“So, I heard you were kissing Olivia McGovern at the pub,” she said out of the blue, and he almost choked on his drink.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
He wasn’t sure why she sounded...maybe not mad, but at least a little unhappy. It shouldn’t be jealousy, since she literally had a new husband. “Yeah, I heard you.”
She looked at him while the seconds ticked away, until the silence became too much for her. “And?”
“And what?”
Maybe they got along better now than the last few years of their marriage, but she’d given him a few lectures when she first started dating Jason about how her personal life was only his business when it involved their children. He’d had some trouble wrapping his head around the concept since everything she did affected their children—especially bringing a man he didn’t know into their lives—but they’d eventually found a balance. This was the first time he’d been on this end of the boundary blurring, though.
“Derek.”
“What are you after here, Amber? Yes, I kissed a woman at Kincaid’s.” He refrained from pointing out she was doing a lot more than kissing the man in the other room because it wasn’t relevant and he wasn’t getting into a pissing match with her.
“No, you kissed a woman who’s brand-new to the charity and, from what I’m hearing, is going to be a huge asset. I just don’t want you to scare her off.”
“Thanks. That’s really flattering.” Then he chuckled, because he knew what she was getting at. “Olivia’s not a woman who scares easily, I don’t think. And it’s not like she walked through the door and I pounced on her. We’d met once, before either of us knew the other was with Village Hearts, and we had a brainstorming dinner together before the fundraiser at the pub.”
“Oh.” Then she smiled. “Oh?”
“Aren’t you the one who was preaching boundaries when it came to dating other people?” he asked, but with no heat in his voice.
“Wait. Are you actuallydatingthis Olivia woman? I mean, I want things to go smoothly for her with the charity, but I want you to find an awesome woman to date even more.”
He knew she did. While she didn’t push at him, he knew Amber wanted him to fall head over heels in love with a woman. Mostly because she genuinely wanted the best for him. But also because a little part of her felt guilty that she’d found the love of her life and was living happily ever after with him and their children while Derek was alone.
“I guess we’re in the early days of actually dating, you could say. There was the kiss, and we’re going to go out again tomorrow night.”
“That’s really great, Derek.” She smiled, but it quickly faded and she got that pinched look between her eyebrows. “So I heard she lives in some fancy high-rise in the Back Bay or someplace like that?”
Jess sure hadn’t wasted any time running to Amber with gossip. He knew they’d become very good friends through Village Hearts but had the woman been texting herfromKincaid’s? And he couldn’t really do anything to discourage it. Not only had Jess become a very valuable asset to the charity, but she was his lieutenant’s wife.
“Some place like that.” When the pinch turned into a frown, he knew she’d fast-forwarded right to the hard questions that didn’t need to be asked yet. Yes, it would make co-parenting a lot harder if he was that far away, and Olivia certainly wasn’t going to give up a fancy high-rise apartment to move into his not-fancy, post-divorce apartment with him. “I saidearlydays of dating, Amber. You’re not only putting the cart before the horse, but you don’t evenhavea horse yet.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” she said, and they were laughing when the kids came in with their backpacks.
Since going out for pizza and bowling would be fun enough, they were just going to hang out at home until it was time. He’d managed to find a three-bedroom he could afford by sacrificing overall size and living with the building’s need for a remodel, and it always struck Derek as odd that it felt empty and huge when he was alone and not nearly big enough when the kids were with him.
They’d just finished a light lunch when his son threw him a curveball.
“Will you be the new baby’s stepdad?” Isaac asked, and Derek paused, having absolutely no idea what his son was talking about.
“What new baby?” he asked at the exact same time Julia shrieked her brother’s name.
“It’s a secret, stupid,” she hissed at him.
“Don’t call your brother stupid,” he said automatically. But his mind was spinning.
“Mom said not to tell anybody yet.” Julia looked at him with a serious expression. “I don’t know why they told Isaac. He never keeps secrets.”
Amber was pregnant. He sat back in his chair, trying to process how he felt about that in the time he had before he opened his mouth. And that wouldn’t be long, since both kids were staring at him, waiting for his reaction.
For some reason, he hadn’t even considered the possibility. After Isaac was born—and even after he was healthy and the fear was behind them—Derek and Amber had agreed that two kids were enough for them. Neither of them had gotten around to any permanent measures to make that happen, but they’d taken precautions to ensure there wouldn’t be any surprises.
But Jason didn’t have kids of his own. They’d fallen in love and gotten married, so the next step for a lot of people was having a baby. Derek should have seen it coming, but he hadn’t. And now he had his two kiddos looking to him for his reaction.
