Page 96 of My Best Bet

“Lucy’s mom?” Colt said with a sad smile. “Stella. She uh…” His throat bobbed with a hard swallow. “She passed. Car accident. Faulty brakes. Lucy was only a couple months old. It was… it was hard.”

“I’m so sorry.” My hand went to his shoulder. “You don’t have to–”

“It’s okay.” He shook his head. “She would’ve loved to meet you. She knew all about you.”

I looked at him in question.

“The angel wings tattoo,” he explained. “She asked about it, then she wanted to know everything about you, just in case.”

“Just in case?”

“In case you came into Lucy’s life one day,” he said with a soft smile.

He must’ve caught the confusion on my face, because he quickly explained, “Stells and I, we weren’t ever…” His forehead creased, “romantic? We were really good friends.”

I wanted to ask more, but I was interrupted by a group of little boys bolting through the living room, cackling as they went. One kid almost knocked down a lamp, but Colt’s arm shot out and steadied it. The boys flew through the front door, leaving it wide open. A gust of wind blew into the house, making the baby let out another little cry.

“Oh I know, it’s too cold for you,” Colt spoke gently to the baby. “I'm so sorry, little one. I’ll get that.” He stretched to kick the door shut. “That’s better, isn’t it? Yeah, that’s better.” He bounced his knees.

Seeing this large, tattooed man, who was so masculine and gruff on the ice, acting so gentle with the baby completely undid me.

When Elsie and Piper wandered back in the room, Colt made no move to hand the baby back. He kept bouncing his knees and staring down at the precious bundle in his arms while we chatted.

It wasn’t until Lucy ran into the room asking Colt to come outside that he handed the baby back.

Before he left, Colt gave my hip a squeeze and whispered, “You look gorgeous today by the way,” before dropping a kiss on my hair and wandering away.

“Oh my God, okay,” Elsie fanned her face, “I didnotthink Colt had that in him.”

“What?” I laughed, my face burning from the attention.

“The charisma, the vibe, I love it,” she laughed. “In the last couple years, I’ve never even seen himtalkto another woman,let alone,” her hand motioned in a circle around my face, “be all flirty like that.”

“You should’ve seen them as teenagers,” Piper said. “They were disgustingly in love.” She rolled her eyes, but a grin pulled at her lips.

“What about you?” Elsie asked her.

“What about me?”

“Do you have a significant other or are you dating?” Elsie wagged her eyebrows.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kappy stiffen. He locked eyes with Piper from across the room.

She leveled him with a sassy grin and pushed her hair dramatically off her shoulder. “I havemanylovers.”

Kappy’s nostrils flared. He frowned before tipping his beer bottle up and draining the rest.

I was not about to get involved in the crossfire between those two. They’d have to settle it one of these days, but now was not the time, because it was Lucy’s day, and from the looks of it, she was having a blast with the other children.

Checking the time, I darted in the kitchen to get the cake ready. But as soon as I rounded the corner, I came to a dead stop, because someone was already sticking candles in her mermaid cake.

She looked almost the same as she did ten years ago– same perfectly coiffed hair, same preppy clothes, she even wore the same shade of light pink lipstick. She just had a few more wrinkles coming through her expensive makeup, showing her true age.

My stomach pooled with dread as I took a slow step backwards.

And then her head popped up. She gave me a bland smile, seemingly not at all surprised to see me. “Hello Meredith, I was hoping to speak with you today.”

Shit.My eyes slammed closed for a second. I couldn't bolt out of here… could I? Craning my neck, I tried to look out the back window in hopes of catching Colt’s attention.

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