Then He Came Back
(Love From Austin Book 2)
By Chris Campillo
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Chris Campillo
Kindle Edition
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.
ISBN: 978-0-9981911-2-6
Cover design by LLewellen Designs
Editing by Chrissy Wolfe at EFC Services, LLC
For Madeline and Charlie – Thank you for your unconditional love and all the laughs.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Epilogue
Coming Soon
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Prologue
It’s A Boy!
Trey froze in the doorway of Sue’s hospital room. The proclamation danced on a balloon floating above a bouquet of blue carnations.
Who the hell would give her that? Hasn’t she suffered enough?
The privacy curtain blocked the view of her bed. Maybe he’d find her asleep and could remove the monstrosity before she woke. He quietly headed for the painful reminder, and that’s when he saw her.
Saw them.
Sue was sitting up in the bed, a bundled baby in her arms. His heart stopped. Why would she have him? Weren’t they supposed to take him after the birth?
The baby nursed at her breast. She didn’t look tired or sore or sad. In fact, her face glowed as she cooed to the baby. With one hand, she stroked the infant’s dark hair.
Just like mine.
His gut clenched. He didn’t want to see this. Didn’t want to notice details like hair color or the size of the tiny fingers that clung to Sue’s breast. The miles that had separated him from her had helped him distance himself from the baby, even the idea of the baby. This was too real. He turned to leave, but she caught him.
“Trey, you’re here!” She smiled wide, her eyes full of joy. She looked younger than he remembered. So different from the last time he’d seen her, when he’d headed back to college, leaving her alone and scared.
“Hey.” He walked over and awkwardly kissed her forehead. What kind of fourth dimension was he in? This was the girl he’d kissed until he thought he would explode. Now he had to force himself to stand by her. He locked his gaze on her face, avoiding the sight of the infant.
“Sorry it took me so long. I wanted to be with you for the . . . there were no more flights out when you called last night.”
“It all happened so fast. He came early,” she gushed. “But he’s still a big boy. Eight pounds, six ounces. Twenty-one inches.”
Shit! The thought of her suffering pulled him out of his selfish stupor. “Are you okay? How are you feeling?”
She eyed him as if he were an idiot. “I hurt like hell, but they say I’ll recover. It was worth it, though.” She gazed down at the baby. “Yes, it was.” Her voice, high and animated, made him even more uncomfortable.
“Can I get you anything?”
She shook her head, never breaking her focus on the tiny form.
He remembered the flowers he held. “These are for you.” He’d purposely selected the yellow roses, assuming anything with a baby theme would’ve upset her.
She gave him a brilliant smile. Hell, she’d had a smile on her face since he’d arrived. Maybe she was on some drug for the pain.
“Thank you. They’re beautiful. Would you put them next to the others, please?”
He set them on the windowsill, pushing the blue carnations to the corner. The motion caused the balloon to sway back and forth. A sick memento for a girl who had to give away her baby.
Your baby.
“You have a nice view,” he forced out, looking through the window. It wasn’t really—mostly parking lot—but it beat looking at the gaudy, blue flowers or Sue or the infant. God, he wanted to run away. Wanted this to all be over. The baby should’ve been gone by now.
“Come here,” she said, her voice so euphoric. How could she be so happy?
Blowing out a shaky breath, he walked over, keeping his eyes fixed on her, hoping she wouldn’t see his hands shaking.
Tears welled in her eyes, but her smile remained bright. “Trey, this is your son.” She leaned down and kissed the baby. “Isn’t he beautiful?”
When he didn’t answer—he couldn’t, his voice was gone—she glanced back at him. “I’ve named him Wes. Wesley Trey Harrison. I hope you don’t mind taking second billing. My Uncle Wesley was the kindest man I’ve ever known. He was so good to Aunt Laura, and she’s been so good to me during the pregnancy. I couldn’t think of a better namesake.”
Just then, the baby broke away from her nipple and sighed contentedly. He was asleep. She covered herself, then rubbed her finger against his miniature hand. He grabbed on without waking; the contact seemed so natural. Trey broke out in a cold sweat.
“He’s got your nose, don’t you think?” She didn’t wait for his response, just leaned down and kissed the tiny fingers.
He stared at the baby’s face, but he only saw spots. His legs almost gave out before he made it to the chair by the bed.
She didn’t seem to notice. “Obviously, his hair comes from your side. When he wakes up, you’ll see his eyes. They’re so blue. They say all babies’ eyes start off blue, but some eventually change. I hope Wes’s stay blue.” She traced her finger over the little forehead. “Yes, I do,” she said in that singsong voice. “It would be nice for you to have something from your momma.”
