One Night Baby - A Romance Compilation

by Tia Siren

  Thankfully, the waiting room was fairly empty. The only people coming and going were those who had loved ones going in for emergency surgery, like Sarah.

  With Tommy’s hand in mine, I walked down the stark hall toward the tiny room that housed a variety of vending machines. My phone vibrated in the back pocket of my jeans. I pulled it out, saw it was Tyler’s number on the screen, and debated hitting the “beat it” button. I knew he would probably leave another shitty voice mail, or worse, he would keep calling. I didn’t want him running my battery down with his repeated calls.

  “Hello,” I said in a low voice.

  “Emily, it’s Tyler. We need to talk about the visitation schedule.”

  I felt my anger rising as I shoved quarters into the machine, pissed that he could be so demanding after he had left a drunken message.

  “I can’t talk right now,” I whispered, doing my best to keep Tommy from overhearing.

  “I’m not going to wait forever,” he growled. “I want this settled. I’m not calling to chat. I’m calling to talk about Tommy and nothing else.”

  A bottle of water popped out the bottom. I handed it to Tommy and we made our way back to the waiting room, the phone held to my ear.

  “I’m not asking you to wait forever, but this isn’t a good time,” I whispered. I leaned down to look Tommy in the face. “Go sit down and I’ll be right there,” I whispered to him, covering the phone with my hand.

  “Emily? Are you there?” I heard Tyler say as I watched Tommy walk to our recently vacated seat.

  “I’m here, but really, I can’t talk right now. I can call you later,” I said, trying to be nice.

  “He’s my son. I’m entitled to visitation!” he shouted, making me want to reach through the phone and strangle him.

  One, two, three. I silently counted, hoping to calm my anger.

  I released a long sigh. “So, you called me at three in the morning and left a drunken, rambling message that was barely coherent, and you expect me to drop everything and bend to your whims? I don’t think so. You do what you have to do. I’ve got my own shit to deal with,” I said.

  “I’m sorry about last night. Honestly, I don’t even remember what I said. I shouldn’t have called you, but I am very serious about arranging visitation. Alex can be the go-between. We don’t have to see each other,” he spat out. “We’ll arrange meets and drop-offs.”

  I actually flinched at his words. He was a harsh man when he wanted to be. I didn’t think I liked being on the other end of his ire.

  “Look, I’m going to go. This conversation isn’t solving anything. I’m open to setting up a fair visitation schedule. There are going to be some things we need to work out. Don’t expect me to pack my son up and send him to you. He barely knows you,” I said.

  “And who’s fault is that!” he shouted.

  I squeezed my eyes closed, rubbing my temples as I leaned against the wall in the hallway.

  “I’m not doing this now,” I said, lacking the strength to argue with the man.

  “You can do it now or do it later with my lawyer.” His voice vibrated with anger.

  “Do your best,” I said, ending the call.

  I slid the phone in my pocket, taking a couple deep breaths to calm my irritation before walking into the waiting room. Kathy and Tommy were sitting beside each other. Tommy was leaning against her as she read him a book.

  “Hi,” I said with a smile. “You didn’t sleep long.”

  She shrugged a shoulder. “I tried. I slept a few minutes, but I wanted to be out here.”

  I nodded my head in understanding. “It shouldn’t be long now.”

  Kathy went back to reading the story to Tommy. I sat down, leaned my head against the wall, and stared up at what had to be the ugliest ceiling in the world. Tyler was pissed. I wasn’t exactly pleased with his antics. The thoughtless bastard hadn’t bothered to ask why I hadn’t gotten in the car the other night. He had just assumed the worst. I couldn’t be in a relationship with a man who was so quick to anger.

  “Everything okay?” Kathy whispered.

  I sat forward. “Yes. Fine.”

  “I heard you on the phone. It didn’t sound fine.”

  I smiled. “Everything is fine, I promise. Don’t worry, please.”

