Chapter 23
After the bonfire at Mer’s house, it was decided that we were going to have a girls night. Lucy looked like she was about to explode with giddy happiness as she passed out matching white and pink striped pajama sets, informing us that she’d been waiting for the girls night “all day long.”
“What about me? I wanna stay and get matching pajamas,” Kappy pouted.
Lucy rolled her eyes. “You gotta go. You too, Uncle JP,” she pointed at him. Her eyes went to her dad. “I guess you can stay because you need to take care of Callahan.”
Colt frowned. “You guess?”
Mer laughed. “Okay, you heard her. Time to get going, boys.”
Before leaving, Kappy leaned down to hug me. “Congrats by the way, I know you’re gonna be a great mom.”
“Huh?” I blinked at him in surprise.
“A great mom, mommy, mamacita, ya know, because…” He trailed off and pointed to my stomach.
“Because…” I trailed off as I looked down at myself. “What are you trying to say, Kappy?”
He blanched. “Wha…?” He looked around. “Um…” His face immediately started turning red. “What am I trying to say? I don’t know.”
Everyone busted up laughing. Colt pulled out his wallet and handed me a crinkled $50. “That was amazing. He mentally shit his pants.”
I accepted the money with a snicker.
“That was mean. Why is everyone being so mean to me lately?” Kappy grumbled.
“Aww, baby.” Piper patted his cheek to comfort him but ruined the effect when she started laughing. “Sorry, your face was just so funny.”
“Traitor,” he mumbled before pushing a kiss to her lips. “You’re sure I can’t stay?” He hugged her head to his chest.
“You’re so needy,” she giggled into him
He pouted his lip out. “I am.”
She rolled her eyes, but I could tell she loved it. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“You better.” He dipped to whisper something in her ear that made her blush deeply.
Feeling like an intruder, I quickly looked away just to find that JP was watching me watch them. Feeling caught, my own face started blushing hard.
“Well, goodbye, I guess,” I said to JP, but the words felt all wrong. We had no plans to see each other again, and it made me feel kind of desperate to make some. Each second I spent with him made my body want him even more.
Stop it, Ali, I internally yelled at myself. My mind needed to be stronger and louder than my heart this time around. I needed to toughen up and protect myself.
“I like seeing you like this,” he said with a soft smile.
“Like what?”
He shrugged. “Taking bets with Colt, being in cahoots with Piper, making fun of Kappy.”
“Cahoots?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Cahoots,” he confirmed. “And I like these,” he said, tugging on the bottom of my silk pajama shirt.
I rolled my eyes.
“It’s true. Very sexy.” He grinned.
“JP,” I said warily.
“Ahh, sorry.” He hung his head for a second before squinting at me. “You can call your friends sexy, can’t you?”
I snorted. “Do you call Kappy sexy?”
“Yeah, do you?” Kappy came up behind us with a smirk on his face. “Let’s go, Romeo,” he said, pushing JP toward the door. “Bye Ali, and congrats, for real.”
“Thank you, for real.” I gave him a genuine smile.
Kappy dropped a kiss on my cheek before leaving.
JP’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, he’s allowed to kiss you?”
“Yupp,” Kappy answered, then shoved him out the door. “Bye, ladies,” he said before disappearing.
I laughed as I closed the door behind them.
“Finally! I thought they’d never leave!” Lucy said with a sigh, making the rest of us laugh.
About an hour later, we were in the middle of doing facemasks, painting our nails, and watching Just My Luck when Colt came down and plopped on the couch.
He immediately placed Mer’s legs on his lap and automatically started massaging her knee.
Part of me felt a little pull at my heart.
I wondered what it’d be like to have such consistent comfort.
Piper came around the corner dressed in her robe with a terry cloth headband keeping her blonde hair back from her green facemask. “Colt!” she stomped her slipper-covered foot. “No boys allowed. That’s why I kicked Richard to the curb tonight. Shoo.”
“Yeah, dad!” Lucy copied Piper’s motions. She was dressed in the exact same robe and headband. “Shoo!”
“C’mon, please! I want the inside scoop about JP and Al Pal!” Colt gave me an expectant look.
“No, no, no, don’t tell him,” Lucy wagged her finger at me. “He’s Team JP. He cannot be trusted.”
Colt blanched at his daughter. “What? No! I’m Team Ali, I swear.”
Lucy harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t believe it.”
Mer crossed her arms as well and smirked. “Yeah, I don’t believe it either. What about JP?”
Colt’s face cracked. “JP-shmay-pee. Fill me in and I’ll swear my allegiance to Team Ali,” he announced. “Can I have some popcorn?”
It took Mer about two seconds to melt. She gave me a sidelong glance. “I think Colty just wants to be one of the girls tonight.”
“Yeah, I do,” he nodded eagerly. “And I want popcorn.”
Piper sighed as she dished out the popcorn for us in little bowls. “Well, do we fill him in?”
I rolled my eyes. “I guess it’s not much of a secret, you already know I’m pregnant.” I flicked a piece of popcorn at Colt’s cheek.
Lucy’s head tilted to the side as she studied me. “But how did you get pregnant?”
Colt choked on his popcorn, and Mer hurriedly handed him water.
Piper snickered loudly. “Colt! You wanted to join the party, why don’t you fill her in?”
