Page 11 of Christmas with the Baby Daddy

The one I was never supposed to want or miss.

Then or now.

5

BLAKE

Ican’t believe it.

Complete shock held me captive and I struggled to accept that my eyes weren’t lying to me.

I can’t freaking believe it.

That Zach was here, back in Vernford. At this party.

Here!

As I dabbed a wet cloth at my formerly white blouse—now tan with some of the gravy that splattered on it—I shook my head and cringed at how I’d reacted. Falling wasn’t graceful in any situation. But with a damn tray of food tossed up like unwanted confetti? Yeah, not my smoothest moment.

Embarrassment rivaled with the confusion of Zach being here. He’d made it no secret about what career he wanted, and it would always keep him far from town.

What changed?

When did that change?

How could Amanda and Jenny not tell me?

They wouldn’t have singledmeout to announce that he was coming home. Why would they? They had no clue who Zachary West was to me. To my sanity.

“Who wasthat?” Tiffany asked as she approached. In her hand was another wetted cloth, and she jumped right in to help me smear away the worst of the stains on the side of my blouse. Her brows spiked up high, and I didn’t need a second glance at her pretty face to know that expression of glee and curiosity meant she’d more than noticed Zach stepping into the kitchen and sharing the most awkward hello in history.

“Huh?” I was too flustered to speak like a cognitive adult yet, hung up on the shock and humiliation of my reaction.

“That tall, bearded guy.” She whistled. “Come to Mama, baby. Whew.”

“Um, just someone…” I strained to swallow past the emotions clogging my throat. “Someone my brother used to know.” That was putting it lightly. Zach and Kevin were partners in crime as kids, then best friends no matter what as they got older. “He used to play football with Kevin,” I added. Which was why Zach would’ve had any motivation to be at Coach Parker’s retirement party.

I glanced up, distracted not only by the silver and red mini jingle bell earrings she wore. They swayed and bounced as she moved to vigorously rub out the stains on my shirt. But past her, I caught a glimpse of the other members of the catering staff bringing more dishes in.

“Well, it sure is sweet of him to come back here and check that you were okay after you tripped.”

I hadn’t tripped. Not on any physical obstacle—just my gut instinct ofwhat the hellat seeing the one man I swore I’d never face again. The one man I wasn’t sure I would knowhowto face again.

“Actually, he didn’t,” I argued weakly, panicking that we were slacking on the clock. Jenny wasn’t a tough boss. She wasn’t strict and didn’t micromanage. But this job was a demanding one that demanded we adhere to the schedule of the party and the food delivery and removal. Tiff and I needed to be with the others to clear out dishes so people could have ample room for their dessert plates.

Another coworker brought a tray of plates through the swinging door. With it closing, I saw through the opening.

Reagan had her hand on Zach’s shoulder. Her bright-red nails reflected the light as she rubbed her fingers lower, feeling up his biceps. A smug, sultry smile curved her lips up as she chatted to him.

“He just…” Hell, I didn’t know how to explain Zach’s presence in town. He hadn’t come back to Vernford—ever—except for Kevin’s funeral. I doubted he’d flown in from a combat zone just for his high school coach’s retirement party. But I knew Tiffany was reading into that moment all wrong. “He clearly just felt obligated to say hello to me.” I refused to look into the fact that he’d voluntarily sought me out in the kitchen. And technically, he didn’t check whether I was all right after missing my step at the sight of him.

He had only stared at me. Speechless, almost.

“Tiff?” Jenny called out from the other end of the kitchen, busy stacking dirty dishes out of the way. “Can you clear the five top in the front?”

Shit.

“And, uh,” I said, patting Tiffany’s hand to stop her from trying to clean my shirt, “it’s just as well that he’s not in the mood to do anything more than say hello.”

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