The next morning, I send Colt a text.

Me: If we’re planning on having a real talk, it would be a bad idea for you to come anywhere near this house. We were lucky no one saw you the first time.

Colt: I have a feeling that suggesting my hotel suite would be almost as bad as the house.

I don’t answer yet. Last night, we only kind-of-sort-of acknowledged that we had insane, hot animal sex, and I think this is the closest Colt is going to get to admitting we went off the rails. My body definitely remembers every wicked caress, every naughty kiss, and a flood of fire washes through me.

He comes back with one last message.

The lake at 10 this morning, after I visit with my mom.

He wants to meet at the lake. There are so many emotions that are tied up with that place, and I’m still not sure it’s a good meeting place for us, but I agree to his demand. Then before I chicken out, I text Margot to ask if she’s free to watch Sebastian for a short time. She answers right away.

Yes! I get some Bash time today! Be there in a few hours.

Just after I text back a big thank you to her, I notice that my son is peering out at me from between the slats of his crib.

“Morning, Sunshine,” I say, putting down the phone and going over to him.

He beams up at me, and my day officially starts: lifting him up and kissing him hello, changing his diapers, breast feeding him, dressing him in a little jersey set decorated with dinosaurs, then getting myself ready while my parents are still here to watch him.

When Mom and Dad leave to go to work, I stand at the front window while holding Sebastian, and we wave bye-bye. Guilt weighs on me as my parents drive away, because if they knew about my clandestine meeting with Colt today…

I can’t think about it. Colt is Sebastian’s father, and no matter how much I love my family, I owe this to him and my son.

With a sigh, I sit with Sebastian on the carpet, and he fixes those oh-so-familiar eyes on me, then smiles with a bubbly laugh. I tickle his cheek.

“You enjoyed meeting your father yesterday, didn’t you?” I ask.

Sebastian makes a high, happy sound, then leans toward me. I kiss his forehead and clasp his hands in mine.

“All I want for you is the best, Bash,” I say. “That’s why I’m doing this. I don’t like sneaking around, but if that’s what it takes…”

He tunes in to my sober mood, watching me seriously with his father’s eyes. I pull him into my arms, rocking him, looking down at him while feeling big love glow in my heart. It’s as if my little son sees right into me, and I take that as his approval. I need someone to be on my side in this family, and I know if Sebastian could talk, he would confirm that I’m doing the right thing. In fact, I think he’d be begging me to meet with Colt.

When Margot arrives, she’s dressed for a summer day of running the community food co-op she helped to establish back in college. Last night after that blow up with my brother, we had a marathon texting session in which I told her everything about Colt, except the details of what happened in the hotel suite. As usual, she’s here to support me before reporting to work in about an hour and a half.

As I leave the house, she hugs me tight with one hand, cradling Sebastian on her hip with her other arm. “Good luck out there.”

“Thanks.” I kiss my little boy then wave to them both as I close the door behind me.

It’s a short drive to the far side of the lake. Colt didn’t have to tell me which spot he meant when he texted to meet him here, and I pull my car into the cove he brought me to the other night. It’s shielded by green trees, and there’s a ring of stones on the ground that Colt once laid out for intimate fires. When I get out of the car, my sneakers crunch over pine needles. Water laps gently on the shore, and nearby, there’s a rope hanging from a long, tough oak branch. We used to swing from it into the lake, then swim to each other in the water, kissing and pressing our bodies together in slow, wondrous ecstasy…

I hear a noise behind me, and I jerk around to find Colt leaning against a tree trunk, his thumbs hooked into the belt loops of his jeans. He’s wearing a dark tee shirt today, and it’s tight enough to show every bump and ridge of muscle on him. He’s got his hair tied back, and he doesn’t move as he runs that gray-blue gaze over me. His gorgeous mouth—the one that was all over me last night—reminds me of our kisses, and lust swamps me: humid, misty, heavy with memories.

I look away from him, because this is not why I came here. But isn’t that what I said last night when I got to his hotel suite?

Fumbling for mental balance, I blurt, “I didn’t see your car anywhere.”

“It’s parked in the trees.”

He’s still watching me—I can feel it. But I don’t feel anger rolling off of him today. Did he exorcise it last night with me in his bedroom?

“How’s Sebastian?” he asks.

His question pierces my heart. “Good. Margot’s taking care of him.”

“I remember Margot. And I recognized her the other night at that bar.” He pauses, then says, “I only saw her out of the corner of my eye, because all I could really see was you, sitting at that table with those guys.”

“I wasn’t interested in them.”

“They were sure as hell interested in you.”

His voice is thick with jealousy, and when I finally look back at him it’s as if I’ve run into a wall, every part of me ringing, because the way he’s watching me is more intense than ever.

As my skin tingles, he stands away from the tree trunk and takes his hands out of his pockets. “I promised we’d talk the next time we saw each other.”

“Then we need to start talking.” I laugh nervously and gesture around us. “This place is kind of distracting, though, isn’t it? It’s loaded with memories.”

