The Winter We Collided: A Small Town Single Dad Romance (Ocean Pines Series Book 2)

by Victoria Denault

  “I didn’t tell him,” Aspen replies calmly and pops off the stool to make her way to the fridge. “It’s Ocean Pines, I didn’t have to. He knows I’m pregnant, and he knows we screwed so…”

  “Aspy I don’t want to tell you what to do because I don’t know what I would do in your situation, but I think you should have a direct conversation with him,” I advise, even though I shouldn’t because what do I know? Never been pregnant and likely never will be now. “Blunt and direct so there is no question in his mind.”

  “I do blunt in all aspects of life, except this one,” Aspen admits as she stares at her water glass. “I can’t bring myself to throw it right in his face and have him still pick…not pick this kid. I just can’t right now. Maybe after it’s born when I’m postpartum and sleep deprived. Maybe.”

  “Okay…” I say because what else can I do? She’s my friend so I’ll always have her back.

  I walk over and grab my oven mitts. I place the pizza on the cutting board on the counter. The crust is crispy and the cheese is bubbling, and I’m suddenly completely ravenous again. That’s a good sign, I think. Aspen is almost drooling as she eyes my creation. “I read somewhere that dairy is bad for concussions. You should text Logan and ask. And then ask him to join you for some.”

  “You’re lying,” I laugh and hunt around in a drawer for the pizza cutter. “He’s working, remember?”

  “Well, not tonight but tomorrow night or the night after. Or both,” Aspen says and when I roll my eyes she lets out an exasperated grunt. “Fine. Don’t. I give up.”

  I watch her as she takes a big sip of her water and then sighs dramatically. I hand her the pizza cutter and walk over to the cabinets behind her to grab plates and napkins. “What’s that breakfast thingy you made me the other month? When you had me over for a working brunch while you were building my website?”

  “Crab eggs benny,” I reply. “I splurged to impress you because you were a new client. You liked it, right?”

  “Loved it, that’s why I remember it,” Aspen says. “You should make that with the lobster meat Logan gave you, and invite him over to taste it.”

  When I turn back to the island, I see she’s holding my phone. And I freeze. “What are you doing?”

  “You really should activate the facial recognition on this so people like me can’t use your phone while your back is turned,” Aspen lectures. She finishes punching something into it as I approach and quickly drops it back onto the island. I shove a plate at her, put mine down, and grab it.

  As soon as the screen illuminates, I see she’s messaged Logan. My eyes grow so wide they feel like they’ll pop out of my head. “You didn’t…”

  “I fucking did. Sorry not sorry.”

  As Aspen hauls two pieces of pizza onto her plate, I read what she sent Logan.

  Are you free for brunch at all this weekend? I have a new recipe I want to try with the lobster meat and I though you could join me. As a thanks for all your help. You game?

  “Holy shit!” I hiss at her like an angry cat, but she just smiles.

  “You’re welcome,” Aspen lifts the pizza and takes a big bite as my face turns redder than the tomato sauce I used.

  A second later, before I can figure out how to fix this situation she’s put me in, my phone pings with a response from Logan.

  I’m off Sunday morning. Does that work?

  “Ha!” Aspen is pointing at me and almost jumping on her stool which makes me nervous she’ll topple over and hurt herself and the baby. “You’re smiling! He wants to have brunch and you’re happy about it!”

  “No! I’m just…” I stare at my phone. “Okay I mean it’s nice that he seems interested in hanging out. But it would be nicer if he wasn’t my tenant.”

  “You have got to let that go,” Aspen commands as she refills both our water glasses. “It’s only a hurdle if you make it one.”

  “But I mean, if things don’t work out…he’s always going to be there, right under my nose,” I explain because I don’t think Aspen is getting it.

  “And if it does work out, an orgasm from a hot, willing body is only a staircase away,” Aspen replies and finishes her slice, immediately reaching for another. I’ve barely finished my first. As soon as she swallows, she reaches for a napkin and waves it toward me before dabbing it on her mouth. “Answer him!”

  I pull up the message and stare at it. Aspen grows frustrated because my fingers aren’t moving. “Look, I started this, but I’m not going to finish it for you. The ball is in your court. Take a swing or don’t.”

