for the love of God, who will hopefully one day find a man crazy enough to date you, no cat condos.”
“What about fiancés?” Lauren asked. “Are we allowed to have those?”
Four sets of eyes jumped her way.
“Fiancé?” Cal said.
Followed by Lex’s, “What the fresh hell?”
Followed by Vanessa’s, “You’re getting married!”
Followed by my, “I’m sorry, come again?”
She flashed them all a bright smile, which dimmed when it landed on me. Damn if that didn’t sting, but fuck, I hadn’t even known she was dating anyone. Not that I cared. It had been almost eight years since our one night of stomach-churning passion that had given us a son. In that time, she’d had several boyfriends, a few I’d even liked.
A fiancé was a completely different story though. A fiancé meant moving in and getting married and becoming a permanent figure in my son’s life, and I hadn’t even known that the guy existed.
“He asked, but I didn’t say yes…yet,” she whispered, a pair of baby-blue eyes that matched my son’s staring back at me.
“Oh-kay,” I drawled suspiciously. “Want to tell me who he is?”
Her cheeks flushed as she nervously tucked her hair behind her ears. “Um, well, his name is Mark Garrett, and he’s an investment banker who I met after my parents kinda-sorta set us up on a blind date.”
Lex leaned forward, propping both arms on the table. “Dear God, do not let your parents give my mother the idea that that actually works. I just got rid of my last ‘perfect match.’”
Lauren giggled softly but kept her gaze on mine. “We’ve been dating for about a month now. And I was going to talk to you about him, but I’ve been so busy at work and you with Cal’s wedding. Things have moved really fast. And I know if I was in your shoes, I’d be freaking out about you bringing a stranger into Jack’s life so quickly. But, Hudson, I swear to you. He’s such a good guy. Just give him a chance. Maybe we can all have dinner one night. Then, if you’re cool with it, you can be there when we introduce him to Jack. Whatever you feel comfortable with.”
It had been bound to happen one day. Lauren was a catch. Smart. Funny. Beautiful inside and out. There were a lot of times when she had started pulling away from our little gang of misfits to concentrate on her career and being the best mom imaginable that I’d wished she’d had someone. But despite the fact that I’d met several of her boyfriends, most of which she’d casually brought to Huey’s for darts and wings, Jack had never met a single one.
This was a huge deal and not just for me.
There were a few perks to having a child with one of your best friends. Absolute trust was at the very top of that list. We didn’t always agree how much screen time Jack should have or if tackle football was safe for a kid his age, but I knew with absolute certainty Lauren would never bring a man she didn’t trust implicitly into our son’s life.
Sure, I could have put my foot down and lectured her about how we’d discussed in great detail while she was still pregnant how we were going to handle relationships in the future. We were never going to be together, but we’d both wanted with our whole hearts to do what was best for our son. She’d made me pinky swear a dozen times that if I ever got serious about a woman, I would let her know immediately. Say, before I got to the point of proposals and marriage. But bitching and arguing wasn’t going to change her relationship—at least not with her soon-to-be fiancé anyway.
Besides, I was sure investment banker Mark would be a good guy. Though, before dragging my son into the middle, I had every intention of finding out for myself.
“Okay,” I replied.
She eyed me skeptically. “Okay?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll meet him. I’ve got to be at Cal’s all day on Saturday to get the pool measured off. But after that, I should be free if you want to set something up.”
“I said no pool,” he rumbled, but it was drowned out by a very uncharacteristic squeal from the usually cool, calm, and collected mother of my child.
Diving from her chair, she threw her arms around my neck. “Oh my God. Thank you so much. You are so amazing. Seriously, Hudson. This completely makes up