by Maya Hughes
Alex interrupted. “Three bedrooms?”
“Yes, one for me, one for you, and one for Emma.”
“I thought it would just be me and Emma.”
“Alex, part of the reason I want you both to come is so that I can spend as much time as I can with you, with Emma. I want to be there to tuck her in at night and for breakfast in the morning. I want to be there every moment I’m not working,” he said, swinging his legs off the side of the bed.
“Right. That makes sense. Three bedrooms will work,” she said giving him a forced smile. “You’ll let me know what we need to bring over?”
“If you have passports, I can take care of everything else. Bring a few things that she loves to put in her room, but otherwise, we’ll take care of everything there.”
“Okay. Thanks, Gabe. I’m sure she’ll have a great time while we’re there.”
“You both will; I’ll make sure of it. I can get you anything you need to help with work and stuff.”
“If there is an office and reliable Wi-Fi, I’ll be fine.” Alex hesitated and he started to stand. “Goodnight, Gabe,” she said before darting off and going into her bedroom. Her bedroom door closed and he dropped back down onto his bed.
That could have gone better, but at least they were coming with him to Scotland. It would give him more time with Emma and more time to show Alex just how much she meant to him. He needed her to see that he was serious about them being together because if she didn’t believe it, they would never be a family.
*
Alex stared up at her bedroom ceiling, and the thumps and thuds of Gabe moving around in the guest room came through the walls. The decision to fly to Scotland had been a difficult one. In a small way, she wished Emma hadn’t taken to him so quickly—it would have made the choice easier—but every minute she chatted about him if she wasn’t there with him. Piggyback rides, pushes on the swing, taking a nap on his chest; Emma was not one to be separated from her dad.
Going to Scotland would help them bond even more and maybe she would think about having her go for visits sooner than she initially intended. She hoped it was the right choice. For Emma, it was an easy decision. For her it was trickier. Being this close to him was wreaking havoc on her resolve to stay away from him and not get involved again.
It had been less than forty-eight hours and she was already imagining his arms around her. Slamming her hands into her head, she hated herself for even thinking that. He’d cheated. She’d resolved to never, ever be with a cheater. She had to value herself more than that; if she didn’t then she might as well move back in with her mom and become that woman’s clone.
She had to stay strong or she would end up destroying herself. Going to Scotland would be a true test of her ability to resist him. She didn’t know if she could and, more importantly, she didn’t know if she wanted to, but more than her self-respect was on the line when it came to him.
Chapter 19
The week flew by and Alex had to admit that she enjoyed having Gabe there. He was up bright and early with Emma every morning. Emma was so excited for him to walk her to school that she was waking up before the sun and getting dressed in the dark. She was worried that even in his baseball cap and sunglasses, he would draw attention, and he certainly did. Although the other moms couldn’t see his face very well, his height and muscled body were hard to miss, especially at drop-off where almost everyone knew everyone else. Wearing his incognito attire, he could drop Emma off with her without too many questions.
For the questions she got, she told people that he was Emma’s dad in town for a visit. There were a few shocked glances, but no one was too nosy. She was sure they were all talking about her behind her back, but she didn’t really care too much. The biggest issue occupying her days with him around was what to do when Emma wasn’t there as a buffer. He was wreaking havoc on her equilibrium. While she generally worked from home a couple of times per week, she found herself going into the office almost every day just as a respite from being in the house, feeling like he was tracking her every move.
He’d practically set up shop in her office, even though there was a desk up in the guest room. He also found any chance he could to touch her when they were alone. It could be brushing against her when reaching for something, or not moving to the side when they walked down the hallway. She’d even walked out into the hall one day when he was coming out of the shower with just a towel wrapped around his waist. She swore that her legs turned to jelly as she placed a hand on the wall to steady herself.
Gabe apologized as he hustled into the guest room with the water glistening on his body and muscles rippling as he adjusted his towel. Alex hadn’t even realized she’d been frozen in place and staring until he gave her a wink and closed the door right in her face. She had made sure that she went into the office that day and the following day, partially to tamp down her embarrassment.
If she was in the office, he would pick up Emma on his own. When she came home, there were tales of their trip to get ice cream, or of him pushing Emma on the swing almost up to the sky. Emma was beaming every single day and that was how she knew that going to Scotland was the right choice. Maybe it wasn’t the right choice for her, but for Emma it was a no-brainer.
The only hiccup they’d had during the week was one day when she’d come home early from work. At first, she thought that maybe he had gone out, but then a raised voice came from her office. The door was slightly ajar and he was shouting inside.
“If you think for one fucking minute you are getting another cent from me, you are sorely mistaken! You’ll be lucky if I don’t kill you the minute I see you,” he roared. She pushed the door open a little bit further. He was in the office pacing and pulling at his hair with his phone to his ear.
“I don’t care about your excuse. You kept my daughter from me for six years and you kept Alex away from me for even longer. Don’t call me again. And don’t even think about calling me from another number. I’ll talk to you through my lawyers.”
