“Maybe.”
A slow smiled spread on her face. “I met her when I picked Hannah up.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing. I just introduced myself. She said howamazingHannah was, which of course, she is. And I told her it was nice tofinallymeet her.”
“Did you say it like that?”
“I did.”
I wasn’t sure what the right protocol was with these things. Would Peyton think it was good that Hannah’s mom obviously knew who Peyton was? Or would she think it was weird?
I’d never second-guessed myself so much in my life. But I’d never been in this situation before. Peyton was the only person I’d ever truly wanted to be with, the only person I’d ever loved. Or, I guess, been in love with. I loved Lizzy, even when we were just dating. I loved her as a person, I was just never in love with her.
Now, I loved Lizzy like family. Like I loved Alex and Nick. They were all my family. Hell, I even loved Ryan. He was a kickass stepdad and I couldn’t be happier that he made Lizzy so happy and that they’re family was expanding. They’d been trying for a while and I was so happy that they were finally expecting.
But not even that news could distract me from Peyton. I wanted to know what Lizzy, my very opinionated baby mama thought about her.
“And…” I waited to hear what the verdict was.
Lizzy never sugarcoated anything with me, or anyone for that matter. She always told me the truth, whether I wanted to hear it or not. It was something I respected and annoyed the shit out of me sometimes.
“Mmm.” Her lips pursed as she tilted her head to the side. “She’s not what I expected.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I guess that all this time I just sort of built her up into this snobby, uptight—”
“Snobbyanduptight?” I interrupted. “Why the hell would you think that?”
“Whoa, snapping turtle. Relax.” She held up her hands in mock surrender and I realized I might have overreacted a bit.
“Sorry,” I immediately apologized.
Lizzy didn’t seem at all offended, if anything she looked amused. She lowered her arms to her side. “I wasn’tcallingher those things. It’s just, you said that her dad was a dignitary, and she had a bodyguard. She’d traveled all over the world and spoke four languages. I guess, I don’t know, I just wasn’t expecting her to be so sweet. And sodown to earth. And sostunning. I mean she is the definition of natural beauty.”
“I know that all the things you’re saying are technically nice, but I sort of feel like they are digs at me.”
Her head fell back, and she chuckled as she swatted my arm playfully. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean…she’s amazing. Like, seriously, perfect.”
“I know.”
“I can see why you haven’t gotten over her all these years. She’s really special. And Hannah hasn’t stopped talking about her all day. Miss Peyton let her help the other kids when she was finished with her work. Miss Peyton made sure that all the kids had a snack during break, not just the kids that brought their own. Miss Peyton has the prettiest earrings. Miss Peyton smells nice.”
It didn’t surprise me that Hannah liked her so much. I was sure all the kids in her class did.
“When did you find out she was back in San Francisco?”
“I saw her last week when I was at that playdate with Heather and Willa.”
She swatted my arm with a dish rag. Again. This time harder than the first.
“Hey.” I pretended it hurt. “What was that for?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“There was nothing to tell. We had dinner, she said that what we had was special but it was in the past.”
