by Doreen Alsen
“I’m getting that.”
Beth turned to face Jenna. “I am so screwed.”
“Why don’t you tell Aunt Jenna all about it.” She leaned on the glass counter.
Beth burst into tears.
“Oh, God. What did that rat bastard do to you?”
“It’s not what he did to me. It’s what I did to him.” Her breath shuddered in and out.
“Okay.” Jenna’s tone brooked no disobedience. “Spill, girlfriend.” She handed Beth a tissue.
Beth took the tissue and blew her nose with a loud, prolonged honk. “No.”
“Why did I know you’d say that?” Jenna lifted her eyes toward the sky. “If I threaten to fire you, will you tell me?”
Beth blew her nose again. “Maybe.”
“Reconsider that answer, sweetie.”
“Okay, okay, I will.” Beth looked at her feet. “But not right now. I do have one request.”
Jenna nodded. “Shoot.”
“My last name is Pritchard. And I don’t have a child.”
Jenna blinked several times. “That’s two things.” She shook her head like she needed to clear it. “Except for the fact that your last name is Rawson and you do have a kid.” Jenna had a clear WTF look on her face.
“I can’t say anything right now. Just please don’t ask me any more questions until I’m ready to answer them. I promise it’ll be soon.”
“Better be,” Jenna muttered. “I can keep a secret.” She grinned at her.
“Thank you.” Beth grabbed another tissue and blew her nose.
“I’ll find out sooner or later no matter what you say or don’t say.” She leveled her eyes at Beth, the intensity making Beth squirm in her sensible but oh-so-cute shoes.
“Please, Jenna. I’ve got excellent reasons, but I can’t talk about it right now.”
“Okay.” She shook her finger. “Remember that I am not a patient person. God, I need some coffee.”
Beth sighed. “I can go to Bea’s if you want.”
“I’ll go. You stay here and mind the store.”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
“I love the way you say that.” Jenna grimaced. “You’re lucky I like you.”
“I know, I know.” Beth heaved a huge breath. “I’m the luckiest woman on earth.”
As Jenna left, Beth reflected on her luck.
She’d been pretty damn lucky. Even though it hadn’t seemed so ten years ago.
How could Jeff marry the woman who called the police on him, knowing he could get arrested. The woman who ruined their lives.
What a jerk! Her blood pressure spiked just remembering how devastated she felt when she found out he’d married her. It still made her irate.
Now that Jeff and Katie lived in Lobster Cove, Beth would have to find a way to tell him about Danny.
Katie could take a flying leap, the traitor. Beth clenched her teeth. No way did she want her playing mommy to Danny.
She’d figure it out. She had to.
****
Jeff looked out over the park watching the kids run around. Just like puppies, they tumbled and dove onto each other. The chilly breeze held a hint of the coming season, falling leaves, the bite and tang from the sea. Perfect football weather.
“I want to sign up for the team.”
He looked at the kid standing in front of him. Cute kid. Messy brown hair, a Lobster Cove Sharks sweatshirt over grass-stained jeans and kicks that were coming untied. Typical ten-year-old boy. “That’s great! Where’re your parents?”
The kid scuffed the toe of his sneaker in the sand. “My mom’s at work. I don’t have a dad.”
Jeff knew how that felt. He’d grown up without one too. His high school football coach was the closest thing he’d had to a father. Jeff’s brows smashed together across his forehead. “Is there anyone here with you, an adult who’s responsible for you?”
He jerked his head toward a woman who’d just registered another boy. “Mrs. Parks is taking me home.”
“I can’t let you sign on your own, without a parent.”
“Danny?” Mrs. Parks and her son Ben came up behind the kid.
Danny. Okay.
Jeff tapped his pen against the clipboard he held. “Danny wants to join the team, Mrs. Parks. He says you can do that.”
“Oh, no,” she said. “I’m just keeping him at my house until his mom can get him.” She looked down at Danny. “You know your mom doesn’t want you to play football. C’mon, we have to go.” Smiling at Jeff, she put one hand on Danny’s shoulder and one on Ben’s to guide them away. “Thank you, Mr. Myers.”
