But my tongue is glued to the top of my mouth at the sight of Bailey. Her eyes are so fucking blue that I’m convinced that is what the color of love is. It’s not red. Not anymore. It’s this ocean blue with tiny flecks of green and brown. It’s the color of gold, streaked caramel in the sun. It’s starkissed skin and the precious smell of baby that fills my lungs.
Cherry’s always going to be number one in my heart, but Bailey? She’s got a lock on number two.
“I think that’s enough,” Brian says.
I hiss in a breath. “Like I said before, I don’t want to embarrass you in front of Cherry and the baby, but I will if you don’t shut your fucking mouth.”
“You and who–” I shoot up in a flash, hand the baby to Cherry and deck Brian. I punch him in the chin and when he stumbles back, I grab his shirt front and pull him upright for another blow. I don’t get to hit him again though. Cherry grabs my arm.
“What are you doing? Just stop it,” she cries. “Why would you come all this way for a fight?”
“I–” The “he hit me first” seems childish, but that’s the only excuse I’ve got so I shut up. I look at her and then the baby. “You better say your goodbyes to Brian here because if you haven’t broken up with him by the end of the day, I’ll do it for you.”
I don’t wait for a response. I’m not interested in anything anyone has to say. Cherry’s mine and always has been and that baby? I don’t care if the birth certificate has Brian’s name on it. I can easily cross that off. This is the digital era. I’ll just make a new one.
I stomp out of the cafe and the band tumbles behind me.
“It looks like your girl has found a new life,” Hal says.
I ignore him and face Nick and Benjy. “You saw it, didn’t you?”
The two exchange a glance before Nick nods reluctantly. “Yeah, I saw it.”
“Saw what?” squawks Hal.
“That kid is mine,” I tell him.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Cherry
“You okay?” I can tell Brian is going to have a bruise on his jaw. I can’t say he didn’t have it coming. He’d hauled off and hit Linc first. I knew that wasn’t going to end well. But I did appreciate that he went to bat for me. He was only trying to be a good friend and even though I don’t encourage violence, I appreciate the sentiment.
“It was worth it. You see how pissed he was?” Brian says with a smug smile. I roll my eyes. “He thinks we’re together.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me. That got me to crack a smile for the first time since my eyes locked with Linc’s earlier.
“Is that really shocking at this point? Everyone assumes that. We’re always together and you’re not”—I drop my voice—“out yet.” Brian has never outright said he was gay but I think a few people think it.
That was until he and I got close. Then no one was sure of what was going on. I didn’t pay attention to any of it. I had a little girl to worry about and could care less about town gossip. There have been so many rumors over the last year it’s been hard to keep up. I was lucky that I had Brian to lean on through all of this.
“I don’t think he cares who you have or haven’t been with. It’s pretty obvious that he still thinks you’re his.”
“Come on.” I hold Bailey close as we head out the back door of the diner. Everyone is watching us. These small-town folk love a good show. I’m sure this will be talked about for a good while.
“You okay?” Minnie asks just as we try to sneak out the back. She reaches up to touch Brian’s jaw. Guilt washes over me at him being hurt.
“We’re good, Mom.” Brian answers for the both of us.
“All right. Love you guys.” She lets us go. I’m sure she’ll have a million questions later. I hope she’s not mad at the scene I played a part in causing or the fact that I was the reason her son got hurt. If I had to guess, she doesn’t care. If anything, they are going to be slammed tonight with people wanting to know what happened.
I get Bailey into her carseat while Brian puts the stroller into the back. He hops in with me. “He thought I cheated on him. He still thinks it,” I remind Brian. That always cut me deep. It still makes me mad. I’d been nothing but faithful and encouraging and he hadn’t even had the decency to come see me face to face with whatever concerns he had.