Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (181 page)

Not a lot shocked Eddie. In his thirty-four years on this earth, he’d not only been around the block, but he’d jumped the curb and hopped the fences to take every shortcut there was through the block. But hearing those words come out of his friend’s mouth left him speechless.

“Not that you needed it, but you have my blessing.” Riley lifted his longneck beer before turning and making his way through the crowds of people straight to Chelle.

“Hey. Everything okay?” Haley stepped beside Eddie with a worried expression on her beautiful face. “I saw Riley over here and you two didn’t look like you were talking sports.”

“It’s all good,” Eddie assured her.

She scooted closer beside him and closed her eyes, letting her head fall back against the brick wall with an exhausted sigh. The movement caused her chest to lift, giving Eddie a clear view of more than a hint of cleavage beneath the black cocktail dress Haley was wearing. The sight sent Eddie’s engines firing on all cylinders.

Eddie tilted his head to the side and whispered in Haley’s ear, “If you keep standing like that, my appreciation for the view is going to become extremely noticeable.”

Her eyes popped open and she pursed her lips as she looked at him in disbelief. “Oh, sorry,” she said as she relaxed her body so that her breasts didn’t look like she was displaying them on a tray for his consumption. “Better?”

“No,” Eddie answered honestly. Now that his man below was on guard, there was only one thing that would make him stand down.

“Sorry,” she apologized again, but this time, a flirty, borderline mischievous smile tilted her lips.

“No you’re not,” he grinned as he called her out on her bogus concession.

Her steel blue eyes danced with amusement as she confessed, “No. I’m not.”

Eddie wanted so badly to kiss her perfect mouth, show her how much he’d missed her this past week. It had been a living hell not talking to her, touching her, hearing her voice, or seeing her smile. He’d been trying to figure out the whole Lacey situation and he didn’t want to drag Haley in the middle of his baby mama drama. He’d made his bed—literally! The problem was, that instead of lying in it, he felt like he needed to rip the sheets off and burn them.

So many times over the past week he’d picked up the phone just to set it back down again. Or made it halfway across the street to her house before turning and heading back. She had enough on her plate. He didn’t need to dump his pile of garbage on it and say, “
Bon appétit.”

What Eddie needed to do was figure this out on his own. It wasn’t Haley’s job to be his sounding board. Which, up until this past week, he hadn’t realized just how much he’d actually used her, for that very purpose, for years.

If he was worried about Em, he talked to Haley. If he was thinking about getting a new truck, he talked to Haley. When he wanted to buy the patio furniture for his deck, he’d done more than talk to Haley; she’d gone shopping with him and picked it out.

She’d become one of the most important people in his life—part of his family—without him even realizing it. As soon as he got the mess with Lacey figured out, he needed to seriously rethink his ‘no relationship’ rule. Because it seemed to Eddie that he’d already been breaking it for years now.

“How’s Em? I’ve missed her so much.” When Haley talked about his daughter, Eddie could
feel
how much she loved her.

“She’s okay.” Eddie wasn’t sure if he was lying or not. “Actually, I have no idea. She hasn’t been herself since Lacey came into the picture.”

Just as Eddie was about to explain his daughter’s behavior and get Haley’s read on it, his phone buzzed. Pulling it out, he saw that the message was from Emily. She said that her tummy hurt and she wanted to go home.

Since Lacey had unexpectedly showed up on his doorstep a week ago, he’d worked from home, trying to spend as much time with his daughter as he could. This was the first time he’d spent away from her, and he had a feeling her ‘tummy ache’ might be more psychological than physical. Not that he blamed her. The kid had had a tough week.

“That’s Em now.” He showed Haley the text sent from the girl who was babysitting her at Chelle’s house.

“Is she okay? You better go.”

‘I’m going to go pick her up, but I think she’s fine,” Eddie explained. “It’s been rough on her. All this stuff with her mom…”

“Oh, that poor thing.” Haley shook her head. “I know how badly she’d wanted to meet her.”

“I have to go up to a site at Whisper Lake tomorrow. I saw that you’re not opening until Monday. Would you be able to watch Em for me?” Eddie thought a day with Haley would do his little girl a world of good. He knew a day with Haley would do
him
a world of good.

