Teyler laughs then moans when he bites into one of the scones. “Mmm, that’s fucking amazing, too. What is that?”
“A scone.” Colleen laughs. “You’ve never had one?”
“No, guess not. Or maybe just not this good so I don’t remember it.”
“That’s one of the new summer flavors. It’s made to taste like an orange creamsicle. Olivia, she’s the daughter of the hairdresser who has the shop next door, she makes them.”
“Well, she nailed it.”
“Speaking of nailing,” Colleen begins. “I guess I should explain Taylor.”
Teyler nods with a chuckle. “Yeah, you should.”
With another deep sigh, Colleen tells Teyler the story of when she discovered her pregnancy and how he’d already left Falls Village and had been depressed about his injury and surgery. She tells him that she made a decision and had done what she thought was best for both of them.
“I knew you’d give everything up if I told you.”
“Damn fucking right.”
And that was why Colleen didn’t tell him. It was why she went to every length to cut ties with him. Instead of Teyler being by her side for the morning sickness, Georgia had been the one holding back her hair as she puked until noon. Instead of Colleen holding Tey’s hand during the ultrasound that informed her the baby was a girl, Dorothy had been the one squeezing her hand and crying by her side. When it was the semester break and her best friends were home, it was them that went shopping for baby clothes and furniture with her, not Teyler. Miles put the furniture together that Teyler would never have the chance to see.
“You took all of that away from me. Fuck, Colleen, I’ll admit, I’ve never thought much about having kids until lately. My career ending put a lot of shit into perceptive for me.”
“Teyler, I’ve watched your career, you’ve had a great perspective on things.”
“What? Why, because I didn’t gamble all my money away like a lot of the other guys? Lose it to drugs and women? Colleen, I did my fair share of shit that I’m not proud of. Don’t believe everything you see and hear in the media.”
Colleen rolls her eyes. She’s assumed that Teyler’s had an active social and sex life. She’s just chosen to never think about it before.
“Don’t roll those eyes at me. I’m sure you haven’t been a fucking nun the last twenty some odd years.”
Colleen smiles nervously. “You’d be surprised.”
“What?” Teyler asks as he stands and rounds the counter to rid them of the space between them. He’s needed to touch her since his eyes landed on her and now was the time. Colleen was hurting, she’s that eighteen-year-old girl again. The one who was lacking self-confidence until he’d come along and shown her how special she was. Showed her how much a man could want her and how she should be treated.
But then she’d turned him into the statically overgeneralized black man and that pissed him off the most. He doesn’t want Colleen to think like that.
Teyler would have never left his pregnant girlfriend and walked away from his daughter. Not even for a chance to play ball.
Had Colleen known that and protected him from himself?
This beautiful woman, inside and out. Did she do what she thought best at the time with the tools she had? They hadn’t been the right decisions, but were they the ones she’d thought best for him? Did she put his needs, albeit misguided, ahead of her own?
“Tey,” Colleen says as a tear slips out from her eye and runs down her plump cheek. “There hasn’t been anyone since you.”
Teyler laughs at what he thinks is her attempt at a joke to lighten the heavy mood surrounding them. Then he catches her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I haven’t been with a man since you. I went on a few dates in my early twenties.” She shrugs. “But they didn’t feel right and I was so very tired. I was working long hours here and dealing with a preschooler with more energy than that battery bunny. Then when the Internet dating thing hit, Kim and Diana talked me into giving it a whirl. It was a bad idea.”
Teyler, now only an inch away from Colleen, lets himself finally reach out and touch a strand of her silky straight hair. It’s a shade darker than the blond she was that summer they met, but she keeps it long, past her shoulders, and without even a hint of a curl. He tucks the strand behind her ear then touches her cheek with the pad of his thumb.
Colleen leans her face into his touch and instead of pushing him away, she leans into him, needing him. Teyler shoots both hands into her hair on either side of her face and pulls her lips into his. Colleen and Teyler simultaneously moan when they feel the touch of the other’s lips on theirs.
Teyler’s tongue runs across her bottom lip as he groans, and his hands go to her hips to pull her into his body.
At the pressure of his erection on her belly, Colleen sighs and relaxes into him like she had grown accustomed to doing that summer long ago. But then she remembers that she’s not that girl anymore and she pushes back.
“Coll?”
Colleen runs a finger over her tingling lips. “Tey, I can’t.”
Teyler huffs in as much air as his lungs can take then adjusts himself. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…it’s just, I can’t help how attracted I am to you.”
Colleen laughs. “You don’t need to say that. I know I’ve gained a lot of weight. I’m surprised you even recognized me.”
“Recognize you? Colleen, I’ve done nothing but think about you all these years, how would I not recognize you?”
Colleen shrugs.
“Listen, baby. When we met, you had this buried self-confidence about you. Like a strong girl was deep within you. She’d pop out every once in a while, but you’d let those assholes get to you. That summer, with me, I watched you find her again. She’s still in there. I can see her. I’ve always been able to see her.”
Now the tears freely fall, and Colleen allows Teyler to pull her in close.
Then to give her time, he jokes, “So, the anaconda ruined you for all other men, huh?”
Colleen finally laughs through her tears. “Oh, Tey, I missed you.”
“I’m not sure this is a good idea, man. I feel like a fucking asshole. She’s going to think I’m an asshole,” Teyler says to Callan Black as he enters their shared living space. Sure, Teyler has enough money to rent or buy any place he wants in Falls Village, but he’s right where he wants to be…close to Colleen. No, that’s a lie. He wishes he were at her house, in her bed. A complete part of her life instead of this bullshit. The sneaking around they’ve been doing is pissing him off more than it’s giving him hope for a future with the woman he wants.
After their initial kiss, Colleen cooled things off in the name of their daughter and allowing her time to process this situation. Teyler wasn’t sure what to do with a daughter, a grown woman, no less, so he let Colleen call those shots. He hadn’t liked them then and he still doesn’t like them now.
Teyler and Colleen have spent the last few weeks sneaking around, reminiscent of that first summer they met. Like that summer, they’ve also been acting like lovestruck teenagers.