Page 58 of Ruin Me Sweetly

“Will you move to Cambridge if Poppet gets in?” I asked.

He took a swig of his beer and nodded.

“I have a job lined up.”

“We’ll take care of the wedding,” I said, but when he looked as if he were about to argue, I raised a hand. “You and Amber are part of my family, and I will always take care of mine.”

He paused, taking another drink, the condensation from the bottle catching the lamplight.

“I’m not calling you dad.”

“I prefer Daddy, anyway.”

He snorted.

Isabella stirred on the couch, a soft blanket half-fallen from her shoulder, and I reached over to gently pat her back until she settled again, her breathing evening out into something peaceful.

Zach was maturing nicely. He gave Poppet the space to study without hovering, and from the way he looked at Bella now, there was only affection in it—none of the resentment that had lived in him the first time we met.

“Amber wants to get married next summer,” Zach said suddenly, peeling at the label on his beer bottle.

“And?”

“What if I mess up?” he said, staring at the bottle in his hands.

“Everyone messes up. Look at what I was married to before I met your mum,” I said, my expression grim at the thought of what could have been. “You know it when you have something real, something you’d do anything to protect. That’s your sanctity.”

He exhaled, but he glanced up.

“You know I’ve got your back, right?”

His eyes widened a touch before he nodded.

“And if there are any issues, you two can talk to us about anything.”

This parenting thing was easy.

He nodded again, looking a little lighter.

“I guess boomers are good for something.”

What an asshole. He really did remind me of my younger self.

There was no time for retaliation. Amber came into the room to say goodnight, but when she saw her mum asleep, she smiled.

“I’m off to bed,” she said, just as Zach shot up.

“Goodnight,” he said, before picking up the empty bottles and waiting for Amber.

“Goodnight,” I murmured, watching them leave.

They’d be fine. Bella would know if something was up. Then again, she’d been clueless for months at the initial stage.

❧ ❧ ❧

I glanced around and realised Bella wasn’t with me. Turning, I saw she was further down the hospital corridor. I’d forgotten she walked a little slower now. I jogged back to get her, and found her scrutinising me.

“You were strutting. Like, literally shaking that ass as you walked,” she said.