  “Court is a basketball reference and swing is a baseball reference,” I correct her.

  “My brother is a hockey player. No other sport matters. And you’re deflecting.”

  I close my eyes and sigh. “I guess I do owe him some kind of thank you for all he’s done.”

  “Yeah, okay. Tell yourself whatever you need to. Now answer him.”

  I type back.

  Sunday works! Noon?

  I almost hurl the phone across the island because I’m suddenly as nervous as a pre-teen with her first crush, which is ridiculous. I’m not crushing on Logan. I don’t even know him…I’ve just showered with him. Aspen slaps the marble counter of the island. “You’re smiling again.”

  “Argh! Change the subject please.”

  “Okay. What movie do you want to watch? I need something with a guy I can masturbate to later so I’m voting for anything with a Chris or a Ryan,” Aspen says and finishes off her third slice. “Evans, Hemsworth, Pine or Gosling or Reynolds.”

  I laugh at her. “My God you have no filter and no boundaries, do you?”

  “I really do not.” Aspen burps, covering her mouth with a napkin then giving me a sheepish smile. “I hope the baby doesn’t inherit that. He or she will be a tyrant as a teen.”

  “But they’ll be an amazing, fun friend when they’re an adult,” I reply and wink at her as I take the last bite of my second piece of pizza.

  I’m full. Aspen seems to be too, so I move the rest of the pizza to the counter and grab her bag of donuts. “Let’s hit the couch and find a Chris or Ryan movie on Netflix.”

  She follows me, carrying the water jug and my phone. As we browse, I try not to think about the fact that the phone hasn’t buzzed with a response. Logan answered quickly before, but he’s at work and could easily get sidetracked by a call or something. Or maybe he’s just trying to figure out how to get out of this. Maybe he thinks it’s not appropriate to hang out with me. Maybe he’s not interested.

  I feel Aspen staring at me. I turn and meet her gaze. “I don’t mean to pressure you about Logan or dating.”

  “I know.”

  She shifts, curling her legs up under her. “I can’t even imagine how hard it would be to put yourself out there again after losing your husband.”

  “It’s not easy, but it’s been five years,” I say quietly and swirl my wine in my glass. “I’m lonely. It’s time.”

  “You’re sure? Because you don’t have to say that just because I’m an overbearing sex maniac,” Aspen replies, a guilty grin across her wide, full mouth.

  “I’ve dipped my toe back in the dating sea a couple times. It just never worked out,” I think back to last night when I shared the information with Logan that both my parents were dead. “I just…I am the epitome of a sob story. Between my parents both dying before I was out of my twenties and being widowed at twenty-seven, it doesn’t exactly make casual dating casual. Guys find out these tidbits of info and get freaked out. Or worse, treat me like a delicate flower that’s had all the petals pulled off.”

  “I know,” Aspen sympathizes and she lifts her swollen feet up to put them on the furry ottoman. “And I know it’s hard to avoid the questions. They’re part of the Getting to Know You Handbook. Where’re you from? Tell me about your family? Tell me about your ex? Blah, blah, blah.”

  I sigh and nod and stare at the TV, not really reading the movie descriptions. Aspen sits up straighter
and turns to face me. “If I were you, I would lie.”

  I blink away from the TV and slide my eyes to her. “Lying is not a way to start something. Whether it be a friendship or anything else.”

  “I know. However, I’m only talking white lies. Or, like, just be vague, to start with. Not forever.” Aspen bites her bottom lip, deep in thought for a moment and then her eyebrows raise excitedly. “Like just say you used to have a husband. You don’t have to say he’s dead. People will assume you’re divorced. Everyone is divorced. Then, later, if like things progress and you and Logan have potential, the truth can be told.”

  “Yeah…maybe. I’m not great at vague,” I reply, but now she’s making me rethink my ‘honesty is the best policy’ way of life.

  “Look, I know Logan, and I don’t think he would give a rat’s ass about your past because his is pretty fucked up, too,” Aspen replies and purses her lips as she thinks about it for a second. “But because he’s also your tenant, and you can’t exactly ghost him if this doesn’t turn into anything, I just think keeping it vague will make it easier on you in the long run. Like how I keep the father of this watermelon vague.”

