Everything

by Melissa Pearl

  She smelled pretty bad, but alcohol aside, she felt amazing.

  Cole stroked a curl lightly off her face. “I don’t know what got into her tonight and why we didn’t notice.” He looked annoyed with himself.

  “She’ll be right.” I gave him a reassuring smile. “I’ll look after her.”

  “Thanks.” His smile was broad and sincere as he headed for the elevator. “Ella will no doubt come by to check on her tomorrow.”

  “Good.” I nodded, hitching Jody into my arms and swinging the door closed with my butt. The noise roused Jody. Her head jerked off my shoulder and she winced, her eyes fuzzy as they gazed around the room.

  “Angel,” she murmured.

  “Tucked up safe in bed.” I carried her toward her bedroom, figuring she could sleep in her dress. I’d need take her shoes off, though...if I could figure out how. I didn’t want to turn the light on and hoped the beam from the hallway would be enough to help me wrestle through the task.

  Jody’s smile was soft and sweet as I laid her down. She cringed, tugging at some pins in her hair and struggling to pull them free.

  “Here, let me.” I sat down on the edge of the bed beside her and gently removed the pins, running my fingers through her thick locks of hair. Her head felt limp in my hands, and I laid it down on the soft pillow. “Thanks, Cole,” she whispered, her eyes fluttering closed.

  I grinned, moving to her feet to tackle the shoes. She must have been pissed if she couldn’t differentiate my voice from Cole’s.

  “Morgan’s getting married,” she murmured.

  My fingers went still on the tiny buckle of her right sandal.

  The ache in her voice tugged at my heart. “Sean’s proposal was...beautiful and I’m so happy for her.” The wobbling voice and crestfallen expression told me otherwise. I quickly wrestled with the buckle of her shoe so she could curl up and go to sleep. No wonder she’d gotten drunk.

  “Shouldn’t I be the one getting married? I’ve got the kid!” Jody hiccupped. “And she’s gonna...grow up without a dad, because...” She sucked in a ragged breath and squeaked, “He doesn’t want us.”

  I managed to get the first shoe off, dropping it to the floor and getting to work on the other one. I kept my voice soft and soothing.

  “Angel has men in her life who care about her, who will help you raise her. Uncle Cole, Uncle Sean...” I licked my bottom lip and whispered, “Uncle Leo.”

  “Oh, Leo.” She sighed. “I love that guy.”

  I froze, her shoe clutched in my hand. “You what?”

  “I love him.” Her speech was slurred but still coherent enough to get my heart accelerating up my throat. “I don’t just mean like...I love him, like...you’d love a friend, but I really...love him, you know!” Her voice rose. “Like, I’ve totally...fallen for him. It’s insane, but I can’t help it. He’s just so...everything!” Her arms flopped up then crashed down onto the bed as her expression crumpled again.

  I dropped the shoe and came around beside her, brushing the wayward curls off her face.

  Her eyes popped open, and she looked straight at me, those blue orbs working their magic.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  “You can’t tell him,” she whispered.

  “Why n—?”

  “Shhh!” She slapped her hand over my mouth, her eyes bulging wide. “He can never know.”

  I gently freed my lips, holding her hand and rubbing my thumb over her soft skin. “Why not?”

  “I don’t think...he wants me.” She pouted.

  I nearly opened my mouth to protest, but she saved my bacon and kept talking.

  “Besides...even if he did...he’s too talented. He’s gonna sell his musical to Broadway, you know? And be amazing.” Her voice became a whisper, like it was a floating wisp on the wind that she couldn’t catch or control. “I’ll just drag him down... hold him back. He deserves his dreams. I can’t...take that away...from him. I’ve got a kid...and my—my dreams were shot to hell the day...I got pregnant. I’ve accepted that.” She frowned. “Sort of.” Licking her lower lip, she smacked them together and rolled to her side, mumbling, “He wants Broadway more than me...and that’s the way...it should be.”

  Her sentence petered off to barely audible, but I was pretty sure I caught the last part. My heart ached as I moved off the bed and stumbled back to the couch in the living room. I wasn’t leaving. Jody was totally plastered and might not even hear Angel if she woke.

