Page 140 of Betting on You

I was grabbing a soda out of the fridge when Scott came in through the back door. The cool autumn breeze snaked in around him. “Hey,” I said.

He smiled and closed the door behind him before taking off his coat and putting it on the back of a kitchen chair. “Hey, yourself.”

I shut the refrigerator door. It felt surreal that this was the new normal.

“I’m starving,” he said, opening the pantry and pulling out a bag of corn chips. “If there’s a God, there will be bean dip in the fridge.”

“Well, then, praise Jesus, because it’s on the top shelf,” I replied, reopening the fridge to grab it and toss it toward him.

He gave me a grin as he caught the container. “Smart-ass.”

“No, I’m serious,” I murmured distractedly. “I feel God in this Chili’s tonight.”

“Okay.” He laughed. “QuotingThe Officeis only going to make me like you more, Bailey, so knock it off.”

I blinked in shock, not sure of what he meant by that.

“Oh, come on,” he said, tilting his head a little. “I know this isn’t what you wanted.”

“What?” I asked, fully aware of what he was getting at.

He gave me a knowing smile and dropped into a kitchen chair. “I mean, it’s not what my daughter wanted either.”

“Scott, I don’t—”

“I just love your mom—that’s it.” He shrugged, and his smile slipped just a little as he opened the bag of chips. “I love her and want a life with her. I don’t want to hurt you—or anyone—and I don’t want to change your life.”

He made it sound so simple, so easy. I didn’t know what to say, so I took a sip of soda and made a noise of understanding in my throat, like a hummed version ofI know.

“I don’t expect you to be into this whole combined-family thing from the get-go, but I hope you’ll talk about it.” He took the lid off the dip and laid it on the table. “If there are things you hate, I want to know. And if there are things you love, I want to know that, too.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding like we were on the same page, when I just wanted to get out of the kitchen. He was being nice, but I wasn’t ready to talk about the reality of the situation, especially notwith him. I clutched my soda and nodded again. “Sounds good.”

Disappointment crossed his features, making his smile disappear, and I headed for the exit.

I was in the doorway when he said, “My parents got divorced when I was fourteen, Bailey.”

That made me stop and look back.

“My mom started seeing a guy a year after they split up, and we moved into his house a few months later,” he said, staring into space as if watching a memory being played back. His face was relaxed, like the story didn’t hurt him anymore. “I can still remember the way I felt in his house. Like everything was wrong and smelled weird and like I was forced to live with strangers in a house that didn’t feel like home.”

“Really?” I said, turning around, surprised by his words and the fact that he was sharing that memory with me.

“Oh yeah,” he said, nodding as he dipped a chip. “I hated it so damn much. Which, honestly, is why I waited so long to propose to your mom. I don’t want that for you.”

“Waited so long?” I said, trying to sound teasing when I added, “What’s it been—like three months?”

“Uh,” he said, tilting his head like he wasn’t sure what to say. “Well, here’s the thing.”

I pulled out the other chair and sat down at the table, curious. “Yes…?”

He made a little noise, his head still tilted like he was considering whether or not he should spit it out. “The thing is, I started seeing your mom last year.”

He looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for my reaction. “But we agreed I wasn’t going to come over to your place until things were serious.”

Wait a second.Last year?I stared at him in disbelief as I tried keeping up. “So you’re saying that the first time I met you, you’d been already seeing my mom for months?”

He nodded. “We weren’t trying to keep it a secret, but we also didn’t want to make it a thing for you if it didn’t work out.”

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