Paige decided to take a run, despite the heat. She walked into her bedroom and began changing. The doorbell rang as she put her running shorts on. She walked to the door in just her shorts and her sports bra. She was surprised to see Brian standing there. “Come in,” she said as she opened the door.
“Were you going running?” he asked as he looked at her.
Paige nodded. “Are you okay?” she asked as he sat on the sofa.
“I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I don’t want you to think I’m pushing you away or anything. I just have a feeling about where this thing with Olivia is going.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Olivia is going to want to take Mickey to Atlanta and we’re going to have to work out custody arrangements. I don’t know how I’m supposed to just let my son go.”
And what would Olivia’s reappearance mean for her budding relationship with Brian? Paige wondered. He had already told her that he had been willing to stay with his wife for the sake of his son. What if Olivia had come back to Elmore to reunite her family?
Brian looked at Paige and smiled. “Thank you for being under- standing,” he said. “I want you to know that I’m not going to let Olivia come between us.”
Paige sat down beside him and stroked his cheek. She wanted to tell Brian that she believed him and that Olivia wouldn’t be a problem, but she didn’t know if it were true. “Have you eaten yet?” she asked.
Brian shook his head. Paige stood up and wiped her hands on her shorts.
“Why don’t I cook us something to eat and we can watch a few movies,” she suggested.
“I don’t know if I will be good company today,” he said. “I don’t want you to change your plans for me.”
Paige smiled. “That’s all right, I didn’t want to run anyway. It’s hot out there,” she said as she bounced into the kitchen. Brian followed behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“I’m scared she’s going to take my son,” he whispered in her ear. “Why wouldn’t a court award her custody? Mothers always get custody.”
Paige turned around and pulled Brian against her chest. “She’s not going to do that. Brian, she left him once. I don’t think she’s going to come back and take him now.” Paige stroked Brian’s back as he clung to her. His lips grazed her neck as he looked at her.
“All I know is, whatever I have to do keep my son with me is what
I am going to do,” he said.
Paige’s stomach lurched. And what if that meant taking Olivia back?
A few hours later, Brian and Paige were sitting in her living room eating a quick lunch. They didn’t talk much. Paige was afraid of what he was going to say and what she would say if he started talking about his wife again. Brian draped his arm across her as they watched a re-run of Law & Order.
“You know, these shows are why a lot of people end up in more trouble when they get arrested,” Brian said as the actors played out an arrest scene. “People think we have to give them a lawyer as soon as we arrest them and they can be belligerent without getting a charge of resisting arrest.”
Paige smiled. “I can’t imagine that a serious crime like the one on the show happening here. Murders and rapes just don’t seem like they hap- pen here.”
Brian looked at her. “Don’t be fooled. There is crime here, maybe not to that extent,” he said as he pointed to the screen. Paige leaned her head against his shoulder. The TV show didn’t matter anymore.
“Why did you become a police officer?” she asked.
“Well, it was something that I always wanted to do. Like most little boys, I wanted to do something that would give me a chance to carry a gun. But when I was in high school, my uncle started smoking crack. He was my hero, a football star and a ladies’ man. But one day, before he headed off to college, someone introduced him to the glass pipe. His life went downhill and my family had to watch. Drug dealers ran this town for a long time. Every week there was a drug-related shooting. People lived in fear and some of the police officers were just as corrupt as the criminals. The state stepped in to clean house. After things started to change, I wanted to do something to help my community. I skipped college and went straight to the police academy. Olivia supported me at first. While she was attending school at North Carolina Central University, I was laying the foundation for our lives here. I thought we wanted the same things. Now, ten years later, I see I was wrong.”
Paige stroked his cheek gently. “You really loved her, didn’t you?”
Brian nodded. “A part of me will always love Olivia. She is the mother of my child and she was my first love.”
His words made her shudder. “Do you think that you two might get back together?” she asked.
Brian raised his eyebrow. “Not a chance.”
Are you just saying that because you’re angry? That kind of love just doesn’t go away, she thought before changing the subject. “So, how did the department get back on track?”
“I must have been a high school senior when Chief Whitt came in. He was old school and no one was going to get one over on him. You’ll have to meet him one day,” Brian said. “How did you get into your career?”
“I love children and I wanted to do something to help them. When I was growing up, I had this one teacher that I loved, Mrs. Cramer. See, my mom was a cop and talking to her was like being interrogated some- times. But Mrs. Cramer listened to my fears and dreams and everything. She gave good advice and made me feel like I was the only kid she cared about, but she treated everyone the same way. One year she was promoted to guidance counselor and I was inspired.”
Brian nodded. “What brought you here?” he asked.
