Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
BILLIE
The day after we got back from the Catskills, my world came crashing down to reality with a thud when Mom invited Blake and me to join her and Maria for breakfast at Rise Up, the café where I first met Collins.
Trying to take inspiration from my pink-haired friend’s couldn’t-give-a-fuck attitude, I add another sweetener to my coffee and act like I haven’t noticed the frequent looks Maria keeps shooting at me when she thinks my mom isn’t watching.
Except I do give a fuck what she thinks, and with every side-eye from Maria, the knot in my stomach coils a little tighter.
There’s no way that she can know about Emmett and me. Every move we’ve made was carefully planned.
“How is motherhood treating you, Billie?” Maria asks with a faux smile designed for Mom.
I attempt a similar expression, picking my coffee up to buy myself a few seconds.
“Up and down,” I casually answer, tipping my head from side to side as I set the mug back down on the table.
She flicks her hair to one side, shoulders bunched around her ears. Nothing about this breakfast is relaxed. A need to jump up from my seat and wheel Blake out the door burns inside me.
From across the table, Mom’s brows draw together, almost like she can sense my discomfort. “Is everything okay, sweetheart?”
It’s the worst question she could’ve asked as I take a huge gulp of coffee to rinse away emotions I definitely shouldn’t allow on display.
“She’s just tired.” Maria fixes her dark eyes on me. “Aren’t you, Billie?”
Her tone is anything but concerned, although I nod in agreement anyway.
Shoulders still tight, she bites into a croissant and sets it on the plate in front of her. “I imagine that taking a newborn away must really be hard work.”
Mom’s head darts to me, brows furrowed even deeper. “But Billie hasn’t been away with Blake yet?” Her statement comes off as more of a question, and both women wait on clarification.
Glancing at the exit, I wonder how many seconds it would take me to grab Blake’s stroller and be out of the door and whether either of them would chase after me for answers.
Of course they would.
I clear my throat and look between them. “We haven’t been away yet.” Adding a light chuckle to sell the lie I hate telling, I double down and confirm, “I’m barely able to cope at home, let alone somewhere else.”
Reaching across the table, Mom takes my hand, circling her thumb over the top.
I force down another swallow, knowing this could be the last time in a while that I’ll benefit from her comforting touch.
After practice, Emmett plans to make good on another promise when he sits my parents down in their living room and confesses everything that’s been happening between us.
“Oh.” Maria looks doubtful, sarcasm lacing her voice. “Silly me. I must have mistaken you for somebody else carrying a baby and a suitcase.”
Instantly, my mind races, cycling through potential moments when Maria could’ve seen us.
Mom just chuckles, like this whole atmosphere isn’t the most awkward situation to have ever existed. Surely, she can sense the tension. It’s written right across her best friend’s face.
After a few unbearable seconds, Mom claps her hands. “How about a coffee? I could sure go for another caffeine hit after this week at work.”
I motion to my half-full mug and then to an untouched plate of eggs. “I’m good, thanks.”
Snapping out of a trance, Maria clicks her tongue as Mom stands and grabs her purse. “I’ll take one of their scones with jelly and clotted cream. It’s been too long since I had a layover in London, and I’m craving British baking.”
With a nod, Mom sets off to join an ever-growing line at the counter.
Great, even more alone time with Maria.
“So, how was Thailand?” I ask, knowing she recently returned from a vacation out there with a couple of friends. It was splashed across her social media for days on end.
Do I particularly care about her vacation to Bangkok? No. But I’ll take any conversation if it avoids the previous subject.
As she stares straight down at her half-eaten croissant, I watch lines crease into Maria’s forehead, full lips coated in peach gloss pulling into a frown.
“You can deny it all you want, Billie.” Her expression is menacing as she looks at me.
“But I know that was you getting into my ex-husband’s car the other day.
I was walking past the entrance to his parking lot on the way to visit him when I caught sight of you.
And before you ask.” She pins me with a glare.
“I was visiting him because I wanted to clear the air after the divorce. Emmett still means a lot to me.”
I’m tempted to call her bluff. Maria is smart enough to try and accuse someone of something she didn’t witness in the hopes that they’ll unwittingly admit to their crimes.
And while it’s really bad luck that she was passing by at that precise moment, it’s quite possible that she did see me climbing into Emmett’s car the other day, the gates to the parking lot were open and ready for us to leave.
I work to keep my body language casual and open, resisting the urge to fidget with my hands.
“I’ll take your silence as confirmation,” she presses, sitting back in her chair, eyes never leaving mine.
I quickly glance over at Mom, who hasn’t moved forward in the line.
Shit.
“Perhaps this is a conversation you should be having with your former husband,” I respond, choosing my words carefully so I don’t accidentally confirm anything. “Although, given that you are divorced, I don’t really see how Emmett’s private life concerns you anymore.”