  Stretching out on the couch, I rested my ankles on the armrest and propped my hand behind my head, gazing up at the ceiling and trying to figure out the torrent of emotions surging through me.

  Jody Pritchett loved me.

  My lips rose into a half-smile before I could even stop them.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Jody

  I was woken by the sound of a blender. I jerked up and then flopped back down with a groan, clutching my head and cursing myself. What the heck had I done the night before, and why did I feel like Satan was having a party in my head?

  I sat up, taking in my red dress and half-exposed boob. I heard laughter from the kitchen and quickly adjusted myself, wondering who the hell was in my house.

  “Angel,” I murmured, lurching to my feet and wanting to pass out from the swift movement.

  I stumbled into the kitchen, nearly tripping over my feet. A strong arm caught me, guiding me to one of the bar stools.

  “You right?”

  Aussie accent.

  Leo.

  Everything was okay.

  I squinted, grinning sheepishly as the guy beside me chuckled.

  “Well, you know for a sheila who came in completely trashed last night, I’d say you’re not looking too bad.”

  Angel squealed in her high chair, obviously excited to see me. I winced at the loud sound but tipped forward and kissed her head, tasting banana and applesauce. Yep, it was feeding time at the zoo. “Hey, cupcake,” I croaked.

  She whacked her spoon against the plastic tray and kicked her legs, making a funny buzzing noise with her tongue.

  Leo chuckled. “You’re getting pretty good at that, aren’t you, sloppy.” He dashed a face cloth under her chin and placed her plastic sippy cup of water on the tray. She snatched it up and started guzzling.

  As my eyes adjusted to the seriously strong light in the room, I started noticing how tidy my house was.

  “Wow, I actually folded my laundry,” I muttered. “I don’t remember doing that.”

  I glanced at Leo who was fighting a grin for some reason.

  “Do you remember much about last night?” He took the lid off the blender and poured some thick, green goop into a glass.

  I shook my head, instantly regretting the move. Nursing my temple, I groaned. “No. Fuzzy. Everything’s fuzzy.” I licked my parched lips, my tongue feeling fat and gummy in my arid mouth.

  Leo smiled, setting the glass down in front of me and leaning back against the other counter. He crossed his arms, accentuating those luscious muscles of his. I tried not to notice.

  “What’s this?” I frowned at the concoction.

  “It’s called Kev and Leo’s hangover cure.” He laughed at my doubtful frown. “Trust me, it works every time.”

  My lips curled with disgust as I lifted the glass to my nose and gave it a sniff. I glanced up at him again. He gave me an encouraging nod, looking far too sexy in his fitted jeans and wrinkled T-shirt. I liked him standing in my kitchen, feeding my daughter and looking after me way too much for my own good.

  I drew in a breath and pressed the glass to my mouth, slugging it back. It tasted foul, and I gagged twice trying to finish it. Leo passed me a glass of water, and I chugged that back, as well.

  “Thatta girl.” He clapped his hands. “I know it’s pretty gross, but you’ll be feeling better soon.” He winked at me, taking the glass away and rinsing it in the sink.

  Placing the glass upside down in the rack, he turned to me, wiping his hands on his jeans before head
ing to Angel’s high chair and cleaning her up. Once she was applesauce and banana free, he popped her down on the floor. She immediately dropped to her haunches and crawled over to the toy box, pulling out the bright pink doll and shoving the foot in her mouth.

  I smiled softly, my head starting to clear just a little.

  “She’s like a cherub, isn’t she?” Leo watched her, a slight look of awe enhancing his already gorgeous face.

  “Yeah.” I nodded, turning to him and losing myself in his tender expression.

  He caught my gaze and cleared his throat, stepping back into the kitchen and wiping down Angel’s messy tray. I couldn’t speak while he worked; my eyes kept darting from my baby on the floor to the sex god in the kitchen.

  My cheeks flushed pink as my mind began to wander to a place with no clothes and two hot bodies intertwined on a bed. Heat rushed through my core, and I jerked out of my stool, throwing him a shaky smile when he spun to face me.

