by Maya Hughes
She squared her shoulders and walked back downstairs. Gabe was wandering around looking at picture after picture of her and Emma together throughout the years. She was standing in the doorway, sheepishly put back the one he was holding.
“These are really great pictures. It seems like she’s always smiling.”
“She has her moments,” Alex said, plopping down on the chair beside the sofa. He dropped down onto the sofa and allowed his head to rest against the back of the couch, closing his eyes.
“I guess you could use a nap as well,” she said with a smirk.
“She’s a ball of energy. I don’t know how you do it,” he said absently.
“It’s not like I’ve had much of a choice,” she bit out. His eyes snapped open with stunned pain and she regretted her tone. She softened it a bit.
“Emma’s a pretty awesome kid. You get used to all the craziness. She doesn’t usually crash like this in the afternoon, but I think that with all of the excitement today, she really wore herself out.” She sat forward, perching on the edge of her chair.
“So, what do we do now? How do we handle all of this?” he said, sighing.
“Well, first, I want you to know that she’s one hundred percent yours. There is no doubt in my mind.”
“I know, Alex. I never doubted that for a minute. I knew the moment I looked at her pictures. I felt it. I know she’s mine, so don’t worry about that as all.”
She gave him a sharp nod before continuing. “I would prefer if no one finds out about us. I mean, I want to protect Emma from all the craziness, tabloids, paparazzi, and stuff like that.”
“Yeah, I want that too, but people are going to find out about her. I want her in my life. I’m not just going to hide her away. She’s my daughter. There are so many places I’d like to take her, things I want to show her, and spend time with her. People are going to see us together.”
“Wow, someone you’re not afraid to take out in public; seems like you really must care about her.”
“Alex, I—” he started.
“No, forget I said anything. It’s not about us, it’s about Emma. But I don’t want her mixed up in any of the Hollywood mess. No studio contracts or publicity stunts. I had a minuscule taste of that life and I could barely handle it. I’m not going to allow people to start picking her apart.”
“I completely agree. Would it be possible to spend some time with her soon? When does her school finish?”
“She’s finished in a week, until after Labor Day.”
“It’s a seven-hour flight from here to Scotland. Has she ever flown before?”
“Woah there, I didn’t say anything about sending her to Scotland. She barely knows you; I’m not just going to hand her over to you. If you want to see her, you need to come here, at least at first. Maybe when she’s nine or ten, we can start thinking about having her fly on her own.”
“I didn’t say anything about her flying on her own. I figured you would come with her,” Gabe said staring into her eyes.
She jumped up. “I can’t just pick up and leave, Gabe. Emma and I have a life here and we have a schedule. We can’t just drop everything and go to Scotland with you,” she said, pacing the floor.
“Ok, so what’s your schedule like? Emma’s finished school in a week. What about you? Do you have any vacation time coming up?”
“Gabe, I’m not going to Scotland with you.” Alex scoffed.
“Alex, be reasonable. I want to spend more than a week with Emma. I can spend the week here and spend time with Emma. Get to know her better, and then we can all go to Scotland. It will be an adventure. I can arrange for activities and things for you both to do while I’m filming and then we can spend time together when I’m not filming.”
“We’re not going to follow you around Scotland, Gabe. How about we set up a schedule for when you come back from filming? Emma knows you now. We can do some video chatting and have you two talk on the phone. Then when you’re back, maybe you could stay some place close and she could stay overnight. Ease into it,” she said as she stopped pacing and finally looked at him.
“I’m not going to leave her, Alex. I just found out I have a daughter. I’ve missed so much time already. I don’t want to miss a minute more.”
“It’s not only about you, Gabe. You should think about her. Put her first, and is going to Scotland what’s best for her right now?”
“I think it is. I think it would be great for her to go to Scotland and spend time with her dad. What I think is that you don’t think it would be best for you to go to Scotland,” he accused.
“That’s ridiculous,” she scoffed. “It’s not about me.”
“Exactly, it’s about Emma. And I don’t want her to think that I’m going to show up and disappear as quickly as I appeared. I want to spend time with her and start to really bond with her.”
“Gabe—” she started.
“Alex, don’t answer now. Please, give me some time to show you how much I want this and how good it will be for her. I’ll spend a few days here and get to spend time with Emma. Then in a couple of days we can make the decision. Does that sound okay to you?”
She swallowed hard and tried to be reasonable, not letting her past hurt get in the way of this decision. She could do this. She could do this.
“It’s probably best if you just stay here,” she said, giving in. His jaw dropped. “In the guest room. There’s an extra bedroom upstairs. If you check into a hotel, there’s a better chance someone will recognize you.”
“Are you sure?”
“No, but I think it’s what will work best.”
“That’s fine with me. My bags are in the car.”
“Ok, I’ll go make up the bed.”
“And I’ll go get my bags.”
“Great,” they both said, standing in the middle of the living room not moving. She shook herself out of her stupor and started for the stairs.
