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Home / My Best Bet / 29. Mer - Birthday Party

29. Mer - Birthday Party

Colt was going to hire a service to decorate for Lucy’s birthday, but I convinced him we should do it together and Lucy loved the idea.

All week leading up to her party, we were constantly running to the stores together for decorations so everything would be perfect.

The Saturday night before her party, Lucy and I stayed in and watched the Whalers game from Colt’s couch at home with a bowl of popcorn between us.

Halfway through the third period, Colt had a breakaway. His jersey billowed behind him while he sprinted to the net with Boston’s defensemen chasing him down. He was able to score, but he was going too fast to stop himself. Right after he shot, he lost his balance and went down hard before slamming into the boards.

Lucy and I gasped. We automatically held hands.

My eyes were glued to the TV as I chanted, “Get up, get up, get up.”

As soon as he popped up on his knee and leaned on his stick, both of us let out sighs of relief. Skating back to the bench, he stretched out his right shoulder and arm.

He skipped his last shift, so I figured he was hurting, but he was standing and moving in the teambox, so he had to be decently okay, but that didn’t completely ease away my worry.

Lucy and I were both sleeping by the time Colt got home.

“You okay?” I asked as soon as he popped open the bedroom door.

He carefully pulled his shirt off, hissing when he moved his right shoulder, then gingerly sat on the edge of the bed. His heavy hand came down on my hip. “Now I am,” he said, sounding exhausted.

That night, I was the one to sit behind him in bed, my legs stretched on either side of him while I iced and massaged his shoulder until we both fell asleep.

The next morning, I let Colt sleep in so his body could rest while Lucy and I got to work on the balloon arch– the last thing we had to do before the party later.

The only problem was that I wasn’t tall enough to figure this out, and were definitely struggling, so I called Piper for help– it was actually the perfect excuse to get her over here because I had a feeling she was trying to skip the party today and I didn’t want her to feel lonely, especially not when I knew she still hated Sundays.

When Piper arrived, Lucy opened the door for her and gasped. “I love your hair, and your outfit, and your shoes!”

“I love you ,” Piper said with a chuckle, handing me a coffee over Lucy’s head. While Lu and I were still in our pajamas, Piper was in off-black tights, thigh-high boots, a caramel colored mini-skirt, and a tight black top with a long peacoat overtop. Her blonde hair was curled and coiffed and her winged eyeliner looked impeccable. “You're a great hype woman, you know that?”

Lucy smiled. “Are you here to help decorate?”

“You know it, girlfriend,” she said, easing inside.

We were just putting the finishing touches on the balloon arch when JP and Kappy stormed in, each holding a box of donuts and coffee. JP was dressed nicely for the day in a button down and lulu dress pants, Kappy either didn’t get the notice or didn’t care, because he wore a fur-lined jean jacket, gray sweatpants, and a snapback sitting on top of his messy hair.

Kappy opened the box he was holding, which was filled with pink sprinkle donuts, and presented it to Lu. “For the birthday girl.”

Lu giggled and snatched a donut.

“Happy birthday, little Lu,” JP said, patting her head. “Where’s your dad? Shouldn’t he be up yet?”

“Not yet, but I’ll go get him!” Lucy yelled before dashing up the stairs.

Right then, a balloon popped, making me jump.

“Sorry,” Piper grumbled.

“Piper the Viper, in the flesh,” Kappy said, giving her a wink.

“Dick,” she deadpanned.

“Play nice you guys,” JP warned before wandering back to the kitchen.

“I'm always nice,” Kappy said.

“Ugh,” Piper rolled her eyes. “I hate men,” she said under her breath.

Kappy pouted out his bottom lip. “Me too, baby.”

“No.” Piper pointed a finger at him. “Do not give me your sexy eyes.” Taking one more up-down look at him with a frown on her face, she announced, “I can’t,” then stomped back to the kitchen to get away from him.

Kappy turned to me. “That didn’t go so bad, did it?”

I twisted my lips. “Could’ve gone worse I suppose.”

“She’s staying for the party, right?” he asked.

“Yeah, she might have to leave for Carl at some point, but–”

“Carl?” His eyebrows slammed down. “Who the fuck is Carl?”

“He’s–”

But Kappy was already marching into the kitchen before I could tell him.

A couple hours later, the party was in full swing. Most of the kids, including Lucy, Charlotte, and Sophia, were bundled in their coats and playing outside where an inflatable bouncy castle had been set up– we lucked out on having a rare, beautiful sixty-degree November day. A large game of mini-sticks was raging in the driveway and I think some of the dads were getting more into it than the kids. One mother already had to reprimand her husband to take it easy on the tiny kid playing goalie.

Colt’s house had filled up with a lot of the same women I saw in the player’s family room after the last Whalers game. Piper was chatting about ice dancing with two young moms in the living room.

“So, you’re Colt’s girlfriend?” a woman with wavy dirty-blonde hair and bright blue eyes asked. She was burping a tiny sleeping baby on her shoulder. “I’m Elsie, Henrik’s wife.”

That question had me staring like a deer caught in headlights. “Uh… I…”

Strong arms looped around my waist, and I was hit by his signature laundry and sandalwood scent. Thankful for the distraction, I looked up to find him grinning down at me.

