Page 72 of Second Chance Wedding
Ana tilted the glass up and downed the champagne in three swallows.
“Girl,” Quinley said, crawling up to her knees to retrieve the bottle on the sofa table behind the couch.
While she refilled the glass, Ana said, “He made breakfast.”
Quinley squealed and sat back on the cushion, champagne glass in one hand and the bottle in the other. “Hecookedfor you?”
“He cooked,” Ana said warily, lifting her free hand to her face to rub the champagne-bubble itch from her nose. “And then you called, and Ben gabbed about this weekend, and Cole volunteered to watch Ben so I could come because… Well, you’re normally my sitter and asking my parents wasdefinitelyout of the question, and since Ben didn’t bring up staying with one of his friends instead of Cole, I took it to mean he didn’t want to. I think something happened with his friend Mason. Ben never talks about him anymore.”
“Okay, see, I am going to pretend I didn’t just hear you admit you forgot to get Ben-coverage for this weekend since you are, in fact, here, and remain focused on thehotformer marine in your life.”
“He’s not, Quinnie.”
“Oh, he’ssohot.”
“I meant he’s notin my life,” Ana said, glaring at Quinley. “Not in the way you mean.”
“It looks like he’s certainly trying to be. Ana, the night of the ball, you said you weren’t sure if Cole would ever want anything more with you. You questioned if he would forgive you.Obviouslyhe has. So why areyounow holding back? It doesn’t make sense.”
Ana sipped her drink, feeling the impact of downing the first one as her brain slowly muddled. She never drank more than a glass of alcohol because she never forgot that fateful night when she’d screwed up so badly.
But here with Quinley and the rampant confusion, she took another sip, needing the muddle to help calm the turmoil raging inside her brain. “Because…I didn’t know what I know now.”
“Meaning?”
A grunting groan escaped her, and she closed her eyes, picturing Jonesie’s pain-carved expression. “At the ball, one of Cole’s friends told me something…about Cole and what happened in the time after I sent that email.”
“What happened?”
Ana stared across the room and out the floor-to-ceiling windows to the twinkling lights of the city beyond. “I knew sending that email would hurt Cole. Helovedme, so of course it would hurt, but I didn’t think… I had no idea that he’d take it so hard that he’d do what he did,” she said, explaining what she’d learned from Jonesie the night of the ball. “Cole all but confirmed it, though of course he tried to downplay it because he said someone had to do the things he’d done. But he volunteered, Quinley. And the reason why is obvious.”
“Oh, Ana….”
“See what I mean? Not only do I have to say no because of Ben, because the last thing Ben needs is for one more person to come into his life only to walk out and abandon him, but I have to say no because of what I now know about Cole, too.”
“I get it,” Quinley said softly. “That’s…heavy. And you have good reasons. But you are sitting there assuming it won’t work out. Cole’s not that guy anymore, just like you aren’t that same scared girl.”
“I can’t risk it, Quinley. That careless, immature,stupidgirl hurt him because she didn’t stop to consider the impact it would have on Cole to receive an email like that where he was at the time. I should’ve waited until he came home again. If I’d done that…”
“If you’d done that, you wouldn’t have Ben.”
Quinley’s words hit like a lightning strike, piercing her very soul as Cole’s words about fate and serendipity and God came to mind. If timing was everything, she had to include Ben into that notion as well. “And regardless of how hard it’s been, I don’t regret my son.”
“Of course you don’t.”
“But now that I knowhowCole reacted…I won’t risk hurting him like that again.”
“I suppose it’s a plus that you’re at least admitting there’s something between the two of you and not deceiving yourself.”
Once again, Cole’s words taunted her, and she thought of how pleased he’d been that she’d referred to the two of them as an ‘us.’
Tired of the champagne and the conversation, Ana leaned forward to set the flute on the coffee table at their feet. “No, I-I can’t deny that. Even if I tried, Cole made his desire clear last night…when he kissed me.”
“And things just got a whole lot more interesting…” Quinley drawled, her eyes widening with the news. “Hekissedyou? And you’re just now telling me?”
Ana pressed both palms over her eyes and groaned. “It doesn’t matter because it won’t happen again.”
“Ha! Aren’t those famous last words.”
