Page 13 of Hot & Bothered

She messaged him back.I’ll do a reading for you when you come over for dinner.

He sent back a laughing emoji, followed by a heart.

Her heart thumped heavy in her chest.

“That kind of smile only comes when you’re thinking about a guy,” her dad, Bill, said with amusement in his tone. “Who is he?”

She bit her lip and set her phone down on the arm of the couch, taking a sip of her coffee before replying. “Jace. He’s Jordan’s best friend and a police officer, too. We met at the bachelor-bachelorette party, then again at the wedding.”

Her father hummed in response, a woodworking magazine open and in his hands. “Making plans to go on a date?”

“Yeah. We’re going to have dinner after his day-shift on the twenty-seventh.”

“Who’s having dinner?” her mother, Tracy, asked, entering the big living room, her red curls bouncing as she carried a tray of more gingerbread scones. Peyton’s mouth watered.

“I am,” Peyton said, leaning forward and grabbing another scone before her mother could even set down the tray down on the coffee table. “With Jordan’s best friend Jace.”

“Picture?” her mother asked, eyes—the same gray shade as Peyton’s—lighting up with excitement.

Peyton had already been through every one of Jace’s Instagram pictures, so she couldn’t say she didn’t have one. Her parents knew when she was lying. Nodding, she brought up a cute one of him in just jeans and a long-sleeve black shirt. He was smiling and giving a thumbs up to the camera in front of some waterfall, probably on the island.

Her mother sat down beside her and leaned in to check out Jace’s picture. “Ohh, he’s cute. Nice smile.”

“He has a great smile.”

“And you said he’s a cop with Jordan?”

Peyton nodded. “Yeah. He’s trying out for E.R.T., too.”

Her father’s gray brows lifted on his forehead. “Oh wow. Must be training pretty hard then?”

“Yeah, every day. Though, I think he took yesterday and today off.”

Her parents chuckled.

“Well, I’m happy to see you dating again,” her mother said, patting her thigh. “You deserve to find love and be happy.”

“But if being by yourself is what makes you happy, then we support that, too,” her dad quickly added, his brown eyes earnest. “Your happiness does not need to be defined by your relationship status or having a man in your life.”

Peyton and her mother rolled their matching eyes and smiled. It’d taken some gentle brainwashing on their part, but her dad was finally becoming the feminist they knew he could be. But growing up in a family of all boys, and working in the construction industry with blue-collar misogynists for the last thirty-five years, her dad required a lot of deprograming. He was on his way, though.

“Thanks, Dad,” Peyton said, biting into her scone. “Turns out Jace and I live across the street from each other. But I get that he’s busy. We’re both young and focused on our careers, so even if we only see each other for an hour some days, that’s okay.”

“Spoken like a practical woman with a good head on her shoulders,” her dad said, leaning forward to grab a scone for himself.

“Well, I hope that when you’re both ready, we can meet him. Anybody who can make you glow and smile like this is already in my good books.” Her mother pulled her in for a hug and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “Now, how’s everyone’s coffee?”

“Not Irish enough,” Peyton and her father said at the same time, which caused all three of them to burst out laughing.

Jace flung himself into bed. It was December twenty-sixth and his first day back to work. After his shift, he spent four hours at the gym training. His muscles were tired and achy, and his brain was a complete fog.

But even as exhausted as he was, that didn’t keep him from grabbing his phone and shooting off a quick text to Peyton.How was your uncle’s Boxing Day party?

She didn’t reply right away, but he wasn’t worried.

It was only eleven o’clock, maybe she was still at the party.

But before his screen went black, those three little dots started to bounce below his message.

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