My Ex's Baby (Crescent Cove 8)

“There she is.”

For a second, I thought she meant me. I grinned as she quickly turned toward her baby, who was making grabby hands for her mother. Of course she wanted her little sweetheart. I’d never thought of Ivy as a mom, but she seemed like such a natural, cradling Rhiannon against her chest and kissing her ruddy cheek.

“Hiya, Kin. Sorry I took a few extra. I had to shave, but that’s what I get for wearing a dress.” She pointed at the knee-length sweater dress she had on with cute ankle boots.

August held up his hands and backed up. “That’s my cue to leave. Have fun, ladies.” His voice dipped on the last word.

“Jeez, I didn’t say I’d given myself a Brazilian.” Ivy rolled her eyes and skidded up the driveway to hand off her baby before he escaped entirely. “There’s enough bottles made. More than enough. I pureed her bananas. She gets cranky without them. Don’t put her down without her stuffed tiger. The one with the blue bow tie. Her daddy brought it back for her from California.”

There was more, but I tuned it out, as adorable as it was to hear my freewheeling friend being such a mom. She’d clearly been cut out for the role.

I picked up the scarf from the floor to give myself something to do that didn’t involve thinking about motherhood or watching August hold his niece. Either one was problematic.

When Ivy finally slipped into the truck, I held out the scarf. “Think Vee would like this? It’s a new find. I’ve been so distracted lately that I totally forgot to bring her a present beyond the baby gifts I already sent.”

I didn’t mention what had distracted me, and thankfully, my best friend didn’t ask.

Ivy touched the material and let out a wistful sigh. “She’ll love it. I sent over a wine-o-gram a few days ago.” She picked up my bottle and checked the label. “Classy. She’ll love this too.”

Turned out I loved it even more, since shortly after we arrived at Vee’s, I started hitting the stuff hard.

I wasn’t a budding alcoholic. In the past year, I’d only gotten lit on New Year’s Eve after the wedding and tonight, but those two times had made up for all my alcohol-free evenings.

I blamed Vee’s babies. No children should’ve been that cute. Never mind the twins, Theodore and Elijah, who had super fine blond hair and angelic expressions that only vanished when Vee made the mistake of removing one too early from the milk bar. She wasn’t shy about nursing, and why should she be with this crowd? Macy was a mama-to-be, although she wasn’t showing yet. Rylee and her sister Kelsey were both moms, along with Ivy of course. Ally Hamilton and her BFF and sister-in-law Sage were too.

Gina and I were the only singletons present, and she championed the nope, never, not into babies group.

Where did that leave me? On social media, you could put down single and looking. When it came to parenting, saying you were considering options sounded weird. It probably wasn’t as strange in a town like Crescent Cove where hormones hung in the air like fog, but still.

So I drank.

I was two glasses in when the appetizer tray was served. Three glasses in when Macy suggested we play pin the penis on the action movie star until Rylee reminded her anything could be used as retribution at her upcoming baby shower.

“Why do you need to pin it on some random movie dude when you already have a fine man who hands out condoms?” I tacked on a breezy laugh when silence descended on the living room.

Murphy, the lone male in attendance, became very interested in the taco dip.

“He did what now?”

I waved a hand and studied my wine glass. I was pretty sure it had a leak. Hadn’t I just refilled it? No matter. I tossed the rest back and smiled. “Oh, nothing. So are you sure you have a real baby in there? You are still as flat as a pancake.”

Macy’s brows knitted together as she glanced at Ivy. “Are you driving her home? Not thinking she should be behind a wheel.”

“I’m perfectly fine. No slurred words. Do you think I’m a lightweight? I mean, I get why John didn’t need the condom. It makes sense he’d give it to August.”

Even as the words exited my mouth, I knew I was digging deeper. But I couldn’t find it in me to care. Why should I be ashamed we’d had sex? Everyone else did right and left. I mean, I didn’t want Ivy to know—

Ivy was shoving in tortilla chips at the speed of light and looking anywhere but at me.

“What condom are you talking about?” Macy glanced at Rylee.

“Not a clue, man.”

“The night of the wedding. It wasn’t a gag one, was it? Because totally not funny. People use those and stuff happens. Or…doesn’t happen.”

Macy grabbed the bottle of wine. I suspected she wanted to keep it out of my reach, which probably wasn’t a bad idea. “I do not have one clue what you’re going on about. John handing out condoms makes zero sense to me, but he’s male and they do odd stuff. Sorry, Moose.”

He just held up a hand and kept on eating, much like Ivy.