Page 9

CHAPTER 9

Zoey

I ’ve got a bottle of Bailey’s favourite red wine in hand as I make my way up the walkway to their front door. The sound of a car has me looking over my shoulder, and I watch as Matt pulls up to the curb and quickly gets out, collecting Jayden out of the back. I stumble as I watch how much of a natural he’s become handling Jayden and all of his things. His comment about how the girls and I were raving about the single dad in our book comes back to me, and I bite my lip to prevent me from smirking, because seeing Matt as a dad is hot.

In just two weeks, he’s completely dove headfirst into it all. He texted me the other day asking if it was too early to get Jayden on a waitlist for a Montessori preschool. I had to text him back that I had no freaking clue. I have no idea when you’re supposed to register kids for that kind of shit and that he should be texting Liv those kinds of questions.

When he turns around and spots me, his smile grows, and I can’t help but smile back.

“Hey, Zo.”

“Hey. Need any help?”

He shakes his head. “Nope, I’m all good. I’m slowly getting the hang of managing him and everything else.”

“That’s good.”

Matt joins me on the walkway, and I peek in on Jayden in his car seat. He smiles, and spit bubbles form as he makes baby noises, and I smile as I reach in and use the spit up cloth to wipe his mouth.

“He’s been a happy boy today,” Matt says.

I dance my fingers over Jayden’s tummy, pulling a giggle out of him. “I can see that,” I say in the tone my voice tends to hit when I’m talking directly to babies. “I can see we’re a happy boy today, aren’t we?”

Jayden giggles more as he waves his arms in jerky movements in front of him, and my smile widens.

Grayson and Hannah pull up, and as they’re getting out of the car, Hannah calls, “Loitering on the lawn now, are we?”

I look at Jayden as I respond to Hannah, using the same tone. “I just was saying hi to the cutest little boy, wasn’t I, Jayden? Aren’t you just the cutest boy.”

He gurgles in what I’m going to say is agreement, and I smile at Hannah. She joins me and looks in on him, too.

Grayson and Matt exchange nods as Grayson says hello to me.

She brushes her fingertips over Jayden’s tummy much in the same way I did earlier and smiles as she says, “Okay, I’ll give it to you. He’s pretty darn adorable.”

“Right!” I exclaim.

“You Carter kids make adorable babies,” Hannah says to Matt.

He grins at her. “That we do.”

“We should probably head inside,” Grayson says.

We make our way up the front steps, and Grayson knocks. Caleb quickly answers and ushers us inside. Lily, Bailey’s best friend, and Liv and Josh are already here, but I don’t see Bailey or Charlie.

“Where are the girls?” I ask.

Caleb grips the back of his neck in a way I haven’t seen him do much in all the years I’ve known him. “Um, they’re upstairs. They should be down soon.”

I nod and follow him into the kitchen and join Liv.

After a few minutes, I hear the running footsteps of Charlie, and she calls, “Aunty Liv, Aunty Lily.”

We all turn to watch her charge into the kitchen as she runs up to them.

“Hey, Charlie girl,” Liv says while Lily stares at her slack jawed as her hands come to cover her mouth and she turns to look at Caleb. Tears are starting to run down her face.

“Really?” Is all she manages to squeak out.

Caleb is grinning like a fool as he nods. Bailey finally walks into the kitchen and Lily is throwing herself at her. The rest of us are looking around confused until Josh finally offers his hand to Caleb and says, “Congrats, Man.”

“Thanks.”

Caleb can’t stop grinning, and Bailey and Lily are both wiping their tears.

“Charlie, what’s up?” I ask, and she turns to me, allowing me to read the front of her shirt.

Best Big Sister

Everyone must have gotten a chance to read it now as congratulations fill the air and hugs are exchanged. Something in me twists as longing pulls at me. I push it to the side, needing to stay in the moment and celebrate this amazing milestone with my friends.

Once I’ve hugged Bailey and Caleb and they tell us she’s three months along and due in April, I excuse myself to the back porch and take a seat on the top step and look out on their backyard. Charlie has toys all over the place. A covered sandbox sits in the back corner next to the little jungle gym Caleb built for her this summer.

Hannah comes out and sits beside me. “You good?” she asks.

I nod, not sure what to say.

“You know you can be happy for them and have other feelings as well, right?”

