Downfall

by Jay Crownover

  I chuckled under my breath when a middle-aged man side stepped up to me, eyes cast downward like he was worried I might decide to mug him or something. I was planning on giving him a wide berth, but stopped when he stuttered, “Hey, you’re Noble’s dad, aren’t you?”

  I pushed the brim of my ball cap up with a finger.

  “I am.” And how fucking cool was that?

  “Umm, Miranda is having a horseback riding party at the end of the month. She was insistent that Noble be invited. Did you know your daughter is the most popular girl in her class?”

  I didn’t know that, but I wasn’t surprised. She was a social, smart, funny little thing, who made friends everywhere she went. She had the ability to put a smile on anyone’s face.

  “I’ll have to run it by Noble’s mom. She gets the final say on extracurricular activities.” Knowing Orley, she was going to make sure Miranda’s parents had zero ties to her old life before she agreed. Anyone with any connection to the Vincents or her previous life were automatically blackballed. Channing might’ve fallen from grace, but people still remembered his missing empire. There had been months and months of speculation as to where his money went after his arrest. Strangers came out of the woodwork trying to cozy up to Orley thinking she might know something about the vanished fortune. Little did they know, my girl was no longer gullible and naïve. She was harder to get close to than the Mona Lisa, and she’d gotten really good at telling the fake from the genuine.

  “Great, that’s great. Hey, is that your Coronet convertible parked out in the lot?” He sounded nervous but his wary gaze lit up when I nodded. “Is it the RT version? Weren’t there only three or four of those made?” My car was guaranteed to give any car guy a boner.

  “Yep. I built it from the frame up.” I could sell the damn thing for hundreds of thousands, but I wouldn’t. It was my dream car. The one I was keeping forever, or until I handed it down to Noble and found a new project.

  “That’s… unbelievable. I’ve always wanted a Ford Fairlane.” He sighed and shook his head. “I’m probably not a cool enough dad to drive one of those, though.”

  I chuckled and fished a business card out of my wallet. “Driving a classic automatically makes you a cool dad. If you get serious about getting your hands on one, give me a call. I’ll pass on the invite about the party to Orley.” I was a cool dad with or without the car, and I doubted this guy had the balls to venture into the city where my shop was, but it never hurt to try and drum up new business.

  I was getting into my car when my cell rang. Since Orley was in class until early afternoon I was surprised to see her name and pretty face on the display. Wondering if I forgot to do something she asked, I answered the call with a bit of trepidation. I thought I was busy before; I had no idea how busy I was going to be once Noble was old enough to start having her own social life.

  “What did I forget?” I tried starting off with a joke in case she was pissed off. That was another thing I’d adjusted to slowly. Orley seemed so timid when she first showed up in the city. Now my girl had no problem letting that redheaded temper flare. Timid was the last thing I would call her now that she was a bonafide city girl.

  “Uh, nothing. I’m actually home. I was wondering if you could meet me here and head into the shop a little later.” There was something in her tone I couldn’t identify and it immediately had me sitting up straight and wracking my brain to figure out why she was playing hooky. Normally, she was far too responsible to skip class.

  “Sure. I can go in later.” I made my own hours, so my schedule was often more flexible than hers, which is why I dropped Noble off in the morning. No one would miss me if I went in an hour or two later than usual. “I’ll be home in like, twenty.”

  She mumbled a goodbye and a surge of panic hit me. Orley was very good about being upfront and honest with me about how she was feeling and what she needed from me. This whole situation was weird, and I didn’t like the unease that slithered around in my belly.

  I parked in front of the townhouse, not even slightly worried my car was going to get jacked or messed up in any way. That was another benefit to leaving the inner city behind. Guaranteed parking was always nice. I ran up the steps, pushed the door open and called Orley’s name at the top of my lungs. I was too impatient to wait for her to answer me, so I prowled though the house looking for her.

  I found her in our bedroom, sitting on the side of the bed, pale as a ghost, dressed only in a long purple robe. Her hair was piled in a mess on top of her head and her eyes were locked on something in her hand. Trying to get my worried, racing heart under control, I plopped down on the bed next to her and threw my arm around her shoulders.

  “What’s wrong? You sounded like a mess on the phone.” I pulled her into a tight side hug and kissed the top of her head. I refused to believe there wasn’t anything I couldn’t make better for her.

  She sniffed as if she’d been crying, and held out the object in her hand for inspection. I’d never seen an at-home pregnancy test before in real life, but I knew what it was without asking for clarification. Other than that one time in the shower at the apartment above the garage, we’d always been careful and never had even a close call, so I was stunned at the sight.

