Page 102 of Kaden & Keegan
Chapter Seventeen
On Sunday morning, Bristol was up early, a smile permanently planted on her face. Not only because she’d spent the night with Kaden and Keegan once again but because she had plans this morning, something she looked forward to, because these days, it was such a rare thing for her and Rex to carve out time to hang out.
Now, as she sat at a table in the Coyote Ridge Bakery, Bristol felt her nerves ratchet up when the bell over the door jangled. She looked up to see Rex Sharpe, her best friend from early childhood, walking her way. He looked good, like always. Tall, dark, and handsome, Rex had a slight resemblance to Curtis and Lorrie’s sons. That was because Rex was Lorrie’s sister Adele’s son, carrying on the Jameson bloodline.
Bristol had known him since they were little, living next door to one another. Despite the fact she’d moved after her grandparents passed away, her father trading the rented little farmhouse for a permanent residence in town, they’d still gone to the same schools, remained friends through the years. Rex was one of the few people in her life she could depend on completely to be there when she needed someone. And she did the same for him. Always had, always would.
She’d stayed by Rex’s side through all the hell he’d lived through. Somehow they’d remained friends for their entire lives, and while she enjoyed hanging out with her girlfriends, Rex was the one she went to for advice on the most pressing issues, those that would truly alter her life. He was the one who urged her to put her early childhood degree to good use and open a daycare. He was the one who had talked her into keeping the house she was living in rather than staying in the crappy apartment she’d rented when her marriage failed. He always gave it to her straight, and this was one of those times when she needed a straight shooter.
“I got you a chocolate muffin,” she informed him when he joined her at the two-seater table. The Coyote Ridge Bakery was small, but it was the perfect place to have coffee on a Sunday morning. Most of the town’s residents were over at the church, and while Bristol respected their right to congregate in the house of worship, it had never been her thing.
“Just don’t tell Jack,” Rex said with a grin as he slid into the seat across from her. “He’s got a thing for those chocolate croissant things. He’d be pissed if he knew I was havin’ chocolate for breakfast and he wasn’t.”
Bristol tapped the small white box sitting on the table. “I got him somethin’, too. My way of sayin’ thank you for him lettin’ you out this mornin’.”
Rex looked at the box and the warmth in his eyes was something that still shocked her. She knew it was all for Jack Cunningham, Coyote Ridge’s very own claim to fame, a highly coveted graphic artist and Rex’s husband. From the story Rex told, Jack had accidentally ended up in their small town and Rex had managed to keep him here indefinitely. They were happy and she was happy for them.
“How is Jack?” she asked, hoping her rioting nerves would settle with some mundane chitchat.
“Good. He just finished up one of his graphic novels. Said his agent is all kinds of happy.” Rex grinned. “I have no idea what that means, but as long as he’s smilin’, I guess I am, too.” He took a sip of his coffee. “But I know you didn’t bring me here to talk about my husband.”
No, she hadn’t. Considering she spent more time hanging out with Jack than Rex, she didn’t need to inquire about his well-being. She already knew.
But still.
“Bristol?”
Crap.
She sat up straight, squared her shoulders, and met Rex’s brown eyes head on. “I told them.”
“You mentioned that.” He took a sip of the coffee she’d gotten for him. “How’d they take it?”
“Like it was no big deal.” She said this with exasperation because she still couldn’t believe they’d taken her surprise announcement in stride, as though it was every day they learned they were going to be fathers.
“Doesn’t surprise me.”
Bristol frowned, lowered her voice. “They didn’t bat an eye, Rex. Whodoesthat?”
“Men who love you, that’s who.”
Love.
Her belly fluttered at the word.
She’d spent the entire day with them yesterday and today she was already missing them. They had no plans to see each other, but she was holding out hope that they would because … well, because she was pretty sure she was addicted and now she wanted another fix.
“They’ve stayed the night,” she told him, ensuring she was keeping her voice soft enough that others wouldn’t overhear, “the last two nights.”
Although she appreciated the fact he didn’t freak out at the news, it didn’t help that Rex sat back, exhaled, and continued to stare at her, his dark brown eyes assessing. She knew what he was doing. Rex was trying to see right into her soul, to figure out what she was thinking. Oh, he would ask her outright when he was good and ready, but he always did this. Probably because he knew it would make her squirm.
“How’d it happen? They approach you at Moonshiners? Or did you corner them?”
Bristol went on to explain how she’d gone out with Bianca and Jamie, then how Keegan had asked her to dance, not really giving her a way out, and how her car hadn’t started.
“They drove me home,” she told him. “Probably would’ve left but I…” Bristol exhaled heavily. “I broke down. I couldn’t hold it in anymore.”
She still remembered the horrified look on Keegan’s face when she sobbed before escaping to the bathroom to hide out.