  She gave me a look that said she didn’t believe me but dropped it. We sat in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I felt guilty for worrying about my relationship, or lack thereof, with Tyler when Sarah was literally fighting for her life. I felt selfish for thinking about myself instead of her.

  “Mrs. Ross?”

  Kathy’s name being called grabbed my attention. We both jumped up to see a doctor heading our way.

  “Yes. That’s me,” Kathy said, stepping forward.

  The doctor had a grim look on his face. I grabbed Kathy’s hand, squeezing it tight.

  “Sarah’s doing great. There was some bleeding. We removed her spleen and gallbladder, but I expect she’ll make a full recovery,” he said.

  I heard the ocean in my ears, drowning out his words. I heard Kathy ask about Sarah’s coma. The doctor shook his head.

  “How long?” I croaked. “How much longer could she be in a coma?”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “It’s hard to say. There’s still some swelling. We’re not too worried about that just yet. Let’s give her some time to heal,” he said in an assuring tone.

  I nodded my head, blinking back tears. He wasn’t worried. Sarah needed the rest. It was all part of the healing process.

  “Can I see her?” Kathy asked.

  “She’ll be in recovery for a while, and then we’ll move her back to her room.”

  “Thank you,” Kathy murmured.

  The doctor left, leaving us standing there. I turned and wrapped my arms around her. “She’s going to be okay.”

  Kathy pulled back. “Of course she is!”

  I laughed through tears of relief. “Now you can get some rest. I’ll stand watch.”

  She let out a long breath. “Maybe I’ll try again. Are you sure you don’t mind sitting around here?”

  “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” I told her, meaning every word.

  “Don’t you work weekends?” she asked, stopping at the doorway.

  I laughed. “Oh, that’s a story for another day. Suffice it to say, I don’t have anywhere to be just now. Or tomorrow. Or the next day,” I said, laughing.

  She shook her head. “Oh, I can’t wait to hear the story.”

  I let out a long sigh. “It’s a doozy.”

  “Of course it is. I’ll see you in a little bit.”

  I settled in next to Tommy, feeling much better after hearing Sarah had come through the surgery okay. She was tough. I knew that. I couldn’t wait until she woke up and I could tell her about the Tyler situation. She was going to get a real kick out of the way things had turned out.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Tyler

  My enthusiasm for work was seriously lacking. I blamed Emily. Again. I had to work through this. I was confident I would be back to my old self soon. The only way to get the whole debacle behind me was to go through it, or something profound like that. Wasn’t that what the pundits said? I was going through it all right. I was miserable, cranky, and mad at the world. It wasn’t a good way to be, and now I knew why I’d avoided relationships for so long. They sucked.

  “Mr. Case.” April’s voice floated into the room.

  “Yes?”

  “You have a visitor. She doesn’t have an appointment but insists on speaking with you,” she said, her voice terse.

  I smiled. I had a feeling I knew who it was. “Who is it?” I asked just to be sure.

  “Emily Preston.”

  “Send her in,” I said, standing, buttoning my jacket, and feeling smug.

  She’d probably gotten the call from my lawyer. I imagined she was going to come in hot and was looking forward to making her feel a little bit of what I was going through. I w
anted to lash out and make her feel miserable.

  Emily burst through the door, and despite hating her so badly at the moment, it was really good to see her. I missed her, and that pissed me off. She looked worn out, like she hadn’t slept in days. Again, that made me happy. Her hair was in a messy pile on top of her head. She had little makeup on and was wearing those faded jeans I loved so much with a fitted T-shirt that flaunted her curves.

  “What can I do for you?” I asked, completely casual.

  She slammed the door and stalked across the wide expanse of my office floor. Her eyes were red-rimmed with huge dark circles under them.

  Good. I hoped she felt horrible for what she had done and was regretting it every minute of the day.

  “We need to talk,” she hissed.

  “Where’s Tommy?” I asked.

  “With a sitter.”

  “Would you like to have a seat?” I asked, knowing my nonchalance was only heightening her ire.

  She flopped down in a chair. “Call off your damn lawyer, Tyler.”

