I tried my best not to think about him during our weekly staff meeting, but I found myself losing my train of thought a few times as I went over some of our new life insurance policy features. By the time I made it back to my office, I felt even more out of sorts. It left me in no mood to hear his new message and to read his text messages.
If I don’t hear back from you, I’m driving up there to check on you. He was an idiot.
We’re fine, I texted him.
My phone rang almost immediately.
I gave up. “Hello.”
“I was so worried about you and Drew. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“I don’t have to answer to you, you know.”
“Rachel Laine, what’s wrong?”
“I need to get back to work.”
“Come on, talk to me. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’m going to keep calling you or better yet, I’m coming up there.”
“No!”
“Rachel, please tell me what’s wrong.”
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slow and steady. “Fine, you want to know what’s going on? You have completely turned my life upside down. You have me lying to my son, and staying up in the middle of night worrying about losing him and worrying about the kind of people you’re going to introduce into his life. And—”
“Whoa,” he interrupted, “hold up there. I would never take Drew away from you. You need to get that thought out of your head. And I’m sorry about not being able to tell him the truth right now, but believe me it’s for the best.”
“Maybe for you, but not for Drew or me,” I cut in.
I heard him sigh on the other end. “Rachel, please.”
“I really need to get back to work.”
“Wait—”
“What?”
“What did you mean when you said you were worried about the people I would be introducing into his life?”
“We saw you last night with your barely legal Barbie-doll girlfriends. Let’s just say your son was very interested in the way you were behaving last night for the whole world to see.”
I had to pull the phone away from my ear, he laughed so hard.
“I’m glad you find this so funny. I’m going back to work.”
His laugh dulled. “Please, Rachel, wait. I’m sorry, it’s just you sound like my mother.”
“No, I sound like your son’s mother. I’ve tried very hard to make sure that Drew understands what it means to respect women and girls. I want him to have a healthy idea about what real women look and act like. Your behavior last night is not something I want my son to have for an example. And I don’t want those types of women influencing my son.”
He cleared his throat. “First, I think you misunderstood me. My mother wasn’t thrilled with my behavior either. I wasn’t implying you sounded like you were trying to be my mother. And secondly, those women aren’t my girlfriends; I met them last night. I was having a little fun.”
“Yeah, we could tell. Are we done here?”
“Rachel, I know I’m impulsive and sometimes the things I do are questionable, but I’m a good guy. I wish you could see that.”
“Andrew, I really hope you are a good guy, because you now have someone who looks up to you. Someone who will need you to show him what it’s like to be a real man. That’s what you’re signing up for here.”
It got very quiet on the other end.
I didn’t have all day to spend on the phone listening to his breathing patterns. “Goodbye, Andrew.”
“Goodbye,” he said.
I was stunned there was no response from him. So stunned, I stared at my phone for a moment after I hung up with him. I shrugged my shoulders and set my phone down. I tried to go back to work and not think about him, but I was finding it difficult. He had a way of getting under my skin.
I needed a break, so I left for an early lunch.
Jessie Belle’s was packed, but there was room at her counter. I parked myself next to Easton Cole, husband of Taylor, luckiest man alive, and respected doctor.
“Hey, Easton.”
He smiled pleasantly. “Hi, Rachel Laine. How are you and that son of yours?” He was getting ready to leave.
I plastered a fake smile on. “We’re good, thanks for asking.”
Jessie walked out with some freshly baked orange rolls. Those were her signature item, and she sold them all day long. One was definitely in order.
Jessie set down her sinful rolls in front of me. She didn’t look like she ever ate any of them. Jessie was as beautiful as anyone I’d ever known, inside and out. Her title of town sweetheart fit her perfectly. Everyone in this town loved her, and her baked goods. “Rachel, how are you?”
“Hand over one of those rolls.”
She laughed. “Bad day?”
I only ate those when I was not in my happy place.
“Better make it two.”
“That bad, huh?”
I sighed and took the roll from her. Like a good friend, she only handed over one. She saved me from later regret.
She leaned on the counter. “So, what’s going on with you?”
“What do you mean?”
She wickedly grinned. “Well, for starters, you failed to mention that you had an admirer.”
I choked on my roll and coughed.
“So you do have an admirer.”
“No. Why would you say that?” My heart was racing like crazy.
“Oh, no reason. Alan just mentioned he delivered a very lovely and expensive bouquet of flowers to you this week.”
“Isn’t there some kind of floral delivery man customer confidentiality policy?”
Jessie was trying to be coy, but I could tell she wanted the skinny. “So, spill.”
“I don’t have an admirer.”
“So are you having an affair with a Yukon?”
Oh crap. There were some days I despised living in a smallish town with observant neighbors. “Yes—best relationship of my life.” I rolled my eyes at her.
She busted out laughing.
I took her hand and tried to convey with my eyes that this wasn’t a funny situation at all. I couldn’t say what I really wanted to say. “Really, I’m not seeing anyone, but—” I hesitated.