  “Whoa. Is that what I think it is?” I leaned to the side a little so I could look at Orley’s face. Her blue eyes were foggy with emotion and unshed tears.

  “I haven’t been feeling well. My stomach is upset all the time and I can’t sleep through the night. I’ve been feeling off for a couple of days, and I remembered this was exactly how I felt when I was pregnant with Noble.”

  “But how? I mean, I know how… but we’re always safe.” Always.

  She sniffed again and offered up a watery smile. “I’m not pregnant, Solo. I must be getting the flu or all the stress from finals coming up might be getting to me.”

  I huffed out a breath and reached out to smooth a few flyaway strands of hair away from her pale face. “Okay. You aren’t knocked up, then why are you crying?” If she felt so bad it brought on tears, I was taking her to the emergency room. I would take care of her however she needed me to.

  “I’m crying because when I saw the test was negative, I realized how much I wanted it to be positive. I love being a mom. We’ve never talked about having more kids in the future, but I want to. I want to have your baby, Solo.”

  I was stunned how passionate and sure she sounded. Expanding our family wasn’t something that came up in conversation on the regular, but it seemed like she’d been giving it a lot of thought. Surprisingly, the idea wasn’t at all terrifying. I never thought I would have time for kids, or to be an active and involved parent. She was the one who taught me to make time for the things in life that mattered most.

  I hugged her harder and kissed her on the top of the head again. “I think I’d like that, you carrying my kid.” Saying it out loud gave the idea roots to grow and sprout. “You want a ring on your finger and my last name before we make that happen?” Marriage was another thing we never really talked at length about. It didn’t matter to me one way or another, and she said she was happy as long as we slept in the same bed each night. But having another kid might be a game changer.

  “I don’t need those things, but it might make it easier when you formally adopt Noble.” That was something we definitely had talked about. No one was ever taking that dark-haired cutie away from me, and I wanted everything I could think of in place in order to ensure no one even tried.

  Lifting off the bed, I moved so I could pick up Orley in my arms. I shifted around so I could lie her down and tuck her in under the down comforter. I kissed her forehead and realized she was indeed warm.

  “Okay. I’ll get you a ring, and then we’ll make a baby. But first, you get some rest and I’m going to run to the store and grab you some Nyquil. Gotta make sure all of this baby talk isn’t because you have a fever.” I winked at her to let her know I was kidding.

  She reached for my hand befor
e I could move away from the side of the bed. There were tears in her eyes once again when she whispered, “Thank you for always taking such good care of me.”

  Deciding I cared more about her than her germs, I kissed her long and hard. “Always.”

  I would always take care of her, because it wasn’t until she came along and set my world on fire that I realized I needed someone to take care of me, too. She called me her hero and told me I saved her all the time.

  I often wondered if she realized she was the one who rescued me from myself and the joyless life that was doing its best to swallow me whole.

  She joked that falling in love with her had been my downfall, but she was wrong. Falling in love with her was my salvation.

  The End

  If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading Downfall! I would be so very grateful if you would leave a review on whatever platform you read, or listened, to this book. A review, good or bad, is the best gift a reader can pass along to an author. It’s also a great way to see more of the books and characters you love!

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  I also have a pretty special girl gang of professionals who help me turn my words into an actual book. If you are looking for an editor, I can’t recommend Elaine York enough. I love getting to work with her. I adore her insights and her commitment to each project I send her way. She doesn’t pull any punches, and she’s not scared to tell me that I’m not quite there yet. She makes me work for it, and as a result, my readers get the best book possible. She is also the one responsible for making the guts as pretty as the heart of this book! Get you a girl who can do it all!

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  My friend, Beth Salminen, handled all my copy edits and proofreading this go around. Beth is wicked smart and super funny. The only thing better than writing books is getting to work on them with people who care about making your words the best they can be. It’s a bonus when that person also wants the writer to be the best she can be. If you are looking for a pretty blonde to cross your t’s and dot your i’s, you need to give Beth all your money. She will also reluctantly go to see BTS at Citifield in NY with you… and dance the night away. She’s a trooper.

  I want to thank Pam, Sarah, Karla, Traci, and Meghan for giving up their valuable time and precious moments to go over the rough draft of this story. If you read it in my newsletter, you know my rough drafts are R-O-U-G-H. It takes an intrepid soul to take on all my run-on sentences, as well as my overuse of the word THAT. They don’t get anything out of the deal other than my undying gratitude and unwavering thanks. There are some very special readers out there in Booklandia, and I feel like I’ve been so lucky to have most of them in my court since the very beginning. If you notice fewer errors and fewer typos in this book, it’s all thanks to these lovely ladies.

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