“Of course she’s hiding something,” said Norah. “Everyone hides things while they’re dating. We can’t go out there with all our skeletons dangling around our necks. Goodness knows you’ve got plenty of bones dripping around yours.”
Cole licked his lips. “There isn’t anything shocking in my past,” he said. “Not like murder or a criminal record or anything like that. But that’s just it, I have a past.”
“So does she, it sounds like, if she’s divorced with a small boy. Sounds like a strong woman trying to keep her boundaries up,” Norah added.
“Though she can’t be trying too hard at those boundaries if she let you kiss her,” Jack added with a knowing smirk.
Norah punched him in the arm. “Of course she’s strong. Divorce can crush a person, and if she made it through without being crushed, what else would she be but strong?”
Jack shrugged. “Point taken.”
Norah inched to the edge of the couch. “Here’s what you do, Cole. Eat your muffin. Then talk to her. If you feel like it’s not time, then get to know her a bit more. Let her get to know you. If things progress like relationships do, the truth will come out sooner or later.”
“That’s what I’m not sure about,” Cole said. “I don’t mean to sound heartless, but I want to...cushion myself from that. And her. If this is going to end in heartbreak, then is it worth pursuing at all?” He knew how it sounded, but he couldn’t deny the logic tell his heart to take care. His life had been hard since the whole Brooke fiasco. He wanted to make sure he was doing the right thing, for both his sake and Saylor’s.
“What a terrible way to look at it,” said Norah, her mouth agape.
Cole hurried to clarify. “I really don’t want to become someone she despises. I saw the way she and her ex-husband acted toward one another. Two people who at one time loved each other enough to marry and have a child. I don’t want that to happen to us.”
The three of them sat with silent thoughts and furrowed brows.
“No one can know the future,” said Jack. “But from the sound of things, if you’re wanting to end this relationship before feelings develop, it sounds like you’re already too late for that.”
Jack’s words resonated like a song he’d forgotten and then heard all over again. Was he developing feelings for Saylor? After their amazing day yesterday—and especially the kisses they’d shared—he’d be a fool not to. He knew it was too early for love, but she’d been the first person he’d thought of every morning since Christmas Eve.
It sank into his heart. He was. He was developing feelings for Saylor.
“That only makes this worse,” he said, dipping his head into his hands.
“You can’t avoid your dream vacation just because you’re scared of the flight there,” said Norah. “Sometimes you have to take the trip.”
Cole peered up at her. Her head was tilted, her brows raised, her expression halfway between patient and baffled that he didn’t comprehend such a simple fact.
“She opened herself up to you enough to give you her warning as it was,” said Jack. “That means she’s willing to try. Are you?”
Was he? Cole raked his hands through his hair. He remembered her smiles in the snow, her astonishment at the lights, how amazing she’d looked on her front porch. He remembered the more tender moments, watching her tease her son and carry him lovingly to bed, the way her hand felt in Cole’s, how excited she’d gotten over seeing a silly camel.
Cole chuckled inwardly at the thought. What if he didn’t see her again? What if he walked away from this, all because he was afraid of whatever skeletons were in her past, or what their future together might bring? Could he walk away from her now?
He couldn’t do it. He had to see her again.
The Prescotts were right, as usual.
Cole stood from the couch and went to Norah, hugging her from where she sat. She patted his cheek, giving him a gummy, adoring smile. “I knew you’d do the right thing,” she said sweetly. He brushed the flour from her cheek and shook Jack’s hand.
Jack clapped his other hand over their grip. “You’ll never know unless you give something a try,” he said.
“Thanks, you guys.”
“When will we get to meet her?” Norah rose and removed her apron to chuck it on the couch where Cole had been sitting.
Cole put his coat back on. “Jack will meet her tomorrow night, actually. She’s coming to the New Years’ Eve party.”
“Will I now? I’m glad to hear it,” Jack said.
“What good does that do me?” Norah asked, affronted.
“You could come to the party with me,” Jack suggested.
“And miss New Year’s Eve Bingo? Not a chance.”
Cole chuckled again. It seemed they loved being together, but could enjoy being apart as well.
He wanted that too.
“If things work out between us, I promise I’ll bring her to dinner,” Cole said, opening the door. “Thanks again.”
“See that you do, Cole Osteen. Or you’ll never hear the end of it from me.”
“I have no doubt about that,” he said with a grin, heading out into the cold and back to his apartment. After their conversation and encouraging words, he was more excited to see Saylor than ever.
Chapter Thirteen
Saylor wasn’t sure what to wear to this party. Construction implied casual work clothes, but party meant dressier. She settled for something in the middle, her nicest pair of black pants and a stylish shirt that, for once, wasn’t tainted with memories.
Except hiding beneath the red shirt she plucked from her dresser was the gray one she’d stuffed back in here on Christmas Eve, the one she’d worn home from the hospital after Parker was born. She lifted