“Right, I’m heading upstairs. It’s the room next to Emma’s. You can’t miss it. Do you need help with your bags?”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll be fine,” he said as he headed to the sliding door off the kitchen.
Alex started up the stairs, kicking herself the whole way. Why did she ask him to stay? She reasoned that keeping him off the radar would probably make things easier for the week he was here, but having him sleeping across the hall from her was going to wreak havoc on her. Even with his betrayal and the fact that she’d been on her own for the past six years, he got her heart fluttering like no other man she’d ever met.
She just hoped she was strong enough to resist him because she couldn’t allow him to break her heart again. More importantly, she had to protect Emma’s heart.
16
Standing outside, Gabe looked back at the house, still unable to believe that he had a daughter. He had a daughter with Alex. All the feelings he’d pushed deep down when she’d left were bubbling back, and were boosted by the fact that she’d given him an amazing little daughter. A daughter he barely knew and who barely knew him. How had he not known? Why had he chosen the promise of stardom and fear of losing money over her?
Looking back on it, he regretted the moment he signed those papers, but he was fooling himself if he didn’t admit that he’d wanted the fame and stardom and money. He’d wanted all of that and hadn’t been willing to make the sacrifices he needed to make to keep her in his life. He was a different man now and he would do what it took to make it right.
Grabbing his bags from the trunk, he slung the duffle over his shoulder and made his way back to the house. He opened the door and had the same reaction he had the first time. Comfort and relaxation. The whole house smelled just like her, citrus and a hint of vanilla. He made his way through the living room, looking at more pictures of the two of them together over the years. There were big smiles from both, surrounded by bubbles, playing on the lawn, out on vacation, at the beach, and in every one of them they were so happy. He wanted to be a part of that with them.
Her footsteps sounded across the floor above him and made his way upstairs to the guest room. He’d been surprised when she suggested he stay in the guest room. From the way she was acting, she would much rather have him anywhere other than near her, but keeping low profile would be ideal until they figured out where everything stood.
Turning into the guest room, he bumped right into Alex, who was walking out with an arm full of sheets. He grabbed onto her arms to steady her and stop her from falling. She quickly pulled herself from his grasp and stood firmly.
“I needed to take off the old sheets. I hadn’t changed them since Jen stayed over last.”
“No problem. How is Jen?”
“She’s good, great actually. She just started working at a firm in LA. It’s a big entertainment law firm. She was working in New York for a while, but the office in LA asked if she’d be interested in the transfer and she said yes.”
“Glad to hear she’s doing so well,” Gabe said, placing his carry-on suitcase on the trunk at the bottom of the bed and his messenger bag on the desk against the wall.
“It was really sad for us to see her go and not have her so close anymore. It was easy for her to hop on the train and head down here for the weekend when she wasn’t completely swamped. But it was good to see her get some recognition. Maybe you’ll run into her in LA sometime,” she said, standing in the middle of the room.
“Maybe, I will. I don’t tend to interact with lawyers much in LA, but if she’s an entertainment lawyer, I’m sure she’ll pop up at a party or two.” He pulled his laptop out of his bag and placed it on the dark wooden desk.
She gave him a nod and then popped out of the guest room. The room had that same fresh citrus smell that was everywhere in the house. The blue and green patterns from downstairs were also reflected up here with light green walls that made the small room feel airy. There was also an en suite bathroom.
She came back into the room with an armload of folded sheets and pillowcases. He went to take them from her, but she pulled them back to her chest.
“It’s okay. I can do it.”
“I can do it, Alex. I didn’t get to do the dishes. The least I can do is make the bed.”
“Really, it’s no problem,” she said, walking over to one side of the bed.
“Why don’t we do it together?” She started to say something before she pulled back.
“Sure, of course. It seems we’ll have to be doing a lot of that in the future, so why not start now?” She unfolded the fitted sheet and threw him the other half.
“You did really well with Emma today,” she said as she began fitting her half of the dark blue sheet onto the bed.
“She’s a great kid. Truly amazing. When she was showing me her room, she showed me just about every toy she’s ever gotten. She started to read me some books as well. That’s great that she’s reading already. I didn’t know kids read that young,” Gabe said as he slipped his side of the sheets over the mattress.
“Emma enjoys reading. She usually tries to get at least three books out of me at bed time. Sometimes, like a bartender, I have to cut her off,” Alex said, tucking her side under the bed.
“I can imagine. Alex,” he said, pausing. “I can’t apologize enough for what happened.” She snapped up to look at him.
“What do you mean? Sorry for what exactly?” she asked warily.
“I know, I just found out about Emma, but I’m sorry that I didn’t try harder to get in touch with you after what happened in LA. I’m sorry that I didn’t come after you and try harder to contact you. But I knew what the contract required and I didn’t think it would be fair to you to come when there would be all these rules about what we could and couldn’t do.”
“So that’s all you’re sorry for?” she practically spat. He was a bit taken aback by her venom and tried to think of what else she could be talking about.