“Call me Coach,” Jeff said. “I’ll see you and Ben tomorrow afternoon.”
They walked in the direction of the parking lot. Danny dragged his feet, head bowed, shoulders slumped forward. Before he got to the car, he looked back at Jeff, sighed and gave him a little wave.
Poor thing.
The kid wanted to play football. He should be able to play football. He’d ask Mrs. Parks tomorrow who Danny’s mother was and go and talk to her himself.
Chapter Three
“Mom, I want to sign up for football,” Danny said as Beth put his dinner down in front of him. “And quit piano lessons.”
“Danny, we’ve talked about this.” Beth got her own plate and sat across the table. “You’re too talented. You can’t quit your piano lessons.”
He poked his fork into the macaroni and cheese and pushed the noodles around. “But Ben is gonna be on the team and I want to play, too.”
“I think it’ll just be too much.” Beth put her napkin in her lap. “With homework and piano practice, you’re already plenty busy.” Not to mention the ruin of any kind of music career if he permanently injured his hands.
“But I really want to be on the team.” He stabbed at his carrots. “It’ll be fun and the coach is really nice.”
“You need a lot of equipment to play football. That might cost more than we can afford right now.” She’d taken the job at Happy Thoughts because the economy was hell on people trying to afford piano lessons. Fortunately Jenna had needed a little help to get her brand new business off the ground.
“I can do stuff to make some money.” Danny’s eyes lit up. “I can mow lawns for people and I can be a dog walker. People need someone to walk their dogs all the time.”
Beth resisted the urge to close her eyes. Danny wanted a dog more than anything else in the whole world. Given Beth’s work schedule it would be unfair to bring a dog into the mix. She’d lost her appetite, but forked up a piece of chicken to set a good example. “That’s really sweet of you to offer, buddy, but I don’t think so.”
Danny heaved a huge sigh. “I really want to play football, Mom.” He looked at her with swimming eyes. “Please. All you have to do is talk to Coach Myers and I can play.”
She lost the ability to breathe for a second. Coach Myers?
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
Beth set down her fork very carefully. “I’ll think about it.” She plastered a smile across her face. “What else went on today at school? How’d you do on that math test?”
“Okay.” Danny shrugged. “It wasn’t hard.”
She managed to keep the conversation away from football and Coach Myers for the rest of the evening. Danny helped her load the dishwasher and did his homework at the kitchen table while she took care of cleaning the rest of the dinner debris and polishing the stove and counters.
She pretended to read a book while he practiced piano. Danny really had the gift. The Bach Two-Part Invention got better every time she heard it and he was getting a good start on the first movement of the Mozart sonata. She’d worried it might be too hard for him, but he was digging in and finding the music in it as he learned the notes, rhythms and fingerings.
He got a little bit of reading time after his bath, then bed. It made for a lot of activities to fit in already. Football would be just one more thing.
How long would it take for Jeff to see t
hat he was Danny’s father?
About a half an hour after Danny went to bed, the phone rang. “Hello?”
“Hey, Beth,” Anita Parks said. “Hope I’m not calling too late.”
“No, not at all.” Beth frowned. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to talk to you about Danny playing football on the rec team with Ben.”
“Okay.” Not. “I’m afraid football is too violent.”
“It’s flag football. They don’t let them tackle each other at this level.”
“Well…”
“It would make both boys so happy. Ben wants to, but not without Danny. I know you can’t get there to drop them off and pick them up. I don’t mind doing the driving at all.”
“I don’t know,” she fretted, her heart heavy.
“You should have seen him today. He wanted to be a part of all the fun. Ben really wants Danny to join with him. If you let him, it’ll so be doing me a favor.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Anita already did Beth so many favors she would never, ever catch up. “What’s involved?”
