“You never told me your dad had a classic. It’s rocking.”
She returned his smile. “A lady has to have some surprises. Are you ready?”
“Sure.” Wade turned to her dad before leaving. “You should come over and check mine out, Aaron. It needs a lot of work. Maybe one day when you come pick up supplies we can take a run over.”
Aaron patted him on the back, a sure sign of his approval. “I’ll take you up on that. Y’all have a good time now. Guess I better get back to work.”
At the truck, Sophie hugged her dad. “So long. We’ll be picking up Emmett. We’re all eating out, but I’ll be home later this evening. Should I bring you back a carryout?”
Aaron cleared his throat and peered in the direction of the barn. “Ah, uh, I won’t be home for dinner. I’m meeting Ms. Milly at the Sunset Grille. It’s only dinner.”
It made her happy to hear him deny it was a date. Either way, he needed to be out with people.
“Have you heard from your brother?” Aaron asked.
Sophie shook her head, now wondering herself what Clay could be up to after last night. If only he hadn’t gone looking for revenge. “I’m afraid not. Have you?”
“No, ma’am. I hope he’s home getting some rest and reflecting on what happened last night.”
“That would be nice. I’ll call him later.”
Wade lowered the tailgate, got a rag out of his toolbox, and wiped his hands. “You smell great. Phew, better than me. I thought you were taking a shower at my house?”
“I had time for a shower here. Did you get along with my dad?”
“I get along with everybody.” Wade took a drink of water then peered at her with a frown. He hit the road back toward home. As they got closer to the house, he drank from the water bottle again, but nearly spit it all over the front of him. “What the hell?”
That Cynthia woman leaned against the front of her car in the shade of his garage. “Did you know she was coming over?” she asked. A little boy moved out from in front of the truck and peered at them.
“No, of course not. She’d gone back to Nevada.” Wade pulled off to the side and hit the brakes.
“She has a kid?”
“Not to my knowledge. He’s probably not hers. If so, I guess she’s been busy the last few years.”
She glanced at him. He almost sounded jealous. “What do you want me to do while you talk to her?”
“Nothing. I’m with you now. Let’s see what she wants.”
She’d rather not but met him in front of his truck, and they moved toward her.
“Cynthia, what are you doing here. I thought you were going home to Nevada?”
“I did…but I came back to Arizona. I wanted to talk to you.” She gazed at Sophie, and Sophie didn’t break eye contact.
Wade’s hand tightened in hers. “You could’ve sent a text.”
Sophie didn’t like the look of this. Everyone except the little boy looked uncomfortable. “I’ll go inside, Wade.”
He squeezed her hand tighter to keep her at his side. “What do you want to talk about?” he asked Cynthia.
Again, she glanced at Sophie. “Um, well, I’m shipping out for another deployment.”
Why was she telling him? Sophie wasn’t comfortable here. Obviously, Cynthia had something to tell him. “Wade, let me inside please while you talk.”
“We don’t have anything to talk about.” He attempted to walk away, but Sophie wouldn’t budge. “You have to see what she wants,” she said in a near whisper.
Cynthia smiled at Sophie. “He’s right. I should’ve called. I wanted to say hello while I was in town again. That’s all. You two have a nice night.” She took the boy’s hand and lifted him into a car seat.
Sophie’s gaze went to the little boy. He was a cute little guy who resembled Wade enough to be his. Wade hadn’t known she had a child?
“Take care, Cynthia.” He glanced at the boy and back to her before he dragged Sophie away.
They got inside and Sophie dropped his hand and stared out the window as Cynthia pulled onto the road. “That boy looks enough like you to be yours.”
“What? This again? You think all my exes have a kid by me. Why don’t you leave.”
“You drove.”
Wade stood beside her and watched Cynthia drive away. He washed his hands. “You’re crazy. Just like with Kay. We didn’t have a kid.”
“Are you sure?”
