He looks at me for what feels like forever, my feet want to step forward to him and kiss under his chin. I haven’t seen him in action in a long time, and I swear to God, the minute I saw him skating, I gushed from my vagina. “Five-second look,” he says, and I can’t help but burst out laughing.
“Whatever, Matty.” I say his nickname more to annoy him than anything else.
He glares at me. “The guys usually head over to Luke’s Bistro,” he says. “Do you know where that is?”
I laugh. “That’s Clarabella’s husband’s place.”
“Good, so people will know not to fuck with you,” he states, looking over his shoulder. “Bernard,” he calls to the guy who is standing inside the door wearing a blue suit. The guy walks over to us. “Bernard, this is Sofia, my”—he looks at me and my eyebrows go high—“friend, and Addison, my other friend.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say, nodding at him, wondering what is going on.
“Do you think you can escort them to their car and make sure that no one—” he says, and I turn away without saying a word to him. “Where are you going?”
“Away from you,” I toss over my shoulder, Addison rushing to keep up with me. “Goodbye, Matty.”
“Matthew!” he shouts his name. “Text me when you get in the car and you’re on your way.”
“Absolutely not,” I retort, not bothering to look back at him as we make our way over to the escalator. “He’s so infuriating,” I say, looking over at Addison. “Are you okay?” I ask, and she shakes her head and laughs, looking down.
“Clarabella said something about a mating dance the other day,” she says as we get to the top floor where we walked in from. I follow the signs to the parking garage, some of the fans still lingering along with the concession stand workers who are closing up. “I didn’t quite understand it, but now, after watching that”—she looks over her shoulder—“I get it.”
“Ugh,” I groan as we walk toward the parking garage. “Matthew and I have a history.”
“From the looks of it,” she notes, “I don’t think it’s history.”
“He broke up with me when he was drunk two years ago,” I tell her, and she stops walking, “and then a couple of months ago hired me to plan his wedding with his fiancée.”
“I had a one-night stand and ended up having a baby,” she finally says, and my eyes almost pop out of their sockets. “Met this guy at a bar. He was so hot.” She smiles. “Had the hottest sex of my life with him. Then woke up and cringed that I just had a one-night stand, and instead of staying and talking to him, I did the walk of shame at six in the morning. Six weeks later, I was pregnant, and when I went back to tell him, he was moved out and gone.”
“Oh my God,” I say, putting my hand to my mouth. “Fine, you win.”
“I did win,” she declares. “I have the best kid that you could ever have. Avery is all me just with her father’s face,” she says sadly, “and for the rest of my life I’m going to make sure she never feels like she missed out by not having a dad.”
I walk over to her and give her a hug. “If it makes you feel better, I didn’t meet my dad until I was five.” She gasps. “He and my mother had a one-night stand before he left for the military, and then surprise, out came me. Five years later, she went back to town because her grandfather died and my father was also back in town.”
“Wow,” Addison says.
“Yeah, plus I’ve met Avery and she is the coolest kid I’ve ever met. And I have a lot of practice with cousins,” I assure her as I slip my arm in hers. “I want you to promise me something.”
“Oh,” Addison says, “I won’t tell anyone about tonight.”
“I don’t give a shit about that. I want you to promise me that if you ever need help, you’ll come to me.”
She looks down. “Thank you,” she says softly. “My parents disowned me when I had Avery.” I put my hand to my chest. “They refused to have a daughter who had a child out of wedlock.”
“Addison,” I murmur softly, my heart literally breaking for her.
“My sister and brother.” She wipes away a tear, and now I feel like an asshole for making her feel bad. “They didn’t want to piss off Mom and Dad, nor did they want to get their trust fund taken away, so they just found it was easier to pretend I didn’t exist. When I had Avery, I dressed her up in the cutest outfit I could find and went to see them. I thought for sure once they saw her, they would come to their senses.” She smiles through the tears. “Needless to say, they slammed the door in my face and pretended I wasn’t even there.”