“Anything,” Brody agreed, and sat up straighter, listening attentively to Avery’s conditions.
“Parker’s birthday party is in two weeks. You can come as long as you promise to keep your mouth shut. As far as anybody is concerned, you’re a friend from school. When the time is right, we’ll tell him together, but not before then, and not until I’m ready.”
“Deal,” he blurted out without giving Avery a chance to finish speaking.
“I have one more condition. Under no circumstances are you to swear around him. He’s in a phase where he repeats everything he hears, and the last thing I need to deal with is a cussing five year old when he starts school in the fall.”
“I think I can live with that.” Brody smiled and pulled Avery towards him, placing a tender kiss to her forehead. The conditions she set out may not be ideal, but it was start. He was going to meet his son for the first time.
Chapter 5
Brody glanced around at the unfamiliar surroundings. It was the first time he’d ever ventured into this area of Sam’s Club before, yet, here he stood, surrounded by mounds of toys and a screaming toddler. Bravely, he marched past the dolls and stacks of pink boxes, past the crying toddler and frazzled mother, and to the middle of the aisle where a newly erected display of action figures sat on the shelf. He picked up a box and gawked at it. All boys love superheroes, right? Standing in the center of the toy aisle, clueless and out of place, Brody knew that he was way out of his league. He was more of a practical gift giver—books, savings bonds, gift cards—so he’d never, not once in his life, been toy shopping, not even for his twin niece and nephew. But it was Parker’s birthday, and he wanted to make a good first impression.
It took him almost a minute to realize that it wasn’t the squawking action figure making a buzzing noise, but his cell phone. Fishing the iPhone out of his pocket, he answered it just before going to voicemail. “Hello?”
A woman’s voice on the other end of the line began screaming in his ear. “Where in the fuck were you? I waited over two and a half hours for you to show up. Next time, you can meet me at my lawyer’s office instead of some two-bit coffee shop.”
Damn it! “Veronica.”
“Don’t “Veronica” me. The least you could’ve done was called, but noooooo. You were probably with that little bitch, Avery.”
“Keep Avery out of this,” Brody warned, his voice feral and menacing when he spoke.
“Like fuck I will. She’s the root of our problems. And did you call that doctor I told you about? I doubt that bastard kid of hers is even yours.”
Little did Veronica know that she was walking a very thin line, but Brody couldn’t afford to argue with her. As it was, she stood to get everything in the divorce. Who knew that Veronica could file for a divorce on the basis of infidelity even when he’d remained faithful to her. She’d claimed that another woman—Avery—was the demise of their relationship, and the courts had allowed her to file the papers. Now that Avery was back in the picture and there was a child involved, it made things a lot more complicated, but Brody didn’t care. If being with Avery meant that he had to meet every one of Veronica’s ridiculous demands, he’d gladly give her every cent he had, and then some.
“Did you hear what I said?”
“What?” Brody asked, snapping out of his daze.
“I knew you wouldn’t call that doctor, so I made an appointment for you.”
“You did what?” he hollered.
“It’s next Monday at eleven-thirty.”
Just as Brody was about to let loose on Veronica, the call waiting on his phone beeped. Holding the phone away from his ear, he glanced at the number on the screen. Great, just great! Brody knew better than to talk to his mom when he was in a foul mood. She had an eerie way of extracting answers from him against his will, and he still hadn’t told his family about Parker. Standing in the middle of Sam’s club probably wasn’t the best way to share his joyous news, so he ignored the call and returned the phone to his ear.
“Listen, Veronica, I have to go.”
“Was that you mother on the other line? I hope she has better luck talking some God damn sense into you.”
“What do you mean?” Brody stood motionless in the middle of the aisle, his heart leaping out of his chest. “For Christ’s sake, Veronica, did you tell my mother about Parker?”
“No, not really,” she replied indignantly. “I told her that some fucking bitch was claiming that you were the father of her bastard child.”
