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The fact that she’s only just now remembering that we have one is hilarious to me. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pull her in close. “No, we didn’t miss it. I told you it was for 6:00, but it’s actually at 6:30.”

She pinches my side. “Rude.”

My jaw drops. “How does that make me rude? You’re the ones who would’ve made us late if I didn’t fudge the time.”

She sticks her nose in the air with a disdainful sniff. “If you’d said we had a reservation, I could’ve gotten ready on time. You just said we were going to dinner at six.”

I give her a look. “And you’d have actually been ready on time if I did?”

“Well, no. Probably not.”

Her admission has me cracking up. I pull her in tighter and kiss her forehead while London gives our name to the hostess. It’ll be about ten minutes before the table is ready, so the three of us huddle in the corner to wait.

Luddy is telling a big story about her afternoon with Holt’s parents when someone calls my name. When I look up, I have to hide a wince.

“I thought that was you,” Crystal says. Her blond hair has been teased and sprayed into perfection, and her bright red bodycon dress looks like it’s one wrong move away from ripping at the seams. Standing behind her is an equally hair-sprayed man in a navy suit.

She pastes a flirty smile on her face. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. I didn’t recognize you over here in the corner. Dale, this is Grayson Reed. He lives in Pine Creek Falls.”

Dale gives me a bland look. He very clearly wants to be anywhere else but here.

“Crystal.” I nod at the woman who made me want to never date again. It seems she dove headfirst into the social media influencer stereotype. That was her goal when we went out on our one and only date. I quickly discovered that all she cared about was my following on social media. Then, to top it off, she told me I shouldn’t be the primary custodial parent of Luddy because it would do a disservice to my daughter. Let’s just say I respectfully dropped her off and never talked to her again.

Her sharp blue eyes finally move to Kylie. They widen when they see her pregnant belly. “You sure move fast.”

“Well, when you know, you know. Wasn’t about to let this one get away.” I squeeze Kylie’s hip in a silent apology.

Crystal’s face pinches before she can hide the reaction. “Hmm. I’m Crystal. Grayson and I used to date. We run in the same social media circles. I’m Crystal’s Palace on Insta.”

Kylie blinks at her. If I couldn’t read her so well, I’d think she was properly impressed by Crystal. Instead, Kylie’s doing whatever it takes to keep from cracking up. To be fair, Crystal’s handle sounds more like a porn name than a social media name. Although, now that I think about it, I would be shocked if she didn’t use it for that too.

“Well, isn’t that something. Gray’s never mentioned you before,” Kylie says, her voice dripping with fake innocence.

Crystal’s smirk is full of petty smugness. “It’s sort of a closed social group for creators only, so that makes sense.”

Where the fuck is she pulling this shit from? I’m friends with approximately two other creators. One of them works with cows in the area—I helped him get a channel started—and the other guy is part of the rodeo circuit.

“Must be a super closed circle, given that I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Crystal giggles an awful high-pitched noise. “You’re so funny.”

“Did you get stung by something?” London’s question comes out of nowhere.

“What? No.” Crystal looks at my daughter as if she’s stupid.

“Oh.” Luddy shrugs. “Your lips are just really puffy.”

I roll my lips between my teeth to keep from laughing. One glance at Kylie tells me she’s struggling just as hard.

“Reed, party of three,” the hostess calls out.

Thank god. I quickly usher my girls away from Crystal and the awkwardly silent Dale while Crystal splutters a response to London’s innocent question.

Kylie raises an eyebrow at me as we walk to our table. “Interesting choice, Gray.”

I groan. “It was one date! And I swear she didn’t look like that seven months ago.”

“Why were her lips so big?” Luddy asks when we’re settled at the table.