His eyes met mine and went wide.
"Chris?" Tripp blurted out. "Is that you?"
Before I could respond, Tripp's face twisted into a sneer at the voice barking at him on the phone. "Baby, it's nothing, I just ran into my ex at the damn cake store, what are the odds?" He let out a cold laugh. "I'll call you back in a minute." He shoved the phone into his pocket and crossed his arms. "Well, what do we have here? Never thought I'd see you again."
Forest frowned, casting me a concerned glance. They looked like they sensed a bad vibe in the air and wanted to intervene. But that wasn't necessary. I met their gaze and gave them a slight shake of my head.
Because after the initial shock of seeing Tripp passed, I realized I didn'tcare. He wasn't sending me into a spiral just by existing in the same space as me. In fact, all it did was remind me of how good my new life was without Tripp in it. That was how I could face him with a smile and say, "Hi, Tripp. How can I help you?"
Tripp snorted. "Is that the dialogue they make you memorize here?"
"Nope," I said pleasantly. "Are you here to buy a cake?"
Tripp's brow twitched in a telltale sign of irritation. It annoyed him that I wasn't taking the bait.
"That's what you told your new boyfriend, right?" I asked, still smiling.
"Yeah," Tripp said curtly.
There was an awkward silence as Tripp half-hardheartedly perused the items we had for sale. I could tell he was distracted. As he looked at the display case, Forest raised a brow at me and pantomimed a kicking action, silently asking if I wanted to kick Tripp out of the store. I shook my head and mouthedI'll explain later.
Tripp jabbed a finger at a chocolate peanut cake. "Yeah, I'll take this."
"Certainly," Forest said. The upbeat tone in their voice was a little forced now. They definitely sensed a bad vibe from my ex.
As Forest packed up the cake and handed it over, Tripp faced me. "So, how's my daughter?"
Thatpissed me off. I didn't care if he wanted to mess with me, but now he was bringing Zoey into it? How scummy could he get?
I smiled wider. "She's doing great. She loves her new daddy."
"What?" Tripp barked.
He fumbled his credit card and dropped it. Forest watched it fall to the floor with an amused expression.
"What the fuck do you mean, new daddy?" Tripp demanded. "I'm her dad."
"No, you're not," I said bluntly.
Forest cleared their throat. "Sir, your card."
Tripp was fuming now. He slammed a hand on the glass display. "Who is it? Is it someone I know?"
"Sir, please don't punch the store," Forest said in a clipped voice.
"No, you don't know him," I said.
The bell rang again. Roshan and Zoey walked in holding hands. Roshan was decked out in amethyst jewellery and Zoey was wearing an explorer's hat and a new shirt, probably items from the museum's souvenir shop. They were both grinning ear to ear.
Roshan stopped in his tracks when he saw Tripp's aggressive posture. He held Zoey's hand tighter. I met his eyes and smiled to reassure him everything was okay, but I knew my alpha. He wouldn't letanyonetreat me that way.
"Hey, Forest," Roshan said. With Zoey safely on his other side, he walked right up to the counter, ignoring Tripp. "Got my usual order?"
"Oh, yeah. Let me grab it." They disappeared into the back room where we kept pickup orders.
Roshan winked at me. "Hey, Chris. Everything okay, baby?"
"Yup. Everything's fine—"
