Page 25 of Peer & Coco

Chapter 9

Coco held on to thebedroom door handle and took a deep breath. If she could teleport herself out of the house without seeing Peer, she would. After last night when Kelli showed up at the house, stopping her kiss with Peer, she wanted to forget the way he made her feel.

Kelli's return was a huge sign that she'd totally lost her heart. She swallowed her disappointments. Her life was supposed to be simple.

Lizzy would be pulling up in front of the house any minute, and she wanted to be outside ready to go when she got here.

She could do this.

She had to do this.

Opening the door, she walked down the hallway. Veering to the right, she placed her car keys on the counter and turned to face Peer in the living room, playing with Tyr.

"I'm going out for a while. I left my keys for you in case you need to go anywhere." She fiddled with her phone as she walked to the door.

"Hey." Peer stood and stopped her from leaving the house. "Are we good?"

"Yeah." She frowned, hiding the pain of her confusion. "Of course."

"Why are you leaving?"

"Roar's watching Hanne, and Lizzy wants to get away from the house and de-stress. We haven't had two minutes alone since she had the baby."

She normally left her car if she was going out because Peer needed a way to transport Tyr if he got sick or hurt. Luckily, he'd never needed to go somewhere with Tyr alone, but she wouldn't want him to be without options.

"I'll be back in a bit." She opened the door and slipped outside without giving him a chance to ask more questions.

She had no idea what happened last night after she went to her bedroom or where he stood with Kelli now that they'd talked. While she understood if he wanted to work things out with the mother of his child, she feared there would be no place for her in his life if that were to happen.

The thought of moving out and on, after sharing a kiss, knowing he felt the same way about her had made her a jittery mess. She needed to talk to someone, and Lizzy was her person.

She walked down the driveway, kicking herself for not paying any attention to Tyr as she'd made her escape. It wasn't his fault she couldn't handle her emotions when it came to his father.

A brand-new SUV honked, heading toward her. She waved, not used to seeing Lizzy drive a car, much less a brand new one.

Once Lizzy came to a stop, she slid into the passenger seat and glanced behind her into the backseat. "I can't believe you're alone."

"You called and needed me, and I came. How could you doubt I wouldn't?" Lizzy pulled away from the curb. "Now tell me what's going on and keep me from driving straight home and picking up Hanne."

Coco pouted. "I'm sorry. If you want to go—"

"No, I don't. I need this time away from the baby and Roar for my mental health. I know that in here." She tapped the side of her head. "But my boobs haven't got the memo, yet."

She sighed, knowing Lizzy had a lot on her plate with a new baby at home. "I don't know exactly where to start. I haven't told anyone, trying to keep things cool..."

"You're in love with Peer," stated Lizzy.

She jerked her gaze toward her best friend. "How did you know?"

"Um, maybe because we lived together for five years before you moved out. Maybe because I see how you look at him. Maybe because you haven't been calling me every hour since I stopped working at the bar, so someone else must be filling in the role of BFF to you." Lizzy flipped on her turn signal.

She chewed over that information as Lizzy pulled up to the window of the coffee shack. Automatically pulling money out of the pocket of her shorts, she passed the right amount to Lizzy.

When they pulled back out on the street, she said, "You're right. I've fallen in love with him without him doing a thing. He didn't even know I liked him until last night. This morning, I'm not sure he understands or even realizes how I feel about him and Tyr."

"You're leaving a lot out." Lizzy looked over her shoulder and merged with traffic. "Is the park okay?"

Ahead of them, the community had an urban park where they demolished two buildings a few years ago. There were park benches and picnic tables scattered around with newly planted trees that were anchored to the ground until their trunks grew bigger to support the branches.