Page 77 of Second Chance Baby

I swung my gaze to Bridget, but she was focused on our daughter.

My automatic reaction was sarcasm.Oh, yay, keeping secrets already.But that wasn’t really fair. I also hadn’t told her about the pent-up conversation yet.

If I wanted her to trust me again, I had to learn to do the same.

“Yeah,” Carrington said quietly. “But it’s not a big thing, I promise.”

“That’s okay, sweetheart. I had my first boyfriend around your age. Maybe a little older.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. His name was Tony. I was sure we were going to get married one day. We did not. He dumped me for the new girl in class before a month was over. A few years later, I met your dad.” Bridget smiled. “I was sure I was going to marry him too, and that also did not happen. Yet,” she added meaningfully, slanting a glance at me.

I looked down at the hand I’d fisted in the comforter. “Yeah, your dad was pretty slow on the uptake. Maybe he’s learned a few tricks by now.” I rose to grab my keys and wallet before heading into the bathroom to grab my suit jacket.

Why did it feel then as if somehow, I knew even less?

EIGHTEEN

I didn’t knowwhat had changed the mood with me and Travis, but I had a feeling I’d done something again. Judging from his abrupt silence, I suspected it had to do with me not telling him about the boy with Carrington when I’d picked her up the other day.

“They weren’t doing anything,” I said softly as he drove us to the gazebo at the lake where his agent had told us to meet her.

Travis glanced at me, his fingers tight on the wheel.

Okay, it was definitely about the boy. “It freaked me out, but I figured it was just one more thing I’d missed. He split after I showed up and Carrington ran to me. I’ll admit to having some uncharitable thoughts about males right then.”

“Probably led by me running off post-shoot. You must’ve assumed I intended to duck and run.”

“I honestly didn’t know. We went from no contact to… So much intense contact.” Even now, the shock of Travis’s letting me back into his life was far beyond what I expected from this trip. I’d hoped to crack open the door, and now it felt as if we were on an entirely new plane.

“I didn’t know what I was doing. I even got pulled over by my cop brother while I was freaking out.” He held up his phone.“Who apparently changed his phone number and neglected to tell our cousins. Cam has been texting me all damn morning, and now he’s calling me trying to get a hold of Christian.”

“I don’t think you ever mentioned these cousins to me. Or maybe I don’t remember them.”

He blew out a breath. “This one lives in Turnbull and him and his annoying brother, Sam, apparently got in some pissing match about whether the Cove really can get a dude hooked up and married with a kid that quick.”

“I really must have missed a lot about town while I was gone.”

“It’s an ongoing joke around here. Hell, we were definitely one of the poster children early on. We hadn’t been trying to have a kid—not that I’d change it for the world.”

“I know,” I said softly.

It had been a surprise when Bridget had gotten pregnant. Not that we’d ever been overly careful. Heat between the sheets had never been part of our problems, that was for sure.

“Then Cam asked what happened to me.”

Understanding dissipated some of the ball of anxiety I hadn’t even realized I was creating. “Because we broke up.”

“Yeah.” He released a laugh, shaking his head. “When I woke up, I was so fucking happy. Since then, it’s been downhill. My kid has a maybe-boyfriend—she’s not even eleven, for God’s sake—and oh, yeah, the Cove is the perfect couple hive, why are you the fuck up, Trav? Just wondering. Thanks, Cam.” Lightly, he hit his head against his headrest. “Hell, maybe I should change my number and not tell any of my family, either. It worked for Christian since I’m now fielding questions for him for some reason.”

My heart thundered in my head. Was I causing all of this? “Maybe you didn’t pick the right?—”

“Do not say it.” He pulled into a parking spot just past the gazebo, near the park, then turned to me. “We have been right since day one. Fucking day one.”

I swallowed down the emotion that came up so easily around him. All these careening feelings between us were obviously affecting Travis too.

“If anyone has anything to say about that, they can say it to me. Preferably today since I’m just in the mood to rip someone’s head off and chuck it in the lake.”

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