“Sue.” He could barely hear himself. He swallowed back the spit building in his mouth. “Sue.” This time he caught her attention. “I don’t think you’re supposed to name the baby.”
She searched his eyes.
“That’s the parents’ choice.”
Her face flashed with endearment, fear, confi
dence, and trust. So much trust. And that’s when he knew. Oh, God.
“I’m keeping him.”
Bile rushed up his throat. Fuck! If only he’d made it to the birth. He would’ve made sure she hadn’t seen the baby. Hadn’t had time to bond. This should’ve never happened. It killed him to see the hope in her eyes. There was no doubt she thought she wanted this, but the whole idea was fucking crazy.
“Sue.” She wouldn’t look at him. He grabbed her shoulder. “Suz, you can’t keep the baby.”
She stroked the tiny head. He wondered if it was to comfort the infant or herself. She finally looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “He needs me, Trey. You weren’t there. As soon as he was born, he cried. Oh God, how he screamed. His face was all scrunched up; he worked so hard to open his eyes. And then he looked right at me, and he stopped crying. He knew he was safe with me. He knows me, Trey. My voice, my smell, my heartbeat. He knows he belongs to me.”
“No.” He shook his head. “We made this decision months ago. Hell, on Tuesday night, you were telling me about all the agency forms we had to sign. You can’t just up and change the plan.” He studied her face, but she didn’t seem fazed. “Sue, we can’t raise this baby.”
“We can. Aunt Laura said she’d help us. We can stay with her until we get—”
“No!” He jumped up, knocking the plastic water pitcher off the side table. The baby startled at the sound but remained asleep, blissfully ignorant to the exchange that would forever affect his future. “This baby will be adopted. There are people out there who are expecting this child, ready to take him home. People that have planned for this . . . that want this. You can’t just jerk everyone around.”
She turned to the window. “They know. The agency told them I’ve changed my mind.”
“Jesus!” He raked his hands through his hair and paced the room. “What were you thinking?”
She didn’t answer, which was for the best, because he was barely holding it together. He ended up at the window again, staring blankly through the glass, trying to catch his breath. It took several minutes before he could face her. Face all the shit she was throwing at him. He pulled on his nineteen years of experience to find some way to end this.
Finally, he walked over and rested his hand on her knee. “Suz, listen to me. You’ve just gone through . . . hell, I can’t even imagine. You’re probably suffering from that depression, postpartum thing. You’re not thinking straight. Everything you’re feeling will change when your body gets back to normal.”
He moved his hand up to her shoulder and spoke as gently as he could. “You know this isn’t right. You’re seventeen. You can’t raise this baby.”
She shook her head. “Quit calling him ‘this baby.’ His name is Wes, and he needs me. He needs you. Not some stranger he doesn’t know. I’m not giving our son away.”
He pulled on his hair, fighting the helplessness devouring him. How the hell was he going to fix this?
“Trey, just hold him! You’ll know what I mean. Here.” She carefully raised the sleeping infant and extended him to Trey, but he didn’t move. His chest burned with fear that immediately turned to anger.
“No!” He backed away from the bed.
She pulled the baby back into the circle of her arms as if to protect him from an enemy. But he wasn’t the enemy. He was the only sane person in the room.
“This is not what we agreed on,” he yelled, pointing at the baby. “We both said we’re too young for a kid. What about college? What about your MBA?”
“That was before. Everything’s changed now.” Her face was pleading. “Couples do this. We can do this. We can be a family.”
“No. No! I don’t want a baby.”
Her lower lip trembled and tears rolled down her cheeks. He heard the sobs she tried to swallow. “We need you, Trey. Please. This is your son. You can’t turn your back on him. On us.”
Her words sliced him. “Suz.” He leaned in and gently wiped away her tears. “Listen to me, honey. You have to trust me. We’ll call the agency and tell them—”
“No!”
The infant woke and let out a high-pitched wail. She patted the baby’s back, but he still screamed. She turned him around and uncovered her breast, placing him there to nurse, but the baby kept on crying.
Watching her desperate attempts to comfort the child, Trey couldn’t catch his breath. The vise on his lungs tightened when she choked out that damn singsong voice. She turned to Trey, begging with her eyes, but he couldn’t give her what she needed.
She stared at him for the longest time, her chest heaving with misery. He wanted to help her. Take away all her sorrow, but he wouldn’t support this crazy-ass delusion. Eventually, she seemed to accept his answer. She shook her head, and cried, “Just go away.”
He remained in place. Hell, he wanted out of that room, out of the whole damn mess, but he hated the idea of leaving her so upset. She wasn’t rational. Maybe later, when she’d had time to think about what he’d said, she’d listen to reason.