He placed his hands on her shoulders and made eye contact. “Yeah. No way. She would’ve told me. No. No, he couldn’t be mine. Look, I thought the same thing about Emmett when I met him. We have the same hair, and he…well, hell, he looks like he could be mine, and we know that’s impossible. Just like that kid.”
“Emmett looks like his dad, not you, Wade.” Sophie turned her head and looked out the window again, but she glanced back at him. He and Rhett had the same color of hair and eyes, but that was all. Wade was taller, stronger, kinder. “You do have some of the same features, but so do a million other fellas.”
“Exactly!” Wade got a couple bottles of water from the fridge. “He’s not my kid, Sophie. Stop this shit. I don’t want to hear it again.”
She took his arm when he tried to walk away. “You need to talk to that woman. She came all the way here for a reason.”
“Yeah, a do over. Is that what you want me to find out? She has a cousin who lives in A.J. That’s why she was here the last time. I’m insulted you even said that. Don’t you think I would’ve told you if I had a kid?”
“If you knew. She wanted to talk to you about something. Twice. Maybe she never told you. Figure out the time frame.”
“Stop! She was deployed about the time that kid was born. Yeah, she wants me back. You find that so hard to believe? I have to get a shower.” Wade pulled off his boots and headed for the stairway. “I’ll be right down.” At the bottom step, he stopped. “What do you want for dinner?”
“How’s the pizza joint outside of town sound? They have quite a variety and not just pizza.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll be right down unless you want to join me.” He headed up without another word.
She visually followed him up the stairs, into the loft, and until he disappeared into his bedroom. Yes, she did want to join him. She glanced to the clock on the wall. They had time…to fool around. Of course, she wanted to join him in the shower, and to join with him again would be heavenly. Blast her idiotic vow to hold back on rushing into sex again. How stupid, Sophie! By now, she knew it was so much more than lust. She took a step toward the stairs, then her phone rang… “Hi, Dad, did you need something?”
“Did you say you were picking up Emmett?”
Sophie sighed and answered as her gaze lifted to the loft. Next time she wouldn’t hesitate in following him. “Yes. I’m picking up Emmett.”
Chapter 12
After a sleepless night, Wade paced the length of the barn at work. Sophie put the thought into his head. Now he couldn’t shake it. She’d been right. The kid looked like him at that age. Looking through pictures last night he’d salvaged from the fire, he’d found some from growing up years, which almost sealed the deal. However, how could he be? She wouldn’t have gone on deployment pregnant. Would she? Maybe it was her cousin’s. He couldn’t stand it any longer.
He sent a text: Where are you? That sounded heartless. He deleted it and instead, typed: Are you still in town?
It didn’t take long for Cynthia to reply: I’m still here.
Damn. He rushed another text: You still wanna talk, meet me at my house.
Again, she hurried a reply: When?
Wade blew out a breath, typing: Now.
Shit. He left the barn to look for Jake, spotting him heading into the house with Beth. “Hey, I gotta leave a while. See you later.” He didn’t wait for a response, got in his truck, and headed home with the sight of that child in his mind. In the bathroom on the first floor, he washed his hands, wet his hair, and brushed it.
A bottle of tequila hid in the bottom cupboard in the island. He couldn’t, but he wanted a shot damn bad. Instead he poured a glass of iced tea and put a lot of sugar in it, unusual for him, for he usually drank it without sugar unless at the Double Dutch Ranch. Tossing his vow to the wind, he opened the bottle of tequila and poured in a shot. So much for that.
He continued to pace through the house. In the living room, he knelt at the bottom drawer of the TV cabinet and dragged out his old video game system. He blew off the dust and took it upstairs then hooked it up. Then her car pulled in. No way was he ready for this. He ran down the stairs and peeked out the window. She had the kid with her. His hands shook when he opened the door. His heart raced. How could this happen? Calm down. You know nothing for sure. “Come on in. Can I get ya something to drink?” His gaze went to the boy, and without wasting time, he asked, “Is he your kid?”
Cynthia’s breath caught and she blinked. “Ah, ah, um…Wade…”
He couldn’t wait, and spat out, “Is he mine?”
