Roman certainly hadn’t been prepared for that question, and his first thought was that the she was Mila. “Did who call me?”
“Mom.”
Roman hadn’t been prepared for that answer, either. “When?”
“Just now while I was on my lunch break.” He had no trouble hearing the excitement in Tate’s voice. “She’s coming, Dad. Mom’s coming to the ranch.”
Roman got up, and he grabbed his truck keys. “I’m on my way.”
* * *
MILA HAD ALREADY used an entire can of air freshener, and she might have to use more. The bookstore still smelled like beer and sex. She hoped that last one was only her imagination, but she wasn’t wrong about the beer. Maybe the smell would clear before Billy Lee and Belle showed up for their fantasy date in about two hours.
This wasn’t an especially hard fantasy to set up, which was partly why Mila had suggested it to Billy Lee. It also would give him a chance to flirt with Belle and maybe bring her a gift. Plus, the dress she’d managed to get for Belle was beautiful. Not a perfect match to the one Julia Roberts had worn in the movie Pretty Woman, but it was lipstick red and with enough of a shine to the fabric that it looked like silk.
Mila put a gold throw on the sofa and some glitzy pillows that she’d bought on sale years ago but had never used. She went back into her office to get some candles they could use for ambiance instead of the harsh overhead lights and the scripts she’d printed out, but before she could get back to the scene, the door opened.
She mentally cursed that she’d forgotten to lock it and was about to tell whoever it was that she had closed early.
But it was Arwen.
The girl glanced at the “decorated” reading area, then at the candles Mila had been reaching for on her desk. “Sorry, looks like you’re expecting someone or something.”
“It’s not for me.” But Mila decided that was all the explaining she should do. “Are you finished with school for the day?”
Arwen nodded. “I don’t have a sixth period so I’m allowed to leave. I’m not skipping or anything. I wanted to see if you had The Walking Dead volume ten, but if you’re closed—”
“No. I have it.” Mila motioned for Arwen to follow her to the graphic novel shelf because the girl looked ready to run. She also looked as if she could use a friend. Mila couldn’t qualify for that because she was so much older than Arwen, but she could be there if the girl wanted to talk.
“You look different,” Arwen told her. “Like you’re happy or something.”
Or something was closer to the truth. Mila doubted she was glowing from an orgasm she’d had three nights ago, but it was possible. She was also trying to figure out what to do about Roman. But that was a long debate she would have with herself later.
“Are you happy?” Mila asked her, and then winced. “Sorry. Not very subtle. It’s just you seem sad or something.”
“Mellow,” Arwen corrected. “Trust me, that’s better than some other things I could be.” She took the graphic novel from Mila when she pulled it from the shelf. “I won’t hurt Tate, you know. I know that’s what his dad and you are worried about, but I’m not going to talk him into doing anything stupid.”
“That’s good,” Mila assured her.
“Already done the stupid stuff,” Arwen added in a mumble. “It didn’t work out so great, and I won’t be doing it again.”
It hadn’t worked out so great for Tate, either, but Mila thought he was getting better. She’d been going out to the ranch in the evenings to check on him, and it seemed as if his surliness was easing up a bit.
Mila considered not charging Arwen for the book, but the girl took some money from her purse and went to the cash register. “Thanks for giving me a ride home that day,” Arwen told her. “And thanks for being nice to me.”
She wanted to hug Arwen, but that might be too much coming from someone she hardly knew. That’s why it surprised Mila when the girl hugged her. It didn’t last long, though, because the door opened again, and Sophie came in. Not exactly walking. More like waddling. Arwen broke away from Mila, took her book and the change, and she headed out.
“Wasn’t that the girl Tate’s been seeing?” Sophie asked.
Mila nodded. “I like her.”
“Good. My nephew has enough going on in his life without adding a troubled girlfriend.” She paused, glanced around at the fantasy date area. Then sniffed the air. “It smells like beer.” She turned toward Mila probably as fast as she was capable of turning. “You’ve been with Roman.”
Jeezum Pete. Was she wearing some kind of sign around her neck that others could see and she couldn’t? First Arwen had said she looked happy and now this.
“What does the smell of beer have to do with Roman?” Mila asked her.
“Well, you wouldn’t be drinking beer in here. You’d be sipping wine or Baileys. And I doubt you’d be with any other man. That leaves the obvious. Roman and you had sex in here.”
“No, we didn’t.” Mila didn’t like telling half-truths to her best friend, but she didn’t want to get into the details of oral sex and spilled beer.
Sophie stared at her as if ready to challenge that, but she must have gotten a cramp or something because she caught on to her back and hobbled her way to the sofa.
“Are you all right?” Mila asked, helping her to sit down.
“Fine. I just finished my OB appointment, and he said all is well in here, that it shouldn’t be much longer.” She patted her huge belly. Frowned. Then looked to be on the verge of tears. “I think I saw a penis.”
Okay. “Uh, where did you see that?” Because judging from Sophie’s reaction, it hadn’t been on Clay. Maybe someone had flashed her.
“On one of the babies when I was having an ultrasound.” Now, the tears came, and Mila hurried to get her a tissue.
