve been hooking up, I guess you’d call it.”

She gasped. “My sister, the tramp.”

“Stop,” I said, laughing, knowing she was teasing. “It’s not like that. We’re both adults, right? Haven’t you ever had a fling? Also, that’s a heck of a thing to say to me after shaming me into being more open with you.”

She chuckled. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist teasing you. But, no, I would never even want to get involved with my high school sweetheart. That just makes things complicated.”

“It sure does,” I agreed, thankful when the wingsarrived. Gillian dug in. She couldn’t ask questions with her mouth full.

The Thai curry wings were, in fact, to die for. They were delicious paired with the house blue cheese dip, and I had sauce all over my face within minutes.

But that was par for the course at Bonnie’s.

I wiped off my face with the wet naps they provided, and Gillian grinned at me.

“This was nice,” she said. “How about instead of going to the Pig tonight we stay in with some ice cream and wine? You can tell me all about Oliver.” She paused. “And your ex-almost-husband.”

I thought about it for a long moment. “You know what, that sounds amazing.”

We headed back to Gillian’s place. Once we got inside, she threw me a pair of sweats and a t-shirt to put on. We sat on the couch watching bad reality television while each eating a pint of ice cream. Mint chocolate for Gillian, and Rocky Road for me.

There was something so sweet about it, something so comforting. We should have been like this years ago. It was my fault we weren’t. I was going to make up for it, though. I was going to be the big sister I always should have been.

No reason why we couldn’t start now.

I leaned against her. “So tell me about this guy you’re dating.”

Gillian blushed. “Gray? You met him.”

“Briefly. I don’t know the backstory though.”

“It’s boring,” she huffed, but I kept looking at her curiously. She took in a deep breath. “Okay, so we met at work.”

“Is he your superior? Is this going to sound like a romcom movie?” I teased.

She snorted. “No, we’re both lowly office workers. I asked him out, and, well, it’s been off and on ever since.”

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