  I smiled. “I don’t think I will. I want to see Tommy, and I don’t want you jerking me around. I have to protect my interests.”

  “I have no intention of keeping him from you.”

  I leaned back and steepled my hands in front of me. “You kept him from me for three years. My name isn’t even on his birth certificate.”

  She flew out of her seat, her hands slapping my mahogany desk as she bent forward and stared me directly in the eye. “I didn’t know your damn name. I didn’t know anything about you, remember? It was you who insisted it be a one-night event. It was you who left without saying a word. Don’t you dare blame this on me. Don’t you think I wanted my son to have a father? Don’t you think I would have appreciated a little help taking care of an infant?”

  I stared back at her and felt a twinge of guilt for missing those years and leaving her completely alone. I leaned forward, our faces inches apart.

  “I can’t change the past, but I can damn well make sure I’m in his future. I will see Tommy. It will be a fair visitation and custody schedule. You can’t seem to work with me to figure something out, so it will be done through my lawyer,” I said, keeping my voice steady.

  She flopped back down in her chair, shaking her head. “I feel sorry for you,” she muttered.

  “Excuse me? Why would you pity me?” I asked, my pride slightly damaged.

  She slowly shook her head. “You just assume the worst of people. You are so convinced you know better, you won’t even listen to reason. I tried to call you on Saturday. I wanted to explain.”

  I held up my hand, not wanting to revisit that day and the emotions from it. “I’m not interested in your reasons. I’m not begging or asking again.”

  “Call off the lawyer, please,” she said, her voice full of exhaustion.

  “No.”

  She let out a long sigh, her shoulders drooping forward. “Not that you’ve done anything in the last two days to deserve an explanation, but I want you to understand why.”

  “Don’t, Emily. You can go. I’m not calling off the lawyer. The two of us can’t seem to have a rational conversation. We need a middleman to ensure we’re doing what’s right for our son. I’m not trying to take him from you or avoid child support. Talk to my lawyer and work with him. If you refuse, he is going to do what has to happen to ensure I get a good deal,” I said in a tight voice.

  She looked up at me, those normally sparkling green eyes dull. My heart immediately went out to her. Something was seriously wrong. I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and soothe the pain. I gave myself a mental shake. Her pain was her doing.

  “Sarah was in a serious accident Friday afternoon. She’s been in a coma. I’ve spent the last few days at the hospital waiting with her mother. Her mom doesn’t have anyone else. Tommy and I have been staying with her, waiting long hours with Kathy as Sarah fights to survive,” she said, her voice harsh and tears glistening in her eyes.

  I leaned back and felt like I had been slapped. “I’m sorry,” I murmured.

  She gave me a faint smile and shook her head. “I wish you would have let me explain on Saturday. I should have called on Friday, but I was a little busy and, quite frankly, I forgot all about your ultimatum until later that night. It was late, and I was tired and upset and had to be back at the hospital early on Saturday, so I didn’t call.”

  “Emily, I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” I said, feeling like the world’s biggest asshole.

  “No, you didn’t know, but you didn’t bother asking. You immediately assumed the worst. Then you called your lawyer to go after me. I want to say thank you for that. Being holed up in that hotel and missing work got me fired, so I won’t be hiring my own lawyer. Maybe that was your plan all along. I don’t know.” She shrugged a shoulder and shook her head. “You’re a jaded man, always ready to assume the worst. That’s a sad way to live.”

  If her intention had been to make me feel about an inch tall, it had worked. I was a dick. “I don’t know what else to say. I’m sorry. I hope Sarah gets better. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  She stood up, took a deep breath, and looked down at me, the unshed tears gone and replaced with a look of distaste.

  “No, Tyler, there’s nothing you can do to help. You’ve done plenty. If you can have your lawyer wait a day or two until I know if my best friend in the world is going to be okay, that’d be great. If you can’t, so be it. You and I have nothing to say to each other. I came here because I wanted to tell you to your face. I wanted you to know you were wrong. You,” she said, pointing a finger at me, “you are the one who screwed up. You are the one who is losing out. I never want to see you again.”

