NICE GIRL TO LOVE (THE COMPLETE THREE-BOOK COLLECTION)(77)

“Those sound like puppy names.”

“That’s exactly why your mom vetoed them. But the rest, she got a kick out of. I remember she used to love it when he’d call her babycakes or sugarlips, usually because he’d also be apologizing and telling her she was right about something. Those also happened to be the nicknames he used when he’d buy her gifts for no reason at all, and what she’d sign her little love notes to him with.”

“Awww.” Skylar clutched her hands to her chest.

“Yeah, no one could pull off the cute like your folks could. They were nauseatingly adorable,” smiled Abby, shaking her head. “Sometimes, listening to them sling nicknames at each other was like being in the middle of a ping pong match. He’d call her small fry, she’d volley back with snickerdoodle, and he’d return with whiskey brisket…those two could round food items from every meal of the day before the end of the night.”

“That’s where you and your mom are so much alike. Just like you, your mom could always give your dad a run for his money when they’d go toe-to-toe in a verbal debate.”

Skylar grew silent then.

Abby reached over and smoothed Skylar’s hair back over her ear. “Sweetie, do you wish it were your mom here taking you shopping for your first dance? It’s okay if you do. I know this is the sort of thing girls picture doing with their mothers.” Somehow, Abby managed to keep the wobble out of her voice when she said that.

Startled, Skylar’s glanced up at her and bit her lip. “I of course wish she could be here, but not in place of you. I mean I hardly remember her, you know? Honestly, you’re more like my—” Her eyes widened sharply a split-second before she snapped her jaw shut.

Abby felt her heart swell to double its capacity, and then split at the seams over the reality they continued to face every day—the fact that neither of them could ever finish that very sentence.

Not without stepping all over Beth’s grave.

But the truth of it was that even before Beth had passed away, even before she’d become bedridden, Abby had been a part of Skylar’s life nearly every day since she was born. Aside from the month she’d spent with Connor, Abby could count on one hand how many times she’d gone more than a few days without seeing or at least talking to Skylar.

From every diaper she’d changed to every cut and scrape she’d kissed and made better, Abby had been there for Skylar in every way that a parent could be. She’d raised her as if she were her own daughter. She’d picked her up from preschool nearly every day, and read her bedtime stories almost every night. She’d taught her how to tie her shoes, how to braid her hair, and how to bake the cookies she loved so much.

But every time someone would mistakenly assume she was Skylar’s mom, at the park or at a store, Abby would have to make the same heartwrenching correction: “No, I’m just a family friend.” Because by definition, that’s all she was. She wasn’t an adoptive parent or even a stepmom. She was Skylar’s dad’s best friend. Nowhere in books or movies did someone like her ever, ever get qualified as the mother.

But even though Abby had never been able to say the words, she’d long felt them in her heart. Hearing Skylar almost, almost say the words as well had Abby so choked up, she found herself unable to do more than a Connor-pat on Skylar’s back.

They both knew what it meant.




BRIAN LOOKED UP from his smartphone and just stared at the sight before him. He knew he was probably smiling like a fool but he couldn’t help it. Seeing Skylar and Abby walking through the mall together made for the prototypical mother-daughter photo op any marketer would kill to capture. That ever-present connection, the undefinable distinction that made you know when you were seeing a mother and daughter together? He was looking at it right now.

And yet again, just like she’d done nearly thirteen years ago, he found Abby filling another void in his life that he hadn’t fully acknowledged was missing. Like the important puzzle piece he’d always needed without even knowing it, she just…fit. And evidently not just for him; for Skylar as well. It was clear that Abby was now filling a once empty spot in the canvas of both their lives; so much so that he simply couldn’t see how they’d survive it ever being left empty again.

“Dad!”

Brian tore his eyes off of Abby and smiled at the hyperactive jumping bean flying into his arms. Per usual, Skylar was her chatterbox self, excitedly giving him a quick kiss on the cheek mid-hop while she described the hundreds of dresses she tried on today. Meanwhile, Abby came over to curl an arm around his waist and give him a gentle hello squeeze while smiling indulgently at Skylar and nodding her agreement with every undoubtedly exaggerated recount of their shopping excursion today.

Brian wrapped an arm around Abby’s shoulders and kept on smiling like a fool. He couldn’t remember the last time he was this happy, the last time he’d felt this whole.

Ears and brain humming to a sappy tune, he found he’d missed half of Skylar’s animated description of her dress by the time he was no longer singing the lead in his mental musical.

…Save the last part about it being sparkly…oh, and strapless with a hip-high skirt.

“Your dress is what with a what?” he sputtered, gaping at Abby and feeling utterly betrayed. She was supposed to have been on his side, had his back during this shopping trip—‘Sunday school chic’ was specifically what he’d requested for his little girl.