Chapter 4
Willow
I hear chatter downstairs and I take the stairs quickly because it must be Ellie and Eden in the kitchen with Mom. They texted and called nonstop last night after I lost consciousness and Brett whisked me away.
Mom is blabbering about how good-looking Brett is, and I need to stop her before he hears and his ego gets even larger.
I arrive on the main floor and Mom has already taken their coats and is offering coffee.
“Hey,” I greet my friends.
“You look good,” Ellie says, assessing me to see if I am in one piece after confronting Brett.
“You mean for a woman who confronted her baby daddy in a public place and fainted?” I snort. Last night could have gone very differently. I am just thankful Brett has turned out to be a nice guy, who is owning up, for now.
“I still can’t believe Brett is Maylee’s father. My mind is having trouble wrapping around the idea,” Eden chimes.
“Come have a seat.” I guide them to our old cherrywood kitchen table. “Can I get you guys some coffee?”
“We already had coffee in the city,” Ellie replies since she doesn’t like the coffee we have out here on the farm.
“How about I fry up some eggs and bacon?” I offer since I am hungry from nursing.
“Sound good, I’m starving.” Ellie nods. “Thanks.”
“The only reason a woman is that hungry in the morning is if her man gave her a good riding last night,” Mom says.
My eyes turn round. “Mom!” I chide.
Ellie laughs and moves her head from side to side. “The benefits of being married to a hockey player.” She’s blushing but doesn’t seem put off by Mom, which is a relief.
“Our Willow scored a hottie too.” Mom winks.
For the love of everything holy. “Mom, please,” I plead.
“What? You guys aren’t in elementary school anymore. You should be able to handle some sexy talk.” Mom shrugs, bringing her mug of coffee to her lips. I want to crawl and hide because why does she have to be so inappropriate? I give Mom my best mopey face. “Fine, I’ll go upstairs to get ready so you ladies can have some privacy.” She finally leaves and saunters her way upstairs.
My friends wait a few moments before beginning their inquisition.
“How are you feeling, Willow? It was crazy how everything went down,” Eden starts, talking about my confession to Brett and my subsequent fainting.
“I’m okay, considering,” I say as I prep the dishes to make our meal. “I hope you guys aren’t mad at me about keeping Brett’s identity a secret.”
“I’m just sorry you felt like you had to keep the secret,” Ellie retorts.
“But you understand why I couldn’t tell you guys. Everyone is friends and if I would’ve told you guys about the horrible text message, it would have caused a lot of drama.”
“What a clusterfuck,” Eden sighs.
“It’s just so sad you guys had such a horrible miscommunication,” Ellie laments.
“Tell me about it. Not in a million years, in all the scenarios I thought of, was there a chance that Brett lost his phone,” I say.
“Don’t focus on what was. Now you guys are here together,” Ellie says.
“True, I don’t know what to expect. He’s kind of jumped right in on wanting to bond with Maylee, it’s making me nervous. I’m not used to sharing her, and I don’t know what his intentions really are.”
“He’s a good guy,” Ellie states.
“So you’ve said,” I reply to my friend. “Last night was such a mess. I planned to catch him in the locker room after the game. I wasn’t expecting him to have such a strange reaction to seeing me.”
“What do you mean by strange?” Ellie asks. She and Eden showed up after all the drama of Brett grabbing on to Jacob’s collar and telling him he had no right to be at the game with me. I retell the story to my friends of how Brett spotted me at intermission and charged up to me.
“Holy crap, Willow, Brett likes you.” Ellie looks wide-eyed.
“He does not,” I retort. I open the fridge and take out the eggs and bacon.
“Don’t kid yourself. He went alpha on Jacob. Sounds hot.” Eden is fanning herself.
“It was confusing. I’ll tell you that. I had a whole speech prepared. Then Brett went and uprooted the whole thing with his crazy reaction.”
“And then you fainted, so dramatic.” Eden rolls her eyes playfully.
“I couldn’t believe my own ears. That mix-up was too much to process. I spent most of last night tossing and turning, thinking of how things could’ve been different if we had somehow managed to connect.” I crack the eggs in a bowl and make extra, just in case Brett didn’t eat. I know what it’s like caring for a baby. You can forget to feed yourself.
“Don’t dwell on the past. Brett is here now and he seems to be connecting with Maylee,” Ellie says.
“He’s a natural with her,” I say, trying to hide the swoony feelings from my voice. I take out a pan and spray some avocado oil on it.
“There’s a but in there.” Eden clearly reads my nerves. “I know you. You don’t like people getting too close.”
“Not true. I’m close with you guys,” I remind.
“You didn’t tell us who the baby daddy was,” Eden counters and she has a point. I have trust issues and relationship issues. I blame the way I grew up. Our family home was more of a war zone, and me and my brothers mostly fended for ourselves. If it wasn’t for Grams, I don’t know what would’ve become of all of us.
“I may have some small trust issues,” I admit, pinching my index finger and thumb together. I place bacon strips on the hot pan and begin to fry them up. The smell makes my stomach grumble. I was so nervous about confronting Brett yesterday, I barely ate.
“Just a tad,” Eden laughs. “But seriously, don’t beat yourself up over it.”
“How can I not? Maylee missed out on her dad because, like you guys said, I am closed down. If I didn’t have all these issues, then Brett wouldn’t have missed Maylee’s milestones.”
“She’s going to have many more,” Ellie kindly reminds. “You can’t fight who you are, Willow.”
“I’ve made bad decisions. The guilt is eating at me,” I admit.
“You got a message from Brett’s phone telling you to bark up another tree. There was no reason for you to think he lost his phone. That would’ve been farfetched. You did the best you could, given the circumstances,” Ellie assures.
“I agree, Willow,” Eden confirms and having their support and understanding means a lot.