Mila was willing to give all the comfort and tissues that Sophie needed, but she wasn’t understanding this. “Are you disappointed it’s a boy?”
“No. I’m just really disappointed I saw it, that’s all. And I’m hormonal. I cry at everything. The other day I cried because my pancake looked like a bunny.”
Mila had witnessed some of that, and she figured it was something like PMS on steroids. All she could do was keep hugging Sophie while she cried it out.
“I wanted to keep the genders a surprise,” Sophie went on. “I usually close my eyes, but this time I sneezed and then I looked at the screen. I’m pretty sure it was a penis complete with little balls and everything. Well, one ball, anyway. It was like a blob beneath this little missile-looking thing.”
Mila wished she could come up with an alternative suggestion, but she was drawing a blank. There weren’t many things on a baby’s body that could resemble a missile and a blob.
“Where was Clay during this?” Mila asked.
“He was there, but he didn’t sneeze or look at the screen so I pretended that I hadn’t seen it. I don’t think he believed me.”
Probably not. After all, Clay was a cop, but he likely hadn’t wanted to make Sophie feel worse.
“You only saw one penis, right?” Mila clarified, and waited for Sophie to nod. “That means you don’t know the gender of the other baby. That’ll still be a surprise.”
Sophie perked right up. That was the hormone reaction again because she was literally smiling through the tears. “You’re right. I don’t know, and if I need another ultrasound before I deliver, I’ll put on a blindfold.”
“Great idea.” At this point Mila would have concurred with anything to make Sophie feel better.
“So, did you have sex with Roman?” Sophie asked.
Mila groaned. Obviously, Sophie wasn’t going to drop the subject, but Mila was saved from answering because the door opened again. This time, however, it was someone expected even if he
was a little early.
Billy Lee.
He was carrying a garment bag over his arm. Probably his tux, but he got a very uncomfortable look on his face when he saw Sophie. “Uh, I thought the fantasy date would be just Belle and me.”
“It will be.” Sophie tried to make a dismissive wave of her hand at the same time she tried to get up. Mila caught her around the waist to keep her from dropping back down. “Don’t worry, I’m going.” She went to the door but then stopped right next to Billy Lee. “Just make this work for Mom, please. She really needs to get her own life.”
Billy Lee made a sound of agreement. “I’ll try.” He glanced down at her belly. “Are you okay to drive?”
“Oh, I don’t fit behind the wheel anymore. I’m walking over to the police station and Clay and I can go home together.” She kissed Billy Lee on the cheek. “Have fun.”
“Is she okay?” Billy Lee asked after Sophie had left. “She looked as if she’d been crying.”
“She saw a penis on one of the babies in an ultrasound. She didn’t want to know the sex,” Mila added.
He nodded, glanced at the marginally decorated reading area and nodded again. His nerves were showing, and Mila didn’t know if that was because of the date or because he now knew that he could possibly be her father. When he didn’t say anything, she just motioned toward the bathroom.
“You can change in there,” she explained. “If Belle gets here before you finish, I’ll have her change in my office. Oh, and I’ve got champagne and music. The soundtrack is already loaded, and all you have to do is press the button on the old intercom on my desk.”
She tried to remember if there was anything she’d forgotten. And there was something. “Did you bring a necklace?”
He took out a box from his jacket and opened it. It was emeralds and gold. It definitely didn’t look like a fantasy prop.
“It’s real,” Billy Lee volunteered. “I thought it might make the fantasy better if it wasn’t fake.”
Well, it wouldn’t hurt. Unless Belle thought it was too much, that is.
“Roman wanted me to call him with the paternity test results,” Billy Lee said out of the blue. “He wanted me to tell him first, before you.”
She automatically frowned. Then shrugged. She doubted that Roman was doing that to hide anything from her. No. It was more likely that he just wanted to be there to help her process whatever she was feeling.
And maybe have sex with her.
But that last thought was just something she’d tacked on. Probably because she’d been thinking way too much about Roman and sex. Maybe he had, as well, because he had texted her twice.
“We could know as early as tomorrow,” Billy Lee went on. Then he paused. “I didn’t have a clue that you could be my daughter. I just figured if Vita had gotten pregnant, she would have let me know.”
You’d think that. But they were dealing with Vita here. “Maybe you’d started dating someone else by the time she found out.”
He made a sound to indicate that was possible but not likely. “It could be because things didn’t go so well between us.” He stopped again, groaned. “This is hard for me to talk about, but your mom and I just didn’t hit it off in bed. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.”
Good. Mila was sorry she’d heard that much. Still, bad sex shouldn’t have prevented Vita from telling him he was going to be a father. Which meant he might not be.
She took out her phone, pulled up the list of possibilities and showed it to Billy Lee. “If we’re not a match, who would be your guess as to who would be?”
He took her phone, looking through it, but instead of her reading the list, she watched his expression. It changed when he reached one of the names. Billy Lee made a sound, a barely audible sigh.
“Who?” she pressed.
“Waylon Beaumont.”