I bite my lip and nod again. She extends her legs, crossing them at the ankles as she leans back on her hands. We sit in the moment, silent for a while before Hannah speaks again.

“Before Grayson, I was beginning to lose hope.” She chuckles. “Actually, even in the beginning of our marriage, I was losing hope I’d find someone who I could feel soul consuming love with. Give it time, Zo. You’ve still got so much time.”

Of course, my friend can tell how I’m feeling right now. Hannah’s the hopeless romantic of the group, too, so I’m not surprised it’s her sitting with me right now.

I wipe at a stray tear. “I feel so lost, Han.” I take a deep breath. “You, Bailey, and Liv are all getting settled. You’re all in careers you love, even starting families. I have no idea what I want. Even Liz is happy with where she is with her job and life. I have a law degree I thought was going to make life so much better. All I had to do was get it. I’m now living with my brother again, and I’ve just had shitty date after shitty date. I can’t remember the last time I made it past a third date with a guy.” I wipe away another tear.

Hannah pushes herself up and wraps an arm around me as she leans her head on my shoulder. I lean into her, too, resting my cheek on her head.

“Zoey, you are an extraordinary person. You’ll figure it all out, maybe it’s just taking some time so that what you find is as amazing as you are.”

I smile as I sniffle and feel nothing but gratitude for my friend.

Hannah sits with me for a few more minutes before she pats my arm and says, “Okay, so Bailey might not be able to drink, but we can. Why don’t we open that bottle of wine you brought? And didn’t you mention the other day that someone asked you out? Maybe tomorrow you text him and set up a date? Who knows, maybe he’s the one and you’ve just been putting off learning it.”

She’s right, I do have the card from the dad of the kid Matt coaches. I sit straight and pull my phone out, determined to stop feeling sorry for myself, and text him.

Zoey

Hey, this is Zoey. We met when my friend was coaching your son’s team last week. I was wondering if you’d like to get dinner?

I shove my phone into the pocket of my jeans and follow Hannah into the house. She pours us each a glass of wine, and we join the girls while Caleb handles the food in the kitchen.

Matt and I are helping with the dishes when my phone dings on the counter.

“Can you check that?” I ask Matt, and he taps the screen. A look I don’t recognize flashes across his face. He doesn’t say anything, just keeps rubbing the dish towel over the already dry plate in his hand.

“Who was it?” I ask.

“Dean.” His voice is laced with something that sounds like a mix of anger and jealousy. But that can’t be right. There’s no reason Matt would feel either of those things when it comes to me dating.

“What did he say?”

Matt grabs the next plate and starts aggressively drying it. “He said he’d love to grab dinner. He wants to know if you’re available Tuesday night.”

I can’t help but grin to myself. Maybe Hannah’s right and this could be my luck turning around.

We finish the dishes, and as I turn to make my way into the living room with everyone else, Matt stops me with a hand on my wrist.

“Are you really going to go out with him?”

“Yeah, Matt, I am. I texted him first. Is there a reason I shouldn’t?”

His eyes bounce around my face, and he obviously finds what he’s looking for because he lets go of my wrist and shakes his head. “No, no reason at all.” The words almost sound pained. I stare at him for a few more seconds, hoping that whatever he’s holding back, he’ll finally spit out. When he doesn’t, I head into the living room.

After a minute, Matt comes back in and says he needs to leave and get Jayden into bed. I can tell that’s not the real reason he’s suddenly decided he needs to leave, but I don’t press. I say my goodbye to him and Jayden.

Before he walks out the front door, he drops his voice to a whisper. “You still good to meet me in the morning?”

I sigh. I forgot I agreed to watch Jayden again tomorrow morning while Matt coaches. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Thanks.”

Before he can close the door, I say, “I think I’m feeling a peppermint mocha for tomorrow morning.”

He grins and shakes his head. “Sounds good, Zo.”

I close the door behind him and lean against it. I shoot a text to Dean, agreeing to meet at an Italian restaurant Tuesday night. As much as I’m excited about this date, I almost wish Matt had told me not to go on it.

The minute I see Matt, I grab the hot coffee he extends to me and take a large sip, relishing the taste of it. I finish almost half of it before putting it on the bleachers to take Jayden from him.

“Didn’t sleep well?” he asks.

“Nope, and I’m not sure just one sugary drink is going to do it this morning.”