“Wow.” Cynthia sat a pharmacy bag on the table but didn’t let go of it. “This is my son. Say hi, Noah.”
Noah peeked up at Wade. “Hi.”
His stomach churned. He knelt and peered at the kid. The boy hugged his mom’s leg. Wade moved away and leaned against the counter. He swept his hand toward the nook area. “Have a seat.” He went over and pulled a chair out for her, then he sat in another one but couldn’t sit. His nerves jingled and jangled. He leaned against the door jamb to the laundry room. “This is what you wanted to talk about?”
Cynthia lifted her son and sat him in the seat Wade had pulled out. She took a chair for herself. “He’s shy. I lied about when I came home from deployment. I found out I was pregnant before deploying when they did the medical checkup, but I’m still obligated, and now it’s time to fulfil that obligation.”
Oh, no. Here it comes. He ticked off months in his head. “Why are you telling me?”
“Hold on.” She got the bag off the counter and sat down again, but she held on to it. Her hands shook, too.
“Am I going crazy? Sophie noticed the resemblance first. It was just her crazy idea, that he…” Wade glanced at the boy who was somewhere over two-years-old if he had to guess.
Cynthia took a box out of the bag. A damn box for a DNA test. “This says it all.”
“Sonofabitch,” he mumbled.
“Mommy, what is that?”
“It’s nothing, honey.” She scrolled through her phone then handed it to Noah. “Play with this a minute. Mommy needs to talk.” She said to Wade, “He’s smart for his age.”
Wade’s eyes about crossed reading DNA Test over and over. She was that sure? Damn right he’d take a test. “What am I supposed to do with that?”
“I knew you’d doubt it. Any sane man would after all this time. All you have to do is a cheek swab. I’ll do ours before I leave, and you can do yours then send it in. It’s all private and everything.”
He paced again but came back to stand in front of the boy. Wade brushed his hand over the top of the kid’s head, but the boy moved to the side and stared up at him with big brown eyes. Wade looked Cynthia in the eye. “What do you want from me?”
“Only for you to know he exists…in case I don’t come back.”
“Listen, you should’ve told me.” He wanted to raise his voice to show his anger at finding out so long after the fact, but he couldn’t with the kid here. His kid? It couldn’t be. “We need to talk in private.”
“Yes, we do.”
“And if you don’t come back?”
“Well, he’s…” Cynthia sighed, which got her son’s attention. She smiled and brushed her hand through his hair to smooth it. “I’m seeing someone. Obviously, you are too. I hope she understands.”
“She will. You’re the one who… Dammit, Cynthia—”
“Bad word,” the boy said with a quick jerk of his head and a frown toward Wade.
Wade squeezed his eyes shut a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose. He shook inside. “Take him home and come back so we can talk. I have a lot to say.”
Cynthia turned sideways in the chair to face him. “I’m sure you do. Probably nothing I haven’t already said to myself.”
Wanna bet? “How could you get…” He went to stand beside her, leaned in, and whispered into her ear through gritted teeth, “I’m fucking angrier than you can imagine. If he’s mine, I need to know why you didn’t tell me.”
“Noah, let’s go see Suzie, honey.” She picked up the boy and her purse and walked to the door. “I’ll bring his and my DNA sample when I come back.”
“Uh uh, do it now.” Wade opened the box and handed it to her. “Now.”
Cynthia took Noah back to the chair. “Sit here a minute, sweetie pie.” She removed a swab from the box, opened it, and explained to her boy what she was about to do to her and him. She did hers first. “See? It’s okay, my darlin’ boy.”
“How did you get my DNA?” Wade snapped.
“I don’t have your DNA. I didn’t need proof.” She secured the swabs, closed the box, and shoved it across the island counter. She narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m sorry.”
Sonofabitch. So was he sorry. Sorry and damn pissed. His gut tumbled while the rest of his body sweat.