She was no longer smiling. She now looked worried.
“It’s just, I’m going through something, but I can’t talk about it right now.” I hoped I said that low enough for only her to hear.
She gripped my hand tighter and leaned toward me. “You know I’m here for you.”
I nodded. “I know.”
She left it at that. That’s why I loved her so much.
I left that day to get Drew and thought it was a good thing I was the boss, or I would have had to talk to myself about my lack of productivity the last couple of weeks, and especially the last couple of days. I even decided to skirt my motherly duty of cooking that night. After football practice, we swung by Drew’s favorite pizza place and grabbed a pizza and some of their homemade bread sticks before we made our way back home. I was looking forward to a night of vegging out on the couch with my favorite guy and watching mindless TV. And I wasn’t talking about baseball. During my lunch hour, I had picked up a movie newly out on Blu-Ray that Drew had been asking for. I was hoping to bribe him to stay away from game four. The last thing I needed tonight was to see Andrew on the screen kissing more blondes.
I thought I had the perfect plan in place for my Friday, but it all blew up in my face. There was a black Yukon in my driveway when we got home. Why?
Drew didn’t care why, he jumped out of the car and made a beeline to his dad, who stood there waiting for him with a big grin on his face. This time, though, they didn’t high-five or fist-bump. Andrew embraced him, dirty uniform and all. I felt my heart stop as I watched from my car through the windshield. As Drew reciprocated, Andrew looked up at me and smiled as he held onto our son. All I could do was star
e at the scene in front of me. I had too many emotions running through me, from sadness to anger. I couldn’t settle on one, and feeling them all was overwhelming, so I tried to feel none. I failed.
Andrew released Drew.
“We got pizza for dinner,” Drew informed him.
I took that as my cue to get out of the car.
Andrew approached me and relieved me of dinner. “I know I should have called, but I really wanted to see Drew … and you.”
“What about the game?”
“You have a TV.”
I rolled my eyes. So much for my quiet movie night. “We’re fresh out of blondes.”
His smile faded. “Rachel Laine—”
I began to walk toward the house. He reached out and grabbed my hand. “Hey, I thought a lot about what you said today.”
I looked up to him. “And?”
His face broke out in that smile of his. “And I’ve decided it’s brunettes from here on out.”
I pulled my hand away and stalked off.
He came after me laughing. “Come on, Rachel, I’m kidding.”
I let us all in the house and instructed Drew to run up and jump in the shower. I also instructed his dad to park in my garage. All I needed was more talk. Andrew complied with my request. He still wasn’t ready to come out of the closet, per se. I headed to the kitchen to deposit the pizza. I thought I should at least make a salad, especially since I had an uninvited guest.
Andrew came back in and joined me in the kitchen. He leaned against the counter and watched as I pulled out the ingredients for a harvest salad.
“Rachel, can you stop for a minute?”
I turned toward him, holding pears and balsamic dressing from the refrigerator.
He came and took both out of my hands and set them on the counter. He focused back on me, and I leaned back against the now closed refrigerator. He stood across from me, leaning against the granite countertop.
He smiled and cocked his head. “You really are beautiful when you’re annoyed.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t need your sarcasm tonight.”
“That was a compliment.”
“I don’t need those either.”
“Rachel.” He inched forward. “I know how difficult this has been for you, and I’m sorry I wasn’t a good example to our son last night.”
My heart hiccupped to hear him say our.
He inched forward some more. “I’m not used to worrying about anyone but myself.”
I frowned at him. “If you want to be his father, that’s not an option anymore.”
“I know and I’m trying to change that. Can you forgive me? I want another chance.”
He looked at me with those eyes, just like Drew did when he was trying to get out of trouble. They looked so sweet. I had to avert my own.
Without warning, Andrew closed the distance between us and wrapped his arms around me.
A flutter erupted in my midsection. “Um … what do you think you’re doing?” I stood stiff as a board.
“This is called hugging; it’s what people do when they’re making up.” He squeezed a little tighter. “Come on, Rachel, you have to reciprocate.”
“I don’t have to do any such thing.”
“Well, I guess we’ll have to stay like this until you do.”
I shook my head against him. I couldn’t believe this guy was for real. He was a thirty-six-year-old kid. I tried to keep from smiling.
“Come on, Rachel Laine, wrap your arms around me and say you forgive me.”
A small giggle escaped. Darn it.
He was delighted by my reaction. “A laugh?”
I gave up and brought my arms up and did a quick couple of pats on his back. I figured that was sufficient.
He didn’t agree with my assessment. “You can do better than that.”
“Do you behave like this all the time?”
He didn’t respond to my inquiry. “Okay, it’s your choice. I don’t mind standing like this all night, but our son may find it awkward.”
“Fine.” I wrapped my arms around the idiot before Drew came down.
He pulled me closer against his cashmere sweater and whispered against my hair. “I really am sorry.”
