Page 26 of Grumpy Ex's Secret Baby

“It might have been,” I said with a small smile. “I should go apologize to her about what happened the other night, though.”

“Go for it,” Leigh said with a wave of her hand. “I’m going to go find one of your guest bedrooms and take a nap.”

“I’ll see you when I get home, brat.”

“See you then.”

After looking out the window and seeing the rain starting to fall, I grabbed a jacket before heading out. The rain was still light, with more mist and scattered drops than anything else. I walked to her house, running over everything I was going to say to her.

When I was across the street from her house, I saw her step outside in a dress and a long coat. She looked stunning, but my stomach plummeted to my feet when I saw her take another man’s hand.

Not once over the last couple of times that I had seen her did she mention that she was seeing someone. I hoped that if she was, it was fairly new. Although, I would have preferred if she wasn’t seeing anyone at all.

The way she looked up at him and smiled only made me feel worse.

Instead of walking over to her and apologizing, I turned around and headed back home.

I’ve had enough heartbreak for one week.

11

HALEY

Thesunwasshiningoverhead as Trinity played in the garden out front. I had bought her a little gardening set earlier in the week that she was using to dig through the dirt. There were several little pots of flowers lined up beside her that she had demanded we plant.

Trinity was singing to herself as she dug small holes into the dirt. I flipped the page of my book, smiling when her song changed.

“Hey.”

I looked up from my book and nearly dropped it at the sight of Tyson standing on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets. He looked at Trinity before looking back at me. I knew the question lingering in his eyes.

He wanted to meet her, and it scared the hell out of me.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. We needed to find some way to make this work. Sooner or later, I was going to have to let him in.

“Hey,” I said, setting my book to the side and walking over to him. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to apologize for kicking you out last week. I know I should have said it sooner, but I didn’t. There’s no real excuse for it. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too. I never should have come to your home looking to pick a fight with you, but that’s exactly what I did. We’ve both got people following us around, and it worries me like you wouldn’t believe.”

“I’m worried too, Haley. Every single day since I found out I have a daughter, all I do is worry about her and how she’s doing.”

My heart melted a little at that. “Do you want to meet her? As my friend?”

His face lit up, but there was hesitation lingering. “Are you sure about that? I want to meet her, I really do, but I know that we need to figure out how this works still.”

“I’m sure. You’re not going anywhere, and it’ll be easier if we start working on the introduction now.”

He nodded and looked at Trinity again. The hesitation was still on his face as I took his hand and led him over to her.

“Trinity, this is my friend, Tyson.”

Tyson got down beside her in what I guessed were expensive jeans, not caring about the mud puddle she had created with her bucket of water and the dirt she was digging up.

“Hi,” Tyson said. “I really like those flowers. Are you planting them?”

Trinity gave him a skeptical look before nodding. She grabbed another shovel and handed it to him.

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