Page 118 of My Best Bet

“Oh my gosh, Dad.” Lucy rolled her eyes, but she couldn't stop laughing as I spun between the two of them.

Before they left, I snapped some pictures of them all dressed up in their sparkly tops and boots.

“You sure you don’t wanna come? Last chance,” Mer sing-songed.

“Nah, all good,” I said with an easy grin. Grabbing her waist, I spun us around so Lucy couldn’t see, then slid my hand down her butt to pull her into me. “Leave this on later.” I wagged my eyebrows.

She just laughed and shoved at my chest, completely oblivious that I inconspicuously slipped a credit card into her back pocket.

“Alright, my mom’s coming in…” I checked my watch, “five minutes.” I turned to find Lucy. “You sure you don’t wanna stay and see Grandma Catherine?”

Lucy rolled her lips together and stood straighter. “Nope, I’m good.” She marched over to Mer, grabbed her wrist, then started pulling her to the door. “Bye Dad!”

Mer pulled a worried face as she trailed after Lucy.

“Use the card in your back pocket to pay,” I said.

Mer’s jaw dropped and she reached for her butt pocket. “What?”

“Have a good time, you two! Bye!” I said, forcing her out the door with a laugh.

Mer just shook her head at me as she struggled not to grin.

A couple minutes after they left, I started pulling on my boots when I heard a key turning in the front door.

A second later, my mom popped open the door and walked in wearing the long peacoat I bought her last Christmas.

“Hey, you didn’t have to come in, I was about to come out to you,” I said distractedly, searching around for my keys.

“I was hoping to see Lucy before she left with her friends. Guess I’m too late?” she asked with a frown.

“Ah, yeah, you just missed them. Ah-ha,” I said, finally pulling out my keys from my Carhartt jacket. “Ready to go?”

Instead of answering, her eyes darted around the front hall, taking in Mer’s skate bag, her Ugg slippers, and her jacket hanging on the coat hook, all reminders of her that I loved, but my mom’s frown deepened.

“What are you doing, Colton?” she asked in a disappointed voice.

“What do you mean?” I asked, moving to the front door, but my mom stood stock-still, blocking the way.

“She destroyed you, don’t you remember? I remember that phone call like it was yesterday. She was screaming at you to stay away from her.”

My head fell back. “Mom, that wasn’t…” I trailed off, not quite knowing what to say to her.

Her forehead creased and she moved forward to pull my jacket together. “I’m just worried about you.”

My hands went to her frail shoulders. “A lot happened back then.” I didn’t want to tell her the role she played in all of it, how she misunderstood and caught Mer yelling about Andy, not me, because it would only make her feel bad, and I didn’t want to hurt her. There was nothing that could be done about it now anyway. “The past doesn’t matter, Mom.”

She scoffed. “Yes, it does. As your mother, I can’t forget, and I just don’t think it’s a good idea.” She pursed her lips. “She needs to move on so everything can go back to normal.”

“This is the new normal, Mom. She’s going to be in my life,” I said gently.

“I don’t know, Colton. We should talk about this, we should–”

“Mom, I'm going to marry her.” I couldn’t stop the goofy grin from spreading on my face.

She gaped at me in shock. “You’ve been back together for like two days.”

“Not right this second,” I said with a laugh. “I just mean, she’s the love of my life. In my mind, she’s already my wife, has beensince we were young. I’m going to be with her. I love her and she loves me back.” I felt like the luckiest bastard alive. “There’s a reason we got this second chance, and I need to take it.”

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