“I’ll come back tonight.”
She didn’t respond, turning her attention to the child.
Before he reached the doorway, he looked back. The baby was nursing, unaware of the tears streaming down Sue’s face. She stroked the infant’s dark hair and murmured through sobs, “We’re going to be fine, Wes. You and me. We’ll be just fine.”
Chapter 1
Seventeen years later
The minute Sue Brinkley stepped into the lobby of Francisco’s, her heart jumped to double time. It wasn’t fear, oh no. Just an adrenaline rush, like any other time she’d headed into an important meeting. She took some deep breaths, but it didn’t help. Hell, who was she kidding? This wasn’t another important meeting. This was the meeting. The meeting she’d hoped she’d never have to take.
She paced the marble floor, trying unsuccessfully to shake off the panic gnawing at her gut. Lord knows, she’d messed up many a time in her years of parenting, but giving in to Wes’s request to meet his father might be the topper. Everything in her shouted this “reunion” would not end well. For any of them.
I’ll tell Wes the man died on the way to the airport. Hell, he works in Iraq. Shit like that happens all the time over there. But Wes was too smart for that. And now that he knew his son wanted to meet him, Trey Harrison would never remain with the dead.
When the maître d’ approached her, she shook her head. She couldn’t face Trey this unnerved. No, she had to be on top of her game.
Turning, she caught her reflection in the mirror on the wall. Her stomach dropped. Who the hell was that scared wuss? The fear in her eyes made her sick. For God’s sake, it’d been seventeen years. How could the thought of seeing him have her so rattled? She didn’t have the time or courage to linger on that question.
She’d learned years ago to never let a man see her vulnerable. That Trey Harrison, of all men, could do this to her pissed her off. And that’s just what she needed. Enough of this bullshit. Suck it up and remember why you’re here.
“This is for Wes,” she said to the woman in the mirror, her eyes now full of fire. She raised her shoulders and fluffed her short, blonde hair. Showtime.
She strutted through the restaurant as if she were on a runway, ignoring the appreciative glances directed her way. Normally, she would’ve enjoyed the attention, but not tonight. Tonight, she was on a mission.
She scanned the restaurant, hoping to spot Trey before he noticed her. Just one more opportunity to be in the power seat. And then she found him.
Son of a bitch! Just seeing the man stopped her in her tracks. How could it still hurt so much? Maybe the fact that age had taken the handsome kid he’d been and melded him into a fine-looking man. Very fine, indeed. But beneath the gorgeous package she could still see the boy she’d loved. The boy she’d thought would save them all.
Stop it! She took a second to recover. A second to start breathing, to start moving, to put her armor back in place. The waiter walked away j
ust before she arrived at his table.
Trey looked up briefly, then whipped his head back up. “Suz?” Before she could answer, he shot to his feet.
That’s right. No more clueless innocent here. She’d come a long way from the teenager he’d left crying in that hospital room.
“God, it’s good to see you.” He reached out to embrace her, but she shot her hands out in defense. There could be no hugging if she wanted to survive this meeting with any sense of control. A beat of awkwardness passed before he grabbed her hands and squeezed.
His grasp was warm and strong and oh, so familiar. Jerking from the connection, she forced a hello. He pulled out her chair, and she gave him a curt, “Thank you.”
Once he took his seat, he studied her. No doubt, he was surprised by her short hair and the makeup she’d never worn in high school. She took pride in her appearance. Now that she made a comfortable living, she spent a lot—probably too much—for a classy look. She didn’t need a therapist to tell her she was making up for all the years she’d carried the stigma of being a teen mom.
His eyes warmed with his smile. “You look . . . beautiful.”
The flutter in her chest caught her off guard. It was the thrill of a naïve girl. You’re not that chica any more. Get a grip.
“Thank you.” Even she inwardly cringed at the ice in her tone. For just a flash, she felt bad watching his smile fade. But she couldn’t let the crazy-ass storm running through her body control this meeting. Sue hated that all this time later the man could still unsettle her. Thank God, she had a tough mask she’d mastered over the years.
If she really wanted to appear unmoved, Sue would’ve returned the compliment, purely as an objective observer. Not as someone captivated by the touch of premature gray at his temples that brought attention to the light crow’s-feet framing his eyes. The warm, brown eyes that had made her feel so cherished all those years ago. His dark hair, just as thick. A memory of running her fingers through it while they’d kissed for hours on end smacked her in the face. She smacked the bitch right back, forcing the thought out of her head.
Then He Came Back (Love From Austin Book 2) Page 1
