A Good Time

by Shannyn Schroeder

  “Wait.”

  She kept moving.

  “Please.” The one, simple, raw word froze her feet.

  “I can’t fight anymore, Griffin. Let me go.”

  He tugged on her arm, forcing her to turn. If only she could steal away some of his strength.

  “You don’t have to have the test now.”

  “I won’t have you dictate my life. You can’t control me.”

  “Take the night to sleep on it. We’ll talk tomorrow after we’ve both had a break. This isn’t about you, Indy, it’s all about the baby now.” He released her arm and walked down the dark hallway.

  Didn’t he think she knew that? Everything she did was for the baby. Except her time with Griffin. That had been selfishly about her. The way he’d looked at her and wanted her even though she was pregnant. The way he’d make her laugh by trying to provoke the baby. The way he could wrap her in warmth with a kind gesture. Yes, her love for him had been selfish.

  Well, he’d totally fucked up. Things had been going so well for them. Indy had been accepting him in her life. They were building something together. At least that’s what it had felt like.

  He went to the kitchen and poured a whiskey. After downing it in one gulp, he poured another. Trying to keep Indy in his life had been a mistake. He’d known it when he gave her office space in the condo. He knew it every day as she became comfortable in his house and in his life.

  This was never supposed to be his life. But he’d never considered meeting a woman like Indy either.

  Being bashed because of his history with Selena, regardless of the baseless assumptions, and then finding Indy searching for a new place to live was too much. Panic struck him so deep, he didn’t know what else to do but lash out. He paced with his whiskey in his hand. He could let her go. It made sense. Everything would be easier if they went their separate ways.

  But then he truly would be like his father.

  He couldn’t do to a child what had been done to him.

  The need to fix his relationship with her scared the shit out of him. He didn’t want to lose Indy any more than he wanted to lose his baby. The only thing he could think of was to give her what he’d been asking for: the truth.

  Whiskey in hand to bolster his courage, he went upstairs and knocked on her door. She didn’t answer, so he tried the knob. Locked. Further proof that he’d screwed up. It was like an extra slap. She’d never locked her door before. “Indy, can we talk?”

  No answer. He knocked louder in case she had her iPod on. Still nothing. “Look, you don’t have to do anything but listen, but I need to know you can hear me.”

  “What do you want?”

  He could still hear the tremble in her voice.

  “I fucked up. I shouldn’t have attacked you. You have to understand I’ve been carrying around this knowledge for a month now, giving you every opportunity to tell me the truth.”

  He didn’t hear any movement behind the door. He’d hope at some point she’d open the door so he could look at her, but it was probably better she hadn’t. The devastation in her eyes cut right through him. His fingers itched to knock again, get a response, but he fought the urge.

  He waited for an argument but got none, so he forged on. “I thought I was prepared to be questioned about Selena. That’s how I run my life. I don’t enter into a business deal unless I’m aware of all of the contingencies and can control the outcome.

  “You throw me every time I look at you because I never know what to expect, and I sure as hell can’t control you. I panicked with the thought of you leaving. I don’t want you to go. I should’ve just said that.

  “I’m sorry.”

  The door suddenly swung open. Although he’d thought he was used to her tears—she’d cried a lot throughout this pregnancy—he wasn’t prepared for the dull indifference on her face. The light in her eyes had been snuffed out, and he’d do anything to change that.

  “I’m not a liar—at least not to people I care about. I lied to Richard because he would try to take the baby from me in order to keep me. He doesn’t even care about the kids he already has, but I can’t fight him. I don’t have a home or a job.”

  “I wouldn’t let him take your baby.”

  “I’ve never lied to you, and you of all people have a lot of nerve calling me a liar.” She swiped at her ruddy cheeks.

  Her emotion wasn’t so far from the surface after all. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Everyone thinks you don’t know who your father is, that you haven’t seen him since you were a little kid. Why not tell the truth? You like the ‘poor Griffin’ effect?”

  She was in rare form. Anger zinged through his muscles and tightened what the two shots of alcohol had loosened. “You want to know about Malcolm? I’ll tell you who my father is.”

  He pointed into her room, and she returned to the bed while he placed his glass on her dresser among all her girly bottles and sprays. When he turned to face her, her arms were crossed, bracing herself for lies.

  “Ten years ago, Selena and I were dating, getting serious. Then one day, I walked into my condo and heard her laughing. There, in my living room, she laughed with Malcolm. She used her father’s connections and called in favors to find my dad. Thought it would be important to me. I wanted to know him, why he left, get some answers, I don’t know. Anyway, he was there and no DNA test required. You saw. He blew into my life full of promises and regrets. Within a month, Selena told me she was pregnant and I realized my father was a two-bit con artist.