  I watched as she held her head high and walked right out of my office. I had thought I’d felt like shit on Friday night. That was nothing compared to what I felt now. She had carved a piece of my heart out, stomped on it, and thrown it back at me, but I couldn’t blame her for doing it. She had needed me, and I’d let her down. The woman was going through something awful and I was making it worse.

  Rubbing a hand over my face, I tried to figure out what to do next. I had fucked up and effectively pushed her away. My tendency to assume the worst in people had made a minor situation into a full-blown nuclear meltdown.

  Landon strolled into my office, not bothering to knock as usual. “Who was that?” he asked.

  “Emily.”

  “Oh. She didn’t look happy. Was she groveling, begging you to take her back, and you shut her down?” he asked, grinning as he sat in the chair she had recently vacated.

  I shook my head. “Not exactly.”

  He looked at me and groaned. “What’d you do?”

  “I may have been wrong about her rejection,” I mumbled.

  He looked at me, confusion on his face. “How could you have been wrong? It either is or isn’t.”

  I let out a long breath. “Her friend was in an accident on Friday. It’s pretty bad. She’s been at the hospital all weekend.”

  He grimaced and leaned back as if I had slapped him. “Ouch.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Ouch is right. I think I messed up pretty bad. My lawyer already called her this morning.”

  Landon was shaking his head. “I don’t know her, and I can’t say I’m real excited to see you settling down, but that’s harsh. You need to do something nice, something grand to at least apologize for being such a dick.”

  I looked at him with irritation. “Thanks, as if I don’t feel bad enough.”

  “Send her flowers. That should help soothe things. Are you going to try to work it out and hit the rewind button on the ultimatum?” he asked.

  I laughed. “I don’t think I’m going to get that chance. If I were to give her an ultimatum right now, I have no doubt in my mind what her answer would be.”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “Give it a few days or so. Let her calm down and then try to talk to her,” he advised.

  “I don’t know. I think I
really pushed her too far this time.”

  Landon smiled. “You can make it right. Use all that natural charm you have. Not that I’m encouraging you to run off and get married, but I don’t want you miserable. I wanted the old Tyler back. The guy who showed up on Saturday wasn’t him. I think that guy may be gone. I’ve mourned his loss and now it’s time to move forward.”

  “Thanks, Landon,” I said as he stood, getting ready to leave my office.

  “Sure, and Tyler?”

  “Yes?”

  “Quit being a jerk to the ladies. I’m really going to have to start charging you for my therapy services. You are one messed-up dude,” he teased.

  I smirked. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  He left my office, and I mulled over what he had said. He was right. The man I was before I got to meet Emily all over again was gone. She had changed me without even trying. We hadn’t spent tons of time together, but what we had were some of the best times of my life. I wanted more of those moments. I wanted to go to art shows with her and watch her eyes light up as she took it all in. I wanted to take Tommy to zoos and museums, and I wanted to do it with her. I wanted the three of us to have a life together where we got to go to sleep under a safe roof every night and eat dinner together.

  I stood, took off my jacket, and rolled up my sleeves. I needed her. I had to have her in my life. I had given up too easily on Friday. I was going to have to fight for her now and show her I was ready to be the man she needed.

  “That shouldn’t be hard at all,” I mumbled into the empty room.

  I’d done such a bang-up job already.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Emily

  I was growing sick and tired of seeing the same white walls with the cheesy art that was supposed to make you feel comfortable hung in the waiting rooms. It felt like we had moved in to the hospital. I had taken Tommy to daycare yesterday, knowing the kid needed a break from sitting at the hospital.

  With no income, I couldn’t afford to put him in daycare today, so I had to drag him back to the hospital. We were waiting for the neurologist to finish an exam and give us an update on Sarah’s condition. Kathy and I were both nervous: scared and hopeful all at the same time. It had been five days. The doctors hadn’t focused too much on the fact that she was in a coma, but now it was time to move things along.