“Levi?”
He was eating again, as if that brief exchange of energy had never occurred. “What?”
The gruffness of his answer implied that he wasn’t pleased to be feeling what he was feeling—or maybe he wasn’t pleased by what he’d just revealed. It wasn’t like him to be so transparent, to drop the indifferent mask he wore, even for a second.
“You...” She swallowed hard. “You confuse me. I was embarrassed when you found that bustier because I assumed, from your reaction, that you weren’t interested in me...in that way.”
“You’re beautiful. What single man wouldn’t be interested? Especially if he hasn’t had a woman in a long time.”
“Is that you?”
Finished with his eggs, he got up to rinse his plate in the sink. “You’re better off with Kyle.”
* * *
It wasn’t easy walking into Black Gold Coffee. Friday mornings with the gang had always been Callie’s favorite time of the week, but these casual get-togethers grew increasingly uncomfortable the longer she kept her diagnosis a secret. Knowing that Baxter would be there—a witness to everything she said and, more to the point, didn’t say—only made it worse. She was tempted to tell them all and get it over with. She was feeling stronger, healthier, today. Maybe she could face the emotional fallout. She had to do it sometime.
But Baxter was right. She had to tell her parents first. She figured she’d keep her mouth shut for now and go to their place directly afterward.
“Hey, look who showed up this week!” Noah stood to embrace her, a sardonic smile on his darkly tanned face.
He had his coffee. So did Baxter, who hugged her next. Not only had they grown up as best friends, they’d been neighbors until they moved out on their own, so it wasn’t unusual for them to sit together. These days Noah lived behind Crank It Up, the bike shop he owned. Baxter had recently purchased a Victorian at the edge of town, a house he’d wanted for years. The look he shot her as they sat down told her how pathetic he felt to be in love with his best friend, who didn’t even know he was g*y. That enabled her to smile and relax a little regarding her own circumstances. Everyone had problems.
“Good to see you, too,” she told Noah.
“Aren’t you getting something?” He gestured toward the counter.
“No, I’ve eaten.” She’d made herself a couple of eggs when she fed Levi. “No races this week?”
As a professional cyclist, Noah was often out of town during the summer, training or competing in Europe.
“Nope.” He grimaced as he stretched his right leg. “Pulled a hamstring. Gotta let it heal before climbing back on a bike.”
“Bet you hate the inactivity.”
“I’ve been kayaking lately, but...yeah. I’d rather not lose everything I gained in training.”
Kyle strolled in. His eyes gravitated to her first, but he waved to Noah and Baxter from the line forming at the counter as Cheyenne and her husband, Dylan, entered behind him. Eve, Sophia and Ted trailed in last.
They each placed an order before taking a seat at their customary table in the back corner. “Where’s Riley today?” Sophia asked as she settled her expensive Gucci bag at her feet.
“He had to be in Jackson for a job,” Ted answered but he didn’t look at Sophia when he spoke. They’d once been an item—until she’d broken up with him to marry Skip Debussi instead. According to town gossip, she did this for Skip’s money. He came from money to begin with, so he stood to inherit—and he’d made millions on his own. But everyone believed Sophia regretted the marriage and stayed in it only because she had a daughter with him.
“He’ll be here with us next week,” Kyle added.
The barista called Eve’s name. “I thought maybe Phoenix had gotten out of prison and he was dealing with that,” she said as she stood to collect her latte.
Because of her own problems, Callie had lost track of the latest with Riley and Phoenix, but it was definitely a sensational topic, one that invited a lot of conjecture. Riley had dated Phoenix during their senior year—just long enough to get her pregnant. But he hadn’t known about the baby when he moved on. Neither had he ever expected her to run down the next girl he liked. Phoenix had been serving time for vehicular manslaughter since shortly after graduation. She’d even had the baby in prison, at which point the authorities had shuttled Jacob out to Riley and his parents.
“No.” Baxter shook his head. “Phoenix got into a fight in the exercise yard. Claims she was jumped by three other women. But there was no way to tell who started it. So they extended her stay.”
“Until when?” Cheyenne asked.
“Kyle said end of August,” Noah told her.
Callie couldn’t help feeling sorry for Phoenix. It was irrefutable that she’d swerved. There were witnesses. But had she meant to kill Lori Mansfield? That was hard to believe. Phoenix had always been a bit...different. She came from a challenging situation. But Callie had had a class with Phoenix and found her to be nice enough.
“I can’t imagine she’ll come back here,” Ted said. “She doesn’t have anything to come back to. We all know what her mother’s like. It’s a miracle she hasn’t been featured on an episode of Hoarders.”
Callie scowled. “Hoarder or not, Lizzie is still her mother and she’s only getting older and more...off. Someone’s got to take care of her. It’s not as if Phoenix’s brothers will step up to help.”
“And Jacob’s here,” Sophia added. “Phoenix hasn’t seen her son since she gave birth to him.”
“Sophia’s right,” Eve agreed. “Phoenix has been writing Riley all along, asking for pictures of Jacob.”
“I didn’t know that,” Cheyenne said. “Does he respond to those letters?”
“Most of the time he ignores them. He can’t encourage her or he’ll make the situation worse.” Noah paused to take a sip of his coffee. “You don’t want someone like that to have any influence over your child.”
“He’s told her plenty of times that he doesn’t want anything to do with her, that Jacob is better off without her,” Ted chipped in. “She should just stay out of their lives. Start over somewhere else.”
Of course, Riley wouldn’t want this woman, this convict, showing up on his doorstep and laying claim to the child he’d raised for thirteen years. But what about Jacob? What if he wanted to know his mother?