A strange territorial nature came over me.
“Oh, hey. I didn’t see you come in.” Cole smiled.
He seemed more relaxed than the last time I had seen him, only last time he wasn’t sitting with a cute brunette, in a short dress and five-inch-heels.
“Oh, hey?”
I pushed down the queasy feeling in my stomach. Was this the part of the fling where I was supposed to play it cool, like we didn’t actually know each other and hadn’t spent all night skin to skin? I didn’t think I could do it, especially not now with Cole sitting so close to someone else.
She was holding out her phone and they were looking through pictures. I wasn’t close enough to see what made them so happy.
“Kaitlyn, this is Amber. Amber, Kaitlyn.” He glanced between the two of us before tipping his beer bottle back.
“Amber?” I could feel the trembling in my ankles. Oh my God. How was this happening? This was Amber. As in, mother of his child, Amber.
She looked nothing like her brother, Lance, other than the fact that she was thin, perfect super-model thin. We could not be more different. Her long pink nails clutched a glass of white wine. She took a deliberate sip and smiled at me.
“So nice to meet you, Kaitlyn.” She even had a sweet Texas accent. She fluttered her eyes back to Cole and looked at him with consuming intensity. I thought I was going to be sick right there on Peabody’s patio.
She knew the same things about him I did. He’d slept with her. They had a child together. I took a step back.
Maybe the history I thought we shared wasn’t as strong and unbreakable as I thought. What was I doing? Was I getting in the way of a child’s happiness? Was I interfering with Cole’s priorities? I needed to leave. I needed to think.
“Kaitlyn, are you ok?” Cole stood from the table. His voice was deeper than usual and he stepped closer to me. He blocked Amber from my view.
Everything happened so fast, I whirled to leave Peabody’s when Cole grabbed my arm. My drink slipped from my landing against his chest.
The lime drink streamed down his chiseled jaw as he wiped the slush from his cheek.
“Oh my God, Cole!” Amber jumped from her seat with a stack of napkins.
Before I witnessed one more nauseating exchange between the two, my legs carried me out of Peabody’s faster than I had ever run in flip-flops. Hank might have been calling my name or maybe it was Cole.
I didn’t know how long it took me to walk back three blocks from the bar, because everything was a blur. I had just lost it—completely lost it in front of Cole, Amber, Hank, and anyone else who was at Peabody’s. I tried to take a deep breath. I didn’t want to cry, but the more I forced the tears to stay away, the more my chest hurt.
“Darlin’, let me in.” Cole pounded on my door with heavy-fisted thuds.
I sat on the bed, reaching for a tissue to blot at my face.
“Are you in there?” He sounded worried.
“I’m fine.” I didn’t expect him to follow me, and I wasn’t prepared to see him—not like this anyway. I hadn’t had ten minutes to think anything through yet.
I needed time. I needed perspective.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but please open the damn door.” The pounding stopped.
I moved closer to the door. The pain in my chest had subsided a little and the queasiness was gone. “I think I’ll hang out in here.” I spoke through the barrier that was between us.
“Well, that’s interesting, but not really the point, I guess. Please just let me in.”
“Why?” I blew my nose into the tissue and sank to the floor, resting my shoulder against the door.
“Because I know I was a total dick when I left here this afternoon and I want to apologize. I think we should talk.”
The tears in my eyes had slowed. What could he say that would make me feel like any less of an idiot? How could he explain drinks with Amber? What’s worse was that he didn’t need to. I knew I had no right to barge in on him. She had a claim on him that I couldn’t come close to.
“And I need to talk to you about why I had to meet with Amber at Peabody’s.” He paused for a few seconds. I thought he might have left. “Let me in. How am I supposed to fix any of this if I can’t see you? Come on, Kaitlyn.”