“I swear to God, if you call her that one more time, I’ll…”
“You’ll do what, Brody?” she goaded him.
In a moment of clarity, Brody’s parental instincts kicked in and he could understand why Avery had asked him to not swear around Parker. Not only was the way Veronica cursing very unbecoming, but it was something that no child should have to listen to, heaven forbid repeat it. Rather than creating a scene, he figured it best to end things now before their conversation erupted into an all out battle. “We’re done here, Veronica. This conversation is over.”
Why in the hell had he told her about Parker in the first place? He thought that Veronica finding out straight from the horse’s mouth would be better than her finding out from some second hand piece of gossip, but boy was he wrong. The woman was hell-bent on ruining his life, and all he’d managed to do by telling her was make matters worse. This was not the way he wanted his family to find out that he had a son. Brody slipped his iPhone back into his jean’s pocket. Still distracted by his phone call with Veronica, and paying little attention to what he was doing, he attempted to place the action figure back on the display, accidentally knocking over the entire display in the process. A tsk’ing sound at the end of the aisle drew his attention and he looked up to see the mother with the toddler staring at him. He shrugged apologetically and silently scolded himself as the woman turned on her heel and stormed off.
“Do you need a hand with that?” an unfamiliar voice behind him drawled.
Brody turned in time to see a woman bend down and pick up the boxes of action figures that were scattered across the aisle.
“I’ll get those,” he offered, but the woman had already cleaned up his mess.
“No need, I’ve got them.”
When the last of the toys had been returned to their proper place on the shelf, five slender, well manicured fingers arched towards him in the expression of a handshake.
“Delilah, and you are?”
“Brody.” He politely shook the woman’s hand, but quickly relinquished his grip. She was a vixen if ever there was one, and he was her prey.
“You’re new at this, aren’t you?”
“Umm, yeah,” Brody mumbled. “How can you tell?”
“You look lost.” Delilah the Vixen flattened her skirt with the palms of her hands and leaned seductively against the handle of the shopping cart. “Do you need a hand finding something?”
“Would you mind?”
“No, not at all, how old is your…?”
“My son, and he’s turning four.”
Damn, he’s taken. Delilah relaxed her stance, just a bit. Having a kid didn’t necessarily mean that he was taken, but the odds weren’t in her favor. She picked up one of the action figures and carried on indifferently. “If he’s only four, you definitely don’t want one of these. See here?”
Brody looked to where the woman tapped the box with a bright orange finger nail.
“It’s for ages five and up. You want something that doesn’t have small pieces he can choke on or get lodged God knows where.”
Brody felt even more out of place and out of his league than before. What if he’d brought Parker something that he could hurt himself with? He’d never forgive himself if that happened. Looking further down the aisle, his eyes came to rest on a bin of plush toys. They weren’t his first choice in gifts, but they were a safe bet. Brody looked from the stuffed animals to the woman and nodded. “Thanks for your help.”
Pity, he could’
ve been a keeper.
Without a backwards glance at the woman staring after him, Brody continued down the aisle pushing his cart. Pink, white, and yellow stuffed toys filled the bin, all a little to feminine to give a little boy for his birthday. After spending a few minutes digging through the bin, he came across a lush green frog. Large plastic eyes and an embroidered mouth made up its face. Brody tugged on the eyes, checking and double checking that they were securely fastened to the fabric, and when he was certain that the toy didn’t pose some sort of choking hazard, he tossed it into the cart with the rest of his items.
•••••
Avery retraced her steps through the apartment. The only thing she’d done since returning home from class was go to the washroom, make herself a sandwich, and send an email to Brody with the details of Parker’s birthday party. Unzipping her purse, she tipped it upside down and emptied its contents onto the kitchen table… for a third time. Her car keys had to be here somewhere. They didn’t just up and walk away. She was about to retrace her steps one last time when a knock at the door forced her to abandon her search for the elusive disappearing keys. Avery squinted through the peephole and cursed under her breath. “What the hell?”