“Good ones.” His mouth tilts at one corner in a smile. “The best.”

My chest aches. “Far better than the memories I left you with in the end.”

He tightens his jaw, then nods tersely. “Whatever you have to tell me, Serena, you can go ahead and say it.”

I nervously push the hair back behind my ear. “Are you sure about that? You’re not going to be angry like you were last night?”

“No. I’m ready to listen.”

So get this over with, Serena. And I do. The words come out in a relieving spill as I tell him why I lied to him about my pregnancy—my fear and confusion; the fact that he was finally on the road to somewhere wonderful and I couldn’t take that from him; the thought that he would ultimately resent me and the baby if I got in the way of his dreams.

He takes it all in, slowly bending down to a crouch and staring out at the lake, his face unmoved, as if he’s got an iron grip on his emotions.

After I trail off, he speaks.

“You could have come out to LA. If you’ll recall, I wanted that.”

“Colt, I wasn’t ready to move out there. I felt like I might have to try and raise Sebastian alone while you worked on lengthy projects. I know you had the best intentions, but you finally had a career, and that career needed your time and attention. That was the reality of the situation.”

He reaches down to grab a stick from the ground, then wings it into the trees. “We would’ve worked it out.”

The anger is back, but at least he’s tempering it before it blows into something that’ll have him peeling out of here in his car.

It’s time for me to tackle the hardest part now. “Would we have worked it all out? I’m not just talking about your career… It’s also the chip on your shoulder, Colt. The one your father put there when he left. I didn’t want you to have anything to prove when it came to Sebastian.”

It looks like I’ve just kicked him in the gut, because he flinches, then his shoulders stiffen.

“I’m only being honest,” I say.

“I won’t deny that I would’ve wanted to show everyone that I’m better than that bastard who left my mom in the lurch. But I could’ve overcome that for your sake and Sebastian’s.”

I wish a million times over that these weren’t just words. I wish he still wasn’t wearing that chip like a dark mark.

I don’t want to diminish what he just said, but I have the feeling we’re not going to get anywhere by talking about his father, so I bring the conversation back around to something easier to solve, at least for now.

“At any rate, you would’ve been on location with your movies and modeling. And while I took care of the baby, you would’ve been working with beautiful actresses like…”

“Like who?”

“Well, Jennifer Page.” There. I said her name. “For instance.”

When I glance back at Colt, he’s raising his eyebrows like I’ve just surprised the shit out of him. “What’re you talking about?”

“J.Page. You know—long, sex-siren platinum hair, killer bod, sexiest woman on earth, your frequent costar?”

He gives me a sidelong look, just like he used to do whenever he would tease me. “You’re jealous?”

I shoot a question right back at him. “Aren’t you with her?”

He lowers his head, shaking it, and when he looks up again he’s fighting back a grin. “We’re friends, but the rest is just rumors. Sure, I’ve dated some women in LA, but nothing serious. And nothing at all with Page.”

He calls her “Page”? Like a buddy or something?

As he watches me, I realize that I must look like a bewildered moron, and his grin fades.

“I swear to you,” he says quietly, “I’ve got nothing going on with her. She’s helping me with my career because it’s good for hers too.”

His gaze is clear, and if there’s one thing about Colt, it’s that he’s never lied to me before. He might’ve always been hell on wheels in this town and now in Hollywood, but he’s a standup guy when it comes right down to it. That’s probably what the world sees in him on the big screen—raw honesty, genuineness, a deep-down kindness that can get buried underneath all the fuck ups.

I want to believe him about J.Page.

No, I do believe him.

As our gazes connect, something clicks into place inside of me, a key that’s just turned a lock, a closed link in a chain that’s come full circle. Colt stands up, and I take a deep breath, knowing this could be the start of everything that’ll ever matter in the future.

“When can I see Sebastian again?” he asks.

This is really happening. “As soon as I figure out how to handle my parents and Jack. They’re not going to be happy you’re back.”

“You mean as soon as we figure it out. Because we’re going to, Serena.”

Even though my pulse is hopping, I know there’s a long road ahead. Colt’s always been a dreamer, and I’ve been the realist. That’s why I had to protect him from himself when I got pregnant. He’s impulsive, rushing in to a burning house when it might be best to figure things out before getting charred.

“One day at a time,” I say. “Promise me that?”

He tenses up, but then nods, and I exhale.

My phone’s alarm sounds off in my pocket, reminding me that I can’t stay away from home too long, and my gut sinks. I want to be here with him. I want…

The alarm sounds again, and I silence it. “I’ve got to go.”

“All right.” He lowers his voice. “Tomorrow, Serena. Tell me I’m going to at least see you tomorrow.”

It’s hard enough to know that I won’t be seeing him tonight, and I nod.

Then, before I lose control and throw myself at him, I rush to my car and drive out of there, a thrill running through me, because Colt is back. We’re back.

And I’ve got a new secret to keep.