Jade put her card down, giving me a glare that told me not to fight her on this. Deep down, I knew I wouldn’t. I needed this.
“Thanks,” I said as we walked to the pickup counter.
“You look like you need it,” she whispered.
“One iced coffee and one hot,” Kelsey said with a smile. “Having one of those hot girl walks?”
“Definitely,” I replied.
“It’s a nice day for it,” she said. “It feels like spring is coming early.”
“Definitely,” Jade said. “Thanks, Kelsey.”
She gave us a wave as we walked out of The Reserved Bean.
Instead of going near the busy side of the square, we went down a side street where no one usually walked. The end goal would be the Treasure Trove, where I would open the shop and go back to pretending that everything was fine.
“Have an update for me?” Jade asked when we were finally alone.
“You know I do,” I said, and then took a sip of coffee. As usual, it was the best thing I’d ever had, and I let myself have one moment to enjoy it. “I talked to Dean yesterday.”
“Damn, already?”
“I ran into him in Knoxville after my appointment.”
“I knew I should have gone with you.”
I shrugged, but deep down, I agreed.
“How did he react?”
I winced. “Not . . . well.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean not well? Do I need to hunt him down? Wren has sledgehammers I can borrow.”
I sighed as I remembered it. “He reacted like any playboy being told he has a responsibility, I guess. He didn’t think he was the father, and then he asked what I wanted from him.”
“I fuckinghatemen.” Her grip on her coffee cup was tight. “As usual, they’re glad to get some, and when real life comes in, they can’t handle it. Well, fuck him. You have me. And the town, eventually.”
I thought about what he’d said about the town, about what they thought of me.
It made my heart sink.
“Y-yeah. I know. I just wanted it to go better. I wanted him to either step up or it to be a clean break.”
“Grace, you live off of trying to do everything right, but this is messy. It’s okay to be messy.”
The idea made me sick to my stomach. “Well, it’ll certainly be messy now. I have a feeling Dean’ll never talk to me again.”
“Does he have a way to contact you?”
“He does. I just don’t expect him to use it.”
“You could fight him for child support.”
I let out a long sigh. “You know I’m not gonna do that.”
“Youdeserveany support, and he doesn’t get off free from everything.”