11. Sutton
Sutton
Iran my hand through my hair, trying to make sure I didn’t have any pieces out of place, just as there was a knock at the door. I looked around my small apartment to check it one more time.
Regret and nerves had been burning a hole in my stomach since I’d told Quinn to come here, and it was a nasty combination. I was really looking forward to a girls’ night when Quinn suggested it but I almost had to cancel.
Iris had a last-minute invite to a bingo night. Since she hadn’t gone out much I pushed her to go, telling her Quinn had to cancel, even though it was a lie. Plus, Iris spent so much time with Sophie that I wasn’t mad about getting to keep her tonight.
When I called Quinn to let her know, I’d suggested my place as an option so I didn’t miss out.
It was a Saturday night, meaning that most likely she’d be skipping an evening with the Knight Enterprises men since she’d told me they usually hung out all day. I wanted to make sure she didn’t regret it.
Sophie babbled happily from the blanket in the middle of the room, not at all bothered by my stress.
I’d spent the day scrambling to clean the already clean apartment from top to bottom, hiding some of our clutter in our room.
I gave it one more look-over before moving to the door and pulling it open. “Hey.”
Quinn’s bright smile met mine a second before her eyes moved to the floor behind me. She all but ignored me and pushed forward, leaving me with another woman at the door.
“Hi, Sophie, my gosh!” She immediately plopped herself down on the ground with her. “You are just so adorable!” Quinn had met her at the charity event but was too busy to really spend much time with her.
Sophie cooed again and flapped her arms a few times, looking hesitantly back at me then at Quinn.
I could tell she was uncertain; we weren’t around people often.
She made no move to get closer to Quinn, nor did she reach for her.
This was how I’d expected her to be with Asher, but no, she’d reached out and tucked herself into his chest. Now whenever he was around she wanted to be in his arms.
“I think so but I’m a little biased.” I smiled, stepping aside to let the woman, who I assumed was Emma, into my place.
“Thanks for having me over,” Emma said as she held out her hand for me to shake.
“Shit, sorry!” Quinn stood up from the floor. “Emma, Sutton. Sutton, meet Emma, Theo’s sister.”
“Half-sister,” Emma corrected, only getting an eye roll from Quinn. Unlike her brother, she didn’t have an accent. She looked back at me. “I just got to town for a visit. Quinn’s letting me crash your evening.”
“Happy to have you! Can I get anyone anything to drink?”
“Wine!” Quinn said before I even had a chance to give her options. I laughed as Sophie screamed a little, looking for my attention, arms up in the air. I went over and scooped her off the floor.
“Can you go see Quinn for a minute?” I asked my sweet girl as Quinn held out her arms, excitement in her eyes. Sophie patted my face, looking at Quinn, and then hesitantly reached out. I passed her over and she wiggled a little but didn’t cry.
That was a win at least.
“You are the sweetest girl,” Quinn cooed to my daughter as Sophie started playing with her red hair.
“Yeah, until she starts yanking your hair out,” I said, watching my daughter. She was sweet but she didn’t know her own strength. “Okay, so wine for Quinn. Emma?”
“Wine’s good.” Emma tucked her arms behind her back.
“Three wines it is,” I said as I made my way over to the kitchen. “Red okay?”
Both women nodded.
“I was so mad I missed her the day she came to the office,” Quinn said.
“You were in Italy getting proposed to. I think that was a tad more interesting.” I raised an eyebrow as I uncorked the red.
“Eh.” She waved a hand as she bounced around with Sophie. “I would have preferred her.”
I knew she was lying—she had been so ecstatic when she came back. I’d caught her gazing at her ring lovingly more than a few times. Knight had it custom-made but it looked vintage. It was a large emerald-cut diamond with smaller diamonds creating a halo set on a simple gold band.
It suited her perfectly.
“She’s very sweet.” Emma looked over at my daughter, no smile on her face.
I knew very little about Emma. Quinn hadn’t said much when she gave me the heads up that she was coming. I passed around the wine, settled on the floor with Sophie, and let Quinn and Emma take the couch.
“I needed this.” Quinn took a huge sip of her wine, then let out a sigh. “And to get out of my house.”