She looked away from him, thinking carefully about her response. Did she want to tell Brian that this was a stepping-stone for her on her way to a career with a bigger school system? Or did she want to tell him that this was her last chance to make it without losing her temper as she’d done in Nashville? Paige sighed and turned her golden eyes on him. “This was and is my chance to write a new chapter in my life. You know that I’m not always the easiest person to get along with and while I was in Nashville, I had an issue with a parent that turned into an issue with my principal and left me unemployed.”
Brian raised his eyebrow. “What kind of issue?”
Paige told him the story of the student who had questions about sex. Paige had known that the child was too young to be asking those kinds of questions. At first she’d thought the little girl was being molested. She’d asked Paige what intercourse was, how you knew if you were pregnant and things like that. The first thing Paige told the sixth grader to do was talk to her parents. A few days later the girl returned with the same questions, saying that her parents wouldn’t talk to her about it. Paige knew the statistics on young people and sex. The last thing she wanted was for this student to wind up with sexually transmitted diseases, an unwanted pregnancy or something worse, HIV.
“I handed her the same reproductive health book that was used in the classroom so that she could find some answers. Well, that didn’t sit too well with her closed-minded parents. They came to my office and let’s just say things got out of hand. There was some name calling and I was fired.”
Brian exhaled loudly. “Whoa. I’m not sure if I would have been too happy with you either. Sometimes we parents want to keep our kids away from that kind of stuff for as long as we can.”
Paige rolled her eyes. “So, when Mickey starts asking you about sex, you’re just going to shut him down?”
“No, but as his father it’s my decision about when to have that talk with him.”
Paige nodded. “That’s why I told her to talk to her parents. They wouldn’t explain it to her and she came back to me. What was I supposed to do?”
Brian shrugged his shoulders. “Call her parents in for a conference?”
Paige frowned and folded her arms across her chest. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said sarcastically.
; Brian pulled at her elbow. “Come here,” he said. He pulled her close to him. “You were trying to do the right thing, I know you were. Your heart was in the right place and you have a big one, I’m beginning to see.” He kissed her on the cheek.
“I love kids. Many kids are missing something at home, like attention from their parents and things like that. That’s why they need an adult they can turn to. Someone that doesn’t have an agenda and someone that will listen to what they have to say. My mother worked so much when I was growing up that if I hadn’t had Mrs. Cramer, I would have been a teenaged mother or worse.”
Brian smiled. “It’s a good thing you had her.”
Paige nodded. “And I want to be someone’s ‘Mrs. Cramer.’ I want to make a difference in someone’s life.”
Brian stroked the back of her hand. “I’m sure you will. You have a way with kids. Mickey loves you to death.”
Paige smiled. “And I love him too. He’s sweet. Nothing at all like his father.”
Brian clutched his chest as if he were wounded. “Ouch.”
Paige kissed him on the cheek. “Want some ice cream?” she asked as she stood and picked up their empty plates.
“Sure,” he said.
Paige walked into the kitchen and put the dishes in the dishwasher. “I have your favorite,” she called out.
“Butter pecan?”
“You got it.” Paige walked into the living room with two bowls of ice cream. Brian took the bowls from her hand, set them on the coffee table and pulled her into his lap. When he stroked her cheek, she locked her fingers with his. They didn’t speak. But when she looked into Brian’s eyes, she saw pain. She knew that he was still worried about Mickey and no matter how much ice cream she fixed for him; if he lost his son he would be devastated.
“Feeling any better?”
“A little. Maybe I should get a lawyer,” he said. “But you know what? I don’t want to talk about that right now. Olivia has him for just one night. She is his mother and she has that right.”
Paige looked away from him. What if she wants you back? “We’d better eat this ice cream before it melts.” She picked up a bowl and handed it to Brian.
After eating the ice cream, Paige and Brian decided to take a walk around the block. Paige looked at him as they walked. “How did you and Olivia meet?” she asked, even though she didn’t really want to know the answer to the question.
He cleared his throat. “We grew up together, you could say. We went to high school together. I was a basketball player and she was a cheerleader. We started dating when we were sophomores in high school. I thought she was the only woman I would ever love.”
Paige cringed inwardly as Brian glanced at her. “But I think I might have been wrong,” he said. “Have you ever been in love?”
She shook her head. “I have a knack for alienating men. I’ve been known to fly off the handle occasionally.”
Brian faked a look of shock. “You?”
She squeezed his arm. “Whatever. Anyway, my mother—God rest her soul—taught me to be independent. According to her, love can get in the way of your career. I took that lesson to heart.”
Brian raised his eyebrow. “Your mom sounds tough.”
“She had to be. My dad left when I was three. She was a policewoman and a single mother.”
“I can feel her pain,” Brian said ruefully.
Paige stroked his back and fell silent. They continued to walk. “So,” Brian said. “The guy that moved you in. Was he another one of the men you alienated?”
“No way. Patrick was my roommate and best friend in Nashville. I was thinking about going back to Nashville for my vacation, but staying around here is starting to look better than going to the city.”