Of all the names on the list, that was the one Mila dreaded. Maybe because he seemed like a hard man. “You really think he’d sleep with my mother?”
He lifted his shoulder. “Roman and I talked about this the other day. It was a different time. All of us were young, and we made mistakes. And no, I’m not saying you were a mistake. I’d be proud to call you my daughter.”
Mila hadn’t expected that to hit her so hard, but just as Sophie had done earlier, tears sprang to her eyes. “And I’d be proud to call you my father,” she managed to say.
He pulled her into his arms, kissed the top of her head. This was exactly what she’d missed, and she hadn’t even realized it until now.
“Tell you what,” Billy Lee said, easing back and looking her in the eyes. “If you want, I can cancel the paternity test, and we can just assume that I’m the one who got Vita pregnant.”
It was a generous offer, and in the end it might cause her far less grief than learning the truth, but she had to shake her head. “Thank you, though.”
Billy Lee still had her phone when it rang, and she saw Tate’s name pop up on the screen. Mila automatically checked the time. School had probably just let out so it might mean that he had missed the bus and needed a ride.
She took the call, and the moment she heard Tate’s voice, Mila knew it wasn’t just a missed bus.
“Can you come to the school right now?” he asked, the anger running through every word. “There’s been some trouble.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ROMAN PULLED INTO the parking lot of the Wrangler’s Creek school. It had been less than a month since Tate had run away and taken those pills, and the memory was still way too fresh. He prayed it was nothing that serious.
Or worse.
Of course, Roman had imagined the “or worse” when he’d gotten the call from the principal asking him to get there right away. After Tate had told him that Valerie was coming, Roman had already been on the road heading to the ranch so this wasn’t much of a detour.
Had Valerie shown up at the school and caused a scene?
That was one of the possibilities that came to mind. He hadn’t had many dealings with Valerie since she’d left, but when she was younger, she was a person who could definitely stir up some trouble. If that’s what she had done, Roman might have to rein in his temper again for the second time today. That conversation with Waylon was still fresh, as well.
He got out of his truck and made his way into the school. Most of the students had obviously already left, but there were still a few in the large hall that fed off the entrance.
Roman made his way down that hall and to the principal’s office. He knew where it was because he’d had to go there often enough when he’d been in school way back when. The place hadn’t changed a bit in all that time. It smelled like a boys’ locker room that’d been doused with floor wax and Pine-Sol.
“Roman,” a woman greeted him right off. It took him a moment to recognize her. Mindy Morgan, one of his old high school flames. She smiled, and then she must have remembered that he wasn’t there for a social visit because she fluttered her fingers in the direction of the closed door of the principal’s office.
“Tate’s in there,” she said.
“With Valerie?”
Mindy blinked, obviously surprised by his question. “No. With Mila Banchini. Is Valerie back in town?”
He didn’t know yet, but Roman would find out as soon as he made sure his son was all right. Because if this wasn’t about Valerie, then maybe Tate had tried to do something to harm himself. What Roman didn’t understand, though, was why Mila was there.
The moment Roman walked into the office, the relief flooded through him. Tate was okay. But the relief didn’t last long because he saw the anger on his face. He also saw the concern on Mila’s.
“I didn’t do it,” Tate snarled. Since he’d been at the ranch, his son had dialed down his attitude, but he certainly wasn�
��t dialing it down now.
“Tate called and asked me to come,” Mila volunteered. She stood. “But now that you’re here, I can go.”
“No,” Tate snapped. He repeated it, but in a much softer voice. “Please stay.”
Mila looked at Roman, and he could tell she was silently asking if it was okay for her to be there, but Roman didn’t know. That’s because he didn’t know what the hell was going on.
The principal was Doug Morgan, the father of the woman who’d been at the reception desk, and Roman knew him, as well. In fact, he’d had some run-ins with the man not only when he was dating Mindy but also when he’d gotten in trouble. In fact, Roman had sat in that very chair where Tate was now. The only difference was that Doug had had more hair when Roman had been in the hot seat.
Maybe Doug remembered this wasn’t an especially warm and fuzzy place for Roman because he didn’t greet him, didn’t ask him to sit. He merely showed Roman a photo on his phone.
“I didn’t do it,” Tate repeated.
It didn’t take Roman long to see what Tate was claiming he hadn’t done. The photo was of a row of lockers that had been spray painted. The black paint really stood out on the industrial-gray metal lockers, and despite the scrawl, he could also make out the words.
Fuck You, followed by several exclamation marks.
Obviously, the person who’d done that was pissed off. Much like his son was at the moment. But he’d never known Tate to use that kind of profanity. It didn’t mean he didn’t, though.
Roman took the phone and turned it for Tate to see. “Do you know anything about this?” He didn’t ask if Tate had done it since he’d already denied it twice. Best to go at this from a different angle.
And it was a good angle to take.
Because Tate immediately glanced away.
Roman wasn’t an expert in body language, but he was a parent, and he knew when Tate was dodging something.
“I didn’t do it,” Tate repeated, which was just another way of dodging Roman’s question.
So, if Tate hadn’t done it, who had?
Branded as Trouble Page 15
