Page 71 of Playing With The Mountain Man

“That’s not my choice,” I confirmed.

“Cody …”

“Tillie …”

“You know what? You’re right. I am a mom. I’m a mom, and you’re a baseball player slash celebrity who’s hiding in the mountains,” she recapped, and I hated how it sounded. Even though her words were true, they were so much more than that.

“I don’t want to lose you,” I declared.

“We don't work. We can’t. Not in the real world,” Tillie decided.

“Who said?” I snapped harsher than I’d intended. “Fuck, Tillie, don’t give up on us. Not before we ever had a chance!” I begged, not giving a flying fuck if the whole of Wattle Creek heard me.

“Come on, Cody, be realistic. You’re …”

“I’m what?” I dared.

“You’re …” her voice faded.

“Come to my place tomorrow afternoon. You and River. Give me the weekend to show you who I really am. Let me get to know you. All of you. Not only the parts you think I want to see.”

I watched as indecision flickered across her face.

“I don’t want River to get hurt. He’s been through so much already, Cody. He doesn’t deserve any more pain in his life.” The desperation in her voice wrapped around my heart, and I made a silent vow then and there to do everything in my power to protect both of them for as long as they’d let me. They were mine to love now. All I had to do was convince Tillie.

“I’d never hurt you, Tillie. Neither of you,” I promised, knowing it was one I’d never break.

“I know you’d never intentionally … but, Cody, your life, it’s different.”

“It is,” I agreed. “But it’s my life. And I get to decide what that looks like and who’s in it. And, Tillie,” I reached for her, cupping her cheek in my hand. “I’ve decided I want you in my life. You and River both.”

“Cody …”

“Give me a chance. Please. Spend the weekend with me. Let me show you what our life could look like.”

Chapter twenty-four

Tillie

As I slowed the car to a crawl as we approached Cody’s house, the butterflies in my stomach took flight. All day I’d been going back and forth, weighing up whether this was the right call. Bringing River, giving him hope, only for it all to fall in a heap. I was a big girl. I’d already had my heart broken in a way I never thought I’d recover from, but here I was. Still standing. And I wasn’t just surviving, I was thriving. It may look very different from the dreams I’d once had, but that was okay. Dreams change. Life changes. But I’d loved and lived and learned, and I was somehow still standing. River, though, he didn’t need anymore heartbreak or disappointment in his life.

The front door swung open, and Cody stepped out into the sun. He wore a pair of low-slung basketball shorts, a simple gray T-shirt, and a baseball cap.

“River …” I started, but he was already vaulting from the car and charging toward Cody. The hero worship was real.

I killed the ignition as I watched them through the windscreen. Cody squatted down, dropping to River’s eye level, before lifting his hand and high-fiving him.

I grabbed my purse and climbed out.

“Hey,” Cody called out with a wave before settling his hands on his hips.

“Hey,” I replied with a half wave.

Cody ruffled River’s hair before jogging over. When he was standing right in front of me, close enough for me to smell his cologne, the butterflies in my belly turned into soaring eagles.

“I wasn’t sure you were going to come,” he admitted, all his confidence and swagger gone.

“I wasn’t sure I was going to come either,” I admitted, shifting my weight from foot to foot.