Alice walks into the coffee shop wearing some kind of ridiculous outfit that screams for attention. I agreed to meet her here for one reason and one reason only: to get her to fuck off. I can hardly believe the woman is still hung up over a meaningless encounter that happened years ago. When I look at her now, all I can do is compare her to Stephanie and see how unbelievably far she falls short.

She’s like a plastic version of what women think they should look like, all loud lines, bright colors, and no real beauty. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but seeing her again makes me appreciate Stephanie even more. I’m reminded how not every woman can be effortlessly sexy like Stephanie can. With Stephanie, she doesn’t try to turn me on. She just does. It’s the combination of her innocence and the fiery spirit just beneath the surface that makes her so irresistible. Women like Alice sway their hips and walk with their chests puffed out because they want the attention.

When she sits down across from me and makes a face she probably spent hours practicing in the mirror, I can’t help but laugh. My reaction makes her frown.

“Did you ask me to come here just so you could laugh at me?” she asks.

“No,” I say. “I asked you to come here because I know you’ve been following me. Or more likely you paid some hack to do it for you. But I want it to stop.”

She doesn’t bother to deny it. All she does is lean back, cross her arms, and then raise her eyebrows like she’s waiting for my offer.

“So tell me what the fuck you want,” I growl. “Money? You can have it if that’s what you want.”

“You know what I want. I want you, Tristan.”

“Fuck you,” I growl. “How many years has it even been? I barely knew you a few hours and you still show up like this to try to insert yourself into my life? I’ve never so much as agreed to talk to you until now. Why are you still bothering?”

“You walked away from me. Nobody walks away from me,” she says.

I throw my hands up at the futility of the conversation I’m having with her. “Clearly they do.”

“No. You were the only one. You are the only one who ever turned me down.”

“Bad news, then, because if you thought stalking me and feeding some weak information to child services was going to break Stephanie and I up, you’re wrong.”

“Oh what is it. True love?” she asks with a cruel curl of her lips. “After a few weeks?”

“What it is,” I say flatly, “is none of your goddamn business. But the reason I agreed to meet you was to get you to fuck off, so I’ll make it your business. Yes. It’s love. I love her.”

She puffs out an annoyed breath. “Right. Sure you do. Tristan Rivers suddenly falls in love now, does he?”

“When I meet the right woman, apparently I do. I think we’re done here,” I say, getting up to leave. For once in her life, Alice doesn’t seem to know what to say. She watches after me as I leave, mouth open and eyes narrowed with rage.

As I push my way outside, I’m not sure if I really stopped her from trying to fuck with us in the future, but I know it felt good to see that look on her face either way. In all honesty, I doubt there’s much she can really do at this point to cause trouble for us anyway. Stephanie told me that the case with Cole was almost completely wrapped up and that it’d just come down to a formal court hearing where my dad would have one last chance to hire a lawyer and file an appeal.

Back home, I find Cole and Stephanie sitting down at the table for lunch together.

“How’d it go?” she asks me once I set my things down on the counter and join them. They’re having fish sticks with macaroni and cheese.

I grab a plate and scoop myself some macaroni and cheese to satisfy my rumbling stomach. I guess Cole’s love of the stuff is hereditary. “Good,” I say. “I mean, as good as a meeting with the ice witch could go, I guess.”

“Ice witch?” asks Cole.

“Yeah,” I say, leaning forward. “She had pointy horns and a stick so far up her—”

“Tristan,” warns Stephanie with a barely concealed grin.

“So far up her bike spokes that she had to get up and walk,” I say. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Stephanie.”

She rolls her eyes at me with an amused look on her face. “Did she agree to leave us alone?”

“No,” I admit. “Not really. But I think I annoyed her.”

“So it was a moral victory?” asks Stephanie.

“Definitely.”

“That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout!” screams Cole so suddenly I nearly jump with surprise.

Stephanie laughs behind her hand. “He has been doing that all day. He made me laugh the first time and now he’s just showing off.”

I grin. “Right. I like it, Cole. That’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout.”

Cole flashes me a big, toothy smile. “Nice,” he says.

“Have you been training him?” I ask Stephanie.

“I wish I could take credit,” she says. “But he just came this way.”

The rest of our afternoon makes me feel like I’m part of a family. We watch a movie together, which Cole only lasts through a few minutes of before he dozes off and sleeps curled up against Stephanie’s side. After he wakes up, we take him to a playground and then for ice cream, which I admittedly only really suggested because I wanted some damn ice cream for myself. Later that night, we continue trying to teach Cole how to actually play Go Fish, but we end up laughing more at his unique take on the game than we actually play.

Once Cole goes to bed, we sleep in the same room for the first time since Stephanie moved in, though by the time I’m done with her, I definitely spent more time between her legs than I did getting sleep, but I don’t feel an ounce of regret. Not about any of it. Bringing Stephanie back from the auction. Taking Cole from my dad. Letting myself fall for her. Most of it felt like a mistake in the moment, but if they were mistakes, they were the best fucking mistakes I’ll ever make.