Page 33 of Triple Threat
He asked for your number, but I told him I had to ask you first.
If you say no, that’s it. No questions asked. But I hope you know we’re here for you, no matter what.
“Fuck,” I hissed as I joined Chelsea on the couch. “Jace asked Victoria for my number.”
“What are you going to do?” Chelsea said as she handed me a wine glass.
I took a long sip, trying to weigh the options in my mind. It would be easy enough to write him off, to say he’d already blown his shot at a relationship with his daughter. But that came from a selfish part of me, the one who wanted to hurt Jace just like he’d hurt me. It had taken a lot for me to open up to the man, and having him brush me off cut a lot deeper than I ever wanted to admit. But there was more to think about than my feelings—there was Anna.
“I think I need to tell him,” I admitted. “As much as I want to keep him away, that’s not fair to Anna. If he wants to get to know her, shouldn’t I let him?”
“It depends,” Chelsea said. “Do you think Jace will want to have a relationship with Anna? Won’t that only hurt more if he decides not to be a part of her life?”
“Maybe.” I took another sip. “But in five, ten years, she’s going to ask about her dad. I can’t tell her I didn’t try. If I tell him about Anna, and then he walks away, it’s on him. I can live with the truth, but I don’t want to be the one who makes that choice.”
“Sounds smart,” Chelsea said. “But promise me something—be careful around Jace. He had a reputation at the bar, and not a very good one.”
Something deep rumbled up in my chest, and I narrowed my eyes at her. “Those people don’t know Jace.”
“Neither do you,” Chelsea whispered. “You always said he was a one-night stand. Practically a stranger.”
I dropped my head to the back of the couch, hating that she was right. Did I know anything about Jace? We spent a few hours together, and he’d shown me a peek underneath his mask, a side Jace rarely portrayed in the media or on the baseball field. Granted, his public persona disappeared once he went back down to the minors, but now that he’d come home, was he going to pick up the same bad habits—the drinking, the late nights, the girls?
A burn ripped through my chest as I pictured Jace with someone else, but I pushed it away. I had no claim over him, no say in how he led his life. There were probably dozens of women in his bed since we last saw each other, and there’d be many more in the future. But my traitorous little heart broke at the image of his perfect woman, someone who didn’t find Cheerios in their pockets or who spent more time changing diapers than applying makeup.
“God, I hate this,” I mumbled. “Can’t we just rewind the clock back twenty-four hours and pretend we never saw him?”
Chelsea’s understanding smile was all the answer I needed. It was too late to put the genie back in the bottle. Grabbing my phone, I typed out a message, pressing send before I could convince myself otherwise.
ME
You can give him my number.
Pushingopen the glass door of the cafe, I tried to smile as the hostess greeted me, leading me into my usual booth tucked inthe corner. The bitter aroma of coffee and baked goods washed over me, but today, they did nothing to lower my stress levels. My mouth normally watered as I glanced over the menu, but my stomach rioted in protest. Tea—something calming. While I searched for the server, a guitar strummed in the background, and other patrons loitered at the different tables, sipping their drinks while immersed in conversation.
Everything else seemed so normal, as if I could pretend this was any other lunch break. I’d first come to this coffee shop during my first week at the firm, and, with all my nerves, I forgot my lunch at home. Too afraid to wander too far, I’d stumbled into this place down the block, not knowing it would soon become my sanctuary. At least twice a week, I came in for lunch, needing a break. Real estate law wasn’t my favorite by any stretch of the imagination, but I sacrificed my passions for the paycheck. Dreams could only get you so far, and now that I had Anna, most of mine centered on giving her the best life possible.
My eyes darted up when the bell above the door rang, the sound making my heartbeat pound loudly in my chest. Not Jace. Instead, a young couple came in, holding hands as they moved toward the counter.
Get it together, Kinsley.It was one conversation. One meeting.
After Victoria gave Jace my phone number last night, he texted me almost immediately, asking to meet. I wanted to push it off, but the team had a stretch of away games starting tomorrow, and he’d be gone for almost a week. He didn’t want to wait that long.
All morning, my stomach had been in knots, trying to figure out the best way to tell him about Anna. It wasn’t every day you told your former fling they had a daughter.
With another chime of the bell, I looked up and met Jace’s blue eyes, already finding me at the table in the corner. Hegave me a half-hearted smile as he walked through the cafe. With every approaching step, my entire body buzzed with anticipation, unable to look away from him. Even though it had been years since we saw each other, being this close brought back all the memories of that night. Laughing over my gigantic stack of pancakes. Watching the sun rise over the coast of Lake Erie. His arms banded around me as I laid in his bed.
He stopped at the edge of the table, his eyes darting down to the opposite side of the booth. “Kinsley.” I attempted to smile at him, but my face refused to function right. “Is it okay…”
“Oh! Yeah, of course,” I shifted over some of my stuff to my side of the booth, making room for him. Jace slid in with ease, but his body took up most of the space, made the booth feel too cramped. His long legs stretched out under the table, practically touching my knees. I curled my legs up, tucking my feet against the booth. We stared at each other for a moment, and my stomach twisted again.
“Do you?—”
“How are?—”
Our voices mingled as we talked over each other, both unsure where to start. Flush hit my cheeks, and I ducked my head down. The last time I saw Jace, I was naked in his bed, and now, words felt like a foreign concept. God, how was I supposed to do this? His nerves made it a little harder to hate him, to remember he chose this path for us. Jace started to speak when the server blocked the end of the table. “Can I get you something to drink?”
We quickly ordered, and after the server left, our eyes caught. Jace cleared his throat. “Thank you for meeting me, Kinsley.”
