The woman glanced around. “You know, I was on the fence about buying that big basket of preserves and pickles . . . but I think I’ll get them. Do you mind ringing them up? Even though I’ve already paid?”
Did I mind?That was our single most expensive item in the stand. Hell, yeah, I’d ring her up again.
Once my new favorite customer had paid and left, happy about her purchases, I turned to Alex. “You, my friend, are devious.”
“But effective.” He stood in front of me, hands on his hips. “Now to business. I just stopped by to say two things. I’m mad at you, and what the fuck?”
I winced. “I’m guessing those two things are related. Okay, I’ll grovel. I’m sorry. I know it was shitty of me not to answer you. Or call. I have no excuse except that it was a really, really hard few days.”
“Yeah, I know. Because Meghan, who is a good friend—but not mybestfriend—was good enough to answer my texts.” He leaned his hip against a table. “So how’re you doing?”
I blew out a breath. “Honestly, I’m not sure. On one hand, it went a lot better than I had any right to hope. I mean, yeah, Flynn was furious. He was shocked, and he was hurt.” I wrapped my arms around my middle, remembering. “But he actually got beyond it a lot faster than I’d expected.”
“So are we talking happily ever after? Should I be getting out my tuxedo and working on my man of honor speech?”
I barked out a sharp laugh. “Hardly. Flynn’s willing to deal with me in order to see Bridget. He wants a relationship with his daughter, so he’s going to be as pleasant to me as he can. But nothing more than that’s going to happen between us.”
Alex reached across to brush his hand over my arm. “I’m sorry, Ali Baba. That sucks.”
I managed a smile. “What? Like I was expecting Flynn to come back into town, find out he has a kid with his high school girlfriend and declare his undying love to me? Nah. It’s been a long time. Too many years. I’m just happy that he’s sticking around to get to know Bridge.”
“And how’s our girl dealing with the newfound daddy?”
“Amazingly well. It’s almost weird. She didn’t ask that many questions about where he’s been all this time. She just kind of accepted it. I expected . . .” I spread out my hands. “I don’t know. I thought she might be upset and want to know why I’d never talked about Flynn before. But she didn’t.”
Alex nodded. “Well, count your lucky stars, I guess. Who knows, maybe she’ll have a delayed reaction and flip out when she’s a teenager.”
I shuddered. “I don’t even want to think about it. Let’s change the subject. Are you on your way back to Hotlanta? Did you see the boy toy last week?”
“There might’ve been a sighting. I’m still not ready to dish, though, so no digging. And yes, I’m heading west. I don’t know when I’ll be back in town again, but don’t worry, I’ll be keeping my eye on you. I have my ways.”
I fiddled with the hem of my T-shirt. “Did you see Flynn? Did you talk to him?”
Alex shook his head. “Just at the funeral. I was planning to stop by yesterday, but after Meghan let me know what was going down, I figured he needed a little space.”
“He’s staying in town, you know. Indefinitely. He told me yesterday that he’s going to make Burton his center of operations, whatever that means. But he’s giving up his apartment in New York.”
“Wow. That’s huge.” He quirked one eyebrow at me. “When I talked to him on Thursday, at the wake, he made it sound like he couldn’t get out of town fast enough.”
“It’s just Bridget. He wants to be a good father, and what more can I ask?”
“Sexy times? A little hard-core romping in the sack with the guy who took your V-card back in the day?”
“Nice, Alex. C’mon. Nothing’s going to happen between us. He can barely tolerate me.”
“Uh huh. I’m going to reserve the right to dance the I-told-you-so all over your face when Flynn ‘tolerates’ you onto your back. In a good way.”
I rolled my eyes and flipped back my pony tail, channeling my inner-teenager. “Whatever.”
“Hmm? Aren’t you even the littlest bit interested? You’re telling me Flynn Evans doesn’t still make your heart go pitty-pat?”
I turned my back to Alex and busied myself with the day’s receipts. “Whether he does or doesn’t is immaterial. I need to be an adult and make sure we have a good relationship for the sake of our daughter.”
He whistled. “That did sound very grown-up. And I almost bought it. If your eyes weren’t saying, ‘I want Flynn Evans between my legs, pronto’ I might’ve believed you.”
I shook my head. “You’re insane. My eyes were so not saying that. They were saying, ‘I’m a mature, well-adjusted woman who doesn’t need a man between her legs to be happy.’”
“Oooh, baby.” Alex faked a leer. “The dudes like a lady who can take of her own needs.”
