“You should have kissed her, you chickenshit,” Buddy muttered to himself as he attempted to smear too-cold butter on a piece of bread. The bread shredded, and of course, it was the last piece. Disgusted with both himself and the breakfast failure, Buddy tossed the knife into the sink.
He exhaled loudly. When had he gotten so timid around women? He certainly didn’t use to be. After he’d started working with Jett Raptor and wasn’t always worried about where he was going to sleep or if he was going to eat, Buddy had relaxed a bit. Actually, he’d relaxed a bit too much. After almost eight years of friendless loneliness, he’d thrown himself into everything the hedonistic lifestyle that a top MMA training facility offered, especially the women. He had submerged himself in that life for five years. His thirtieth birthday had come and gone, and he’d begun to tire of the shallowness of it all.
And then he’d met Natalie Rabineaux. Natalie was different from most of the other ring girls. Those other girls, whom he had spent a lot of time with, had a tendency to be a little rough around the edges, at least until they’d gone through the Raptor regime, whereas Natalie had gone to an exclusive all-girls boarding school and was taking some time off before she headed to London or Paris to begin a modeling career. She’d been part of a wild group of ring girls, but she stood apart from them. And she’d only had eyes for Buddy, at least in the beginning.
They’d dated and they’d had fun, but when Buddy wanted to get serious, Natalie put off his proposals. And then she’d gotten pregnant. If he’d wanted to get married before, a baby on the way had only increased that desire. But Natalie had still resisted, and that should have been his first hint that she was in no way ready to settle down. She was young, only twenty when she became pregnant, and barely legal to have a beer when Lucy was born. He’d had plenty of time to sow oats and have his share of debauched fun; Natalie hadn’t had the opportunity to get this need out of her system.
So he’d looked the other way when he’d come home to find the neighbor watching Lucy and when Natalie had started going out in the evenings and returning very late, smelling of other men’s cologne. Of course, Natalie’s father had given him a raft of shit about not being man enough for his daughter and, at the same time, had been pressuring her to let him make an honest woman out of her, so finally she’d relented. Then the old man had croaked, and she’d taken off three months later. She’d returned the first time, just missing Lucy’s first birthday.
Lucy’s return home interrupted Buddy’s further ruminations about her mother.
“Daddy, Daddy, you’ll never guess who we saw this weekend!” Buddy caught her when she leapt up at him to give him a hug. “Miss Mayhew!” she blurted, too excited to wait for him to respond.
“Oh yeah? Where’d you see her?” Buddy gave Lucy a squeeze and set her down when she wriggled to get out of his arms.
“At the flea market. She was with her mama, looking at the glass that Auntie Em likes. Maude, I almost forgot. I want to show you my mermaid pillow.”
“Don’t get too deep into anything, Maude. We need to be leaving pretty soon,” Bailey called after her daughter.
Buddy chuckled. He was thrilled that Lucy had cousins near her age. He’d have given anything for someone to talk to when he was growing up.
“Bud? You okay?” Bailey bumped her shoulder into his. “You survive the weekend? Colin thought two nights might have been a little much for you.”
“Yeah, they almost were. I nearly dropped by the house, but I didn’t want Lucy to feel like she couldn’t stay. You want a drink?”
“Sure. A glass of water would be nice.” Buddy and Bailey went into the kitchen, and Buddy served Bailey a glass of ice water from the refrigerator. “So what did you get up to? Besides building bookshelves and unpacking about a million boxes.” Bailey leaned through the doorway and nodded at the assembled shelving.
“Nothing else to do except chores,” he said with a grin. “I ended up at Foley’s. Talked to Junior and Ryan for a bit before Meghan ran them off. And I also happened to see Miss Mayhew.”
“Oh, really?” Bailey got a gleam in her eye that Buddy wasn’t quite sure he liked.
“Yes, really.” Buddy rubbed the side of his face. “We split an appetizer plate, chatted a while.”
“Uh-huh.” Bailey’s grin grew wider, and Buddy decided he definitely didn’t like that gleam.
“It was just two adults having dinner.”
“Mm-hmm.” She squinted at him. “I think you might be interested in her.”
When he shrugged, she did a little jig and this clappy thing she’d done for years. “Oh God, Bailey. Let’s not make something out of this, but yes, if she weren’t Lucy’s teacher, I’d consider asking her out.”
After he’d gotten home, Buddy had thought long and hard about Molly. She was the most interesting woman he’d talked to in a long time, and he found her incredibly attractive both intellectually and physically. But ultimately, he figured that asking Molly out on a date, at least while Lucy was in her class, wasn’t a good idea. If something happened and things didn’t pan out, he didn’t want to make things awkward for Lucy. Likewise, if things did get serious, he also didn’t want Lucy to get any flak for preferential treatment, not that Molly was the type to play favorites.
“You know what’s best for you and Lucy,” Bailey remarked, though Buddy thought he detected a bit of doubt in her tone. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he knew what was best, but he’d had to go with his gut.
“Well, we need to get a move on. I want plenty of time for the inevitable meltdown. I’m giving you fair warning—they’re both so tired that they’re wired, but they did have an awful lot of fun.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
Bailey squeezed her brother’s hand. “I’m so glad you’re back in our lives, Buddy. I missed you so much.” He detected a slight quaver in her voice, and he squeezed her hand back for his own assurance as much as for hers.
“I am, too, Bailey. I am, too.”
With a big grin on her face, Bailey rounded Maude up, and they took their leave.
“So, sweet pea, what do you think we should have for dinner?”
*****
After a quick meal of breakfast-for-dinner, during which she could barely keep her eyes open, Lucy went to bed without a fuss—proof that she was truly exhausted—and Buddy found himself alone in the living room yet again. He was rereading his favorite book when the phone rang. He scrambled to pick up before the ringing woke Lucy, who was a notoriously light sleeper.
“Hello?”
“Buddy, darling, how good to hear your voice,” Natalie’s voice purred over the line.
“Natalie, hey. Wh-what’s going on?”
“I’m back in Atlanta, darling. I’d love to see you. We need to catch up.”
Buddy paused. He wasn’t surprised that she didn’t mention Lucy right off the bat, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t pissed.
“Lucy and I are free on Saturday . . .”
“That long? Buddy—”
“She’s got school during the week, Natalie. She needs to keep to her schedule.”
He heard her scoff, but she replied pleasantly, “Sure, Buddy. I wanted to talk to you alone beforehand, though. Adult-talk.”
Buddy wrapped his hand around his forehead in dread. “Sure, Natalie. We can meet for lunch tomorrow, but I need you to come down into town. I’ve got meetings in the morning and the afternoon.”
After making plans, Natalie said good-bye and hung up, and Buddy was left sitting on the couch, wondering what in the world Natalie was up to.