“Of course. I found the discontinued nail polish that she loves on Amazon and I bought three bottles. I predict an epic game of Salon in my future.” Haley smiled, the first genuine smile he’d seen cross her face all night, and it was because she would be spending her only day off with his daughter.

Eddie reached up and cupped Haley’s face in his hands, rubbing his thumbs across her soft cheeks. “Damn, I don’t deserve you,” he whispered before crushing his mouth to hers.

Haley didn’t move for a moment, but then her lips parted and he swept his tongue inside, passionately feeding on the sweetness of her mouth in a slow, drugging kiss.

It wasn’t until he reluctantly pulled away, knowing he had to go, and ended the kiss that he realized that the entire room had grown silent except for the upbeat music coming from the speakers. Eddie froze and stared into Haley’s eyes, which were communicating the same thing he was thinking.

Oh shit
.

Slowly, they both turned their heads to see not one, not two, but every pair of eyes in the room focused directly on them. Then, from the balcony, Krista said, “Finally!” as she clapped loudly.

The rest of the room erupted in cheers and whistles, and Eddie figured,
Screw it,
kissing Haley once more before heading out and getting pats on the back and “It’s about time!” from everyone the entire way.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“I THINK IT’S perfect,” Haley said as she looked down at her handiwork.

Emily studied her tiny red nails, then with a very serious adult tone announced, “I think it needs glitter.”

Haley took Em’s small hand in hers and carefully examined each again before agreeing. “I think you’re right. That’s
exactly
what it needs. Here. Put them under the dryer for a few more minutes and then we’ll finish them.”

Emily happily placed her hands back under the twenty-dollar knock-off salon dryer Haley had picked up at one a.m. this morning at the twenty-four-hour drugstore. After Eddie had kissed her and then left last night, she’d been bombarded with more questions, declarations of “I knew it!” and well-wishes than she had known what to do with.

Partly because people were assuming after that oh-so-public display of affection that Eddie had shown her last night that she and Eddie were a couple, she hadn’t really known what to say, since that was not the case. Not officially at least. Luckily, she had the best sisters and cousins-in-law who had surrounded her like bodyguards, fielding questions, making jokes, and diverting attention elsewhere.

The other reason Haley hadn’t been able to graciously field the onslaught of Eddie-related questions flying her way from all sides was the fact that she might have been a little bit in shock after their lip-lock in front of the entire town. She’d had a brief moment of surprise when he’d first leaned down and planted one on her. But once he’d moved his soft lips along hers, she’d been toast. Done. There could have been a nuclear explosion right beside her, and if Eddie’s talented mouth was on hers, she would be blissfully unaware.

The timer dinged on the plastic drying device and Emily announced happily, “Done.”

Haley shook then unscrewed the top of the sparkle nail polish and took Emily’s hand in hers.

“I met my mom,” Em said in a small voice.

Haley was wondering when and if that subject was going to come up. She’d already been there for almost six hours. They’d made breakfast and cleaned it up, played Barbie fashion show and cleaned it up, and watched
Finding Nemo
. Emily had seemed a little quieter than usual and had not said one word about her mom.

“That’s exciting,” Haley said, trying to put a positive spin on things. The last thing she wanted was for Emily to pick up on any negative feelings Haley had for her mom.

“Yeah.” Emily nodded in agreement but could not have looked any less excited.

“Are you okay?” Haley asked, choosing her words carefully. If Emily wanted to talk about it, then of course Haley would be there to listen, but she didn’t want to pressure her into talking if she wasn’t ready.

“She’s just not… I don’t know if she likes… I know dad says but… I didn’t think…” It broke Haley’s heart to watch Emily struggling to articulate what she felt.

Haley nodded as if she understood perfectly all of Emily’s unfinished thoughts and then told her about her Splash N’ Slide experience. How she’d built it up to something so magical, so amazing, that there was no way it could have lived up to her expectations. And about how she’d been so disappointed. Even how she’d told her mom, who had pragmatically said, “Well, at least now you know.”

