Page 127 of Just One Fake Date

Would Shannyn be the first challenge he lost?

The idea was annoying but he couldn’t shake it once he had it. Ty didn’t like failing. He didn’t like surrendering. He didn’t want to admit that there was anything he couldn’t fix. He saw a chance to move forward and changed lanes, wincing when he heard the crunch of metal.

What he needed was to make a new plan. He gritted his teeth and got out of the car to talk to the other driver and see just how bad the damage was.

Colleen staredat the kitchen phone after she put down the receiver. Her first-born had never spoken to her that way. Tyler had always been a polite and respectful boy—it wasn’t that he never disagreed with her, it was just that he kept it to himself when he did. He’d never challenged her like that before.

It was the fault of that girl...

“You’re looking unhappy,” Jeffrey said as he came into the kitchen. “Is it going to rain for the wedding, after all?”

“It’s your son,” she said.

“I seem to recall that you had a part in his conception, too,” he said mildly.

“I was trying to warn Tyler about getting serious with Shannyn and he told me to stay in my lane. What does that even mean?”

“It means it’s too late.”

“What are you talking about?”

Jeffery came to stand beside her as he poured himself a cup of coffee. His leisurely manner was completely at odds with Colleen’s agitation. He topped up her cup as well, as if nothing was wrong at all. “Did you see his expression change when you tormented Shannyn with Ethan?”

“Ethan isn’t a torment. He’s a wonderful baby...”

Jeffrey looked her in the eye and arched a brow.

“I didn’t,” Colleen admitted. “I was watching Shannyn.”

“I was watching for Ty,” Jeffrey admitted, pouring cream into her coffee for her, just the right amount. “And I think, my love, that you need to make your peace with the implications of this particular woman being in his life.”

“Why?”

Jeffrey smiled and clicked his mug against hers, whistling softly as he left the kitchen.

Colleen stared after him as she realized what he meant. “You think he’s in love with her!”

“I know he is. Whether he knows it yet, much less whether she does, is another matter altogether, but if you were a smart woman—” He paused in the doorway to smile at her. “And I know you are, Colleen.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.”

“It’s not flattery if it’s true.” Jeffrey sobered. “Stay out of this, Colleen. You can’t win it.”

“But you know he’ll only be happy with a family.”

“I don’t know that at all. I suspect he’ll only be happy with Shannyn, if he’s really in love.”

“And she has a tattoo. Two of them, he says!”

“Don’t you recall teaching our kids to look beyond the surface?”

Colleen frowned. “We could...”

“Stay out of it.” Jeffrey’s voice hardened as it seldom did and she knew to pay attention. “You’ll just force him to choose, and no man worth his salt chooses his mother over his beloved.”

“But...”

“Remember when I taught the kids to ride their bikes?” he asked.

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