“She is,” he said before turning his hat backwards and dropping a kiss on my lips. “You ladies want anything to drink?” His eyes landed on Elsie. “Oh, I think you got a little…” He grimaced, motioning to her back.

The baby had spit up gooey, white liquid all down her shirt. “Oh shoot.” She worried her lip. “Can you guys… Can you… uh…”

“I’ll hold her.” Colt moved to help her.

“I’ve got a couple extra tops in my car,” Piper offered.

“You’re sure?” she asked, looking from Colt to Piper, caught in indecision. “You can just go get Henrik if you want? Tell him we have to go.”

Piper waved off her concern and moved for the front door. “My car is my second closet. One sec.”

“Henrik’s busy outside teaching the little tyke in net not to be afraid of shots,” Colt added.

Elsie’s eyes widened. “Are you serious? No one’s getting hurt, are they?”

“Nah, they’ll be fine,” he said with a deep chuckle. “Here, I’ll take her, go get yourself cleaned up. Take your time, Els.”

She nodded and carefully placed the precious bundle in his muscular arms.

The baby let out a tiny cry from being moved, but as soon as Colt bounced his knees a little, the baby snuggled further into his arms and promptly fell back to sleep.

Studying the baby’s tiny button nose and little rosebud mouth, my heart wobbled.

“Wow… I can’t even believe Lu was ever this small,” he said, smoothing his thumb over the baby’s few strands of hair with reverence. “That time was such a blur.” He choked out a laugh before his face slightly creased. “I wish I would’ve appreciated it more to be honest, but I was drowning in spit up and dirty diapers, completely in over my head. JP and Kappy pretty much moved in to help me, and my mom came over almost every day.”

“What happened to–” I shut myself up. Now wasn’t the time to ask, not with all these people here.

“Lucy’s mom?” Colt said with a sad smile. “Stella. She uh…” His throat bobbed with a hard swallow. “She passed. Car accident. Faulty brakes. Lucy was only a couple months old. It was… it was hard.”

“I’m so sorry.” My hand went to his shoulder. “You don’t have to–”

“It’s okay.” He shook his head. “She would’ve loved to meet you. She knew all about you.”

I looked at him in question.

“The angel wings tattoo,” he explained. “She asked about it, then she wanted to know everything about you, just in case.”

“Just in case?”

“In case you came into Lucy’s life one day,” he said with a soft smile.

He must’ve caught the confusion on my face, because he quickly explained, “Stells and I, we weren’t ever…” His forehead creased, “romantic? We were really good friends.”

I wanted to ask more, but I was interrupted by a group of little boys bolting through the living room, cackling as they went. One kid almost knocked down a lamp, but Colt’s arm shot out and steadied it. The boys flew through the front door, leaving it wide open. A gust of wind blew into the house, making the baby let out another little cry.

“Oh I know, it’s too cold for you,” Colt spoke gently to the baby. “I'm so sorry, little one. I’ll get that.” He stretched to kick the door shut. “That’s better, isn’t it? Yeah, that’s better.” He bounced his knees.

Seeing this large, tattooed man, who was so masculine and gruff on the ice, acting so gentle with the baby completely undid me.

When Elsie and Piper wandered back in the room, Colt made no move to hand the baby back. He kept bouncing his knees and staring down at the precious bundle in his arms while we chatted.

It wasn’t until Lucy ran into the room asking Colt to come outside that he handed the baby back.

Before he left, Colt gave my hip a squeeze and whispered, “You look gorgeous today by the way,” before dropping a kiss on my hair and wandering away.

“Oh my God, okay,” Elsie fanned her face, “I did not think Colt had that in him.”

“What?” I laughed, my face burning from the attention.

“The charisma, the vibe, I love it,” she laughed. “In the last couple years, I’ve never even seen him talk to another woman, let alone,” her hand motioned in a circle around my face, “be all flirty like that.”

“You should’ve seen them as teenagers,” Piper said. “They were disgustingly in love.” She rolled her eyes, but a grin pulled at her lips.

“What about you?” Elsie asked her.

“What about me?”

“Do you have a significant other or are you dating?” Elsie wagged her eyebrows.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kappy stiffen. He locked eyes with Piper from across the room.

She leveled him with a sassy grin and pushed her hair dramatically off her shoulder. “I have many lovers.”

Kappy’s nostrils flared. He frowned before tipping his beer bottle up and draining the rest.

I was not about to get involved in the crossfire between those two. They’d have to settle it one of these days, but now was not the time, because it was Lucy’s day, and from the looks of it, she was having a blast with the other children.

Checking the time, I darted in the kitchen to get the cake ready. But as soon as I rounded the corner, I came to a dead stop, because someone was already sticking candles in her mermaid cake.

She looked almost the same as she did ten years ago– same perfectly coiffed hair, same preppy clothes, she even wore the same shade of light pink lipstick. She just had a few more wrinkles coming through her expensive makeup, showing her true age.

My stomach pooled with dread as I took a slow step backwards.

And then her head popped up. She gave me a bland smile, seemingly not at all surprised to see me. “Hello Meredith, I was hoping to speak with you today.”

