Bobby Jay put his arms around both women. “Now that you’re here you can join us all for cake. Miss Shelby has made the finest cake in the history of the world.”
“You know, I better get going.” I stood.
Bobby Jay’s head dropped.
Ryder looked unsure as to what he should do or say. I took matters into my own hands. I shimmied around the coffee table to get close to the man I loved. I took one moment to peer into his eyes and say with my own what I really wanted to. Tenderness filled his, letting me know the message was received. It gave me courage to lean in and press my lips against his warm cheek. I only lingered for a second. “Happy birthday,” I whispered. “I’ll see you Saturday.”
He placed his hand on the cheek where my lips had just been and nodded.
I turned and gave a dazzling smile to everyone else. I took note of Macey’s dropped jaw and Marlowe’s impressed grin. “Good night, ladies. See you at work tomorrow.”
Translation—keep your hands off my man.Chapter Twenty-Two“He’ll be here.” Emma patted my arm after I’d looked toward the entrance at High on Laughs for the hundredth time.
I had emailed him yesterday with the address and reminding him of the time, thinking that would be cute and spark some sweet memories of us. I took a chance that he still had his old email address. He did and he emailed me back saying he was looking forward to it. He still didn’t call me Chief, but I was hoping we were getting there.
“Don’t count on it,” Aspen disagreed. “There is one thing you can and should count on, and that is that men will disappoint you as often as they can. Take Leland, for example. See, I thought he would stay out of mine and Chloe’s life forever, but no, the pig called me this week after three years of hearing nothing from him, not even a birthday call to his daughter. And you know what he told me?” Her voiced cracked. “He informed me he got remarried and has a new baby, another daughter.”
Everyone in our group who was standing around the DJ booth gasped, even Sawyer and Brad.
“That’s right.” Aspen was doing her best to fight back tears. “Not only that, he might have a job opportunity that will bring him back to Colorado and he wants to know what he can do to make things right between us so that he can see Chloe. When I told him there was nothing he could do, he said he’d take me to court if he had to.”
“No!” Emma reached into her bag and handed Aspen a tissue.
“That d-bag,” Jenna hugged Aspen. “Doesn’t he owe, like, thousands of dollars in child support?”
Aspen nodded against Jenna. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t bar him from seeing her. Though he could be jailed or fined for it. I could only hope. I don’t have the money to fight him in court.”
“We’ll help,” Sawyer put his arm around Emma. Emma beamed up at him as if he were finer than frog hairs.
“That’s kind of you.” Aspen dabbed her eyes. “But he’s never followed through with any promise, so hopefully he won’t now. You know what kills me the most? He said his new wife taught him how important family is and what love feels like. What were Chloe and I to him? I did love him and tried my best to make us work despite the odds. I begged him to stay.” She crumbled into Jenna’s arms.
My heart ached for her. No wonder she was so disillusioned about men and relationships. I knew she was only nineteen when she got pregnant and married. So young to have your heart ripped into shreds. Having a child, I’m sure, only made it harder. She didn’t even get the chance to graduate from college until this year. I thought she was remarkable. Her twelve-year-old daughter, Chloe, was the sweetest, smartest kid I’d ever met. I attributed that to Aspen being such an attentive and hardworking mother. She talked tough about men, but she was all soft when it came to her girl.
“Baby, we’ve got to get ready and start the show,” Brad gently reminded Jenna.
Jenna gave Aspen one more big squeeze. “We’ll figure this out together.”
We all nodded.
I put my arm around Aspen. “Let’s go find some seats.” I took another peek at the door before we took up a section in the second row. I saved a seat for Ryder on the end, telling myself there was still ten minutes before the show started so I shouldn’t worry.
We all talked about Emma’s soccer team she coached to pass the time. They’d had a game today. It brightened Aspen up since her daughter, Chloe, was the goalie and she had made some spectacular saves, from the sounds of it.