“All you have to do is give me permission to sign him up and it’ll all be taken care of. I called Coach Myers up to find out if I could be your proxy and he said he didn’t think there’d be a problem.”
“You talked to him about me?” Her voice squeaked.
“Well, yeah. I had to. Is that a problem?”
Beth took a breath. As far as Lobster Cove knew, Danny’s mother was Beth Rawson, not Beth Pritchard. No way Jeff should put two and two together based on that. “No, of course not.” She swallowed. “I guess it’s okay. I don’t see how it’s a favor to you, but if you say so, I’m happy to let it happen.”
“Fabulous!” Anita laughed. “The boys will have so much fun. Pack some sweats and stuff in a bag for Danny tomorrow and we’ll figure out the rest later. Coach said we didn’t have to worry about equipment quite yet. And Beth…” Anita’s voice got softer, like she didn’t want anyone else to hear, “He’s so handsome. Movie star handsome. Channing Tatum handsome.”
Twice today with the Channing Tatum comparison! Beth thought Jeff was way, way more handsome than Channing Tatum. “Well, I imagine his wife enjoys having such a good-looking husband.” Traitor Katie, the Queen of the Skanks.
“His wife? I don’t think he’s married. He wasn’t wearing a ring, but then a lot of guys don’t. Anyway, thanks. The boys will have so much fun. G’night!”
“Yeah. Good night.” Beth hung up the phone, closed her eyes and tried to come to grips with the fact that at some point she’d not only have to deal with Jeff directly, but also she’d run into Katie.
Maybe she’d get an answer as to why Jeff married her after she betrayed them both so badly.
Jeff hadn’t aged much at all. He still wore his brown hair military short, still had the same mouthwatering athlete’s body only bigger and more muscular. Why did he still have to look so good? She hoped Katie had gained a million pounds and contracted some kind of flesh-eating disease that left her disfigured.
How could he have married her? It just boggled her mind. Beth turned off the light and sat in the dark. Life had been going along fine since her father died and she’d finally gotten control of her life.
All hell was going to break loose and there was no help for it. She had to find a way to tell Jeff and Danny about each other and get some answers of her own.
****
Jeff was eighteen again, wrapped around Beth in the backseat of his mother’s Volvo. He caressed her soft skin, kissed her sweet mouth, and lost himself in first love. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so happy.
A strident noise pulled him out of the dream.
A dream he didn’t want to leave. He was back with Beth, back when he knew what love was. He bolted awake and grabbed for the phone next to his ear. “Myers.”
“Jeff, it’s me.”
Katie. He’d recognize that pissed-off tone anywhere.
Especially as he’d just woken from the sound of Beth’s voice in his head. “What do you want?”
Katie sighed. “The support check isn’t enough.”
The hell it wasn’t. “It’s what our lawyers agreed on.”
“We’ve had some extra expenses. Cookie was promoted to the next level of her dance class and made the competition team. She needs to get the costumes and some other things.”
Well, hell. “How much?”
“With traveling fees along with the costumes and shoes and the increased tuition,” Katie hesitated, “about $700.00.”
“Are you kidding me? What are the shoes made of—solid gold?”
“No, but she needs shoes in several colors, to go with the different outfits, and then there are the traveling fees and the hotel fees. I’m not making anything up.”
And he was the Easter Bunny.
“The fact is,” Katie continued in that snotty tone he hated, “Cookie is a talented dancer and she needs this. Of course, if money is more important than your daughter”
Ah, there was the Katie he knew and didn’t love. “I want receipts.”
A yelp of outrage assaulted his ears. “You bastard. You actually think I’d cheat you?”
“My lawyer told me to get documentation for every check I send you. Matter of fact, why don’t you send the receipts directly to my lawyer.”
“I’m not a cheat, you“
“Or give them to your lawyer to give to mine. I don’t care. As long as it’s to the letter of the law.”
“Cookie wants to talk to you.”
“Jesus, Katie. It’s eleven at night. Why is a six-year-old still up on a school night?”
