“If you ask Law, I never take my life-coach hat off.” I push around the remnants of my omelet with my fork. “Hazard of being me.” I shrug. “But as a friend, I’m relieved for you. I can’t imagine how hard some of this stuff must be, for both you and the girls.”
He shifts in his seat, and I hope I haven’t pushed too far. I get up close with people too quickly sometimes. He didn’t talk about Shelby at all when I was living in Houston before, so I probably should’ve kept things shallower. Asked about their plans for the next couple days or something like that. But I can’t help myself from digging deeper, whether I’ve known someone five minutes or five years.
He turns away from watching Zoey and meets my gaze. “We’re doing a lot better. Therapy was a lifesaver.” His smile returns. “So is Carlie, even though I never would’ve thought that after the misunderstanding between us, but she’s been a big part of our healing too.”
I let out a quiet laugh. When Chad refused to talk about Shelby to the girls last summer, Carlie started to believe he might have hurt Shelby. She went too far in her effort to protect the girls, but I have to admit some of the stuff looked bad. It’s impressive that he forgave her and offered her a second chance as their nanny. That’s also a mark of how invested Chad is in healing himself and his family. It makes my chest warm, thinking of how caring he is. That doesn’t help my little crush.
“How’s Nashville?” Chad asks.
“It’s good. Fine.” In reality? It’s been lonely. Most of the friends I have there were mutual friends I had with Malcolm. A lot of couples. I left Houston because I felt like I’d run away from everything in Nashville and needed to face it, but the truth is, there’s nothing for me in Nashville anymore.
With Law getting married, there’s not really anything for me in Houston either.
Maybe I should pack up and start over. L.A.? New York City? Some small town in the middle of nowhere?
“That wasn’t a very enthusiastic answer.” Chad raises his eyebrows.
I shrug. “I don’t really have friends there anymore. And I’ve been working a lot lately. Kind of lame, right?” With no dating life and no friends to hang out with, it’s no wonder I jumped at the chance when Law invited me to come to Denver for his Christmas game.
“Sounds like my life. Worse hours, though.” He picks up his Coke and takes a sip.
“I don’t know. Could be exciting to have to take midnight life-coaching calls.” I pretend to mull this over.
Scarlett looks up from her coloring page and whispers to me. “Miss Ivy.” We could probably end the game, but keeping them chill in the hotel restaurant isn’t a bad thing. If Chad wants to let them return to their excited, high-pitched cries, he can do the honors.
“What’s up, Scar?” I whisper back.
“We’re going ice-skating today!” She leans over to me, resting a small hand on my knee while she talks to me.
“That sounds like a lot of fun.” I put my hand on top of hers and squeeze it gently. It’s a testament to how devastating addictions can be that Shelby left these two sweethearts. I’ve only been hanging out with them for less than twenty-four hours and I don’t want to leave them. That could be my past speaking andthe fact that like them, I lost my mom at a young age. The only difference is that I lost mine to cancer instead of drugs. It’s drawing me to them in a way I can’t resist.
Their extremely good-looking dad isn’t helping the situation.
Zoey stands on her chair to lean over the table toward me. “You can come, Miss Ivy.”
Chad reaches over to coax her to sit back down. “Miss Ivy can’t spend her whole vacation with us,” he says in a gentle tone.
I don’t have anything else to do. Law has football stuff, and Carlie’s new flight doesn’t get in until this evening. “If you want help …” I offer quietly. “I don’t mind.”
He shakes his head. “I’m not going to monopolize your whole vacation.”
“I don’t have anything else.” The words spill out on the off chance Chad just feels bad about me taking the girls all afternoon yesterday.
He tilts his head at me. “Are you telling me that Law convinced you to come to Denver and didn’t plan any way to entertain you? Force you to have some fun?”
I laugh. “Carlie was supposed to be here. I think we were going shopping or something.”
“I’m sure you could use some time to relax, time by yourself,” he says, frowning.
I should agree and not force my company on him. I’ve been able to mostly get the images of shirtless Chad out of my brain, and spending more time with him and the girls will only exacerbate this tiny, ridiculous crush. Instead I say, “I’m always alone,” in a quiet voice I don’t even know if Chad can hear.
Have I been so focused on healing myself and figuring out how to be a person who can have a successful relationship that I’ve walled myself off? I just know I don’t want to be alone today, even if it’s to binge shows without guilt and eat a bunch of Christmas cookies and chocolate. That’s not the normal day plus presents that would have happened if I’d stayed inNashville and spent the holiday with my dad, but it’s also nothing special either. Nothing like the way Mom used to celebrate, and I’m craving that this year.
I look up to see Chad studying me. He casts me a small smile when our eyes meet. “Then you’d better come with us.”
CHAPTER 6
CHAD
