Kismet: A Serendipity Novella by Carly Phillips Read Free Book Online Page B

phone. “Olivia—I call her
Livvy—is at her father’s for the weekend,” Lissa said as she hit
some buttons, obviously looking at the text message. “Or not.” She
let out a groan.
    “What’s wrong?” Trevor asked.
    “Her text says
Have a cold
. And
At grandma’s
. I need to call my mother.”
    “How do you know she didn’t mean the
Bankses?” Trevor must be growing up, because here he was, suddenly
curious about her relationships and family dynamics.
    “Because Livvy calls Lyla
Grandmother
Banks.” Lissa wrinkled her nose at the formal
term.
    Trevor agreed. “What a bunch of assholes,”
he muttered, rising to his feet.
    Before Lissa could react or reply, she
gestured to the phone. “Hi, Mom. It’s me. Livvy’s with you?”
    While Lissa was busy, Trevor escaped into
the bathroom to wash up and regroup while he was at it. He splashed
cold water on his face and brushed his teeth, stalling while he
pulled himself together. Talk about being in complete denial for
the last twenty-four hours. While he’d been losing himself in
Lissa, thinking he’d found the missing pieces of his heart, he’d
somehow managed to completely block out the thing that had broken
them up to begin with.
    Her daughter.
    Brad’s daughter. He shoved that thought away
before he could dwell on it too long.
    The fact that she lived in Serendipity, and
he lived here.
    Hell, if he kept thinking, he was sure he’d
come up with a whole lot more things that could keep them
apart.
    Trevor stepped out of the bathroom in time
to hear, “Hey, baby.”
    Lissa spoke into the phone, her tone warm,
sweet, and filled with pure love. A tone Trevor had never heard
from her before and despite himself, he was intrigued.
    He grabbed a clean pair of underwear and
jeans, dressing while she finished her call. “No, baby, I’m not
coming home until tomorrow. You have a cold and grandma’s going to
take good care of you, okay?” She grew silent, then said, “I love
you, too. Bye.”
    Clearly bracing herself, she straightened
her shoulders and met his gaze. “Sorry about that.”
    Trevor shook his head. “No need to apologize
for reality,” he said. “Kids need their mothers.” And their
fathers, which brought up another question nagging at him. “If she
has a cold, why didn’t Brad just keep her with him?”
    She frowned. “My guess? Sunny doesn’t want
to catch it. That’s Brad’s fiancée. She’s twenty-two and more of a
child than Livvy,” Lissa said with a roll of her eyes.
    “Does Livvy look like you? Or her
father?”
    Lissa blinked, obviously startled at his
question. So was he. But he wanted to know, even as he knew the
answer might hurt.
    “My mom thinks she looks exactly like
me.”
    The vise squeezing his chest eased. “Then
she must be beautiful.”
    “She is.” Despite the obvious awkwardness of
the subject, her eyes glowed with pride and happiness over her
daughter.
    Her pleasure was contagious, sparking a
flame to life inside him. One he wanted to squelch and fan at the
same time. But he’d come this far. He’d made love to her. If he
turned back now, he’d never know what could be.
    “Do you have a picture?”
    She nodded. Reaching for her purse once
more, she pulled out her phone and showed him the background photo.
A beautiful girl with Lissa’s green eyes, black hair, and olive
complexion stared back at him with her mother’s wide smile,
squeezing something inside his chest.
    “She’s gorgeous,” he said, his voice
thick.
    “Thanks. I think so, but I’m biased.” She
closed her phone and slid it back into her bag.
    “Lissa?”
    “Hmm?” She looked up, a curious expression
on her face.
    “Do you remember what we argued about that
last time?” he asked, bringing up the subject they’d been avoiding.
The breakup that had led to the end.
    Lissa’s eyes filled with tears and she
turned away. “I remember you being in a foul mood and I was just so
tired of it. I knew school was hard for you, what with