  “It’s more like a really big cantaloupe,” I tell her and her smile says she thinks I’m placating her. “When is the melon due again?”

  “A little over three months to go.” Aspen sighs. “By then they may have to take off the roof to airlift me out of my house for the delivery.”

  Without a second’s hesitation she reaches for the bag of donuts on the coffee table and holds it open at me. I grab the powdered sugar jelly donut and she takes the Boston cream one. I lift my donut in a cheers gesture and tap it against hers. “There’s always the home birth option.”

  She grins and then my phone pings.

  Both Aspen and I lunge for it. I slap her hand away when she gets there first, which makes Boss bark from where he’s watching us on the floor. “Relax Boss I’m not hurting Aspen.”

  “Like he cares. I swear that dog would chew my throat out if you’d let him,” Aspen says.

  I read Logan’s response twice before I share it out loud.

  “He’s in for brunch,” I say and read his message verbatim. “You don’t have to thank me but I’ll never turn down a brunch date with you. What can I bring?”

  Aspen squeals so loud it reminds me I’m concussed. I wince. She reaches over and squeezes my arm. “Sorry! I’m just psyched for you. Tell him to bring his swim trunks so he can scrub your back again.”

  “Ha ha.” I send Logan a quick response and tell him not to bring a thing.

  “You’re right. I’m kidding,” Aspen says and sips her wine. “The next time you two shower together, I don’t want there to be clothes.”

  “Aspen!” I bellow but I’m laughing.

  He sends back a final text.

  Sounds great. It’s a date. See you then.

  Holy shit. He’s right. It’s a date. I smile.

  8

  Logan

  It’s been a really slow night at work. We’ve only been out on two, thankfully minor, calls. So now, I’m sitting around the long kitchen table in the fire station, eating some left-over pasta. Jake, who is also working tonight, is sitting across from me, cutting a Granny Smith into slices and popping them into his mouth. I’ve hit that wall I told Chloe about and the end of my shift seems way too far away. I yawn loudly. Jake lifts one of his jet-black eyebrows.

  “Late night, princess?” he asks, and I nod. His intense stare doesn’t flicker. “You were at the hospital that late? I mean…it’s a little weird they called a paramedic back about a case to begin with, but why did they need you so long?”

  Here is my only problem with Jake. He is street smart because he basically grew up on one, and he never ever falls for bullshit. Damn him. I shrug and swallow my pasta. “Someone needed a ride home after they were brought in for slipping on the ice.”

  “So what, you now run a dedicated hospital Uber or something?” Jake says, his dark eyebrows furrowing. “Does Uber Jay know you’re stealing his business?”

  Uber Jay is the one guy in town who works for Uber and basically our only taxi-esque option in Ocean Pines.

  “Look, I promise I won’t bail on you again and that’s all you need to know,” I say and give him a smile.

  “I hate vague shit, Logan,” Jake says and rolls his eyes. Jake grew up in foster care, and there were a lot of people in his life that talked around things or used half-truths and he still hates it.

  “It wasn’t some random person. It was a friend who needed a lift home. Happy now, Sherlock?” I ask, trying to keep it light and still vague.

  “What friend? You don’t have friends.”

  I frown and put a hand to my chest. “Ouch. And fuck you, I do have friends.”

  Jake opens his mouth to argue again because he’s right. I don’t really have a lot of friends—at least not a lot he doesn’t also know and isn’t also friends with. But then suddenly, he closes his mouth and cocks his head. “AA friend?”

  “Nope. But if it was, you know I couldn’t tell you,” I reply and start switching on the buttons and knobs on the fancy coffee maker. Captain bought the House this freaking space ship-looking Italian espresso machine as a soon-to-be parting gift. Jake will take over for him next month. We’re all super excited and proud of him. The machine has been here two weeks and I still don’t know how to use it. Now, it flashes, makes a gurgling noise, and then turns itself off. “Wanna run to Dunkin’ across the street with me?”

