Love and Other Mistakes by Jessica Kate

Author:Jessica Kate
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2019-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

20

“Hi, Jeremy.”

Natalie wracked her brain for any mention of that name. Chloe? No search results.

But she had blonde hair, apparent familiarity with Jem, and the way he said that name . . . A cold sweat broke over her.

Oliver’s mother?

Be cool. You don’t know for sure.

All she could croak out was an incredulous, “‘Jeremy’?”

He pulled his dumbfounded stare from Chloe to her. “I didn’t go by Jem in Chicago.”

“Jem? What a cute nickname.” Chloe’s smile revealed two rows of blindingly white teeth. “May I come in?”

Natalie didn’t budge.

“And you are . . . ?” The words emerged from glossy lips. The woman was a total Barbie doll.

Throat frozen, Natalie let Jem pull her inside and step into her place.

“What are you doing here, Chloe?” His voice carried a weird edge she’d never heard before on him. Cautious. Wounded. Suspicious. Uncertain.

Or maybe she was just projecting.

“You told me Olly needed a mother.”

The words hit Natalie like a one-two punch.

Jem’s jaw tightened. “That was the day he was born.”

She acknowledged his words with a slight incline of her head. “I’m here now. Let’s talk.”

“Hallway. Now.” He marched her into the outer hall and pulled the door shut behind him.

Hot and cold waves alternated through Natalie’s body. This. Was. Not. Happening.

Should she eavesdrop? She stared at the peephole and debated whether she really wanted to hear.

“Who was that? Is Granddad here?” Lili emerged from her room.

“That’s . . . that’s Chloe. Oliver’s—Jem’s—” The words caught in Natalie’s throat. “The woman who gave birth to Oliver.” Oliver. The child that should’ve been hers. The child who’d squealed, screamed, and gurgled his way into her heart.

Lili’s eyes grew wide. “Jem’s ex?” She rushed to the door and pressed her ear against it.

Natalie was half a second behind her.

“I can’t hear any screaming.” Lili stretched on tiptoe to look through the peephole. “He should push her down the stairs.”

Natalie stared at the closed door, unable to agree or disagree. What did this woman represent? Someone who genuinely cared for Oliver? On the one hand, she hadn’t terminated her unplanned pregnancy. That had to mean something. But she had left Olly. That meant something too.

Was she a threat to Jem’s custody? Possibly.

A threat to Jem’s heart?

Unknown.

Natalie blinked. Not that she had—or wanted—any claim to Jem. Those kisses were just hormones, the result of a long dry spell, an emotionally charged week, and . . . well, mutual history and attraction.

But they were not the promise of any kind of future.

Lili pressed her ear to the door again, then gave up. She looked at Olly, gumming a rubber Marvin Martian toy and drooling up a storm. “Is she here to take Olly away?”

“No. She can’t do that. Jem wouldn’t let it happen.” Natalie had no idea if her words were true. Surely Jem had full custody.

But then a mother often got sympathy in family court. And contact with his mother should be good for Olly. But what if Jem became an every-second-weekend dad?

Olly threw down his toy and cried.

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