by Ann, Natalie
His voice had been low and she laughed. “I know the feeling. Maybe tonight after pizza?”
“Why don’t you guys stay tonight,” he said.
“We all have work and school tomorrow,” she pointed out.
“So? It’s not that much different than the weekend, is it?”
“It is,” she said. “I can’t bring Sebastian to school because I’ve got to get to work and he can’t get the bus from your house.”
Noah wrinkled his nose. “I can bring him.”
“Do you think he’s going to be ready to be at the school at seven?”
“Probably not,” he said. “I could bring him back home so he can get the bus.”
“He’d still have to get up early and that’s not easy. What’s this all about?” she asked. It wasn’t like him to push this much.
“I just like having you guys around.”
“I like being around. It’s only two more days until the weekend.”
“I suppose it will have to do,” he said.
36
Father Figure
“Thanks for this,” Drake said taking the pizza out of Noah’s hand. “It saves me from cooking for myself. Kara is still at the office and won’t be home until later.”
“Why not come home and work?” Noah asked.
“I tell her that all the time, but she says she can’t get as much done with me in the house. I’ve been on the road for two days and if I went in today I’d be there all night. I’d rather catch up at home.”
Noah grabbed two plates while Drake got them both a beer. He didn’t normally have one during the week but he needed it tonight.
“How do you two make it work during the week?”
“What do you mean?” Drake asked. “And how did you end up with so much pizza when you had a bunch of kids you were feeding?”
“I ordered more than I needed,” he said. “I never want them to be hungry but not as many stayed as I thought or they only had a slice.”
“Shit, we would have had five or six slices at that age,” Drake said.
“Some of them did. I still had two twelve-cut pizzas left. I sent one home with Paige and I took the other.”
“I saw the segment on the early news. Sebastian seems a lot happier. Or I should say more outgoing. But then again he was fine at our house those few times.”
“He’s opened up a lot. He’s a good kid. You didn’t answer me how you and Kara make it work during the week.”
“I’m still not sure what you are asking and we know that’s odd since we know what each other thinks all the time.”
Noah finished chewing the bite in his mouth and tried to work the words out in his head. “I asked Paige to spend the night and she said she couldn’t. That Sebastian can’t get on the bus from my house and when I offered to bring him in with me or back to their house for the bus she’d said he’d never get up that early.”
Drake laughed. “Did you want to get up earlier than needed on a school day?”
“No.”
“Then that answer shouldn’t have shocked you. So it’s getting hard to have a relationship with a kid in the middle? Is that what this is about?” Drake asked.
“No. Not at all. He’s a good kid. I will admit that him being older makes me more self-conscious about fooling around with Paige at night.”
“Why?” Drake asked. “He knows you guys are sleeping together. He’s fourteen. Hell, at that age we were trying to find any naked woman in a magazine or on our computers that we could. I’m sure he is no different.”
“Probably not,” Noah said. “It’s just I know he’s in the house.”
“At the other end of the house,” Drake pointed out. “You’re going to have to get over that or you won’t be getting a lot of sex if it’s only when Sebastian isn’t around.”
“It’s not all about sex.”
Drake laughed. “Got you to admit that one.”
“Ass.”
“You really like her, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I’m in love with her,” he said. “It’s just different. I feel like it’s not just the two of us making decisions though.”
“Because it’s not,” Drake said. “She has a responsibility to Sebastian whether he likes that or not.”
“I know. And he likes our family. He asked when he could see everyone again. I think he likes Wyatt the most.”
“That’s bullshit,” Drake said. “I’m your twin. He should like me the best next to you.”
“Are you kidding me? He sees Wyatt as the doctor with the flashy car.”
“I’ve got a flashy car,” Drake said.
“You’ve got a flashy sedan. Wyatt drives a two-door sports car. And he’s single.”
“So we’re old in Sebastian’s eyes?” Drake asked. “Damn, I’m not sure I like this feeling.”
“Join the crowd,” he said. “I think it’s more than that though. Sebastian likes to hear about Wyatt pranking us all the time. I think he just wishes he had someone like that in his life.”
“Do you think he’s looking at you like a father figure?” Drake asked.
“A little.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“I am,” he said. “The reporter was flirting with me and it was pretty obvious. I just kept my smile in place and brushed it off, but Sebastian got a little protective.”
“Oh boy, what did he say?”
“Nothing scandalous or anything to give away my and Paige’s relationship. He just interrupted the conversation and pretty much pushed her off. It was kind of funny.”
He was going to make another comment when his phone rang. Hoping it was Paige but knowing it wasn’t, he looked and saw his mom calling. “Hi, Mom.”
“Great interview,” she said. “I saw the shorter version earlier and then I just watched Marissa talking more about it with the anchor.”
“Crap, I missed it,” he said.
“How could you miss it?” she asked. “Where are you?”