Cynthia lifted Noah again and held the door knob. “Don’t think for a minute it went easy for me. Do you know how bad it looked to get pregnant before deployment? I lost a lot of friends who thought I got pregnant on purpose. I was passed up for promotions.”
“You were on the pill. What the hell happened? Is he doing all right?”
“Look at him. He’s fine. Please text me when you come home from work, and I’ll come over.” She left.
She’s sorry? That’s all she had to say? Wade read the box. Sonofabitch. He’d said Sophie would understand. Would she? He stuffed the box into a plastic bag and went back to work with doubt sitting on one shoulder and the sight of that kid on the other.
***
At work, he dropped the box into a desk drawer. He sat at his desk thinking about the invitation he gave to Sophie last night before taking a shower. The invitation she’d ignored. Dammit. Women. He’d wanted her to follow him upstairs. It was plain stupid to hold back, when he wanted her so damn badly. It wasn’t about the sex. No, he wanted to hold her clothed or naked body, feel her heat, and let her soak into his soul as he sank into hers.
He slid the chair back and left his office. Blue snorted when he walked by his stall. “Oh, hell, why not?” Trace wouldn’t be home until late tonight and there’d be no time to exercise his horse. He patted Jake’s dog, Kasha. “Hey, girl.” She’d followed him in and out of the barn and office all day. “You’re a good girl.” He saddled Blue, and they took a slow walk down the road until they turned off the drive. He gave a calm, yahhhh, and Blue went into a trot. Wade let the horse have his way for a short run before returning.
Back at the barn, he rinsed him then scraped off the water. He released Blue to the outside area and let him go as he pleased. Wade laughed when he rolled around on the ground first off. “There ya go.” Supposing he was about as good as he could be today, he went back inside to do some paperwork, but his mind kept going to what would happen later.
A couple of hours into the afternoon after coming in from checking fences, he took the box out of the drawer and threw the bag back in. He stared at the test for he didn’t know how long. For her to give him a DNA test, she had to be one-hundred percent positive he was Noah’s dad. They’d been exclusive while dating. Wade looked up to find Jake standing there.
“What the hell’s that? Sophie’s pregnant already? You’re questioning it?”
“Not Sophie, for God’s sake, Jake.”
“Oh oh.” Jake sat down but remained quiet for a minute, which was about all Jake could be quiet for, anyway. “That can’t be good.”
“It isn’t. I have a son. She didn’t tell me.”
“Who didn’t t
ell you?”
“Cynthia…from Vegas.”
“The Air Force chick? Wow. That was like three years ago. She just told you?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you pissed?”
“Hell yeah, for more reasons than I can count. I missed over two years of his life.”
“Did you do the test already?”
Wade stared at the box and turned it around a few times. “She swabbed hers and the kid’s cheek before leaving my house today. The samples are in there.” He nodded toward the box. “I’m waiting to do mine.”
“You need to do a test at a certified lab. Not a test you send in the mail. You can do that one, but get a certified test, as well.”
Wade flicked the box away with a quick swipe of his hand. “Why? What’s the difference?”
“Because it affects the rest of your life, you want this done at a place that’ll hold up in court if needed. I’m not sure about an over-the-counter test holding up in a paternity case. Listen to me on this.”
Wade didn’t know why Jake was persistent about it or how he knew about such a thing, but he sounded adamant enough to get his attention. “Okay. I’ll have to find one. Will Cynthia and the kid have to be there?”
Jake dropped his hat to the desk. “I don’t know. If you have samples right there in the box, it might be enough. You better get on the phone. Take care of this now.”
“Okay. Cynthia is being deployed. That’s why she told me now. I don’t know what that means.”
“Sounds to me like it means if she gets killed, you’d want your kid.” Jake hesitated. “Would you?”
“How do I answer that? I don’t know anything about having a kid.”
“You’d have one anyway if it got serious with Sophie. She has a boy. You’d want one with her. I want one with Beth.”
“That’s different…I guess. I do want Sophie and her kid.”
Hooked By Sundown (Canyon Junction: Hearts In Love Book 3) Page 16