“She wanted to talk to her daddy.” Katie’s voice dripped saccharine. “Unless you don’t have time to talk to your daughter.”
He gave up. “Of course I want to talk to her. Put her on the phone.”
There were some fumbling noises. “Hi, Daddy.” His daughter yawned.
“You’re up late, Cookie.”
“Mama told me she was calling you and I wanted to talk to you.”
“You can call me anytime. You don’t need to stay up late until your mom can call me on her schedule.”
“I’m on the competition team, Daddy. If we’re good enough, we’ll go to the Big E next August.”
The Big E was a six-state fair held in Springfield, Massachusetts. All the New England states were competing and with exhibits. It was huge.
Bigger than huge.
“That’s great, Cookie girl! I hope you guys make the cut.”
“When can I come see you, Daddy?”
More guilt. Yay. “That’s up to your mom, of course.” Dammit. Since he’d moved out of state, Katie controlled when and where Jeff saw his daughter.
“You can come here to see me, Daddy.” Jeff heard the pout and petulance in her voice.
Another damn. “Don’t worry, princess. I’ll get to Addington as soon as I can. It’s hard starting a new job.”
“S’okay. Mom wants to talk to you again.”
“Okay. I love you, Cookie girl.” He did with his whole heart.
She yawned again into the phone. “I love you, Daddy.”
There were some muffled sounds as the phone passed from Cookie to Katie. “We need to put a deposit on the costumes by next Monday. Is that a problem?”
As if she cared. “A deposit?” Thank heaven he didn’t have to cough the full shot right away. “No, it’s not a problem.” At least not much of one. He’d figure it out. “You be sure to send me some pictures.”
“I wouldn’t have to if you made the effort to come visit.”
“The new job is taking a lot of my time. I’m not the highest man on the totem pole here.”
“They should make some accommodations for you to visit your daughter.”
“Maybe you should be thankful I finally have a job that gives you all the things you want.”
“All I ever wanted was you.” Katie sniffed.
If he
didn’t know better, he’d have thought she was crying. But he did know better. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. “Well, that didn’t work out for either of us, did it?”
“And we know why that happened,” she said in a bile-laced tone. “There were three of us in that marriage. You, me and Saint Beth.”
Jeff would not talk about Beth again with Katie. He most certainly wasn’t telling her he thought he’d found her here in Lobster Cove. “Is there anything else? I’m tired and I’ve got a long day tomorrow.”
Silence. His favorite tone of Katie’s voice.
“That’s it. I’ll be looking for your check.”
“Of course you will. I’ll put it in the mail tomorrow along with the usual documentation.”
“Fine.”
“Is that all?” he asked.
“Yes. Good night.” Katie’s voice was tight right before she snapped off the phone.
He could count on three things. Death, taxes, and Katie being a bitch.
Chapter Four
Jenna crossed her arms underneath her breasts. “So spill. I’m running out of patience.” She handed Beth one of the blueberry muffins she’d brought in from Sweet Bea’s.
“Thanks.” Beth really wasn’t hungry but took the muffin anyway. “I’m sorry.”
“Forget sorry.” Jenna laughed. “Be loquacious. As in, talk a lot. Don’t leave out a single detail.”
There were many times Beth wished she could forget every detail of her past. But she couldn’t lie to Jenna.
“Jeff Myers is Danny’s father.”
Jenna’s jaw dropped open. “Get outta here!”
“It’s true. We went to high school together back in Massachusetts, were childhood sweethearts, like as in shy, musical geek falling head over heels for the gorgeous quarterback of the football team.” Beth shrugged. “Long story short, I got pregnant.” She swallowed. “My father hit the roof, like totally lost it.”
“Was Jeff one of those jerk jocks that take advantage of you?”
“Oh no, nothing like that. We were really in love, both of us. Anyway, like I said, my father went ballistic.”
“Well, can you blame him?” Jenna broke off the top of her muffin. “I can only imagine what Bran would do if we had a daughter and some jock got her pregnant.”
