Great. We’ll all caught up. “Can we stop the riddles now and you tell me why you brought me out here and tried to drown me?”
Lyric smirks. “Trust me. There won’t be any trying if I decide to drown you.”
Rowan chuckles. “Stop scaring the poor man. I imagine hearing you made your one-night stand pregnant is enough fright for a day.”
I growl. “Ellie’s not a one-night stand.”
Lyric rubs his hands together. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“If you wanted to know about my relationship with Ellie, why didn’t you just ask me?”
He smirks. “Where’s the fun in asking?”
“At least someone’s having fun,” I mumble.
Rowan raises his hand. “Two someones are having fun.”
“Is this how it’s going to be from now on? You two ganging up on me?”
“I imagine whenever Juniper and Lilac find men, you’ll gang up on them with us.”
Rowan chuckles. “Can you imagine Juniper with a man? The woman loves animals more than humans.”
“She has more of a chance than Lilac. I’m not certain Lilac’s actually human.”
“You’re presuming I’ll be around in the future,” I interrupt to say.
Lyric cocks an eyebrow. “You won’t? Your child will be in Winter Falls.”
“Will he? Ellie said she wants the baby to have a family and not be raised by a single mother.”
Rowan pats my shoulder. “Then, make sure Ellery knows you have her back.”
“You do have her back,” Lyric growls.
I nod. “Of course, I do.” I want to have more than Ellery’s back, but she ghosted me for the past months. I don’t know where I stand with her.
Lyric prowls toward me with Rowan at his back. “You do? You’re not merely saying you do because it would be easy for us to throw you over the falls and say you slipped?”
“You’re not some dumb country bumpkin.” The words slip out before I can stop them.
He crosses his arms over his chest. “And you didn’t answer my question.”
“I would never abandon my child. Never,” I swear.
It’s the truth. I refuse to be my father who thought it was perfectly normal to abandon his wife and child without so much as a goodbye. His genes may course through my body, but I am not him. I will never be him.
“You believe him?” Lyric asks Rowan.
Rowan tilts his head as he studies me. “I do.”
“You’re not just saying you do because he thinks you’re a football god?”
“Hey! I never said he was a football god. I’m not a rabid fan who stalks players on social media and shows up at their house with presents.”
Rowan grins. “He’s obviously thought about it, though.”
Lyric slaps his shoulder. “Come on. We need to get back. I have a fiancé who’s probably losing her mind over her sister not telling her she’s pregnant.”
“And I have a fiancé waiting in my bed.”
“Shut it. You’re talking about my little sister.”
Rowan winks. “But she’s not my little sister.” He climbs into his golf cart and waves as he drives off.
“Let’s go. I’ll drive you back to the inn.”
Finally. I don’t know exactly what happened, but it feels as if I passed some kind of exam except, I don’t know what the test was for.