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I’m just an emotional mess right now, and I’m not used to being on my own. Maybe breaking up with Mac was a good thing. I need to get used to standing on my own two feet.
Kevin leans toward me as if he’s going to hug me, then stops himself with a rueful smile. “Sorry. I just— Thanks.” He nods, then heads back to the kids.
Fiona appears at my elbow with a coffee. “On the house, girl. Figured you probably wouldn’t want to stick around.”
“Was it that obvious?” I take a sip of coffee and let my eyes dart back to my ex-husband and kids. He’s got Katie on his lap, and Toby’s laughing at something.
A snapshot of a perfect family.
I shake my head and lift my cup. “Thanks, Fi.”
And with one last look at the family I could have had, I walk out of the café, wandering until my coffee is cold just to try to clear my head.
It doesn’t work.
CHAPTER 27
Trina
Toby’s soccer game is at the elementary school on Friday afternoon after school, so I make my way there at the end of the school day. I pick Katie up from her after-school care group and hold her hand while we go back outside. My heeled boots click on the asphalt as I make my way around the building to the field at the side of the school. Katie darts off toward the playground, and my stomach knots when I see Kevin on the sidelines of the field. I walk up to my ex-husband and give him a nod. “You made it.”
“You sound surprised.” His eyes soften. “But I probably deserve that.”
Self-awareness? Did he just say something that sounded like…regret?
Okay. This needs to stop.
What is going on? Where’s the asshole who marched into the Four Cups Café and called me a whore? He was easy to hate. He made it clear that I was making the right decision. This Kevin—the one who reminds me of the man I fell in love with—makes me remember things I’d rather forget, like how happy I was when we first married.
“Daddy!” Katie comes sprinting from the playground. My daughter crashes into his legs and wraps hers arms around them, beaming up at him.
“Hey, little monster.” Kevin smiles as he hauls her up for a hug and spins her in a circle.
Emotion clogs my throat, and I turn my back to the two of them. Was it really less than a year ago that we were all together? A seemingly happy, well-adjusted family? How is it possible that my life has imploded so quickly and so thoroughly in such a short amount of time?
As I angle my body away from Kevin and Katie’s, my eyes lift to see a man push open the school doors and jog toward the field.
Oh no.
Mac is wearing athletic shorts, white socks pulled high up his hard calves, and has a big mesh bag full of soccer balls slung over his shoulder. If this were a movie, it would be some weird Baywatch remake, but instead of beach babes in tight swimsuits, there’s only Mac running in slow motion toward me wearing a soccer coach’s uniform.
I see the exact moment Mac spots me. It happens to be the same time he has to jump over a little lip in the pavement, and his toe catches the edge of it while his eyes grow wide. This time, instead of crashing into a table and spilling beer everywhere, Mac recovers with a quick stumble, his eyes still on me for a moment before he changes trajectory to make his way to the team.
“Mr. Blair!” Katie shrieks at top volume. Kevin sets her down as she thrusts her arm toward her teacher. “Daddy, that’s Mr. Blair!”
Mac gives her a wave and a smile, but doesn’t come any nearer. He drops the mesh bag of balls on the ground and opens it up while the other coach instructs the boys to start warming up. Toby starts dribbling one of the balls through a line of cones, not even throwing a glance our way.
My eyes drift to Mac again, then dart to Kevin.
My ex-husband is frowning as he stares at Mac, his hand still around Katie’s shoulders. “He looks familiar,” Kevin says.
I close my eyes. Please, please let him not recognize him from the café.
“That’s because his picture is online,” Katie informs her father. “Mommy showed me before the first day of school.”
“You’re probably right, kiddo,” Kevin says, but he throws Mac one last questioning glance before shifting his gaze to Toby. “Your brother is good.”
“He’s the best on the team,” Katie announces. “He scored three goals last week.”
