Page 96 of Sacrifice the Knight (Checkmate 6)

And I’m invisible again.

The bell above the door rings again, but it pulls no one’s interest but mine as I look up and smile at Meg Montgomery. She’s covered from head to toe in a thick coat and cute hat.

She looks like one of the Hallmark movie girls, of course.

Baby Chance sits on her hip and looks about thirty pounds heavier because of the outfit he wears, but she starts stripping his clothes off fast, tossing hats and gloves into my son’s booth and dumping her diaper bag in beside them. Meg stands her baby on the bench seat opposite and begins stripping the extra thick coat off while Mac continues reading. “Here you go, handsome.” Meg smacks noisy kisses on her son’s face and makes him giggle. Jet black hair, icy blue eyes, and two of the cutest peg teeth known to man shine bright while his Maybelline model mother tickles his belly and makes him giggle.

Did I look like that when Mac was a year old?

No.

We didn’t giggle or play. We worked, ate in twenty-minute spaces of time, and did homework while we walked or ate. I wish I could have provided a certain life for him, but I couldn’t, and my son is still amazing, witty, smart, protective, and all around awesome. So it’s whatever. I’ve passed the point of caring about what we don’t have anymore, because what wedohave is special.

“Hi, Meg.” I bump her aside and press a noisy kiss to Chance’s cheek when he reaches up for me. He looks just like his daddy, and hell, if a Macchio wants a kiss, I’ll give him a kiss. “Hi, handsome. You giving your mama hell?”

“Ugh, yes.” Meg leans into the booth and kisses my son, because she’s awesome and loves him like her own. He glances up and watches us, but goes back to his book. “He’s got more teeth coming in, so he’s being a whiney baby about that. And Marc says how I expect too much of him. Like, my requests to stop whining and get Mommy a glass of wine are unreasonable.”

I laugh and accept her hug when she’s finally done undressing and tossing her shit everywhere. She looked two hundred pounds heavy when she walked in, but now she’s down to cute snow boots, tight jeans that my son sneaks a look at when she turns, and a tight three-quarter sleeve top that shows off her trim waist and massive tatas. She’s every teen kid’s wet dream, and it disturbs me on so many levels that the book Mac was so entranced in for the last hour is suddenly onlyokay.

“What are you guys doing here? It’s gross outside. You should be at home.”

“Oh, I know, but we’re bored. The gym is busy today; Andi isn’t taking my calls because she’s booked out, and Marc is doing something with his friends.”

“What are they doing?”

“Hell if I know.” She holds Chance’s hands when he starts bouncing on the springy chair. “Probably playing bingo or some such thing. They don’t get to hang as much anymore, so they’re doing something today. Chance and I have been cooped up all day, so I figured a burger for dinner would go down alright.”

“Burger it is.” I laugh. “What about for Chance?”

“Do you have pasta? He’d probably enjoy that. If not, nuggets and fries would be fine. They’d feel good on his teeth.”

“Easily done.” I turn away to put her order in with Stefan, but instead of sitting, Meg hands Chance to Mac and follows me in.

“Stefan!” Meg bustles forward and accepts a squishy hug before stepping back. “You look good, huh? Looking after yourself?”

“Always, darlin’.” He nods when I slap the order onto his board, but then his eyes are all for Meg. “You stay away too long. I never get to see your face anymore.”

“I was here yesterday!” she laughs. I walk away while they chat, and since Tammy is still hustling, I give myself a minute to go to the bathroom and head back to my locker. It’s like a habit I’ve developed over the years: locker room, hair, lipstick, phone. Zeke has always managed to leave me a text, and it almost always consisted of a request for something. It was always about what I could do for him. And it was always a reminder to stay humble, to stay grateful for what I have. And to stay on guard.

But today, nothing.

It’s like a breath of fresh air.

I was happy with Eric. I dreamed of a happy future, I smiled whenever he was around, and even more when he wasn’t and I thought of him. I found myself looking up at the stars most nights and making plans for us, and that didn’t stop after he walked.

Even through my tears, I glanced up at the sky and wished upon a star.

But that’s gone now, and I’m finally smiling again. He was a blip in my past, a painful sore, but he was merciful in that it was a clean break. Our thing wasn’t drawn out. It wasn’t like how Zeke comes back time and time again and reopens old wounds. It was just…done. And while it felt cruel, it was actually the most compassionate way he could have broken up with me.

I mean, not walking at all would have been the most compassionate, but if he was going to walk anyway, he did it the right way.

I toss my phone back into my locker and close it up, only to turn when the door opens and Meg steps in. “Why’d you leave me? I’m trying to hang out with you.”

“You were talking to Stefan!” I laugh. “Why are you being so clingy? It’s weird.”

“Because I miss your face.” She steps into the room and closes the door, then she grabs my face and smooshes my cheeks so I make the fish lips. “I miss you so much, and even if I come in here all the time, I never actually get to hang out with you.”

My face remains in her hands while I glance down at my watch. “My tables are served, and Tammy’s on. We can take five minutes if you want. Stefan will think I’m taking a long dump.”

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