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WARTHOG: Good morning.
WARTHOG: Just think. Right now, we could be having morn—
The phone was yanked away from the top of the table before I could read more. Lifting my eyebrows, I looked up at Bella who was clutching the device to her chest.
What the hell?
“Who’s the Warthog?” I asked.
She scowled at me. “No one.”
“Hmm,” I said, not pressing, but still supremely curious. “Well, if you don’t want to talk about it—”
“I don’t.”
Okay, then. Wow.
She looked panicked. She definitely didn’t want me to know who was texting her. And so, warning bells went off in my head. But I didn’t press. I’d have to reveal my own secrets if I pushed her to reveal hers. Besides, she’d tell me when she needed to. I wasn’t too worried about it. Her eyes weren’t swollen and her cheeks weren’t flushed.
Well, not from crying anyway.
She was fine.
I turned away, ignoring the nip in my stomach that was trying to tell me that her unwillingness to share kind of actually stung. “Made up your mind about breakfast?”
She decided on waffles.
As she sat there, sneaking messages to someone on her phone when she thought I didn’t notice, I cooked and asked about ladies’ night.
Her eyes widened as if she had big news but couldn’t tell me, except then she did tell me about Lucy Olivia and her deceased baby daddy.
“Holy shit,” I murmured, setting a platter of waffles between us and taking a seat across from her. “I can’t believe she actually slept with the guy just because he was dying.”
“I know, right?” Bella piled her plate and began to butter her waffles. “But seriously, what would you have done in her situation?”
I thought about it a moment, then broke out in a grin. “Probably slept with the poor, dying girl.”
“Exactly.” She aimed her knife at me with a wink and then set it down so she could cover her waffles with syrup. “You know, you and Luce are a lot alike in that way. Bleeding-heart softies. In fact…” Dropping the syrup bottle with a thump, she leaned across the table toward me, her eyes brightening as they did whenever she had a crazy idea. “I can’t think of anyone better to help her raise that baby.”
I paused with a forkful of waffles halfway to my open mouth. “Huh?”
She nodded encouragingly. “You’d be a great dad.”
With a snort, I shook my head. “Oh, I know you’re not suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”
“What? It’s the best idea ever. You and Lucy Olivia together would be so—”
“Uh, no!” I cut in. “We would not. Luce is like a sister to me. Damn, Bella, that is so wrong.”
“But is it?” she countered. “Things might just surprise you if you gave them a chance. Just because we grew up with her our entire life doesn’t mean you couldn’t possibly form other kinds of feelings. Look at Teagan and JB. Or Beau and Bentley. They—”
“Are weird,” I finished abruptly, holding up a hand. “What the hell is wrong with you? I love Lucy Olivia, sure. You know that. She’s family, and I’ll be there to help her through anything she needs with this baby. Just like everyone else will. But I’m not marrying her and becoming some stand-in father to her kid. Jesus. That’d be like me suggesting you hook up with Luke or Trick or—or Fox.”
Her face paled, and for a moment, I thought she was going to burst into tears.
I had no idea what that was about, and I started to ask.
But then she said, “Fine. Whatever.” And she stabbed at her waffle, muttering, “Far be it for me to even suggest the idea. I mean, Lucy Olivia could be your soul mate for all we know, but you won’t even consider the idea because she was raised like family. Stubborn, irritating man.”