Brian smiled knowingly. “I’m glad you’re staying. Maybe I can change your mind about love.”
If anybody can, I know it’s you, Paige thought as they headed up the street to their houses.
After his walk with Paige, Brian went home. The first thing he did was call Olivia’s mother to check on his son. “What do you want?” Olivia asked when she answered the phone.
“How’s my son?”
“He’s fine, why wouldn’t he be?” she snapped.
“I don’t want to argue with you,” Brian said. “I just want to tell my son goodnight.”
“Why haven’t you let my mother see her grandson? I just can’t believe you. You had absolutely no right to keep my mother from seeing Mickey. I thought we were going to handle this a little more maturely. You’re acting like a child.”
“Put Mickey on the phone,” he snapped. The dial tone sounded in his ear.
Brian tossed the phone aside. He stood up, grabbed the keys to his truck and headed to Davina’s house.
When Brian got to his former mother-in-law’s house, he had to stop himself from kicking the door in. He and Davina had never got along and he knew she was encouraging this reckless behavior in Olivia. He could imagine her telling her daughter all kinds of wild stories about him. Anger didn’t begin to describe how he was feeling as he pressed the doorbell. These women are not going to keep my son from me, Brian thought as he leaned on the doorbell.
The door swung open. Davina stood behind the screen door. “Have you lost your mind?” she snapped. Her wide nostrils flared as she looked at her former son-in-law. Her silver hair was pushed back off her face. She focused her cold brown eyes on him.
“Where is my son?” he asked as he reached for the door handle. Davina quickly locked it and sneered at Brian.
“You’re not coming in here,” she snapped. “I haven’t seen my grandson in months and you’re just going waltz in here and take him? I don’t think so.”
“Where is Olivia?” Brian asked.
“Why do you care? She told me that you had some slut in your house this morning. What kind of father are you? These days kids need positive role models and you’re whoring around with some woman. I told Olivia you were having an affair.”
A heated rage surged though his body. Brian wanted to reach through the screen door and shake Davina until her dentures fell out. “There’s no telling what you’ve told Olivia over the years. You’re part of the reason your daughter was miserable but you don’t see that, do you? If you don’t let me in this house to kiss my son goodnight, I’m kicking the door in,” he said in a no nonsense voice.
Davina unlocked the door. Brian walked in and found Mickey sitting in front of the TV watching a movie that he thought was inappropriate. He turned the TV off.
“Hey, champ,” Brian said as he hugged Mickey.
“Daddy! Did you come to take me home?” he asked.
“If you want me to. But don’t you want to spend some time with your mother and your grandmother?”
Mickey shook his head. “Mommy left again.”
Brian looked up at Davina, who was standing in the doorway of the living room. “Where is Olivia?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “And if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you. She doesn’t want you.”
“I’m not having this discussion in front of my son,” he said. Brian turned to Mickey and told him to get his things. When he was out of earshot, Brian turned his fury on Davina.
“You tell your daughter, that sorry excuse for a mother, that the next time she sees Mickey she’s going to need a court order. Now, I’m taking my son home and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t expose my son to these violent movies.”
Mickey bounced down the hall with his bag and toys. Brian ushered the boy out the door and glared at Davina.
“You’re opening a can of worms, taking the boy like this,” Davina called out as Brian and Mickey headed out the door.
“You tell Olivia her son wanted to spend time with her, not in front of a television screen,” Brian said as he closed the door to his truck.
It didn’t take long for Olivia to show up at the house. Brian had just put Mickey in bed when there was a knock at the door. Brian knew who it was without opening the cur
tain. “You have some nerve,” Olivia snapped. “I was spending time with my son.”
“You were nowhere to be found,” Brian said. “When I told you that Mickey needed you, that’s what I meant. He needed his mother.”
Olivia placed her hands on her hips and looked at Brian. “Look, why don’t we sit down and talk.” She walked into the house. Brian stepped back from her as if she were holding a gun.
“What is there to talk about?” he asked.
Olivia took a step toward him. “I didn’t just come back for Mickey. I want our family back.”
Brian rubbed his hand across his face. “What? You walked out on us with no explanation and you think you can slink your way back into our lives? What about when you have another mood swing and decide you want to take off again? There’s nothing here for you but your son.”
“I was confused, I thought there was something out there for me, but what I need is right here with you and Mickey. Please, Brian, can’t we try again? Mickey needs both of us.”
“And it took you all of this time and a divorce to figure that out?” he asked with a snort. “We’re doing just fine without you. If you want to have visitation with Mickey, I’m not going to stand in your way, but it will be a cold day in hell before I take you back into my heart.”
“I thought you wanted Mickey to have a two parent home? Do you think that woman is going to take my place? She’s not Mickey’s mother, I am. And what we shared can’t compare to what you think she can offer you.” She reached out to stroke his cheek, but Brian recoiled at her touch.
Another Chance to Love Page 10