“Alex, I know it couldn’t have been easy. I know I should have known the two of you were out there somewhere, but I’ll do everything I can to be there for Emma and for you from now on. I promise you that,” he said, seeking out her eyes as she evaded his gaze. She shoved the pillows into the cases a bit harder than was necessary.
“Just stick to keeping your promises to Emma and we won’t have an issue,” she said punching the pillows. Gabe got the sneaking suspicion that she was imagining it was his face.
“Alex,” he said as he started around the bed. She backed out of the room.
“Gabe, I can’t talk to you about this right now,” she said, her eyes glistening. His heart started to race at her reaction. He knew it was an emotional day for all of them, but Alex had seemed to be handling it all well—as well as could be expected—up until then.
“Alex.” He tried again.
“Gabe, I can’t right now. Okay? I need some time alone.” Her voice cracked. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Opening them, she seemed to have composed herself a bit more.
“Keep an ear out for Emma, okay? She should be up from her nap soon. I need a little bit of time in my office. I’ll be back out shortly. I have a few calls to make,” she said before she darted off down the hallway.
He was still standing in the doorway of the guest room wondering what the hell just happened. Knowing that mending what was broken wouldn’t be easy, he started to unpack and looked forward to the time he would get to spend with Alex and Emma over the next week. He couldn’t imagine how difficult it had all been raising her all on her own. He’d seen how much she loved and took care of Emma.
She’d done a wonderful job and his only wish was that he could have been there to help her. He knew that it was unrealistic to believe that he should have known he had a child out there somewhere, but he should have. He shouldn’t have allowed Aaron’s treachery to steal this time away from him and Emma and Alex.
Aaron would be another cluster to deal with. He would need to get out of that contract. He could never work with Aaron again and would rather never work again rather than help him make a single cent.
17
Alex held onto the wall as she flew down the stairs to her office. All the calm she’d put on throughout the day was quickly wearing off. He hadn’t said a word about his cheating. He was sorry he didn’t know about Emma and that was all he was sorry for. She supposed since he didn’t know she knew about Lesley, he didn’t see any reason to apologize to her. Maybe he thought that since they had been broken up that it didn’t count as cheating.
Feeling like a lance had speared her through the heart, Alex ran into her office and slammed the door. She grabbed her phone and hit the speed dial for Jen. It rang once before Jen answered.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to call me,” Jen said from what sounded like a crowded bar.
“Are you out?”
“Yeah, but hold on. I’ll go find some place quiet.”
She could hear Jen making her way through wherever she was. There were glasses clanking and people talking. She paced in her office, her socks sliding a bit on the hardwood floors as she made sharp turns. Suddenly, it was much quieter and a door shut.
“Okay, I can hear you now.”
“I’m freaking out Jen. I’m completely and totally losing my mind here,” Alex said, plopping herself down in her office chair and trying not to hyperventilate.
“Take some deep breaths Alex, put your head between your legs if you need to.”
“Already there,” Alex said, blood rushing to her head.
“Your text wasn’t exactly long, but you said he showed up and had only recently found out about Emma. How is that possible?”
“Apparently, Aaron, his manager, was treating my letters like fan mail to be kept away from him. He said he found all of my letters in his manager’s office and came here as soon as he could book a ticket.”
“Wow,” Jen said, blowing out a low whistle. “That’s intense. Do you believe him?”
“About only finding out about Emma recently? Yes, I do. You sh
ould have seen the way he was with her. And the look on his face when he first saw her. We were in the backyard having a water fight and he appeared out of nowhere. When he saw her…” She let out a deep breath. “Jen, he was ... I don’t know how to explain it. He looked at her like she was his moon and stars. I don’t think he could have faked how he was with her.”
“That’s good. It’s good that he wanted to see her and came to see you both once he found out.”
“It is good, but it’s also scary.”
“I understand, so what now?”
“He’s staying over here for the week. He’s upstairs in the guest room as we speak.”
“Really?” Jen asked surprised. “And you think that’s a good idea?”
“Yes, I think that’s a good idea. It’s better than him going to a hotel and everyone finding out a big celebrity is here. People would start asking questions.”
“Such a good idea that you called me on the verge of a panic attack?” Jen asked.
“Jen, what else was I going to do?”
“Tell him that you would work to arrange for a custody agreement that both of you could agree to and that he should contact your lawyer.”
“You didn’t see him with her. That wouldn’t have worked. Once he saw Emma and she saw him I knew they needed to spend that time together.”
“How are you going to deal with him being there the whole week? I know you two have some unresolved issues.”
“That’s an understatement. He doesn’t know that I know about the cheating. He is here for Emma and if it stays that way, then we will be fine. I don’t think he has any ideas about things happening between us.”
“You really believe that? Alex, you can’t be serious.”
“It’s what I’m going to stick with and I’ll be sure to set him straight if he starts trying to make this about me and him. I’m not going to become my mother. I’m not going to end up with a cheater like her. But that’s not what this is about now. It’s about him and Emma.”