She could hear raised voices through the other side of the line, but couldn’t make out what was being said.
“I’ll get my own lawyers, Aaron. I don’t care.”
“We’ll see about that. I’ll make sure that you never work for another client ever again. Don’t contact me again.” He slammed down the phone so hard, the screen cracked. He picked it up and cursed at it. She knocked on the door to make her presence known. He whipped around with his eyes wide.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard shouting and just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
He dropped his head, shaking it. “I’m sorry Alex. I didn’t mean to get so loud.”
“It’s all right. I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”
“About as okay as I can be after realizing I let a snake run my life for the past seven years.”
“So, Aaron’s done more than keeping the knowledge that Emma existed from you?”
“That by far takes the cake and makes everything else pale in comparison,” he said solemnly.
“If you want to talk about it, we have about twenty minutes until we need to pick up Emma. We could go for a walk,” she offered. He looked up at her and gave her a small smile.
“Sure, that sounds good.”
They began their walk the long way to the school in silence. The warm, late-spring air was filled with lively sounds of the neighborhood. The birds were out and a warm breeze was passing by them.
“I knew from the beginning that Aaron was out for himself, but I always thought he was also on my side,” Gabe began. “He was just starting out as well when I started on Stargazer. I was his first big client in a major movie, so I thought we were a good fit. Navigating the world together. The first indicator that I should have seen coming was the relationship clause in the Stargazer franchise agreement,” he said, as he stopped and looked up at the sky. Alex stopped beside him as he seemed to be gathering his thoughts.
“That fuckin
g agreement. What a mess!” he said as he continued walking. “Aaron told me that the studio could have sued me for millions of dollars if I backed out of that agreement because of the relationship clause.”
Her stomach turned at the thought of that Stargazer agreement. She’d known that he’d agreed to it, but she never got the why.
“They would have sued you for millions?”
“That was what Aaron was telling me. I had no idea how to read contracts back then. When I told him no way, that I was in a relationship with you and I wouldn’t do it, that’s when he threw down the lawsuit hammer. Said they would sue me for breach of contract and I would be on the hook for millions. What an idiot I was,” he said, his hands fisted at his sides.
“So, it wasn’t in the contract?”
“Turns out it was a studio suggestion and Aaron decided to run with it and push for it. He said it would raise my profile, thus raising his profile,” he said, giving a harsh laugh and shaking his head.
“So that’s why you agreed to it,” she said, finally realizing what she hadn’t back then. He stopped abruptly, stepping in front of Alex, and placing his hands on her arms.
“I would have never agreed to that under normal circumstances. I told him ‘no.’ I gave Aaron a flat out ‘no’ to pretending I was in a relationship with Lesley,” he said, staring into her eyes. A crawl ran up her back envisioning about Gabe and Lesley together. So many dominos stacked up and had been ready to fall all because of greed. “But once he told me about the damages I had to pay, then I had no choice,” he said with a sigh, breaking eye contact and dropping his hands from her arms.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” she asked, trying to catch his eyes again.
“We weren’t exactly having an easy talk about what was happening. You were upset. Completely and totally, justifiably upset and I kept trying to figure out a way to make it work. I was trying to figure out how I could do both—not get sued to high heaven and not have to hide being with you—but I couldn’t.”
“If you had just told me, I would have understood,” she said, her voice raising an octave. “If you had told me, I wouldn’t have left. You wouldn’t have—,” she stopped mid-sentence, not wanting to bring up Lesley. That would lead to an even more unpleasant conversation and it was almost time to pick up Emma.
“I wouldn’t have what?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing. What are you going to do about Aaron?” she asked, kicking a stone off the sidewalk.
“I’m going to have to get a lawyer and figure out how to get out of his management agreement. It’s for another five years and there is no way he’s getting another cent from me. He’s lucky I don’t knock his damn teeth in after what he did. But I’m sure he would love that. The little weasel would try to sue me for damages and milk a little bit more money out of me,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Alex,” he said, turning to her as they stood at the fence to the school waiting for the bell to ring. “I’m sorry for what happened in the hotel room. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything then. I was so excited about the franchise. I couldn’t believe this would be my big break and I—for some stupid reason—thought that you’d go along with the lies when it came to my relationship status. It was a mistake that I’ve regretted almost every day and if there was a way to go back and change it I would.”
“Thank you for the apology Gabe, but is that all you’re apologizing for?”
“Is there something else?”
Before she could say anything else, the bell rang and the teachers came walking out with their classes of students to hand off to the parents. Emma ran to them immediately. Gabe crouched down and held his arms open and Emma squealed and jumped as she threw herself right into his arms. He picked her up and spun her around.
“How’s my best girl?” he asked, pulling her to him and showering her face with kisses.
“Daddy!” she giggled, trying to evade his kisses. The sour pit in Alex’s stomach ebbed away a bit seeing those two together. He was going to be a great dad. Whatever happened between them, at least they had that.