I sulk as I place the bacon and eggs on three plates. I leave the extra in the pan so it will stay warm for Brett.
“I hate living in Sugar Meadow,” I blurt to my friends. Coming home made sense financially, given my situation. “I got scholarships so I could leave this town. I can’t believe I ended up back here. If it weren’t for my brothers, I would’ve gone crazy.”
Eden frowns and so does Ellie.
“Come back to town,” Eden says referring to New York City. “Maylee can go to day care and you can get your old job back.”
“The cost of living is so high in the city. I’d want a two-bedroom apartment. I can’t afford it,” I admit as I dig into the eggs. “Sugar Meadow will have to do for now.”
“I’m sure Brett will help out now,” Ellie says.
“I don’t know. I’m keeping my expectations low,” I reply as I pick up a strip of bacon with my fork.
“Right, because you’re scared of disappointment, but the handsome defensive player out there isn’t going anywhere. Trust me.” Ellie winks.
“You can’t know that,” I say to her.
“Oh, I can. You guys don’t know Brett the way I do. His nephew, Asher, has become good friends with Syd. You have to see how Brett is with Asher to understand what I am saying.”
“Even so. This is all confusing. I have to talk to him about co-parenting and how that will look.”
“Connor said he got two weeks’ leave from the team. That means you have time to figure things out,” Ellie relays.
The front door opens and Brett walks in, holding our daughter. My heart skips a beat when I see him holding her in such a loving way. My brothers love her too but they are never hands-on. They are more the type to give her kisses and make her laugh as they are passing by. Last night was the first time Finn ever babysat for me, and that’s why Chelsea was here to help him because she has a niece and Finn didn’t know what he was doing.
“How was the walk?” I ask Brett.
“Good, it’s colder than it looks.” He shivers. “The property is beautiful. I want to help out while I’m staying here.”
My jaw drops. “You want to work on the farm?”
He nods. “If I’m staying the next two weeks, I need to contribute.”
Ellie raises her brows and gives me a look that says I told you so. Eden smiles stupid.
“Um, I can ask Jacob but we never spoke about if you are staying and whatnot,” I mumble awkwardly. “But I mean, of course you are welcome to stay. That would be great for Maylee.”
Shut up, Willow, and stuff a sock in it.
When I look over at Eden, she is covering her hand over her mouth, smothering a smile, and I want to crawl out of my skin.
Brett walks Maylee over to the couch and takes off her snowsuit.
“Would you like some bacon and eggs?” I ask him.
“I can eat later,” he says. “You take your time with your friends.”
“Did you have any breakfast?” I ask, giving him a pointed look.
“Nah,” he brushes me off.
“Brett, you need to eat. I know what it’s like taking care of a baby full time. You have your hands full but you can place Maylee in that bouncer over there and turn on the music, and that will give you about twenty minutes to eat,” I assure him.
He doesn’t answer me but he does listen. He places our daughter on the bouncer and buckles her in. Then he runs his fingers through his hair and tucks some of it behind his ears. My body reacts just watching him.
He walks over to the pan, but I tell him to sit, and I bring him a large serving of eggs and bacon. I also grab a few slices of bread out of the bread bag.
“Thanks, Willow,” he says. “I can go into town later and get groceries.”
I watch him with fascination as he eats. He was hungry and I feel bad.
“I want to help as much as possible. I can only imagine how hard it’s been for you,” he says to me in front of my friends.
Ellie gives me another look, confirming what she said about him is true. I just sit feeling slack-jawed. Who is this man? Why is he so helpful?
“How long are you ladies in town?” Brett asks Ellie and Eden.
“We fly out tonight,” they both answer in unison.
“Maybe you can take Willow here to a spa in town. It’s my treat.” He winks. “She definitely needs some pampering. The works: nails, massage, pedicure, whatever.”
“Brett, that isn’t necessary,” I intervene.
“You need time to relax, Willow. Don’t tell me you don’t need it because I know you do,” Brett continues.
“Holy shit,” Eden gushes. “You are so amazing.”
“Okay, let’s not inflate his ego,” I cut in because someone needs to dim the stars in Eden’s eyes.
“My ego won’t deflate, Honey. It’s going to stay healthy, just the way I like it,” he teases, winking at me. My girl parts get warm as I remember him calling me honey the night we met.
Get yourself together. Getting soft around this guy can lead to trouble.
“We can head back to the hotel. They have an amazing spa there. I’ll call and book us in right now,” Ellie offers. “And thanks for offering to pay, Brett, but you know Connor won’t be having that.”
Brett nods.
“I’ll give you my credit card for Eden and Willow,” he says.
Ellie makes the call and they say they have an opening for us in two hours, which gives us plenty of time to get into Nashville.
“We will need to go over Maylee’s eating and sleeping routine,” I say to Brett.
“No worries, can I take her with me to the supermarket? Like how would I get her there?” he asks.
A small chuckle escapes me because he is sweet. This is a side of him I didn’t see that night because he was a sexual Adonis who wanted to claim me. There was nothing soft about him and I loved it, but I’m loving this side too.
“I can ask Jacob to give you the keys for his truck. There is a base for the car seat in the back seat. I’ll show you how to use it. But, Brett, you really don’t have to go to the supermarket with her. It can be a handful if she gets hungry and whatnot,” I warn.
“Nah, it’s totally fine,” he assures. I don’t know how much experience he has with his nephew, but the supermarket with an infant is not an easy task. I keep my mouth shut.
We finish eating and I go over Maylee’s schedule with Brett, and then I head into Nashville to go to the spa with my girls. Things are moving fast with Brett having a role in our lives. My head feels like it’s spinning, but I will take Brett’s help while he offers it because I could use a break. When it’s time for Brett to leave, I’ll deal because I always do.