“Well, how about we focus on how they’re doing right now?” he asked, then his eyes flashed to me. “Please start talking and save me,” he said through gritted teeth.
I laughed. “There’s not much to tell. I think we’re best as friends.”
Mer squinted at me. “Is that what you really want? Because I think JP wants more with you.”
“I don’t know about that,” I said quietly.
“I think he would’ve handled things differently after the cruise if he really wanted to be with me.
” While he said he broke things off because he didn’t want to wreck the life I built for myself, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was just an excuse the same way his ‘busy with hockey’ line was an excuse.
He always seemed to have a reason why we couldn’t be together.
“All I know is that one minute, he’s dumping me on the cruise, but then I come home pregnant and he suddenly wants me again. ”
“He definitely should’ve handled it differently. Like I said, he was a total fuck boy,” Piper said.
Lucy harrumphed in agreement. “Well, all boys just want one thing.”
Colt choked again.
“What do they want, honey?” Mer asked hesitantly.
“They just want attention, as soon as they get it, they leave you alone.” She shrugged her little shoulders. “That's why they pull your ponytail and then as soon as you yell at them, they run away.”
“Yupp, that’s right,” Colt said in a gruff voice. “The stupid boys just want attention, so you shouldn’t give it to them, got it?”
“Yeah, they’re all stupid. Except…” She rolled her lips together.
“Except me, right?” Colt smiled proudly.
“Except Henrik,” she said with a swoony little sigh.
Piper and I made eye-contact and struggled not to laugh.
“Henrik?” Colt barked. “Who the f—” Mer elbowed Colt in the gut. “Who is Henrik, honey?” he finished.
“Henrik is Andersson’s oldest son,” Mer supplied. “He’s a very nice boy.”
“Yes.” Lucy nodded and a sweet little smile slid on her face. “He is a very nice boy. He always saves his yellow and pink starbursts for me.”
Colt’s eyebrows slammed down. “I think I need to have some words with Andersson,” Colt muttered, making Mer elbow him again.
“No, you don’t need to have words with Andersson, you need to have words with JP,” Piper said. “Hopefully Richard already is,” she added under her breath.
“Words?” Colt snorted. “I think he needs a punch to the face.”
“No.” My heart rate spiked. “No violence. Please.”
Colt’s face turned red with embarrassment. “Oh, no, I wouldn't actually hit him.” He shook his head. “I was just kidding. I’m sorry, Ali.”
“It’s okay,” I said hurriedly, really hoping to avoid a trip down memory lane.
Mer reached across the couch to grab my hand. “Here’s the only important question: Do you want to be with JP? Because I think he wants to be with you. It sounds like he kind of freaked out at the end of the cruise and now he’s regretting it.”
I gave her a doubtful look. “We’ve tried this before; it’d be stupid to try again.”
“Who says?” Mer shrugged. “There are no rules, limitations, or timelines when it comes to relationships. If you two want to be together, then nothing’s stupid.”
Colt gave her a proud grin and dropped a kiss on her hair.
Mer probably had no clue how much I needed to hear that because deep down, I wanted to try again, but I was scared. “I like him, but…”
Colt clucked his tongue. “Always a but.”
Mer clapped a hand over his mouth. “Do you want to be one of the girls or not?” she scolded him.
“But now I’m scared,” I finished.
“Don’t be,” Piper chimed in. “If it’s meant to be, it will be.
I know that’s cliche, but in my situation, I was trying to earn love from all the wrong people, and it just doesn’t work.
You can’t love someone into loving you back.
And you can’t ruin it with the right person either.
You could argue that Kappy and I ruined it a million times, but we eventually got it right.
Either someone loves you, or they don’t.
Either you and JP will work out, or you won’t. ”
“Jeez, that’s a little harsh, P,” Colt said.
Piper shrugged. “I know, but that’s what I learned.”
“She’s right,” I butted in. In the past, I did everything I could to earn love from my ex-husband, but nothing could ever work because the love just wasn’t there.
“Well, I repeat, JP-shmay-pee,” Colt said. “You can stay here as long as you want, Al Pal. You can move in permanently for all we care. We can be like Full House and raise all the kiddies together, right?” he asked his wife.
Mer’s face lit up as she hugged his large arm to her chest. “Wait, that’d be so fun,” she said in a rush. “We could totally do that.”
I laughed. “Thank you for the offer, seriously, but I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I figure some things out.”
“Take your time.” Colt waved me off. “And for what it’s worth, I think JP needs to grovel more.”
“You do?” Mer asked, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
“Yupp.” He turned to me. “It’s up to him to take action.
JP needs to put in the work and show that he’s here to stay.
He needs to own up to the fact that he blindsided you.
He’s the one who made you scared to trust him, so it’s up to him to earn that trust back.
If he doesn’t do that, he’s not worth your time. ”
Mer gave her husband a proud grin.
“You guys are, like, annoyingly healthy.” Piper rolled her eyes, then she leaned toward Lucy. “Wanna prank Kappy with the cat monitor?”
“Yes!” Lucy jumped up and down.
“Should I be concerned?” Colt asked while watching Piper and Lucy cackle evilly into her phone.
“Maybe just for Kappy,” Mer said with a giggle.