  I start out of the kitchen and Jake pushes back from the table, leaves his knife and half eaten apple there, and follows me. We walk through the rest of the firehouse in silence but as soon as we step into the blustery night air Jake screeches to a halt. I turn and look at him. “Dude…was it a chick?”

  “Chicks are baby chickens, Maverick. Hasn’t Terra given you grief about using that term yet? She rails on Finn and me all the time,” I reply.

  “I don’t use it for her, obviously. She gets called Tink and baby and lover and—”

  I raise my hand, palm out, directly in front of his face and fight a shudder. “Quit while you’re ahead.”

  Jake is the best person in the world. He saved my sister’s life when he gave her a kidney, but somehow, I’m still weirded out that my best friend is in love with my sister, and vice versa. I knew Terra had a mad crush on him when we were kids, but I just…didn’t realize this was actually something serious. But it was for both of them all along, and now I feel stupid I didn’t see it. I wouldn’t have it any other way, don’t get me wrong, but she’s my baby sister and I’ve talked dirty sex stories with Jake, so I have to not think about them together.

  “Your friend is a woman?” he asks and actually air quotes the word friend. “Please say what she needed help with was finding her G-spot.”

  “Why? Do you need me to draw you a map?” I snark as I turn and then realize those jokes are off-limits now because that map would be used on Terra. I can’t control my shudder this time as I keep walking toward the giant, glowing Dunkin’ sign across the street. “Forget I said that. Forget I said anything and change the subject.”

  “The date has been set. Cap moves on January fifteenth, and I’m your big boss,” Jake explains and he grins cockily, but it’s fake. He’s not cocky about this at all. He’s grateful and nervous. I can tell by the way the smile doesn’t reach his dark eyes. But fact is, he should just be proud. He earned this promotion.

  Jake becoming a firefighter made sense. Since the day I met him at fourteen, he’s had three enduring qualities: a desire to help others in need, unwavering positivity, and an inability to value his own life. My mom once said, “Jake has no sense of value for his own safety, his own life, because he thinks no one else ever valued it.”

  That statement hit me like a ton of bricks and still does. Thankfully, I think Terra has made him realize how wrong that philosophy was.

  We both order coffees. As we wait for them, I think of Chloe�
�s texts. Earlier, when I was on my way back from a call with my partner Murphy, she’d texted to invite me to brunch. So now I have a date. With my landlord. Well, I mean she didn’t call it a date, but when I did, she didn’t correct me. And more importantly, it feels like it’s a date, so I’m going to just enjoy the hell out of that.

  We cross the street and start up the drive of the fire house. It’s not snowing but it feels like it might, and I really hope Chloe remembers what I said about not shoveling the stairs.

  “Oh look, Copy,” Jake says with a devious grin. “It’s Paste.”

  Because we’re identical twins, Jake has decided it’s hysterical to call us Copy and Paste. Most people roll their eyes at his joke, especially Finn and me, but Jake is content with just amusing himself. He smacks Finn on the shoulder.

  Jake starts up the metal stairs, back to the living quarters area of the fire house, but he pauses when Finn calls out, “You off at seven tomorrow morning?”

  Jake nods. “Yeah. You wanna grab breakfast?”

  “Yep.” They both look over at me.

  “Can’t. I have a…” I pause. “I have plans.”

  They both raise their eyebrows in unison. Finn, of course, is the first to push. “Who has plans at seven in the morning? Is it with River? You can bring him.”

  “I’m having brunch with someone who is not River, and I need to get some shut eye beforehand,” I say, and it kind of feels good to see the shock and excitement on their dopey faces. Well, Jake’s face is dopey. Finn’s is handsome, at least I have to tell myself that because it’s also my face. “And yeah, it’s a woman. And also yeah I will kick both your asses if you interrogate me on this.”

  “You’re going on a date for the first time in almost five years,” Finn remarks and looks positively anguished. “I don’t know if it’s humanly possible not to interrogate you.”

  “Try, jackass,” I threaten.

  “Well, I think it’s great you’re going to some mystery brunch with some mystery woman, buddy,” Jake says with a big smile. He continues on up the stairs. “You and me tomorrow, Paste. Seven-fifteen.”