“They probably just dropped it at the door,” I said. “They usually knock to let me know I have a package, so it’s not sitting out there.”
As Troy slipped on his jeans, I enjoyed the brief glimpse of his sculpted ass.
A few seconds after he left the room, I could hear muffled talking. It sounded like more than one person. And then came the sound of baby babble.
I jumped out of bed.
What the hell?
Rushing to grab my silk robe from the closet, I wrapped it around myself before venturing out to the living room.
Then my heart nearly stopped.
Troy stood there with no shirt on as he faced Jasmine and her husband, Cole, who was carrying their baby, Hannah.
I gulped, tightening the closure on my robe as I felt adrenaline rush through my body. “Jasmine! What are you doing here?”
“We were in town for the harvest festival,” she said, her eyes wide. “We drove right by here on our way home, so I figured we could pop in and say hello since I’m never in Meadowbrook.”
I had called Jasmine this week and made plans to visit her next Saturday, specifically so I could tell her about Troy and me. This was certainly not the way I’d wanted her to find out.
Jasmine’s face grew flushed. “Troy was telling me you guys have been…hanging out.”
Troy looked them straight in the eyes, making it clear he had nothing to hide. That was the opposite of how I felt—like I was going to lose my shit any second. His just-fucked hair sticking up only made the situation worse. I wasn’t ashamed of what he and I had developed, just that I hadn’t had a chance to properly explain it to her.
“I know what this looks like,” I stupidly said. “Okay, not what it looks like—what it is. This is the reason I wanted to come see you next weekend, to explain that Troy and I have been seeing each other.”
Jasmine looked between Troy and me. “You don’t need to explain. If you remember, I sort of called this. So, it’s not a total surprise. The way you kept rambling on about him that day you came to visit—I kind of suspected something would happen.”
Troy snickered. “Rambling on about me, huh?”
Cole bopped the baby up and down awkwardly but didn’t say anything.
Jasmine grabbed her husband’s arm. “We should go. Clearly we’re interrupting.”
“No!” I insisted.
I couldn’t let her go now. As embarrassed as I was, I needed to face the music, and letting her leave would only make things harder to explain later.
“You guys almost never come to Meadowbrook. Please don’t go. Stay.” I looked over at Troy. “We obviously have a lot to discuss.” I pointed toward my kitchen. “I’ll put on some coffee.”
Troy held his palm up. “Actually, you know what? I think I should leave you to enjoy your friends in peace. I have to head home anyway because Patrick is getting a little low on food, and I’ve neglected him enough this weekend.” He pointed his thumb back toward my bedroom. “Just gonna grab the rest of my stuff.”
Hannah babbled. After a few seconds of awkward silence, I gestured to the sofa. “Sit. Please. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back.”
I went to my room and put on a bra, top, and some pants while Troy went in search of his shirt.
“I’m fucking sorry this happened before you had a chance to tell her,” he whispered as he pulled it over his head.
“It is what it is,” I said in a low voice.
“I don’t want you to think I’m leaving to throw you into the fire alone. But I figure it will only make it more awkward if I stay. And I assumed you weren’t gonna tell me to leave. I made up that story about needing to feed Patrick, but if you want me to stick around, I will. Just say the word.”
“No. That was a good call. I do think it would be more awkward if you were here.”
“I’m sure she’s gonna want to bitch about me in peace. She deserves to be able to do that, I guess.”
“Yeah.” I flashed a sympathetic smile.
We went together back out to the living room. After Troy bid them a quick adieu, I walked him to the door.
He pulled at the material of my shirt. “Call me when they leave, okay?”
“Yeah.”
He gave me a quick peck on the lips before walking to his car.
When I reentered the house, Jasmine was sitting next to her husband on my couch. What made this all the more awkward? I didn’t know what I could and couldn’t say since I had no idea whether Cole knew Troy was his wife’s ex-boyfriend.
The mystery was soon over when Jasmine blurted, “So that was the asshole who cheated on me in high school.”