She bolts up, pushing away her plate before pointing a red-manicured finger straight at me.
“Don’t get smart with me, Billie. You know as well as I do that if you’re involved with my ex-husband, then it has everything to do with me.
” She scoffs, and I know what’s coming before she’s even opened her mouth.
“You’ve always had a thing for Emmett, and you couldn’t wait to get your claws into him the second you returned from Austin.
” She drops her disgusted gaze down my body.
“If you even waited until we separated, that is.”
I’ve never been an angry person, always choosing to avoid confrontation above my own needs.
But as my blood boils and burning rage shows no sign of calming, I reach into Blake’s stroller and pull my baby girl into my arms. In the absence of Emmett, she’s the only one who can prevent me from going nuclear on this woman’s ass.
Who the fuck does she think she is? And why do middle-aged people with fancy jobs and money think that they’ve got me all figured out?
Fuck them.
“That isn’t true, Maria,” is all I say. Truthfully, it’s all I can manage while remaining respectful, even if she doesn’t show an ounce of it to me.
Leaning forward, she plants her elbows on the table, voice deep when she asks, “Have you been screwing my ex-husband?”
Courage I didn’t know I possessed pins my eyes on hers. I’m determined not to lie, even if she has zero right to know the truth.
“This conversation is ridiculous.”
She just grins, and it isn’t a friendly one. “Let me guess,” she muses. “You think he’s serious about you.”
Well, he told me he’s in love with me, so, yeah, I do.
I say nothing, attention diverted to my daughter.
“You’re a rebound, Billie. We were married for way too long and were much too in love to simply click our fingers”—she mimics the action with her hand, a loud snap turning a few heads—“and fall in love with someone else.”
“You’re making a fool of yourself, Maria,” I warn.
That doesn’t deter her. “He’s thirty-five and worried about being left on the shelf. I know he is because I’ve felt the same way at times. Along comes a younger woman who shows even a modicum of interest, and, poof … the famous NHL star is between her parted thighs in no time.”
When her eyes focus on Blake, I know that even the slightest mention of my daughter will change the course of this conversation entirely. There’s no chance that I’ll be able to hold my temper.
“Let’s be really real here, Billie.”
I close my eyes and wait for her to overstep.
“Emmett didn’t want children when he was married to me. I doubt very much that he’d want to take on another man’s baby. As cute as Blake is, that’s not the kind of shit my husband would sign up for.”
“Ex,” I grind out, arms trembling as they hold Blake.
“Excuse me?”
“Ex,” I repeat. “Emmett is your ex-husband.”
Again, that doesn’t deter her. If anything, she’s bolstered by her own judgmental words. “Ex or not, I think I know Emmett better than anyone else on this planet.”
“I highly doubt that.” The words are out before I can stop them.
“Oh, really?” She braces herself on her elbows again, dropping her voice to a low rumble. “Well, riddle me this then, Billie. If he’s so damn serious about you, why hasn’t he come forward to your parents before now?”
If I tell her that Emmett plans to do exactly that in a matter of hours, I’ll blow this whole thing out of the water.
“I think it’s best if you stop talking, Maria,” I politely reply.
She waves a hand in front of her as a satisfied grin overtakes her face.
“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that anyway.
I already had a good talk with your father just before we arrived here.
” Maria winces, like she’s pained on our behalf.
“After I saw you both, I sat in my feelings for a while, convinced that my ex-husband couldn’t be stupid enough to go there with our best friends’ daughter.
” When she sucks a breath through her teeth, her victorious smile only grows wider as she pushes back her chair and unhooks her purse from the back of it.
“But then I got to thinking about how I’d want to know if that was my daughter who was being made a fool of.
” She looks at me like she genuinely cares about my feelings.
“It’s a terrible thing to take advantage of an impressionable young woman who just got out of a bad relationship and is left holding the baby.
” Pressing a palm to her sternum, she delivers a final line.
“In the end, I concluded that, as a longtime family friend, it was my duty to raise the alarm.”
With that, she turns on her heel and makes for the restroom.
A shaky hand rummages through Blake’s diaper bag, and I pull out my phone and hit Call on Emmett’s number, praying that his practice is over.
My heart sinks when I’m connected with his voicemail.
“Hey, it’s me.” My voice is as shaky as my hands.
“Listen, I think we have a problem. I’m out for breakfast with Maria and Mom and …
” I force back tears. “Maria saw us that day in your parking lot before we headed to the Catskills. Sh-she told Dad about us—or at least what she saw. So, I just need you to be aware that Maria has already put a lot of ideas in his head this morning.” Despite my best efforts, the first tear hits Blake’s onesie.
“She made it out like you’d been taking advantage of me, Em.
I think this could be really bad, and I’m so fucking sorry. ”