Page 66 of Baby By my Best Friend's Daddy

I drove around the city for a while. I drove past a couple of bars, but I didn’t go into any of them. I didn’t want to do a movie or dinner alone—that was just pathetic—and home wasn’t enticing. It was empty and cold, and being there without Rebecca just made me realize how lonely it was without her.

Finally, I pulled into the parking lot at one of the local parks and got out. The weather was miserable and overcast. The clouds blocked out the sun and promised rain, but it hadn’t started falling yet. It was as if the sky knew how I felt.

A breeze drove into my collar as I walked through the park. I took a deep breath and followed the path that wove its way through the trees and the play areas set up for kids.

Benches dotted the path here and there, and joggers passed me every now and again.

There weren’t many people around, but there were enough that I didn’t feel completely alone. Somehow, being surrounded by strangers was better than being completely alone, even though they were nothing to me.

Damn it, where had it all gone wrong? We’d been perfect for each other. I’d never felt about anyone the way I felt about Rebecca, and I thought we were going places. I wanted to share every part of my life with her. I wanted forever with her. I hadn’t thought I would ever feel that way. After Catherine and I had split up, I’d told myself that love wasn’t all that important—if I didn’t have it, it didn’t matter that much. I had Brad, I had my company…

Except, it had started to matter, and then Rebecca had come along and shown me what I’d missed. I’d thought I was alone before, but now that she was gone, it was that much worse. Losing her was an open wound, and it smarted and ached all the time. Nothing was good enough to stop the pain; nothing could numb me.

I wished there were strong painkillers for heartache the way I’d had those fucked-up painkillers for my ankle.

I shook my head and laughed bitterly. Those fucking painkillers were what had gotten me into this in the first place. If I hadn’t had something to drink that night, Brad would never have sent Rebecca the next morning, and we might never have found each other again.

My heart would have been perfectly intact now.

My life would have been perfectly bland and boring.

As much as it hurt losing her, I didn’t regret one second of having her in my life.

“Landon?” someone said behind me, and I turned.

Celine slowed from a jog to a walk. She wore skintight leggings and neon trainers with a crop top that looked like it belonged on a fitness runway, but Celine Forger pulled it off.

Her attitude suggested that she knew she looked good.

“Hi,” she said and fell into step next to me. “How are things?”

I glanced sidelong at her. She was friends with Rebecca. She got to talk to her when I didn’t. She knew what was going on—she wouldn’t have asked how I was doing if she didn’t know. Celine Forger didn’t just talk to anyone; she had a very close group of people in whom she was willing to invest her time.

“I’ve been better,” I admitted.

“I can imagine. You look good.”

I frowned at her. “Are you just saying that?”

“Yeah,” she said simply.

I chuckled and shook my head. Celine was a tough cookie, a handful on a good day. She needed a strong man with a lot of patience to marry her one day.

“How is she?” I asked carefully.

Celine studied me. “She’s heartbroken.”

“Damn it, why won’t she talk to me? I don’t know where it all went wrong. I thought we were okay. People get stuck, don’t they? It wasn’t that big a fight. It shouldn’t have been.”

Celine hesitated.

“What?” I asked when she stayed quiet for too long. “What’s going on?”

“It’s not for me to say, Landon,” she said.

I groaned. “Come on, Celine, since when are you such a fucking saint?”

Her eyes widened before she laughed. “Fair enough, I’m a bitch, and I don’t keep secrets even when people beg me to. Rebecca is different. I’m sure you know that by now. I don’t want to do shit that hurts her, you know? I care about her.”

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