Secretly Hers (Sterling Canyon)(88)
Once they’d ducked into the dining room and out of her parents’ sight, he gave Kelsey a quick peck on the cheek. “I need a drink. What can I get you?”
She sighed, and only then did he notice both the strain and distance in her eyes. “Seltzer, please. I’m going to see how I can help Maura. Be right back.”
When she meandered toward the kitchen, his stomach started to burn.
“Hey, Trip. Hiding out from the preacher?” Bill stood behind the bar, cutting extra lemons and limes.
Preacher? A cold sweat broke out beneath Trip’s clothes. His muscles seized up, his throat tightened. “Pardon me?”
“Just kiddin’!” Bill chuckled and then poured himself a drink. “You oughta see your face right now.”
Embarrassed and annoyed, Trip drew a deep breath. Tonight he couldn’t offend Kelsey’s family or stick his foot in his mouth with his typical sarcasm. For better or worse, he had to forge relationships with these folks for junior’s sake, and for Kelsey’s.
“You got me,” Trip conceded. He glanced at the grandfather clock in the entry. Only seven twenty. Good Lord, it would be a long night.
By nine thirty, Trip gulped down his third scotch of the evening, weary from the duck-and-cover game he’d been playing to avoid direct questions about his and Kelsey’s plans for the future. “Hell if I know” probably wouldn’t have gone over very well with this crowd.
He stared into the bottom of his empty glass, frowning. What he did know was precious little. A, Kelsey enthralled him like no other woman ever had. B, no doubt he couldn’t have lucked into a better mother for his child. C, he’d never planned on having children, and although he had every intention of being the best father he could, he wasn’t all that convinced his best would be good enough. D, sooner or later Kelsey would start pressuring him for a more permanent commitment, and then what?
Tonight he’d observed a dozen or so happy couples of various ages engage with each other. All but one seemed genuinely happy. He’d noted affectionate touches, loving glances, gentlemanly gestures, secret whispers—all the while questioning the truth behind their actions. Like an alien plopped into the middle of a culture he’d never much experienced, he couldn’t quite believe what he saw.
Although his mother had casually dated, she hadn’t brought men into their home, so he’d never seen her in a serious romantic relationship. His father’s marriage wasn’t openly affectionate, although he suspected his dad and Deb shared an active sex life, if for no other reason than Deb’s determination that he not stray from her bed again. Mason and his wife, well, he’d barely been around them enough to make a fair judgment, but the divorce confirmed his suspicions.
Even if Trip were certain he was falling in love with Kelsey, did it follow that marriage would make them happier? Seemed to him half of all married couples divorced, and the other half mostly complained about each other and had less sex than when they’d been dating. With stats like that, why muck up a good thing?
Just then he heard Kelsey’s feminine giggle from across the room. She’d been a perfect cohost for her sister, balancing her time between entertaining guests, helping to direct the caterers, and looking after Fee and Ty when needed.
A force of nature at times, yet tender and soft at others—a five-thousand-piece puzzle with no picture for guidance.
He looked up to catch her, standing in the archway with Ty on her hip, accepting the child’s sloppy kisses before wiping the slobber from her cheek. She hugged the baby, swaying to the music with her tiny dance partner, her eyes lit with adoration.
In an instant, Trip envisioned her cuddling their infant. That beautiful, loving woman would be the mother of his child. One way or another, they’d forever be intertwined. She’d shower him with all her warmth if he’d let her, and that reality snatched the breath from his lungs.
A pang—an ache for something he didn’t even know he wanted—pressed on his heart.
He set his glass down and crossed the mostly empty room. “Can I cut in?”
Kelsey glanced around for a second and spotted her mom in the dining room. “Mom, can you take Ty?”
“Oh, please.” Her mom approached with open arms. “Come here, love bug.”
Once the exchange had been made and Mrs. Callihan walked away, Trip pulled Kelsey into his arms for a private slow dance in the entry. Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” wasn’t a country song, but it was close enough for Trip’s liking.