Page 10 of When You Were Mine

“No.” Why would Trevor tell his son about some ex-girlfriend from thirty years ago? “He might’ve said something in passing. Like if he knew I opened this resort”—which, come on, would be impossible to miss considering the lengths she’d gone to promote it—“he might’ve said, ‘Oh, someone from my hometown owns it.’ But that can’t be why his son is here.”

Somehow, this was harder than seeing her ex. She’d thought the worst thing that ever happened was when he’d walked out the door of that motel room. But no. Seeing him as a father had broken her.

Because he’d gotten someone pregnant not even two years after abandoning her.

She’d never recovered.

Obviously.She’d never gotten married.

At least it had been the kick in the ass she’d needed to build a life for herself and stop waiting for Trevor to come back.

She owed this beautiful life to his cold, ruthless dismissal.

But her sister didn’t need to know any of this. “Let’s not worry about Cole Montgomery. We’ve got a broken freezer and a shortage of pastries to handle. Now, I’ve already heard back from the Singing Baker, so we should be okay. As soon as I hear from the Emporium?—”

“Sweetie.” Her sister set her hands on Jess’s shoulders. “It’s okay to be shook.”

That simple statement broke the dam, and a rush of tears filled her eyes.

Oh, dammit.

Not here. Not now.

She was so used to being a mother to her sisters that she rarely opened the door to her own emotional life. But for thirty years, Trevor had been a hard knot of pain in the center of her heart.

So, now, to know his son and granddaughters were out there…

That he’d had a whole family…

Without me.

And as much as she wanted to be over it, she simply wasn’t. Maybe it made her weak and foolish, but…It is what it is. “Yeah, okay. I’m shook.”

Because that man out there in the dining room?That should be her son. Not some random woman’s.

“You stay in the kitchen,” Amber said. “I’ll handle front of house.”

But a sense of urgency took over, and Jess shook her head. “No.” She had to see the boy—well, man. Cole was a father now. “I want to see him.”

Her sister nodded. “Okay. You go on, and I’ll handle the freezer issue.”

“Thank you.” She pulled her sister in for a hug. “I love working with you.”

Watching her sister leave, Jess knew she’d made the right choice all those years ago. Helping her sister navigate pregnancy and motherhood and getting their youngest sister through college had formed an unbreakable bond between the three of them. It had been worth putting off her own career to get them on the right track.

As she headed into the dining room, she drew a deep breath.

Here we go.

As a hockey superstar, Cole Montgomery’s face was plastered all over the news and social media. Until he’d married, he’d had a reputation for being a heartbreaker and a party boy.

Which, interestingly, his movie star father did not.

She steeled herself for the wallop of emotion she’d get from seeing Trevor’s son.

But it didn’t come. Because she didn’t see her ex’s lookalike. She saw a handsome, fit man sitting at a table with four little girls. Two were in highchairs. One of them patted her little hands on the tray, smooshing strawberry shortcake and bobbing her head along to a song only she could hear, while the other greedily shoved fistfuls of whipped cream into her mouth.

The other two were notably older—a definite age gap between the two sets. Cole sat perfectly at ease, handing a napkin to one daughter, offering a scone to the oldest, and chatting with them as though they were his buddies.

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