“I’m sorry,” he says and runs his fingers through his hair. “If I had anyone else I could ask, I would.”

“What about Gi?” I ask, because quite frankly, I don’t want to keep meeting him here at the ass crack of dawn.

“Nope. She’s living with my parents right now.”

I nod. As much as I don’t want to be here right now, I have to admit what he’s doing is nice for these kids and I’m not going to leave them all in the lurch.

“I’d offer you an energy drink, but I know you can’t stand the stuff,” he says, and I make a face. That crap is disgusting. I don’t know how he drinks the stuff.

“Well, you might as well get out there,” I say, settling on the bleachers and pulling my Kindle out of my purse.

“Thanks, Zo.”

“Yeah,” I say waving my hand, dismissing him.

When he comes out with the kids, my mind can’t seem to stay focused on my book. It keeps turning to Matt and watching him with the kids. I’m startled when Dean sits next to me. I offer him a small smile, unsure what I should do. Should I start a conversation? Try to read my book?

Thankfully, he answers that question by asking, “So, you’re helping Coach Carter out again?”

I rub my hand over a sleeping Jayden’s back and smile. “Yeah. This boy’s pretty easygoing, so it’s not too bad. The early morning kind of sucks, but at least I can try to get some reading in,” I say, shaking my Kindle.

He nods, and his eyes dart towards Matt. “So, how did he manage to convince you to come out here this early to watch his kid?”

I sense jealousy in his question, like he’s not sure why I’d help Matt out.

“He’s a friend. Plus, he’s promised to make sure I get my sugar in the morning.”

He pinches his brows. “Sugar? In the morning?”

I nod. “Yup. Caffeine doesn’t seem to do it for me, only sugar.”

I feel the judgement radiating off him, but push it to the side. Maybe he’s right and sugar in the morning isn’t the most normal thing.

“Your son looks pretty good out there,” I say, wanting to move the conversation along.

That perks him up a bit. “Yeah, he’s one of the best on the team. He gets it from his dad.”

I side-eye him, but he doesn’t seem to see it. What an odd way to brag about yourself. “Oh, you played?”

“Yeah, best centre on my university team until I tore my ACL.”

“That sucks, I’m sorry.”

“It is what it is, just wasn’t meant to be. I was able to focus on my studies, and now I have my own business management firm. I guess it’s for the best.” His words come out in a humble brag that just isn’t doing it for me.

“So, where did you go to school?” I ask.

“Harbour View.”

From what I remember when I was doing my research years ago for university, Harbour View was a decent school, nothing great, but they also didn’t suck. I do remember Matt and Josh both said they’d never attend the school for hockey when they had teams trying to recruit them in high school. That has me wondering just how good of a player Dean could have been.

Matt’s whistle pulls my attention back to the ice. He gathers the kids and talks to them before dismissing them and sending them off the ice. Matt’s eyes are locked on me as he makes his way off the ice.

“Hey, Bug,” he says, and I swear my heart stops in my chest as my mouth opens slightly. Did he really call me Bug? He hasn’t called me that in over a decade. Why the hell is he bringing it out now?

“Bug?” Dean asks.

Matt grins bigger and comes to my side, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, and I must be fucking dreaming. What the hell is going on?

“Yeah, just a name I’ve had for Zo here since we were kids.”

Dean’s eyes bounce between the two of us, and he nods. “Ahhh. Well, it was nice talking to you, Zoey. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

I smile. “See you tomorrow.”

When Dean rounds the corner, I turn to Matt and slap his arm. “What the fuck was that? Bug? You haven’t called me that since I was like fifteen. Why are you bringing it back now?”

He looks at me with a blank stare and then shrugs. “I don’t know, but I’m thinking I should bring it back full time.” He’s grinning now. “What do you say, Bug? Ready for breakfast?”

“Can we not with the nickname?”

He shakes his head. “I forgot how much it bothered you hearing that name in public.”

“Yeah, because it’s a weird name,” I huff.

He throws his head back and laughs. “But it was so you.”

“No it wasn’t.”

He sits and pulls at the laces of his skates. “Whatever you say, Bug. How about some pancakes?”

My stomach growls at the mere mention of food, and he grins at me. He knows my weaknesses and it fucking sucks.

I follow him to his car, helping him get Jayden settled before we head to the restaurant.