Shit. My eyes slammed closed for a second. I couldn't bolt out of here… could I? Craning my neck, I tried to look out the back window in hopes of catching Colt’s attention.

Mrs. Conover had no plans of letting me escape. Her brown eyes bore into me. “Why are you here?”

I coughed to clear my throat. “I was going to get the cake, I figured–”

She shook her head. “No, I mean, why are you here ? With my son?”

“B-because I love him,” I stammered. “Them,” I corrected, because Lucy’s feelings mattered too. “I love them.” It felt all wrong that I was justifying myself to her, that I was saying these words to her first.

She huffed out a laugh, like what I said was ridiculous.

My shackles immediately raised. This did not need to happen today. “I’m sorry if you have a problem with my presence, but–”

“I do have a problem with it,” she snapped tersely, her sharp chin raised. “I know all about what happened back then. You almost destroyed him.” She pointed the cake knife at me. “You came back to finish the job? Is that why you’re here?” Her eyes narrowed to angry slits. “Because I won’t let you.”

The air left my lungs. I almost destroyed him? What the hell was she talking about? Why did she hate me so much?

She breathed out a sigh, like she was gathering herself. “Leave now and we can avoid a mess. Like I said, I know all about your past… issues.” She pursed her lips. “You are a terrible influence for my granddaughter, and you are dangerous for my son. You are not welcome here, and if you push back on this, you will be sorry. Now,” she gave me a robotic smile, “are we clear?”

I gaped at her in shock. Did she just… “Did you just threaten me?”

“Yes,” she said simply.

“Colt wouldn’t want–”

She laughed. “Go and tell Colt, honey. Go.” She shooed me. “See how it goes. He’ll never believe you. I’m his mother . You’re just some tramp who waltzed in and out of his life.”

It felt like I’d been slapped. When I finally spoke, my words came out as a thin whisper. “Why are you acting like this? Why do you hate me?”

“Because you’re not good enough for him,” she snapped. “And I won’t let you hurt him again .”

I stared at her in shock.

“Like I said, leave now and we won’t have any more problems.”

I stood there having no clue what to do.

“Hey,” Colt walked in and grasped my shoulder. “Cake ready?” His gaze dipped to my neck first, which I knew was flaming up, then to my eyes, silently asking if everything was alright. “What’s going on?” He looked from me to his mother.

His mother shrugged in innocence.

I shook my head before storming out of the kitchen.

Breathe, just fucking breathe, Meredith, I internally screamed at myself.

Colt was on my heels as I made it to the guest room to grab my jacket.

“Woah, what’s going on? Where are you going?”

Words were trapped in my throat. The whole exchange became garbled as it rolled over and over again through my brain. Destroyed him. Not welcome. You will be sorry. Leave now. And what won out, what hurt the most, was her claim that my past issues made me a bad influence for Lucy. Mrs. Conover looked at me like I was forever damaged, like none of the work I did to recover would ever matter. She had a way of finding someone’s deepest fears and stabbing right at them, then twisting the knife.

“Meredith.” Colt caught my face in his hands. His eyes were full of worry as he brushed a tear away with his thumb. I hadn't even registered that I was crying. “What is going on? Talk to me,” he pleaded.

His words seemed to break through my trance, but it still felt like my air supply had been cut off, leaving me struggling to breathe.

“Breathe, baby.”

I shook my head. “I shouldn't be here. I don’t want to cause a scene. This is Lucy’s day,” I choked out.

His eyebrows slammed down. “Lucy wants you here, what are you talking about? What scene?”

“I can’t do this. I can’t do this.” I felt like a trapped animal and I just needed space to figure out what the hell just happened. I tugged on my coat and marched to the front door, thankful that everyone was now gathering in the backyard for the cake.

Right as my hand went for the doorknob, he choked out, “Please don’t leave me again.”

Those words felt like a blow to the stomach. I slowly turned to face him. “Leave you again?”

His brown eyes darted over my face, not understanding.

My face threatened to crumple. “Stop acting like I was the bad guy, Colt. Yeah, I got caught up in a bunch of bullshit and I forced your hand, okay?” I hated how weak I sounded. “And I know I screamed some really horrible stuff at you that night. But yo u left me.”

His jaw clenched. “Yeah, I left for hockey, Mer, because I had to. But I still loved you. I–”

“Then where were you?” The dam broke inside me and my eyes filled with tears, blurring my vision.

“What?” His voice came out as a whisper.

I steeled my spine and forced out the question I’d been wondering for the last decade of my life: “Where. Were. You? When my world completely shattered, where were you, Colt?”

He stared back at me, looking helpless.

We would never see eye to eye over this.

“ This is why I didn't want to talk about the past.” Hot tears spilled down my cheeks and my throat felt like it was on fire. “It ruins us, Colt. It was stupid to think we could get over all the old hurt.”

It was stupid to think any type of after could still exist for us.

He bit out a curse. “Don’t leave, Mer. Let’s figure this out. Let’s–”

“No.” I held up a hand to ward him off and sniffled up my tears. “This is Lucy’s day. Go back to the party, Colt.”

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