45. Bailey

Trevor satacross from me in the waiting room, shaking his head silently. I could count on one hand the number of times I'd witnessed him being rendered speechless. I'd just given him the full rundown on me and Cole. I told him everything. Well, almost everything, not sparing a single detail. Well, I mean, I'd skimmed past what he'd referred to as the ‘good stuff,' but as for the rest of it, I'd gone full disclosure.

After talking to Billie, I was even more confused than ever, and I needed an outside perspective. Thankfully, Trevor loved to give his opinion on all things, but especially relationship advice. I was eagerly awaiting his response when Ben, Olivia's husband, walked into the room. Trevor and I both stood expectantly. "It was a false alarm, but because she's having multiples and her age, they want to keep her here overnight."

It was still strange to me that, at thirty-six, Olivia's pregnancy was considered geriatric. Which meant that if I did decide to have children, mine would be, too.

"Is she up for company?" Trevor asked.

"She's sleeping now."

Trevor nodded. "I'll come back in the morning."

"Me too." I reached down and grabbed my purse before hugging Ben. "Tell her we love her."

"Will do."

Trevor and I said our goodbyes to Ben, then headed to the elevators. As soon as we got on, Trevor turned to me.

"Look, I know it's none of my business… Wait, what am I saying? It's exactly my business." He smiled, and I was once again struck by just how good-looking the man was. How he was still single when he ran a matchmaking business, I had no clue. "In the immortal words of Julia Roberts, you're making a big mistake. Big. Huge."

"Okay." I'd told Trevor as a sounding board, but since he was quoting the queen herself, Julia, he was taking this very seriously. I tried to defend myself. "It freaked me out when I got drunk over him. And he is technically a rebound who is more than ten years younger than me."

Trevor waved his hand dismissively as we stepped off the elevator onto the first floor. "Semantics. None of that matters when you have a man who looks at you like he does, who treats you the way he does, and who can make your kitty purr, and I'm not talking about Lady Whiskerdown."

"Yeah, I caught that." I grinned at him and felt my cheeks heat with embarrassment that I'd made the same joke when I was drunk. I wish I had no memory of it, like the Taylor Swift performance and striptease.

"Look, you're right about one thing; you wasted twenty-two years on a man who was not worthy of you. Do not let your pride, or ego, or whatever is stopping you waste another day not being with a man who is worthy of you."

My phone rang. I saw it was Jean, the florist, who owned The Wild Rose. She'd messaged me about changes my bride wanted to make. Penny, who was getting married this Saturday, wouldn't approve the new invoice with the added expense. I'd spoken to the bride earlier, and she didn't have the extra $800 in the budget.

I held up my phone to Trevor. "I gotta take this."

"See ya tomorrow." Trevor kissed me on the cheek and gave me a wink as he walked out of the automatic doors to the parking garage.

I answered the call and was able to suggest a few substitutions, including paring down the bridesmaids' bouquets, to make the new centerpieces viable within the already approved budget.

Crisis averted, I thought as I hung up the phone. As soon as I started walking toward the glass doors, I realized I had another crisis. I didn't have a car here. I'd come to the hospital with Ben and Olivia. Trevor met us here, but he'd already left. I'd have to Uber home.

I was busy ordering my ride when the elevator doors beside me opened again. In my peripheral vision, I could see several people exiting the elevator, but I didn't look up.

"Bailey?"

When I heard my name, I lifted my head and saw a young girl. It took me a second for my brain to remember who she was.

"Carly? What are you doing here?"

"My mom is here having some tests done." She smiled widely as she gave me a quick hug.

I knew it was ridiculous to feel any sense of pride that an eleven-year-old was happy to see me, but that didn't change the fact that I absolutely did.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"My friend is having a baby. Olivia, actually, who owns the matchmaking service."

We'd planned on hanging out two weeks ago but had to postpone it because she'd had cheer tryouts. She made the squad, and we'd scheduled a time for next week. I was going to take her to Ever After Matchmaking. She said she wanted to see the behind-the-scenes of a real-life matchmaking service. Olivia, clearly, wouldn"t be there, but I knew Trevor would impress; he always did.

"Oh, cool."

"Is your mom okay?" I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to ask, but I felt like I had to address the situation.

"Yeah, there's just some tests they've been putting off that she needed to get done."

In the information I had on Carly's home life, I knew that her mom was ill, but it hadn't gone into detail, obviously, to protect her privacy.

"Are you here by yourself?" Even though I knew she was eleven, she was so tiny that it made me feel extra protective of her. "I can wait with you if you want."

"Yes!" Her face lit up, and again, I felt an unearned sense of pride that she wanted me to stay with her. "My uncle's here! I want you to meet him."

"Oh, um… I don't know." I didn't want to encourage the matchmaking idea she'd had about the two of us. My head was definitely not in the right space to meet anyone.

All I could think about was Cole and how, according to both Billie and Trevor. I'd made a big mistake. Big. Huge.

"Please!" She folded her hands together as she begged.

"Okay, sure. Yeah." I canceled my ride and got back onto the elevator with her.

As we rode up, she talked about cheer. She was going to be a flyer, apparently.

"How's Dylan? Have you heard from him?" she asked as the elevator stopped at floor two, and a couple who had been riding with us got off.

"He's touring, so I haven't seen him. But I think he's doing good." I realized I'd never really asked my sister about him. They'd been together for so long. He'd been touring since they started dating and had always been on the road eight to ten months out of the year.

I used to worry about her and ask her if she was lonely, but she always said she was great. She'd always been very self-contained. As a child, she would sit drawing, reading, and doing crafts for hours by herself. She lived most of her life in her head, in the wonderful worlds she created there.