  Forget it, Jody. It’s not going to happen!

  No, my feelings for Leo had to remain a secret. He didn’t need to know how gone I was for him. He had more important things to do with his life than stick around looking after me and a baby that wasn’t even his.

  “Listen, you should get going.” I flicked my hand before pointing into the living room. “I’m just going to have a quiet day here, you should go...work...or whatever it is you do on a...ah...”

  “Sunday.”

  “Sunday.” I clicked my fingers and pointed at him.

  “Okay.” He nodded, pushing off the counter and heading to the door.

  “Hey, Leo.” I turned, my head still feeling sloshy, but better than when I first woke. “Thank you for sticking around this morning and helping me out.”

  “Of course. All part of the babysitting service.” He winked.

  “Oh, yeah.” I flushed. “Here, I should pay you.” I searched the counter for my wallet.

  “Don’t be insane.” He waved his hand at me. “I was just helping out a neighbor last night. It was really no big deal.”

  He held the door in his hand, looking at me with a sweet sparkle in his eyes.

  Holy hot lips, I wanted to kiss him so bad right now.

  I pressed my lips together and forced a tight smile. “Well, thank you.”

  The door clicked shut behind him, and my day went downhill from there.

  *****

  Watching my “good neighbor” leave my apartment had sucked. About two minutes after he left, Angel started crying. I winced at the piercing sound, picking her up and trying to entertain her while I got rid of last night’s stench. In the end I popped her in the shower with me, which was fine but hardly relaxing, especially when I accidentally got soap in her eye. Note to self, don’t be scrubbing your body with a soapy loofah when your baby is sitting on the shower floor.

  It took her way too long to get over that incident, and she ended up screaming her bloodshot eyes to sleep. I felt so terrible. Guilt played with me for the rest of the day, tormenting me in my sleep as I tried to recover from the previous night.

  Ella woke me from a fitful nap to check up on me, and then Morgan called about a half hour later to tell me off for drinking too much. Her phone call woke Angel, so she didn’t have long to chew my ear out. She did at least apologize for waking my baby and turning my afternoon into the longest one ever.

  By the time I crawled to my bed, I felt like total shit but of course couldn’t find the comfort of sleep.

  I wanted Leo back in the house again. I wanted him in my bed, holding me as I slept. I wanted him to wake up beside me and suggest the perfect song to start the day with.

  But he wasn’t beside me. In fact that next day he wasn’t even home, and the Cray-Cray was all up my ass with complaints about his kitchen faucet. He was forced to deal with me because Leo wasn’t around, and after a day of insults, I needed Leo’s song list more than anything.

  I was tempted to pop over the next day and ask for a bunch of suggestions to get me through the crap-fest of a week I was having, but I forced myself not to. He wasn’t my boyfriend. He was my boss, my neighbor, and that was it. I just had to accept it!

  Angel kicked her legs and squealed. It wasn’t the delightful one I enjoyed; it was the impatient, ‘get me out of this high-chair’ one.

  “In a minute, baby. Just let me get these dishes done.”

  She started to cry, slamming her sippy cup on the plastic tray before throwing it on the floor.

  “Angel!” I spun around with a scowl. “I’m asking for five minutes. Give me a break!” I wiped my forehead with my arm, managing to smear my cheek with dish suds. I groaned, snatching the towel off the counter.

  Angel continued to cry.

  “Not long,” I sing-songed, putting on the sweetest voice I could muster.

  She’d been clingy all day, and I knew the second I let her out of that high-chair, she’d want me to hold her. The dishes had been piling up all day, and I was running out of clean cutlery and plates. This was my only chance.

  I scrubbed ferociously at a plate that had last night’s food stuck to it. Lifting it out of the sudsy water, I checked it was clean before rinsing it quickly and smashing it into the rack. Angel’s cries were increasing in volume, my nerves becoming a tattered mess with each new wail. Snatching up Angel’s half-eaten plate of food, I spun to tell her I’d be done in a minute when it slipped from my fingers, landing on the floor with a smack and plastering my kitchen cupboards with spaghetti sauce.