Chapter 20
Alex continued to keep him at arm’s length and it was driving Gabe a bit crazy. There were moments where they were on the verge of reconnecting and then she would back off and run away. He hoped that their time in Scotland would help bring them all closer together.
The more time he spent with Emma, the more he had heart pangs at the thought of not being with her every day. Picking her up from school was probably one of the best parts of his day. When she ran to him and jumped into his arms, he felt like he could do anything. He was her superhero, as evidenced by her making him recite lines from one of his most popular franchises that had come out a little while ago.
Whether it was playing hide and seek, reading a bedtime story, or giving her piggyback rides, a hole in his heart he hadn’t even known he’d had was filled and overflowing. The strained tiredness that had overtaken him lately was pushed away the minute he saw those two.
They left for Scotland in the morning and Gabe couldn’t wait for Emma to see what he did up close. He knew that she would have a ball on-set. Alex was a puzzle he was still trying to figure out and he’d planned a few surprises for their time there that he hoped would show her how much he still cared about her. He hoped that she still cared about him too.
The fleeting glances and gentle touches Gabe had managed to steal around her were driving him crazy. He knew how good they could be together and he wanted to recapture that. They’d put Emma to bed early, so she wouldn’t be too cranky for the flight in the morning. Now it was his turn to get ready for the trip. Packing the last of his things, he looked up and Alex was standing in the doorway.
“Why are you hanging out over there?” He waved her in. She hesitated before coming in and sitting down on the foot of the bed. He put the last of the cables and other electronics in his bag.
“Is everything arranged for Scotland? Did you need any other information from me before we go?” she said, shooting him a sideways smile. Gabe had grilled her about anything and everything they might need while in Scotland. He’d asked about foods they liked, detergent—you name it—he’d asked about it to make sure the house was stocked with familiar things to make their time there more enjoyable. Although the original plan was for Alex and Emma to be in Scotland for two weeks, he hoped he’d be able to convince her to stay through the summer, especially if her job was okay with her doing her work remotely.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said, biting her bottom lip. He zeroed in on her lip and had to hold back a groan. They were so incredibly kissable. He wanted nothing more than to run his thumb over it before kissing her. Perhaps noticing his staring, she cleared her throat and pressed on, “Why don’t we treat this trip like a reset?” She was looking down at her hands now with her leg bouncing up and down.
“A reset?”
“Yeah,” she said, her leg still bouncing. “Let’s go to Scotland with a clean slate. Just try to put what’s happened behind us and move forward on this trip like a family,” she said, looking up at him with uncertainty in her eyes. Gabe’s heart leapt. This was exactly what he wanted, what he’d been hoping for, and Alex had just walked in and set it on his lap. He found himself nodding vigorously.
“I’d like that very much. I think that’s a great idea,” he said, standing up and walking across the floor. He kneeled in front of her and she sucked in a sharp breath. “I know that I have a lot to make up for and a lot of lost time, but I want to do that with Emma and with you. I think a reset sounds like a wonderful idea and I promise I’ll do everything I can to make this the best trip for the both of you.” He took her hands in his and brought them to his lips, kissing them and breathing in her scent.
*
Alex stared down at him as he was kneeling in front of her and knew that this was the right decision. Her heart sped up at having him this close and his hands were so soft, yet strong on hers. He wanted thi
s to work just as much as she did. She was trying to work with him for the good of Emma and their time in Scotland. She had never been able to let that rage and fire from his cheating completely devour her heart because she knew if she did, she wouldn’t have been able to look at her little girl every day and feel utter joy.
She pushed down that little nagging voice that was screaming out that she was turning into her mother down as far as it would go. She wanted to drown that voice out. She wasn’t her mother, she wouldn’t be her mother; she could handle him and would walk away if she was at risk of losing herself. That small voice in the back of her mind told her that the reset also ensured that she could pretend he hadn’t slept with Lesley only a few short hours after she’d left. Pushing it aside, she gazed into his eyes and hoped that it could be a new beginning for them all.
She knew that there was a risk and her heart was on the line doing this, but in the time she’d spent with him, he seemed different. She was also afraid to have the conversation about what he did. So, putting it off and pushing it deep down seemed like a good idea in that moment. They could move forward and start over and they both could be there for Emma.
That evening was a whirlwind of packing and last minute arrangements. A neighbor would collect her mail and papers and they would take care of paying the neighborhood boy that mowed the lawn. Alex was in her office packing her computer, cables, and other work accessories into her work bag. She pulled open the bottom drawer, the big envelope with the custody papers in it staring her in the face. Hesitating for a second, her fingers grazed the envelope before she shut the drawer. Almost to the door, she paused for a second before she went back to the drawer and pulled them out.
She ran up to her room and sat on her bed with all her things. She had her large suitcase on the bed and was packing items away, the big custody envelope looking at her. Taking the papers out, she flipped through them. When she’d had them drawn up, it was from a place of fear and anger. Now, looking them over, especially after the week they had, she could never try to push those on Gabe or do that to Emma.
