Page 63 of Beautiful Mess

I’m not the girl who gets the guy. Historically, I just don’t, and Conway will be no different. I dated his son, and not only that, but we were in a serious relationship. You can’t date your serious ex-boyfriend’s dad and have it be accepted and work out. The world doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t matter that Cole and I broke up a hell of a long time ago.

I can’t be falling for him.

It was a slip of the tongue. That’s all.

And yet, the rapid beating of my heart says otherwise.

Oh, god.

Twenty-Seven

Conway

She is fucking breathtaking.

There’re a couple of people ahead of me in line, but I don’t even care because it gives me a chance to admire Grace behind the counter. The smile on her face is bright and genuine as Mrs. Rochester shows her pictures of her new grandbaby on her phone. No matter how busy the bakery is, no matter how behind Grace is, she seems to always make time for her customers, and not just to ring them up for their orders, but to make them feel seen and appreciated. Every once in a while, her gaze will flit from the customer at the register to me, a flirty twinkle in her eyes.

I reach the counter several minutes later, and Grace smirks as her gaze meets mine. “Fancy running into you here,” she drawls, a hand planted on her hip and her head tilted to the side. “You miss me?”

“Oh, you know I do, baby girl,” I rasp, keeping my voice low. “But I also need to pick up a dozen of the marble cupcakes.”

“Cupcakes, huh?” Grace spins around and reaches into the glass case to grab them. “What’s the occasion?”

“It’s Willow’s mom’s birthday,” I explain, realizing how weird that probably sounds that I’m buying my ex-wife cupcakes for her birthday. “We’re all going out to dinner this evening to celebrate. It’s something we do every year, per my daughter’s request, and Willow begged me to pick up some cupcakes. Her husband offered to do it, but Willow wanted to be the one to bring them, so here I am.”

Never in a million years did I see myself celebrating my ex-wife’s birthday with her and her husband with our child every single year, but the limit for what I’ll do to make my kid happy doesn’t seem to exist. It’s the same for my birthday. Willow insists her mom and Tad come out to dinner with us.

“That’s sweet of you.” Grace’s full, glossy lips curl into a smile that makes my heart beat faster. She rings me up, and as I swipe my card through the reader, Grace says, “I saw Cole at the grocery store the other day.”

At the mention of my son, I grit my teeth. Things with him at the house are still obnoxious. It’s like he has no plans to do anything other than rot on my couch all day, every day. A huge part of me wants to lay into him and kick his ass into gear, but I’m also trying to give him some grace to process the end of his marriage. Even if it’s his fault, it still must be rough to come to terms with.

“He told me,” I mutter, meeting her gaze.

“Did he also tell you he asked me to get dinner with him this weekend?”

And just like that, my blood pressure is through the roof. “No.”

“It took me by surprise, honestly,” Grace offers with a breathy laugh.

“Did you agree to it?” I ask, doing my best to keep my voice low. Cole would have no way of knowing about me and Grace, but that doesn’t make me any less twitchy at the idea of him taking her out.

“At first, I told him no. Dinner felt too much like a date, and I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that I’m not interested in going on a date with him. But I agreed to grab coffee with him and catch up instead. As friends. Seems like he could really use one of those right now.” She shrugs.

I huff out a breath. “Cole could use a swift kick in the ass, that’s for sure.”

She giggles, holding my gaze, almost like she’s trying to relay with her eyes alone that I have nothing to worry about.

Clearing my throat, I say, “He didn’t mention that part, but I think it’s great you’re doing that for him. I think talking to someone who has their head properly on their shoulders will be good for Cole.”

“Do you know much about why he’s back in town?” she asks curiously.

“Yeah, but not much.” Cole hasn’t wanted to talk to me too much about what’s been going on with Emily, or what his plans are for the future, but he needs to figure it out. He’s a grown man, and crashing on his dad’s couch with no real idea of what comes next will only get him so far.

“I just wanted to let you know, so it wouldn’t be weird or anything.” Grace keeps her voice quiet, looking down at the counter for a second before coming back up to my face again. “I’d planned to tell you the day it happened, but by the time I got home that night, Beau wasn’t feeling well, and he’s been sick ever since. Didn’t want you to think I was keeping it from you.”

“I wouldn’t have thought that,” I try to reassure her. “How’s Beau now?”

“He’s on the mend, at Ethan’s right now. He’ll probably go back to school tomorrow.”

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