Page 2 of Grumpy Ex's Secret Baby

“Hales, I don’t want to sit here and argue with you. I’m too old for that shit. I’ve got more on my plate to deal with than rehashing everything that happened between us.”

I stared at him, wondering who the hell was sitting in front of me. He was nothing like I remembered him from our last encounter.

“Well then, tell me about your life,” I said as Doris set milkshakes and plates of burgers and fries between us. “Thanks, Doris.”

“Anytime, honey.”

While Doris chatted with Tyson for a few more minutes, I devoured my burger. By the time Doris left our table, my burger was gone, along with half of my fries.

“Hungry?” Tyson asked, his eyebrow raising as he smiled and pushed half of his fries onto my plate. “Have some more.”

“Sorry,” I said, not even a little bit sorry, as I ate some of his fries. “I was running late this afternoon and didn’t have a chance to get dinner.”

“She says even though she has a long history of eating half my fries,” Tyson said, smirking as he started picking the pickles off his burger and dropping them on my plate as well.

I scowled at him but still ate the pickles. “Come on, tell me more about what’s been happening with you.”

“Well, Leigh is getting married to Clarke in a few weeks.”

“No fucking way,” I said, my eyes nearly bulging out of my head. “I haven’t spoken to Clarke in years. And Leigh’s all grown up now? I can’t believe it. How did that even happen? Did Leigh come with you? I would love to see her again.”

“She’s running around back in New York like a chicken with her head cut off. They’re doing a small wedding at the lake house. Since Mom’s been moved to the city for her cancer treatments, there’s not much reason for either of us to really be back here.”

“I’m sorry about your mom. How’s she doing now?”

“She’s been on and off treatments for the last year, but it’s going okay.”

“That’s great,” I said, not knowing what else I could say to him.

“What’ve you been doing?”

“Cutting off testicles. Saving lives. The usual.” I grinned at him and stole a fry from his plate before sipping on my milkshake. “Just the normal life in the day of a vet.”

“I’m happy for you,” he said as Doris dropped another plate of fries on our table as if she had read Tyson’s mind.

Old habits die hard, I guess,I thought as I watched Tyson pour a puddle of ketchup onto his plate.

We fell into an easy conversation about anything and everything that came to mind. It felt as if the years and our personalities had never come between us. He was as easy to talk to as he always had been. We sat over a plate of forgotten fries for a couple of hours, talking about where our lives had taken us over the last couple of years.

“What do you say we get out of here and head out to the lookoff?” Tyson asked as he dropped several bills on the table to cover the bill and tip.

“For another quick fuck?” I asked him, repeating the words he had said to me four years ago.

“I’m sorry about that,” Tyson said, looking guilty. “I shouldn’t have said that. You know you’ve always been more than that to me. I was just still being a little shit about you being the smarter one in the relationship.”

“Oh?”

“You knew that a long-distance relationship would only fail. I acted like a brat about it.”

“Well…” I said. “…to be fair, I was thinking that you would only hold me back. And I ran out on you twice. We can share the blame.”

Tyson laughed. “Sounds good to me.”

“So, the lookout?” I asked, knowing that clothes were going to start falling off.

“Sure,” he said, offering me a hand. I took it and slid out of the booth, trying not to imagine the last place those fingers had been when we saw each other years ago.

He dropped my hand once I was standing, but he stared at me with the same fire in his eyes that had us sneaking off together between classes in high school. My cheeks flamed as I looked at him, admiring how his clothing fit his muscled body.

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