was younger, I think.”
“See? I’m truly sorry this has been rough for you, but you will get through it, and then you’ll have three beautiful children.”
She groaned. “And then I’m done. I can’t go through this again, Marj. Three is good.”
“You may change your mind when you hold your baby.”
“I don’t know. I sure hope you don’t have to go through this when you get pregnant.”
“Not something I need to worry about for the near future.” Or ever, it seemed like sometimes.
“Still nothing with Bryce?”
“Nope. I saw him today, and he couldn’t have been more frigid toward me.”
“Give him time.”
“Time?”
“Well…yeah. He’s been through just as much as the rest of us, and maybe more, in a way. He’s just not ready right now.”
“Not ready? I slept with him!” I blurted out.
Jade’s blue eyes went wide. “Oh. My. God. When?”
“Last night.”
“While I was at the hospital?”
I nodded.
“Well…?”
“It was amazing,” I said dreamily. “I’ve been around the block a few times, and I’ve never experienced anything like being with Bryce.”
“That’s great!”
“Not so much. He couldn’t wait to get out of here this morning. Except he couldn’t, because he was meeting with Joe and Ryan. I got up to feed the boys and take them to the bus, and then I escaped here as soon as I could. He could hardly look at me, Jade. I felt like a pariah.”
“But…during?”
“The fucking?”
“I was thinking lovemaking, but yeah.”
It had felt like lovemaking, but I was determined not to get caught up in euphemisms. Not when he’d run like hell afterward. “He was attentive, sweet, everything wonderful you could imagine.”
“Wow.”
“That’s it?”
“I’m just surprised,” she said. “Not that the fucking was good, but that he hightailed it out of there. Bryce is a warm person, from what little I know of him.”
“He is,” I agreed. “Or was. A lot like Ryan, you know? Always joking and laughing. That side of him seems to have taken a hike.”
“Coinciding with learning the truth about his father, I’d guess.”
“Well, of course, and I understand that. I just thought…” I stopped. What had I thought? Fact was, I hadn’t really been thinking at all. I’d let my horniness be my guide, and so had he.
“You thought what?”
“Nothing. Maybe I was just in the right place at the right time. Truth is, I was determined to show him I was no longer the little girl with unicorns on her bedroom walls.”
“I think you’ve done that.”
“I thought I had too.”
“Methinks unicorns are no longer the issue,” Jade said.
“Then what is the issue?”
“Bryce himself. Maybe he doesn’t want to saddle you with an instant family?”
“But I love Henry.”
“True, and he knows that. But there’s his mother, too. She’s become totally dependent on him and Henry.”
“I have no problem with his mother.”
“You say that now…” She shook her head. “Talon was an angel while my mom was living here, but I know she got on his nerves.”
“Evelyn is not Brooke Bailey. In fact, she’s the anti-Brooke.”
“True again.”
A thought speared into my mind. Had Talon mentioned Colin to Jade? I didn’t know. I’d check with him before I mentioned to her that I’d run into him at the smoothie shop. The last thing I wanted was to upset her while she was still freaking out about the pregnancy.
Donny returned, dragging Dale with him. That was my cue to leave. I needed to talk to Talon.
Chapter Twenty–Two
Bryce
I joined Henry and my mother for lunch and then told her I was going for a walk to think about the Steels’ offer.
Truthfully, I just wanted some alone time. In between daydreams of Marjorie, I’d been ruminating on the call from Ted Morse. What the hell did he want? If he was gunning for money, he was barking up the wrong tree. I didn’t have any. The Steels had the deep pockets in this scenario, and neither they nor I owed the Morses anything.
I wasn’t responsible for my father’s actions.
Still, I gulped.
Ted’s son had been through something unthinkable at the hands of my old man.
If I had anything close to Steel money, I’d consider giving something to Colin. But his father? Hell, no. He’d tried to frame my best friend for my father’s crimes. He’d get nothing from me.
I walked along, peering through the windows of the shops on Main. I stopped at the flower shop. In the window was a bouquet of the yellow lilies I’d seen on Marjorie’s kitchen table. I stood there, overwhelmed by the urge to buy flowers for her. I resisted, shoving my hands in