“I’ve been here for a while.”
“A while?” I asked, my heart beating way too fast.
“About a month.”
“A month?”
“Yeah, I came to help with the baby.”
“Help with the baby?” His signature half smirk appeared on his face.
“Are you just going to repeat whatever I say? You know I can get creative and make that game really fun.”
We were in a hospital, waiting for his sister to give birth to his first niece, with the husband, who looked like he was the one that had to push a watermelon out of his body, and Tyler Hartley resorted to jokes. After months of silence. That was all he could offer. Teasing.
I shot him a death glare and sat down. I left two empty chairs between me and Lucas. Maybe he needed some personal space. He didn’t look interested in socializing with anyone at that particular moment.
Why didn’t Clem tell me Tyler was here?
Probably because you told her never to mention his name again in your presence, moron.
Tyler offered me a cup of coffee and I took it mumbling a thank you.
“I came for the baby shower,” he said, and I oh-so-very-slowly turned my head in his direction. I found him looking at me with amusement in his eyes. “It was fun, so I decided to stay for a while.”
“Yeah, that’s what newborns are famous for. They are so much fun.”
He grinned at my sarcasm, and I tried to remember how Clem acted the day we had the baby shower. She was mostly annoyed that all those people rubbed her belly without even bothering to ask, then complained about painful gas. I didn’t hear a single word about Tyler.
“Is everything okay back in Boston?”
Translation: Are you hiding here from the mafia?
“Yes,” he held my gaze. “Everything is perfectly fine. I told you that the last time we saw each other.”
It was true. He told me he got out. But I worried about that from time to time. Wondered if he got himself in trouble again.
“Are Chloe and Liam okay?”
“Yes. They are doing great. You might even see them soon.”
“Are they planning a vacation in California?”
“Something like that. There is an event they want to attend.”
That was the end of our conversation. We sat in the waiting room and I was doing my best stoic expression. I didn’t dare to look to see what Tyler was doing because I was afraid he would be looking at me with that infuriating smirk of his, the I-know-you-can’t-resist-my-charm one.
Lucas was pacing back and forth. He was so nervous I couldn’t stand it.
“Why aren’t you in there, if you can’t stand stay still here?”
“I wanted to go in,” he replied like he was defending himself. “Clem said no.”
Tyler snorted and I turned to him.
“What? Are you going to mock him now? Just because he respected his wife’s wish?”
“No,” he looked at me with genuine surprise. “I think Clem is being an asshole about it.”
“Oh,” I took a deep breath. “Sorry. I am cranky when I’m sleepy.”
Tyler leaned over the empty seat between us and whispered in my ear. “I remember.”
I pretended I didn’t hear him, somehow resisting the urge to slap him in the face, leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. I didn’t think I could fall asleep, but apparently I had, because I suffered a very loud and unpleasant awakening.
“Mr. Cole,” a woman shouted cheerfully. “You have a healthy daughter. The mother is tired but wants to see you. You two, give them a few minutes. Someone will get you soon.” She pointed at me and Tyler, who now sat right next to me.
Creep.
“We will,” I said with a husky voice and stood up to stretch a little and congratulate Lucas, but he was already walking away. I chuckled.
“So? What are we going to do while we wait for our audience with the little princess?”
“Don’t talk like that about your sister.”
“I was referring to the baby,” he said, not at all irritated by my tone or the lack of an apology for it. “Let’s go get some coffee. You can tell me what you’ve been up to lately.”
“Don’t do that,” I narrowed my eyes and he smiled innocently.
“Do what?”
“Pretend we are on good terms. Or that we are friends.”
Tyler kept his mouth shut for not more than three minutes, then continued the conversation from right where it ended.
“Fine,” he said, all business. “We are not friends. We are on bad terms. You hate me. You don’t want to hear my name,” He said, obviously aware of my request to Clem not to mention him in front of me. “And all of that with good reason. Happy now?”
“I will be happy if I never see your face again.”
Tyler rolled his eyes. “Sorry, little Spencer, I can’t help you with that. You are going to be seeing a lot of me from now on.”
“And why is that?”
“I intend to be an involved uncle.”
“The poor child.”
His entire body shook with silent laughter, but before he could answer me, another nurse appeared and asked us to follow her.
We found Clem in the hospital bed, laying on her back with a cute little human curled up on her chest. Tears flooded my eyes, and I couldn’t stop them from rolling down my cheeks.
“She’s so tiny,” I whispered.
“She seems tiny now,” Clem said. She had never sounded so tired. “An hour ago? Not so much.”
“Are you okay?” I asked and came closer to them.
“I don’t know. Ask me later,” she glanced behind my back and waved at Tyler to approach us. I moved away so he could see the little one. He stared at her with a frown.
“She looks like those ugly naked cats. She can’t be related to me.”
I smacked him on the shoulder so hard, my fingertips hurt. When he reached over to touch the baby, I grabbed his hand and tugged it away.
“You can’t touch her with your dirty hands.”
“Oh, right,” he leaned back. “Sorry.” He looked at Clem and Lucas. “You will have to tell me what I can and cannot do until I figure this shit out.”
“You can start by watching your language,” Lucas said, and Clem and I shared an amused look. His mother Elizabeth used to give him hard time because he always swore in front of his younger brother Troy. That thought got me thinking about the others.
“What time is it? Should we call your parents now?” I asked and Clem nodded.
“I’ll go call Mom and Elizabeth,” Tyler said, planted a kiss on Clementine’s sweaty forehead and left the room.
“Don’t listen to him,” I whispered to the baby. “You are the prettiest girl alive.” Then I focused on my best friend. “I can see her here and I still can’t believe it. It’s so weird.”
“I know.”
We both laughed and cried a little, then I wiped my tears away.
“Do you need anything?”
“Yes. Tell me you are not mad at me I hid from you that Tyler was back.”
“Forget about it,” I kissed her on the same spot Tyler did, then squeezed Lucas hand and left them alone to enjoy their happiness.