Page 41 of His for the Holiday

Hawk frowned deeply. “He doesn’t speak to her?”

I averted my gaze to study the checkered tablecloth instead of looking at him. “We’ve tried calling. It breaks her heart that he almost never answers, but I’m not surprised. He doesn’t want much to do with us anymore. It’s like he just forgot. Or he doesn’t want to be reminded what a fuck-up he is.”

That deep humiliation rose up again, making my cheeks glow. I wondered what Hawk was thinking about all this. The man I’d been with for eight years, whom I’d been married to almost all of that time and who had fathered my child, had moved on so completely that he’d basically wiped our entire history from his mind.

“Idiot,” Hawk muttered before shaking his head. “Do you ever regret staying in Scotland with him way back instead of coming home?”

“No, not at all,” I said honestly. “I have Winnie because I stayed there. She’s what matters. Just her. I’m starting to think he loved Maeve all along. I’m not sure why he even married me to begin with, but he gave me Winnie, and I could never regret anything I did that ended with me having her.”

Seeing Hawk handle Winnie today when she was being naughty had made me wonder—again—if I should’ve taken her so far away from Calen. Even though Hawk had said I hadn’t made a mistake bringing her here, he didn’t know what I was really worried about.

The fact was that Winnie needed a man in her life and I wasn’t able to fill those shoes. Thankfully, I was given a reprieve to consider how to say that when our food arrived.

I rose to call Win, striding to the edge of the deck and waving her over. “Your burger is here, lass! Come on and eat.”

Instead of coming, however, she scowled at me from the edge of the water and stomped her feet. “I’m still playing!”

The next thing I knew, Hawk was next to me, his little finger wrapping around mine and squeezing before he released it. “Go on and eat something. I’ll go down to the water to play with her for a bit.”

A little confused about why he was suddenly so invested in us, I went back to our table and sat down. Watching them together, I ate my burger and reminded myself that nothing could come of this.

He was heading back to California soon and it wasn’t like last night had meant anything to him. Right?

No, it was more likely just some unfinished business between us. The feelings we’d had as kids had never gone away, but now that we had scratched that itch, we could both move on with our lives. I sighed, then started when I saw him toss Winnie over his shoulder and carry her back up the restaurant deck.

She was squealing with laughter, but she finally sat down to eat, digging in with gusto and chuckling when he sat down beside her. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head. What hoodoo magic did he work on her?

As he picked up his cutlery to slice into the steak he’d ordered, he gave me a look and a smile that settled deep in my heart, threatening to undo everything I’d told myself about my reignited feelings for him.

It was a look and a smile that made me wonder if his feelings for me had been reignited too. A look so intense and a smile so real that it even made me wonder if perhaps I had been wrong just a minute ago.

Perhaps something could come of this after all.

Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking and the only thing I’m doing right now is setting myself up for even more heartbreak. Yeah, that’s probably it. Get a grip, Sutton. This is not what you’re starting to think it is, and that is absolutely final.