Why did that give me goose bumps? I dropped my hands and pushed against his rock hard chest.
He was too quick. He grabbed my hands against his chest and smiled down at me with those eyes of his. “You don’t like physical affection, do you?”
I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. What a thing to ask. “Of course I do. I’m just … not used to it, and it’s not appropriate for us to behave that way.”
He pressed his lips together and looked as if he were deep in thought. Which probably didn’t go too far for him. “Don’t you think it’s a good thing that our son sees his parents get along with each other?”
“First of all, my son doesn’t know he has another parent, and secondly, I don’t think hugging is necessary to show agreement.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Hmm …” he said. He gently squeezed my hands, which he was still holding onto. “He’ll know soon, I promise.” A wicked grin erupted across his face. “So you should probably get used to physical affection.”
I pulled away from him. “You are too much.”
He chuckled, but at least he let me go this time.
Drew joined us as I started working on the salad. This gave the fool a playmate. They set up on the couch with pizza and bottled water. Andrew turned on the game from last night so Drew could finish watching it before the fourth game started. Andrew was super excited to show Drew the final inning, where there was a grand slam homerun by the Bears.
I eventually joined them with salad in hand. They ignored me as they were glued to the TV. I supposed it was good for Drew to have male bonding time. The upside was that I loved harvest salad, and it meant more for me. It was interesting to watch them interact from my chair. You didn’t need a test to prove they were father and son. Aside from their identical eyes and sandy brown hair, their mannerisms were close to identical, right down to the way they wiped their mouths. It was so surreal for me.
I watched Andrew closely. He really was like a big kid, but he had a natural way about him when it came to Drew. It was as if he had known him his whole life. And Drew accepted him with such ease, like somehow he instinctively knew who Andrew really was. It almost made me feel guilty for even thinking that I should keep them apart during the next few months. I also felt a tad jealous. Drew thought Andrew was hilarious and Andrew could be Drew’s friend, in a sense, where I felt like I would always have to be the bad guy. You know, the one who made sure homework was done, rooms were clean, and manners were used. Andrew would get to be the fun dad.
Andrew caught me staring at him. He raised an eyebrow and smiled. I turned my attention back to my salad. He chuckled. For some reason, he made me feel like I was back in high school. He had this cool-kid air about him that made me feel unsure about myself. I hadn’t felt that way in ages.
Andrew was fast-forwarding through a lot of the game and commentary, and, of course, commercials, but he hit pause when his face showed up on the screen.
“It’s so cool you were on TV,” Drew said to him.
Andrew agreed with him.
“Were those girls your girlfriends?” Drew asked.
I looked over to Andrew for the answer and noticed he was no longer smiling. He didn’t respond right away. Drew spoke up again.
“Well, my mom says that you shouldn’t have two girlfriends at a time.”
Great. Why did I have to be brought into the fray? I scowled at Andrew. We didn’t used to have these conversations until he came along.
Andrew ran his fingers through his hair. “Those women aren’t my girlfriends.”
“But you were kissing them,” Drew pointed out.
“Yes, I was.” Andrew directed his attention toward me. “I shouldn’t have.”
He focused back on Drew. “You should on
ly kiss someone if you know them and really like them and they like you, too.”
Drew’s face was distorted in disgust. “You don’t have to kiss a girl if you like her, do you?”
Andrew and I both laughed, but Andrew beat me to the punch. “No. And you should wait until you’re older anyway.”
Drew looked visibly relieved. He had the best facial expressions. “Well, my mom says I should wait until I’m twenty-five.”
Andrew looked between us. “Is that so?”
“At least.” I smiled.
Andrew shook his head at me and we moved on.
Andrew showed Drew the grand slam that secured the win for the Bears before they moved on to the live game that had barely started. I went and grabbed my book. I figured I might as well be doing something valuable with my time while they enjoyed the game. I sat curled up on my chair, reading about the lives of the people who framed our country, while Drew and his father watched America’s favorite pastime. I still wasn’t sure why it was the favorite, other than perhaps the pants.
Once in a while, I would glance up and catch a glimpse of the duo. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Drew so happy. Andrew seemed equally happy as he explained the game in detail to his son. They celebrated each small victory of the Bears, whether it was a run or tagging someone out. Andrew obviously loved his sport, and he was eager for Drew to feel the same way. But even amidst all the excitement, it wasn’t enough to overcome something Drew treasured, and that was his sleep. He wasn’t always that way, at least not during his first few months of life. I reminisced back to that time; I thought I would never sleep normally again. Those nights as I held him close, I never thought I could be so in love.
Now I was watching my sleeping angel, but he wasn’t in my arms tonight. There he was, leaning up against his father, and there Andrew was, looking like he had hit the jackpot with his arm around his son. A few tears escaped at the sight, and I was caught in the emotion.
Andrew gazed down at Drew and then back to me. “I’m sorry, does this bother you?”
Rachel Laine (The Women of Merryton Book 3) Page 9