On the other side of the door was Brody standing amidst a mass of bags and boxes. Is he out of his mind? Half angry, half amused, she took a step wards and unlatched the deadbolt, letting the door swing open. “What on earth are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” Brody shrugged. “I did a bit of shopping.”
“A bit of shopping? There’s enough food here to feed an army.”
“I’m not trying to feed an army,” he retorted. “The only people I care about feeding are you and Parker.”
Avery was suddenly overcome with the urge to slam the door in his face. “I don’t need or want your charity, Brody. We survived just fine before you came along, and we’ll do just fine when you’ve decided you’ve played daddy long enough.” Raising her voice a few octaves higher, she ranted on. “And I’ll have you know that not once, NOT ONCE, has Parker every gone without anything, especially food.”
“I am not playing daddy. Parker is my son, and it’s my responsibility as his father to provide for him.” Brody shut his mouth before he said something he’d regret. It was never his intentions to hurt Avery’s pride, so he quickly tried to diffuse the tension without making it known that he’d snooped through her cupboards. “I didn’t do it out of charity, Avery. I did it because I have three years to make up for. It’s the least I can do.”
“Fine,” Avery conceded, and stepped aside to let him pass.
Brody stooped down, picked up the bags, and made his way towards the kitchen. To his surprise, the cupboards where much better stocked than they were on his previous visit. In fact, they were brimming with boxes of cereal, cans of pasta, and cookies. Not the healthiest food choices, but at least they weren’t starving. Even the fridge was overflowing with bottles of juice, cartons of milk, and an abundant supply of luncheon meats.
“What am I going to do with thirty-six pudding cups and fifty granola bars? Avery laughed, pointing to the mega sized boxes of snacks sitting on the counter.
“They’re a healthier snack than those chemical filled marshmallow cookies you have up in the cupboard.”
“You have no idea how hard it is to feed a fussy child, do you?”
“No, I don’t,” he replied solemnly. “I’m new at this, remember?”
Avery was taken aback by the seriousness of Brody’s tone. Of course he had no idea what it was like. He’d only been a father for a little over a week. Brody could’ve turned tail and ran the second he found out about Parker, but he didn’t. Instead, he stood in the middle of her kitchen surrounded by mountains of Sam’s Club bags, trying to do what was right and take responsibility for a son that up until a week ago he didn’t even know existed.
Avery relaxed her stance and walked over to where Brody was unpacking the last of the groceries. “Let me give you a hand with those.”
They worked in silence, Brody unpacking the groceries and Avery putting everything in its proper place on the shelf. She looked down at the box of frozen chicken in her hands and sighed. “This is going to go bad before I can cook it all.”
“That’s why I bought you frozen instead of fresh. It’ll last a lot longer.”
“We usually eat dinner at my sister’s house. It’s rare that we ever eat here, unless it’s breakfast or lunch. I guess I could always make a casserole and bring it over there.”
“Or, you could stay home and cook. Chicken parmesan is my favorite.”
At Brody’s suggestion, Avery’s head snapped up. The look on his face was one of hope and expectation, and even though she’d shared her bed with him only days ago, Avery didn’t want to lead him on or get his hopes up. “Listen, Brody, about the other night…”
“Please don’t,” he choked out. “Don’t tell me it was a mistake.”
“No, it wasn’t a mistake. It’s more complicated than that.”
Brody turned towards Avery, infuriated by her words. He’d waited almost four years to find her again, and he wasn’t about to let the woman of his dreams, the mother of his child, and the only person to ever touch his soul, slip through his fingers. “There you go using that word again. Life is complicated, Avery. That’s just the way it is. So let me uncomplicated things for you.”
Without another word, he moved in front of her, and using the weight of his body, pinned her against the counter. His hands swiftly moved to her back, tangling in the tendrils of her golden brown hair and tugging her head backwards until she was forced to look back at him. “There is nothing complicated about this.”