“Why?” I frowned, passing Sophie a toy.
“Ugh.” She took another long pull from her wine. “Let’s not start with me. Your apartment is cute, Sutton,” she said, deflecting. I scoffed and took my own sip of wine. I would only have a sip or two and dump anything I pumped, but I wanted to be included and enjoy myself.
“The outside is a dump but I’ve worked hard to make the inside livable.”
“Where were you before this?” Emma asked as she crossed one leg over the other, her back rigid. Her pin-straight brown hair was perfectly styled with rich caramel highlights throughout. Her light blue eyes, so much like Knight’s, were on me.
“I used to live in Vancouver. Soph and I moved here three months after she was born. I tried to come sooner but the end of my pregnancy was a little tricky so I didn’t want to make the drive.”
“That would have been a long trip with a three-month-old.” Quinn looked at me thoughtfully.
“We did it in three days.” I would have liked to say the ten-and-a-half-hour journey was a chance for me to slow down and enjoy the drive through the mountains, but I’d been so stressed.
I managed to pay for some not-so-great motels for us because I didn’t want Sophie in the car for too long each day, and every night after she fell asleep beside me, I spent the night crying.
I’d been so worried about money that I hadn’t eaten much on the way over because I wasn’t sure how hard it was going to be to get a job.
Thankfully, I got my first waitressing job within a week of getting here.
“Well, I’m so glad you’re here.” Quinn smiled. “When the guys pushed for me to get an assistant, I was skeptical. Honestly, I think I would have hated it if it were anyone but you.”
“Well, I never imagined I’d have to start my life over at twenty-seven as a single mom but it’s all kind of working out thanks to you. You’ve changed my life.”
“Ugh.” Quinn waved a hand in front of her eyes. “I love that for you so much.”
I didn’t want to cry so it was time to move on. “And you, Emma? You don’t live here?”
“No, but I’ve had a shit few weeks and Quinn told me to call if I ever needed anything. She told me to get on a flight.” She seemed a little cold, her voice clipped.
Quinn looked over at Emma with sympathy on her face, even though Emma looked uncomfortable. “You know you can stay with us for as long as you need.”
We spent the next hour talking about anything that came to mind, with Emma mostly listening, not offering up much.
I’d picked up Sophie when she’d gotten fussy and settled with my back against the wall.
This was good for her, sleeping with noise.
We’d spent a lot of time alone but once in a while I’d hold her with the TV on so she could learn to sleep anywhere.
And now, even with the talking and laughing, my sweet baby was fast asleep in my arms and I was happier than I had been in a while.
I felt like I had friends again, which was something I hadn’t realized how badly I was missing.
When you got used to being alone, it was easy to forget that it wasn’t easier.
We talked about our worst childhood haircuts, our worst dates, and the best clothing stores in the city. The conversation flowed easily, the time flying by.
“Why did you move from Vancouver to Calgary?” Quinn asked after a while. I tried to hide my cringe. “I don’t mean to pry—you don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to. I’m just kind of a nosy person. I’d been wondering since you mentioned driving here alone with Sophie.”
I knew it would come back to me eventually and I did want to tell her. That’s what friends did, right?
“It’s a long, complicated story.” Sophie’s little breath warmed me as I looked at her eyelashes resting against her chubby cheeks.
“Can you give me the short version?” Quinn was watching me closely.
I bit my lip, giving myself a moment to decide how much I wanted to share. I didn’t talk about it, not really. I might have even blocked some of it out. I’d been running on stress and adrenaline during that period, on top of being postpartum. It was a terrible time.
“I’d found out I was pregnant and that pretty much ended my relationship even though we’d been together for four years.
I got isolated and had never felt more alone but the doctors told me I couldn’t go anywhere because I was sick and it would put Sophie at risk.
So the second I could, I left. I’d never been to Calgary but I liked the idea of a bigger city that still had open space. ” I could feel both women watching me.
“My ex before Theo was kind of like that. Made me feel small, made me doubt myself.” Quinn shook her head. “It’s terrible.”
It was nice knowing she could relate. “It was. So why are you hiding out here?” I turned the conversation over to Quinn. “I know that you usually spend your Saturdays with the men. You’ve gotten out of talking about it long enough.”