That story was all it took for Emily to start talking. And talking and talking. Haley couldn’t believe the insights that were coming out of this eight-year-old girl’s mouth. No wonder she’d been quiet all week. She’d been wrestling with some really deep thoughts.

Haley took a page from her own mom’s parenting book, and instead of trying to tell Emily that everything would be okay and she and Lacey would have a great relationship, she just listened to her. When Emily had a valid concern, she commiserated with her.

Well over an hour after the glitter had dried on Em’s fingernails, the two of them were still sitting at the kitchen table while Emily poured her heart out. Then, out of nowhere, Em hopped up from her seat and threw her arms around Haley’s neck. Haley in turn wrapped her arms around Em. She desperately hoped that Emily felt as loved and cherished as Haley did when she hugged her own mom.

“I always feel better when I talk to you,” Emily said sincerely, “even though you don’t know how to fix stuff.”

Haley held in a laugh. She didn’t want this sweet girl to think that she wasn’t taking her seriously. She was. And she knew exactly what Emily meant. Sometimes there wasn’t an answer. Sometimes you just needed someone to really
see
what you were going through and say, “That sucks.” Haley’s mom had always been that person for Haley, and she couldn’t be more honored to be that person for Emily.

There was a loud knocking at the door and Emily flew towards it. “Auntie Chelle said she was going to bring over the cookies we made last night.”

Haley followed Emily to the door, glad that she was going to get a chance to see Chelle today. She wanted to thank her for helping diffuse the attention of the Eddie-kiss scandal last night. Chelle hadn’t left her side, and since she was Eddie’s sister, she’d easily absorbed a lot of the Eddie-related questions.

Emily flung the door open. “Auntie Chel—”

Haley looked up. Not Auntie Chelle.

Lacey stood on the porch, dressed in Prada from head to toe. Without even glancing down at her daughter, she glared at Haley, “Where’s Eddie?”

Emily backed up against Haley, and Haley reached down and protectively put her hands on Em’s shoulders. “He’s not here. But I can let him know you stopped by.” Haley tried her best to sound pleasant, but with the way she’d just seen this woman treat her own daughter, Haley wanted to put to use the self-defense classes her cousins had made her go to and take her down.

“He left
my
daughter with
you?
” Lacey practically spit disdain as she spoke.

“I’ll let him know you stopped by.” Haley began shutting the door. There was no way Haley was going to let this woman make a scene in front of Em.

“Oh no.” Lacey held her hand up and stopped it. “I think I will be taking Emily with me right now.”

Over my dead body.

Lacey was trying to step inside the house when Haley made a snap decision that this conversation should, one, not take place without witnesses, and two, not be within earshot of Emily.

Picking Emily up, Haley walked past Lacey down the front path of the house. Then, after setting Em down, she knelt in front of her and said with as happy and upbeat a tone as she possibly could, “Okay, pretty girl. Why don’t you go ride your bike. Stay where I can see you. Don’t go past Mrs. Rice’s house.”

Emily nodded and looked over Haley’s shoulder at Lacey, who Haley could feel standing directly behind her.

“Go ahead,” Haley assured Em as she stood up. “It’s okay.”

Emily ran to the side of the house and pulled her bike, which was leaning against it, down the driveway. Haley waved encouragingly as Emily threw her leg over the seat and started pedaling.

Haley had so much adrenaline racing through her as she turned to face Lacey she was visibly shaking. “You need to leave,” Haley stated calmly. “I will tell Eddie you stopped by.”

Lacey took a step towards Haley, closing the small space they had between them. “I’m not going anywhere. Eddie’s mine,” she hissed then pointed to the street, “and so is she. This is my family. Not yours.”

Haley had so many things she wanted to say to this woman, but she knew none of them would make a difference, except for maybe making Haley feel better. “Fine. You can discuss that with Eddie when he gets back. Right now, you need to leave.”

Something that looked a lot like crazy flashed in Lacey’s almond-shaped brown eyes. “You don’t tell me what I can do with Eddie, you little slut. You think you’re the first babysitter he’s fucked? I know Eddie and I seriously doubt it.”

Haley’s hands fisted at her sides. She knew that violence was not the answer, but if anyone had ever deserved to be punched in the face it was Lacey.