His mouth pressed down on hers, his lips forceful and unforgiving as his tongue demanded entrance to the warmth of her mouth. Brody felt Avery’s lips part beneath his, granting him entry. Her teeth scratched against his flesh as she drew his bottom lip between hers and began playfully biting it. But to Brody’s dismay, what he felt next was not the softness of Avery’s lips moving against his. It was the distinct feeling of two petite hands pushing him away. Reluctantly, he broke the kiss, his body gasping for air that would not come.
“What is it, Avery? What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t do this,” she whispered, and tucked her head into the crook of his shoulder. “It’s not you, it’s me.”
Brody took a step back, breaking all physical contact with her.
“Brody, let me explain,” she began, but his harsh tone cut her off mid-sentence.
“What’s there to explain? I kissed you. You said no. End of discussion.”
“It’s not as simple as that.”
“Let me guess, it’s complicated?” Brody turned on his heel and stalked off, not wanting his frustration to get the better of him and ruin any chance he might have of getting her back. Slamming the door behind him, he bypassed the elevator and headed straight for the stairs, already plotting out his next move. No way was he about to give up on her that easily.
Chapter 6
“So, who’s the new guy?” Chloe looked at her sister curiously. “Have you slept with him yet?”
“Not in front of Parker,” Avery scolded, and glanced over her shoulder at the little boy sitting in the booster seat. Parker was staring intently out the window at the passing cars while his two cousins giggled at the cartoon playing in the overhead DVD player. Avery wished he’d interact more with other children. She’d even taken him to a specialist, thinking that something might be wrong with him, but the doctor had assured her that Parker was perfectly healthy and sent her home with a list of activities to do to try and improve his socializing skills. Thus far, they’d been ineffective. No matter what she tried, Parker still chose to keep to himself. Avery sighed and sunk back in to the passenger seat of her sister’s minivan, allowing her own gaze to wander out the window.
Sheets of heavy rain pounded hard against the windshield as they pulled into the parking lot of Chuck E.
Cheese. People rushed towards the relative dryness of the awning covered sidewalk with their children in tow and Avery found herself scanning the rows of cars and crowds of people for any sign of Brody, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was the sound of her sister’s voice that drew her attention back to the present.
“Hmm?”
Chloe looked at Avery and shook her head in frustration. “I think you’ve got it bad for this guy.”
“He’s only a friend,” Avery repeated for the tenth time.
Without any advanced warning, Chloe jerked the minivan to the left, beating out a blonde soccer mom for one of the few available parking spots.
“You drive like a maniac,” Avery teased, and unclasped her seatbelt in final preparation for the mad dash to the restaurant.
“You grab the presents from the back and I’ll get the kids.”
The women looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Within seconds they were running full out towards the crowded entrance, Avery laden down with brightly colored gift bags and Chloe dragging three soaking wet kids behind her. The awning provided very little cover from the torrential rains, but it was enough to keep them out of the direct path of the downpour.
She looked around one last time for any sign of Brody before following her sister through the front door and into the chaos that awaited them. When Chloe turned to speak to her, Avery could barely hear her over the cacophony of screaming children.
“Yeah, you’re right. You’re not smitten in the least. In fact, you always walk around with a dazed look on your face.”
The last thing she needed was for Chloe to start hounding her with questions about Brody, so she quickly changed the subject. “Where’s Scott? I thought he was meeting us here.”
“He’ll be here as soon as he finishes work.”
“Since when did Scott work on a Saturday?”
“Since he found out that Parker’s birthday party was being held at Chuck E. Cheese,” Chloe laughed.
Avery waited in the lobby with the kids while Chloe went in search of the hostess. A minute later she was standing on the opposite side of the dining room and frantically waiving her hand in the air, motioning for them to join her.
Inked Page 6
