Page 42 of Wrong Number, Right Cougar

“And how comfortable are they?” Because they weren’t. It would’ve been impossible for them to be.

“It’s a lot of money. We could use it to buy things for the baby.” He neglected to mention that we already had far more than our child would ever need. Guests had a habit of giving baby gifts at checkout. It was adorable and solidified the fact that we’d made the right decision reopening the place. It was more than a destination, it was an extended family.

“Or we could use it to make Daddy comfortable.” I walked around the car and let him out.

We weren’t really struggling for money. He just didn’t like me spoiling him. And given I liked spoiling him, that wasn’t working for me.

His tune changed once we got inside and he saw just how much better he felt in the clothes I picked out for him.

“I didn’t realize how tight everything was,” he said, placing the items on the counter. “Thank you.” He hugged my arm as I paid.

“You’re welcome.” We checked out and got back in the car. “Now it’s your turn. Where are we going?”

“We can go to the antique mall. Look for some coffee mugs for the resort.”

“I love that idea.”

The term antique store was a very loose one. It was really more of a collection of random junk. One tradition we had decided to keep was his uncle’s love of collecting random, weird mugs for the resort.

We wandered from aisle to aisle, noting things we remembered from our childhood or things we’d seen at our grandparents’ houses growing up, trying to figure out what old kitchen gadgets were, and just having a good time.

“This is the one.” He reached to the back of a shelf and pulled out a mug that was definitely made by somebody in an art class—or possibly one of those “drink wine with your friends and try to craft” places. It was absolutely hideous.

In other words, it was perfect.

“It is.”

“Do you think my uncle would have liked it?” He twirled it slowly in his hand.

“I think he would have noticed it. I think he would have bought it. I don’t think anybody would like it.”

“Fair.” He kissed the side of my arm where his head was resting. “Shall we see if there are any shops in town?”

We spent the rest of our day looking for random mugs and actually finding a few.

I loved that we were able to keep some of his traditions and intertwine our own. And more than that, I loved that we were going to be able to raise our child at Cougar Lake, surrounded by memories from both our families… and all the new memories we were creating.

23

THORN

Tonight was date night, but I was so close to giving birth, we didn’t want to leave Cougar Lake. Besides, I couldn’t get comfortable sitting in a car, so Wilder took me to the diner, a place we visited at least four times a week.

“It’s busy.” That was an understatement. Almost every table was taken, but there was one empty booth at the back, and Saul led us to it as though we were royalty.

We were friends with most of the people here, and I waved to Noah who was with someone and holding the guy’s hand. Alarm bells rang in my head because he’d been dating my dad. I paused, ready to confront him. I could see the headline in tomorrow’s Cougar Lake Gazette.

Pregnant Omega Punches Lawyer

But the person sitting on the stool next to him poked his head around Noah.

“Dad! What are you doing here?”

When they’d first started seeing one another, it was a little awkward trying to separate my lawyer, Noah, from my dad’s… ummm, lover? That was an ick word. Not boyfriend. That was for teens. Maybe partner? Significant other? The English language needed a term for it.

But now they were sneaking around, with Dad not bothering to contact me when he was in town. How likely was it we wouldn’t run into one another? Not very. And not at all, because here he was.

My dad took Noah’s hand. “We missed one another, and I wanted to be close by when you had the baby. It was supposed to be a surprise.”

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