  “He saw the return to my life as a means to fill his bank account. When I refused to give him money, he sprang his surprise. He’d known Selena longer than either of them let on. He said the baby Selena carried might not be mine.”

  Indy’s arms uncrossed and she covered her mouth with her hand.

  “That’s right. Dear old Dad informed me the baby might be his. I flew into a rage and accused Selena of all kinds of things. Meanwhile, Dad decided a paternity test would ruin me as well as Selena’s family, so paying him made sense. Then Selena killed herself.”

  He sipped from his glass, even though the alcohol-induced comfort no longer interested him. “After her death, I didn’t see the point in telling her family. Surprisingly, they didn’t blame me; they knew Selena had issues. Things no one ever mentioned to me until after her death. They didn’t need the attention my accusations would bring.”

  “So you don’t know if she lied.”

  He shook his head. Words could never convey the guilt he carried. “Occasionally, Malcolm would pop back into my life. He used my mother to get to me. Threatened to pay her a visit, knowing she’d take him back. I knew it would kill her if he left her again, so I continued to pay. I hadn’t seen him for three years, and when he showed six months ago, I told him my mother died and cut him one last check.”

  “Why did he come back?”

  “I’m not sure, other than money. But he saw you and I knew he’d tried to ruin everything again.”

  She snickered. “I can one hundred percent guarantee this baby isn’t his. I might’ve fucked up a lot, but I never slept with your father.”

  “He burns everything he comes in contact with. That’s why I lied about him.” Swallowing the last of his whiskey, he turned to leave. Spilling his guts to Indy didn’t fix anything. Whoever said talking makes you feel better was full of shit. He still felt like his entire world was about to crumble.

  He left Indy sitting in her room to digest the information he’d shared. Tomorrow would be filled with gossip from the article. The online version was probably already live. He wondered what Malcolm had cost him this time.

  After another shot, he made the call he should’ve made a long time ago.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Moira, it’s Griffin.”

  “Hi. What’s up? You sound funny.”

  He twirled the whiskey glass in front of him. The O’Learys always said, if you have a big family, you might as well use the
m. He was so used to being the one called on for favors that asking for one grated on his nerves. “I need a favor.”

  “For you, anything. I think for all you’ve done for me, I probably owe you my first born.”

  “I have an exclusive for you. You write the article and sell it to the highest bidder. Wherever you’ll have the biggest audience.”

  “Oooh. Sounds good.”

  “It will be.”

  “What’s the article about?”

  “Me.”

  Chapter 18

  Indy felt like crap. She’d barely slept. She’d never been so confused in her life. Griffin being the father had never entered her mind as a reality. Lying to him had been unintentional. She didn’t like his demands, but after his apology and a whole lot of time to think, she realized she’d been wrong to lie to Richard. She didn’t want the baby to be his, and maybe, just maybe, Griffin was the father. That small nugget of hope gave her the strength to meet Griffin’s demand that she tell Richard she’d lied. He wanted Richard to know, so she’d be an adult and come clean.

  Painting on her best smile, despite the way she felt, she strode through the doors of Richard’s office. At the reception desk, she spoke quietly to the secretary. “Hi, I don’t have an appointment, but if he’s not busy, could you tell Mr. Burke that Indy Adams is here? I won’t take much of his time.”

  Indy paced the reception area, hoping she could go through with this. She hadn’t seen Richard in months, since before she left for Hooperville.

  “He said you can go right in.”

  Indy turned and walked to Richard’s office. She’d never been in his office before. All the time they’d dated, she hadn’t been in this part of his life. The furnishings were too big, imposing, like Richard. She closed the door behind her. “Hi.”

  He already moved from behind his desk to come toward her, a smile beaming on his face. “Indy, I knew you’d be back. Wow, you’ve gotten big. How are you feeling?”

  She opened her mouth to answer, but he kept going, talking in his excited tone. “I guess the story broke, huh? I knew that once you saw Walker’s ugly side, you’d see I’m not so bad.”

  “What? What are you talking about?” She had that same sinking feeling she got when he told her he’d ruined the condoms.

  “I have to admit, this is much faster than I thought.”

  She shook her head. The man made no sense. “What are you saying?”

  “After Walker paid me a visit, I figured he took you away from me. It took some time and a lot of digging, but I found his skeleton. He’s not a family man like I am, Indy. Even if the baby’s not mine, I’ll raise it. We can still be a family.” He ran his hands up and down her arms.

  When had he gotten so close? Trying to focus on what he’d said, she took a step back and hit the door. “No, we can’t. This was a mistake. I can’t believe you would try to ruin a man’s reputation to try to get me back.” Her voice shook as much as her hands.

  She fumbled behind her for the doorknob.

  “Don’t go. Let’s talk. We can fix this.”