Quinn sighed and rolled her eyes as I smiled and brushed a finger down Sophie’s sleeping face. I was happy she was letting me change the subject; she must have been able to tell I wasn’t going to give her anything else. Not today, anyway.
“My fiancé is being an idiot.”
I laughed. Emma glanced over at her, and Quinn shook her head.
“I’m serious.”
“What did he do?” I noticed Emma’s attention was locked on Quinn. My guess was she didn’t want to ask about her half-brother but maybe she was desperate for information. Quinn had once mentioned in passing they had a tense relationship, mostly because they didn’t know each other.
“The man is being unreasonable!” She threw her hands up in the air. “We got into a fight.”
“About…” I urged her to continue.
“A prenup,” she said as she pulled her hair into a bun on her head.
“You don’t want one?” Emma asked carefully. I was glad she did because I was a little out of my depth when it came to the kind of money the men of Knight Enterprises had.
“No! I’m the one that wants one, he’s the one who doesn’t.
So, I’ve been badgering him about it, telling him to get one.
He’s refused over and over again, saying that we don’t need to talk about it because we will always be together and there is nothing I can ever do to make him want to divorce me. ”
“But you want to protect him?” Emma guessed.
“I want to protect both of us. And I don’t want people to assume I’m with him for the money. He’s worked so hard for everything he has. I don’t want to take that away from him if something happens.” She took a deep breath and sank back into the couch with a sigh.
“Do you really think you would do that?” I asked skeptically.
“No, of course not, but who knows how I would react to losing him. But then I went to talk to Will because, hey, he’s a lawyer and can convince Theo that it’s smart, but nooo. Theo already got to him and he said he wouldn’t help me.”
I could tell from the determination on her face that there was more. “So, what did you do?”
“So…I went and found another lawyer. She’s going to deliver the prenup on Tuesday morning at his office.”
I bent down to kiss Sophie on the head to hide my smile.
“He’s going to be pissed,” Emma said, not bothering to hide the surprise on her face.
“Oh, yeah. He’s going to blow a gasket. But that’s what he gets for not listening to me.” Quinn shook her head.
She’d started talking about what her lawyer wanted her to include in the paperwork when my phone lit up on the floor beside me. Considering not many people had my number, I was always a little surprised when someone reached out.
Asher
How’s girls night?
I bit my lip and smiled. He had been stopping by the office every day with a coffee for me since he got back on Wednesday and our texts hadn’t stopped. Even though his were brief, and usually just to check on me and Sophie, I appreciated it all the same.
Me
How did you know?
Asher
We were at Knight and Quinn’s this morning and she mentioned she was seeing you.
We also have a group chat and the guys are being annoying since she wasn’t answering the poll, so Knight told them.
Me
That was a lot of words.
Asher
My phone doesn’t know what to do about it.
Me
Where are you?
Asher
Knight doesn’t know what to do with himself, so he demanded I stay after the game and help him do something downstairs.
Me
Ahh, look at you being a good friend.
Asher
He promised me beer.
Me
What was the poll about?
Asher
I could tell you if I paid enough attention.
I smiled at that. Asher really did have a grumpy air about him and it came off in ways like this, making it seem like he didn’t care about what his friends were talking about in their group text.
But I didn’t believe him. I saw how he was with Quinn and the other guys.
He loved them a lot, cared about them. He just showed it differently.
“What are you smiling at?” Quinn asked as I looked up. I could feel my face growing red.
“Nothing,” I said as another text came through.
“Uh-huh…” Quinn said as she took a sip of her wine. “Tell Ash I said hi.” She shot me a wink.
Asher
What are you and Sophie doing tomorrow?
Me
Well, it’s a Sunday so we’ll be getting out. I have some errands to run.
Asher
I want to see you.
Me
You saw me on Friday.
Asher
Yeah, too long ago.
My blush deepened. I didn’t even know if this man knew how much he affected me. He’d basically said he missed me like it was nothing. I guess I had taken too long because the text bubble popped back up and I bit my thumb to try and control some of the excitement.
Asher
It’s not a date.
Me
No?
Asher
No. Friends hang out.