Yours for Christmas (Fool's Gold #15.5)(13)

She looked at him, wanting desperately to hear and almost afraid of what he was going to tell her.

“How?” she asked softly.

“I got hurt. My first serious injury. I missed five games. While I was recovering, Natalie came to me. She said that the reason she’d never wanted to marry me was that she was in love with another man. A married man. He kept promising to leave his wife for her and he finally did. Natalie was leaving me to go be with him.”

His expression turned fierce. “It wasn’t good news, but I was okay with that. We definitely weren’t in love then. I told her I wanted custody of James. That’s when she said he wasn’t mine. The other guy was the father.”

Bailey sucked in a breath. “Was she telling the truth?”

“Yeah. That’s the hell of it. I got an attorney and we arranged for a DNA test. But when it came back...I had no legal claim on him. She took him and walked out and I never saw him again.”

Bailey wanted to go to him, to hold him and offer comfort. Only there wasn’t anything she could say.

She tried to imagine what it would be like if she lost Chloe. But even thinking it was possible was too painful to consider.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Me, too. The thing is, you’re great and I like you a lot.”

An unexpected statement that should have thrilled her. Except for the single word at the end.

But.

He didn’t have to say it. She heard it loud and clear. She was the woman with a kid who wasn’t his. Kenny had been burned that way once before. He wasn’t going to risk it again.

“I understand,” she told him, feeling disappointed and more than a little hurt. “It makes perfect sense.”

“I wanted you to know why,” he said.

She stood. “And now I do. Thank you. Chloe and I had a great time today.”

“I did, too.”

He rose and there was an awkward moment as they both stared at each other. He gave her a half smile and reached for his coat.

Bailey held open the front door, briskly wished him good-night, then shut it behind him. When she was alone, she leaned against the door and told herself it was for the better.

Only she didn’t feel better. She felt a little sick to her stomach. Because she thought maybe what he’d been saying was that under other circumstances, he might have been interested in her. That he might have thought she was his type. And knowing that made not having any chance at him just a little more difficult to take.

CHAPTER FIVE

ONE OF THE advantages of living in Fool’s Gold was that no matter what horrible thing might be happening in your personal life, there was also something in town to serve as a distraction.

Despite having not slept much the night before, Bailey greeted the morning with as much optimism as she could muster. For one thing, she had a great life. She had her daughter, friends and a job she loved, and in less than two weeks, she would be moving into her first ever, very own home. It was enough, she told herself firmly. She didn’t need a man—not even one as tempting as Kenny.

She and Chloe had breakfast, then she dropped her daughter off at a friend’s house, where she would spend the day. For her part, Bailey was going to head into town. All the stores would be decorating for the holidays and that was fun to watch. There was also a new store opening, and she was meeting Isabel there. Tomorrow, she and Chloe would go look at all the store windows and stay for the town’s tree lighting.

Back at her place, she made quick work of cleaning the kitchen, then dove into her closet. She wanted to clear out as many things as possible before the move. She and Chloe had already done her daughter’s room. Chloe had given up a couple of boxes of toys to be donated. Clothes that were too small would also go to charity.

When Bailey’s cell phone rang, she was trying to decide if she was ever going to lose the twenty pounds necessary for her to get back into several pairs of jeans she owned or if she should simply donate them.

“Hello?” she said without glancing at the display.

“Hey.”

All it took was a single word spoken by a specific man. Her slightly fake good mood shattered and the jeans dropped to the carpet. She sank onto the bed.

“Kenny.”

A thousand emotions struggled to find room inside. She thought of the child he’d lost and how she would never have guessed he suffered such a tragedy. She thought of the way his smile made her toes curl and how knowing he was a great guy made her crush just a little harder to get over.

“I’ve got all the bins in place,” he said.

It took her a second to mentally switch gears. Right, the toy drive. That was still their responsibility.

“Thank you. There’s a schedule for collection. You have that, right?”

“Yeah. I know my days.”

“The parents helping do, too. I appreciate your help with all this.”

“We’re in it together.”

The truth, but when said in his low, sexy voice... Well, she wanted it to mean a lot more than it did.

“We’re still on for Sunday?” he asked.

He’d offered to take her to Sacramento to look at bedroom furniture for Chloe. She needed to get her order placed and thought the Black Friday craziness would be over by then. Only after last night, she’d assumed she would be on her own.