“I’m at Drake’s eating pizza.”
His mother laughed. “I’m sure they’ll show it again or put it on their website. Where’s Paige tonight?”
“She’s home with Sebastian. He had some work to do.”
“Hmm. Do you wish they weren’t home?” she asked. He hated how she could tell things about her kids just by the tone of their voice.
“It is what it is.”
“Just remember that,” she said. “You aren’t always first in everyone’s life.”
“I’m not first in anyone’s life,” he said back, laughing. He’d like to be but then realized being first or the only wasn’t as rewarding as being there for more than one person.
“You’ll always be first in mine,” she said sweetly.
“That’s because I’m talking to you right now. If Drake were on the phone with you, you’d say he was first.”
“Did she tell you you were first?” Drake asked, reaching for the phone, but Noah held it out of the way.
“Was there anything else you wanted?” Noah asked. “I’ve got to smooth over some ruffled feathers with Drake now for what you said.”
She laughed. “No, I just wanted to tell you good job.”
“Thanks.”
He hung up the phone and looked at his twin who was grinning at him. “Could she tell you were pouting because you were with me and not Paige tonight?”
“I’m not pouting,” he said back.
“Really? Then what would you call this?”
“Having dinner with my twin.”
“Whatever,” Drake said, reaching for another piece of pizza. “And I’m always going to be first.”
* * *
“What’s going on?” Garrett asked his wife. She had a grin bigger than the Atlantic Ocean on her face.
“That was Noah. I called to tell him how wonderful the report was and he was at Drake’s eating pizza.”
“So,” he said. “That’s nothing new.”
“Of course not. But I c
ould tell in his voice he was down.”
“About what?” It always amazed him how Carolyn seemed to know the kids so well.
“I think he’d rather be with Paige tonight, but he said she was home because Sebastian had schoolwork to do.”
“And he should be happy that Sebastian was doing his work when that was part of the problem the kid had earlier.”
“I know that and you know that, but I think Noah is feeling like a third wheel at times. You know he’s always had that problem in the past.”
“Noah has never felt that way. How could you even say that?” His wife must have sniffed some of the glue in the art room.
“You know as well as I do that Noah has always hated that everyone thought he should be working for the firm. That he stood out.”
“Not all the kids work for the firm. Sam and Wyatt don’t and neither does Bryce.”
“No, but they have what many would consider successful careers. Noah does too. We know he does, but plenty of women in his past have felt he could have done something else or so much better.”
Garrett waved his hand. “Our boys know their minds. They don’t care about those things and just move onto someone who understands them. He has that with Paige.”
“And you can thank me for that,” she said.
He wanted to make her teeter on that high horse. “You know, I’ve been thinking that maybe you didn’t have as much of a hand in this as you think. It seems to me that Sebastian got in trouble and that is what brought those two together.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You think what you want but you know as well as I do, that me bringing his name up prior to it made Sebastian stick in his head more. It made him look into the kid’s history more too.”
He laughed and walked over to his wife as she got all riled up. “I’m just kidding with you and you know it. You did well. Now they’ve got to figure this out on their own.”
“I want to figure it out for them,” Carolyn said.
“I know, but as a parent we have to step back at times and this is one of those times.”
“I suppose you’re right. I just don’t have any patience.”
“It sounds to me like that is what Noah is feeling right now too.”
37
Mean Anything
A week later Paige was at work and felt her phone go off in her pocket. She knew it was a text and wasn’t going to stop to look at it. She never carried her phone on her at work, just left it on the counter silenced and checked it between patients to make sure she didn’t miss a text from Sebastian.
But she was moving from room to room today with patients as the water pik wasn’t working in her room and so she had to fill in where she could depending on her patient. Some people just had worse teeth than others and she wanted that tool to clean them the best she could.
When she was done with the cleaning, she had the patient swish and rinse while she went to flip the colored tag on the outside of the door for the dentist to know she was ready. She stepped out and looked at her phone to see a text from her father to call as soon as she got a minute.
Her father never called or sent her messages during the day so this had to be something important.
She waited for her break and then went to her car to place the call. There wasn’t any other place private in the building.
“Hey, Dad. What’s going on?”
“I hope you’re sitting down.”
“I am. I’m in my car. You’re scaring me now. Did something happen to Cora?” They didn’t talk about Cora often. Sebastian never wanted to and she’d stayed away for his sake. More so now that he wanted her to adopt him.
“No. But Sebastian’s father stopped in to see me in the garage a few hours ago.”
“What?!”
“You heard me. Eric stopped to see me.”
“What did he want? He walked out on Cora when he found out she was pregnant. He didn’t even believe Sebastian was his and since Cora said she’d been sleeping around we never even knew for sure.”
They never knew what they could or couldn’t believe with Cora. It was too bad too, but they’d been so used to it. And Sebastian never asked much about his father, which was a good thing because they didn’t have a lot of answers for him.