"Have they set a date yet? For the wedding?"

"I'm not sure," I lied. As much as I liked Carly and wished I could tell her that my sister was going to be getting married in the summer, I couldn't because I knew she was only asking since she was a huge Chaos Collective fan and wanted the inside scoop. And they hadn't announced publicly that they were going to have a destination wedding next August.

The elevator doors opened on the third floor, and we turned down the hallway toward radiology. As we walked down the corridor, I got a strange butterfly feeling in my stomach and started to feel like this was a bad idea. "Are you sure this is okay? I don't want to intrude."

"It's fine. My mom's in a really good mood today, sort of. I think. She keeps laughing, then crying. But, like, not in a sad way."

I didn't know what that meant, but my plan was to say a quick hello and then pretend my car had arrived. The closer we got, the louder the sounds of kids talking got. They were talking over each other, so I couldn't understand what they were saying. As we turned the corner, I heard a voice that had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.

"Boys, settle down."

My brain was still processing who that voice belonged to when we entered the room and I saw Cole sitting in a waiting room chair, looking so sexy it should be a crime.

He was dressed the same as when I'd run into him in front of Bliss Bridal: white shirt, faded blue jeans, and camel work boots. He looked so ridiculously hot.

When he saw me, he stood up. "Bailey?"

"You know my Uncle CJ?" Carly asked, turning to me.

Oh shit. Cole was Carly's uncle. I felt like I was a beat behind. That hadn't clicked when I saw him. All I'd thought about was how sexy he looked.

"You know Bailey?" Cole asked Carly.

"She's my big sister," Carly explained as her phone rang, and she moved to the corner to answer it.

Cole looked at me, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a woman being pushed in a wheelchair into the room by a nurse.

"Mom, can we have pizza tonight?" A little boy rushed over to the woman in the wheelchair.

"Yeah, Mom, can we?" the second boy asked. "Uncle CJ said we could only have it if it sounds good to you."

The woman looked up at Cole and then over at me. "Did Uncle CJ make a friend?"

Hearing that snapped Cole out of staring at me like I was a ghost. He turned toward the woman. "Sara, this is Bailey; Bailey, this is my sister Sara, and my nephews Leo and Luke."

"Hi." I waved at the trio.

Luke smiled and waved back. Leo sniffed at me as he tilted his chin up.

"Bailey." A knowing grin spread on Sara's face. "Nice to finally meet you, Bailey."

"Nice to meet you, too." I smiled, not missing the way she'd said finally.

Had Cole mentioned me? If so, what had he said? Had he told them that I broke things off for a stupid reason?

Carly got off the phone, and when she walked over, she said, "That was Riley. Do you think Birdie is really going to be able to get tickets for the show when they come to the city in June?"

"Yeah, I'm sure she can."

"Carly, you can't ask Uncle CJ's friend for tickets," Sara admonished her.

"Yes, I can. She's my big sister."

"Through the program," I explained again. "The Big Sister program."

"Wait." Sara looked between her brother and me as she waved her finger. "So, you're Carly's big sister. Did you know that Carly was CJ's niece?"

"No. No, I just…we just found out," I rushed to assure her. I didn't know why it felt so strange.

Sara's eyes bounced between us. "So you two likereally, really know each other."

I wasn't sure why, but I felt on the spot.

"Yes, we really do," Cole responded. I could feel his gaze on me like a physical touch. I didn't dare look back at him for fear that I might spontaneously combust.

Carly gasped. "Are you the wedding planner?"

Carly knew about me?

"Um, yes."

Carly's face lit up as she clapped her hands. "She's the one that you have?—"

"Zip it, Caramel Corn."

I could feel my cheeks heating up with embarrassment. As happy as I was to run into Cole, having an audience was not really my thing. I hated attention being on me, and this was a lot of it.

"Oh, um, my Uber is here. It was nice meeting all of you." I lifted my arm in an awkward wave, then turned and headed down the hall. "See you next week, Carly."

I rushed out of the waiting room and didn't make it five steps toward the elevator before a very large hand wrapped around my wrist. "Wait."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were Carly's uncle," I rushed out as I turned around.

"I need to drive my sister and the kids home. But can I?—"

"Well, hello there, Miss Bliss."

I turned my head and saw the man who knew my granddad that I'd met when I'd gone to ask Cole to be my plus one.

"Hi, Mr. Reynolds."

"Hey, Arthur. We're ready." Sara, who was walking now, came out with the twins and Carly.

"What's going on?" Cole asked his sister.

"Arthur was here already visiting a friend, and he said he'd give us a ride home," Sara explained.

"Can we still get pizza?" Luke asked.

"Pizza sounds good to me."

"Are you sure?" Cole looked concerned about him not being the one taking them home.

"Yes. I'm sure. We're fine," Sara assured him before turning toward me. "It was very nice to meet you, Bailey. I hope we'll be seeing more of each other."

"You, too." I smiled, unsure of how to respond to the second part of that statement.

Carly was on the phone again, but she smiled and waved as she followed the group onto the elevator.

Once they got on and the doors closed, I turned back to Cole.

"Can I give you a ride home?" he asked, his voice deep and gravelly.

I was so nervous, suddenly, and I didn't trust myself to speak. So I nodded.

We walked to the elevator bay, and by the time the doors opened, there were at least a dozen people waiting. As we stepped inside, Cole placed his hand on my lower back and made sure that I was standing against the wall, placing himself between me and the other people on the lift. It was a small gesture, but it made me feel safe. Safe and cared for.

Yeah. I had made a big mistake. Huge.