She gave a little shrug. “I’m not one to hold grudges. I wish Reed were here too, as much as the Saxons do. I hate making Janet burst into tears every time she sees me. I want this baby to know their family, and they’re making it impossible.”
Chance raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? That’s all you want to get out?”
He made it joking, but deep down, he was angry at hownotangry she was. Life had given her a shit hand here, and the Saxons were only making it worse. Cordy could at least cuss them out some. Anyone else would.
“I told you, I don’t hold grudges.”
“I do. I can hold one for you if you want.”
“I don’t want to say anything I’ll regret if they come around. Which they will.” Cordy punctuated that with a stab of her fork. “Can you tell me some stories about Reed?”
The moment she asked for them, Chance’s mind went blank. “Hmm. Let me think…” Chance scratched his chin. “Actually, in elementary school, he licked a frog.”
“What?Why?”
“Someone—I can’t remember who—said that if you licked a toad, you’d hallucinate. Ramona Buckland said that wasn’t true. She’s got this way of telling you something is wrong that makes you feel pretty dumb. Pisses my brother Bowie off no end. Anyway, Reed got his back up and said itwastrue, and he’d prove it.”
Cordy covered her face. “Oh no.”
“I’ll give this to Ramona; she caught the frog herself. Shoved it right under Reed’s nose and told him to open up.”
Cordy giggled. “So he really licked it?”
“He did.”
She shuddered. “Ew. What happened then?”
“He threw up. I guess the frog tasted so nasty, it triggered his gag reflex.”
“Oh no,” Cordy moaned. “Oh God.”
“Ramona dropped the frog. It hopped away, right through the puddle of sick.”
Cordy made a noise halfway between a groan and a laugh. “Poor frog! And poor Reed.”
“He was brave,” Chance said. “He stepped up, even if it didn’t turn out like he thought. And he got to go home for the rest of the day.”
“Yeah.” Cordy’s expression had softened. “He was never one to sit back and wait. He asked me out the second day we met,even though I was working. I told him I didn’t date customers. So he promised to meet me at the Donut Palace the next morning and try again.”
She looked down, a small smile curving her mouth, lost in memory. Chance wanted to ask her then if she had loved Reed, even though his stomach twisted sourly at the thought. Cordy could love who she wanted; it wasn’t Chance’s business. He hated the sadness in her expression, though.
“When I went into the Donut Palace the next morning,” Cordy said, “there Reed was. Liberty told me he’d been there since they opened. He didn’t want to miss me.”
Chance could hardly believe it. Reed sounded like he was completely smitten. Reed had never struck Chance as the type to fall that hard. But now that Chance was getting to know Cordy better, it made sense. Look at what Chance was doing for her against his own deep-seated nature.
“So you told him yes,” Chance said.
“I did. Honestly, I was impressed he was so determined. We had a good time on our date—we went to the Filler Up—so we went out again. And again. It developed into this casual thing we were both enjoying.” She rubbed her belly. “The baby probably won’t like that story. She’ll want something more romantic.”
“My parents had romantic,” Chance said bitterly. “Still didn’t end well.”
When Cordy’s head snapped up, Chance realized his mistake. He never talked about his parents. Even bringing it up with his brothers was tricky, and they’d been there for the whole thing.
So he changed the subject. “I’ll put together the crib for you tomorrow,” he promised.
“No, I’ll do it.” Her tone was pleasant, but her jaw was set.
“Cordelia.”