“He said he moved back to the area about six months ago. He never believed he was the father of Cora’s baby until he saw Sebastian on TV. Actually, he didn’t, his mother did. She didn’t even put it together until Cora’s name was mentioned. She called Eric and here we are. I guess Sebastian looks a lot like Eric’s father.”
“I don’t care what they think or say. He’s not getting anywhere near Sebastian.”
“Paige. I’m not sure what we can do with this. He says he believes Sebastian is his kid and he wants to take a paternity test to prove it. He didn’t even know about Cora. He said once he moved away he never paid any attention to the news around here and his mother didn’t tell him.”
“I find that hard to believe,” she said, knowing she was close to yelling. “The woman who accused him of fathering her child murders someone and is in a mental institution and he doesn’t know about it? He’s full of shit.”
“Whether he is or not isn’t the case. I put him off as best as I could, but he said he’s going to see a lawyer.”
She felt her stomach sink to the pavement right through the car seat. “What could he possibly want?”
“He said after watching Sebastian on TV that he didn’t want his son raised without a father and he wants custody.”
“He can’t have him,” she shouted. “He didn’t want anything to do with him. Sebastian is mine.”
“Paige. I’m just as upset as you, but we have to handle this the best way we can. We have to think of Sebastian too. Maybe he wants to get to know his father.”
“No,” she said, the tears filling her eyes. “He won’t want anything to do with anyone that abandoned him. You know that.”
“I do believe that, but it’s not our call to make. We’re going to have to get a lawyer.”
“I’ll get one,” she said. “I’ll ask around.”
“Let me pay for this, Paige. You haven’t allowed me to help with much and this has to do with Cora. She is my daughter and I’d be fighting this whether Cora had custody of Sebastian or not and you know it.”
She did know it and the truth was she wasn’t sure she could afford what this might cost. They had a comfortable life, but she didn’t have enough money for what this could extend her.
“I’ll get back to you with a name by tonight.”
“Are you going to tell Noah?” her father asked.
“Yeah. I have to. I...I need someone to lean on.”
“He’s a good man. He’ll be there for you. You know that.”
“I have to figure out if I’m going to tell Sebastian or not,” she said. She wanted to believe Noah would be there for her, but would he want to get involved in this mess? It might end up being too much for him.
“You can’t keep this from him long,” he said.
“I know. Just long enough.”
* * *
Noah stared at his phone and read the message one more time. I need to talk to you tonight. Sebastian will be at Ian’s when I get out of work so I’ll stop at your place.
He’d gotten that text when he was walking the halls and didn’t look at it until he was in his office. He wanted to text back and ask what it was about but knew she was probably with a patient right now and she’d be out in two hours.
That text could mean anything.
It could mean she wanted to end things with him.
That he was being too clingy and she needed some boundaries.
It could mean that she wanted to move in.
Nah, as much as he hoped it was the last one he knew it wasn’t.
But then he started to wonder if he was crowding her too much. Maybe putting pressure on her that she didn’t want?
Sebastian seemed fine this week when he’
d seen him, so whatever it was, the kid had no clue.
Which of course didn’t make him feel any better.
He had to suck it up the rest of the day and wait when he realized he was so freaking impatient and never had been before.
Rather than sit around trying to guess what was on her mind, he left work earlier than normal and decided to have dinner ready when she got there. Maybe he was overreacting and it wasn’t that bad.
Maybe she was just as horny as him and it was a code word?
Or maybe he was just losing his mind.
Standing in his kitchen, he heard his door open as he pulled the salmon out of the air fryer. Rice was in a pan and he was putting it in a bowl next to the asparagus he steamed.
“Oh my God, did you make this?”
“Yes,” he said.
She started to laugh and shake her head, then the tears came pouring out of her eyes. “This looks good.”
“Why are you crying?” he asked, starting to panic and run toward her. Holy shit what did he do wrong?
“It’s been the worst day possible and I needed to see you. I need you to tell me it’s going to be okay and I’ve never needed anyone before and that scares me. Then I walk in here and you’ve got dinner on the table. A nice dinner. I couldn’t make this if I wanted to.”
“It took me less than thirty minutes to make this. It’s easy.”
She hugged him and cried even harder. “That makes me feel worse.”
He was at a loss and led her to the table. “Sit down. Talk to me. What is going on?”
“Your dinner is going to get cold. We should eat.”
“Paige, you’re trying my patience. I’ve waited all day trying to figure out what was wrong and if you were trying to take some steps back.”
“And you still cooked me dinner,” she said almost wailing.
“I can’t take it. I need to know what is going on.”
“Sebastian’s father showed up at my father’s garage today.”
“What?” he asked, sitting down and feeling like the wind had been knocked out of him like the time Jade kicked him in the nuts.