  “Shit!” I screeched, making Angel wail even louder. I rolled my eyes. “I’m sorry,” I whined. “Just give me a sec to clean this up or you’re going to crawl meat sauce all through this place.”

  She kicked her legs and slapped her hands on the tray in frustration. Closing my eyes, I kneaded my temples and dropped to my knees, snatching the cloth as I went. I didn’t even know where to start. It looked like lasagna had puked all over my kitchen.

  The day couldn’t end fast enough!

  A loud thumping noise from the outside corridor distracted me. I recognized the song immediately—the beat-clap, beat-clap of the opening rift always brought a smile to my face. “Dance With Me Tonight” by Olly Murs. I loved that song! My head popped up with a confused frown as the door clicked open and Leo slid into the room, a fedora tilted on his head. He did a spin as the announcer introduced Olly Murs, and then he started mouthing the words, walking toward Angel with a little skip.

  Laughter rumbled in my tummy when Leo started doing a twist and shimmy as he sang a little Olly to my baby girl. Angel stopped crying immediately, enthralled by the performance. As the chorus kicked in, Leo reached down and unbuckled her, lifting her out of the chair and twirling her around. Her delighted giggles and squeals added to the music, and the smile on my face stretched so wide, my cheeks started hurting.

  I watched Angel and Leo bop around the space between the door and the couch, Angel giggling so hard, her face was bright red. Leo caught my eye as the song kicked into the second chorus. He pointed his finger at me then twisted his hand, beckoning me over as he mouthed the words.

  The cloth in my hand slapped onto the floor, spaghetti sauce be damned. I danced towards them, my hips twisting with the energetic beat. Laughter bubbled out of me as Leo caught me with his spare hand, spinning me around and bringing me back to his side. We bopped around as a little threesome, all three of us laughing and grinning like idiots.

  It was the perfect song, turning my day completely on its head and making me fall just a little bit more in love.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Leo

  I sat at my piano, tinkering with an upbeat melody. I could picture a scene in a bland grey hall, no color, no joy, no light, and then the protagonist bursts onto the stage, a rainbow of sound and emotion, bringing the place to life with her jubilant energy.

  I paused, grinning as I recaptured the moment in Jody’s place a couple of hours earlier. When I’d first got out of the lift and heard Angel wailing,
I’d cringed. I figured it was a bad moment. Jody was yelling something about being done in a minute and I took a risk.

  A risk that had paid off. The look of light radiating from Jody, the sounds of Angel’s laughter, combined into a perfect moment that had me falling further than I ever thought possible.

  As soon as the song was done, Jody took Angel for a bath, and I cleaned up the kitchen for her. She didn’t ask me to, but I figured it was the last thing she’d probably feel like after putting Angel to bed. I snuck out while she was still bathing her girl.

  Part of me had wanted to stay, but it really wasn’t my place.

  Jody had told me she loved me, but she’d been drunk and thought she was talking to Cole. I couldn’t make a move on her in good conscience. Besides, she’d been right. I did want New York, Broadway, my dream. The musical was nearing completion. I’d given the outlined proposal to Bobby a few weeks ago and was working my way through the orchestral arrangements. Bobby had started giving me recording time in one of the studios he part-owned, so I could get the tracks down on the piano and make them sound really good. One of the tech guys was giving me a hand with the digital stuff, teaching me things along the way. Because of him, I could turn my piano solo into a full-blown orchestral piece. I’d spent an entire day there during the week, preparing the backing track for the song I’d want to pitch if the proposal garnered a bit of interest. It sounded pretty damn good, and I was looking forward to doing more. I just needed to find the right singer to complete the track.

  The phone in my pocket buzzed, and I answered it on the third ring.

  “Hey, Bobby, how’s it going?”

  “Yeah, good, thanks, kid. Listen, I just wanted to let you know that I finally pinned down my guy in New York. He’s taken your proposal, and he’ll look it over this weekend.”

  “Awesome!” I shuffled in my seat, excitement skittering through me.

  “He’s not promising anything, but he’ll look.”

  “No, that’s fine, mate. I’ll take whatever I can get.”