  Pushing him away from her bulging stomach, she pulled at the door. “This is exactly why I didn’t want you to know the baby might be yours. But Griffin insisted you had a right to know. Well, know this. I will never speak to you again. Even if the baby is yours, I will fight with everything I have to keep him from you.”

  Moving as quickly as her bloated body would allow, she ran from the office. Richard continued to call her, but she kept going. Not until she sat behind the wheel of her car could she breathe.

  Everything was all her fault. The anger bubbling in Griffin last night. The frustration over the damage to his reputation with the foundation’s launch being so close. It was all on her. She drove to Griffin’s office. She might as well get all of her confrontations done at once. No more lies.

  God, she hated driving downtown. She drove in circles looking for a metered parking spot, practicing what she would say to Griffin. That was of course assuming he’d even speak to her. It’s not like she’d met him halfway last night.

  She swung into a spot and paid the meter. Walking down the block to his building, she called him.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi. It’s me.”

  “Indy? Where are you?”

  “I’m outside your building. Can you come down and talk for a few minutes?”

  “You’re here? Come up.”

  “No. I need to tell you something and it’s nothing I want to say in front of an audience. And it’s probably not a good idea for people to see me in your office.”

  Moments later, he pushed through the glass doors of the building. “Where’s your jacket? It’s cold out here.”

  He stood in his suit, looking sleek and polished, so different from last night. He stole her breath every time she looked at him, even when he nagged her.

  “Stop mothering me. I’m fine. I’m a walking incubator.”

  “Come inside.” He gently pulled at her elbow.

  Her elbow, she noticed, not her hand. Not an arm over her shoulder. She tugged free. “No. People will talk.” She drew a deep breath. “I need to tell you . . . I went to see Richard.”

  “What did he say when you told him?”

  “He was too excited to see me.” She watched the muscle in his jaw twitch. “He’d been expecting me.”

  “Why?” he asked through clenched teeth.

  “The reporter, the story, the interview, it was all Richard, not your father.” She crossed her arms and waited.

  “What?”

  “Your relationship with Selena was brought out because of me. Richard dug into your past to get me back. He wanted you to look bad so he would look better. I’m sorry.” Her muscles were tight and a rock sat on her chest. She’d never been more sorry. She didn’t know what she’d do if his work was ruined because of her.

  He turned away and ran his hands over his head, a sure sign of frustration for the normally cool Griffin Walker. But she didn’t feel afraid. The sudden jolt of fight or flight didn’t strike her even though she had a feeling Griffin had the capability of exploding. She stepped forward and placed her hand on his shoulder. “I really am sorry. I’ll be out by tomorrow. I won’t cause any more problems for you.”

  He spun so quickly their bodies were nearly touching. “What?”

  “I’ll be out of your house by tomorrow. It’ll be like I was never there.”

  “What I said yesterday stands. I don’t want you to leave.”

  Her throat constricted. “Don’t you get it? I’m ruining you. I make you look bad. If we weren’t together . . .” But they weren’t together, were they? She swallowed again.

  “You don’t make me look bad. My own behavior caused this mess.”

  “But it wouldn’t have happened—”

  “Stop.” He pulled her into his arms, and she froze. It felt so good having him hold her. She wanted to crawl onto his lap and stay in his warmth. “Let’s go home. We need to talk.”

  “It’s the middle of the day.”

  He looked down at her and smirked. “Boss, remember?” He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Cancel the rest of my day. Something came up. E-mail whatever I need and I’ll work from home.”

  Slipping the phone into his pocket, he turned back to her. “Where’s your car?”

  “Down the block.” She turned to walk, and he grabbed her hand.

  “Nothing is your fault. You couldn’t possibly ruin me.”

  She wished she could believe him.

  Griffin spent the next week attempting to make Indy believe she wasn’t some kind of poison and trying to make up for calling her a liar. The story about Selena broke and barely made a ripple. No one seemed to care what happened in his social life ten years ago.

  Of course it probably helped that Moira wrote her version, which included an interview with Selena’s family as well as his side. No one else had his side, so it gave Moira the byline she’d always been looking for.

&nb
sp; Indy had stopped talking about leaving, so he’d made at least some progress. They’d fallen into a comfortable routine of living with each other. Comfortable for him as long as he kept taking cold showers anyway. He paced the length of the hallway, waiting for Indy to come home. She was on her way home. It had a nice ring to it. He hadn’t put much thought into having a family or having someone to come home to until now.

  The front door swung open and Indy came in carrying two big bags. “Okay, what’s the emergency requiring me to come home now?”

  It sounded even better coming from her mouth. “Drop your bags and come with me.”

  Her brow furrowed, and he half expected an argument. He took the bags from her and added, “I have a surprise.”

  Her eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. He knew the surprise factor would get her. After dropping the bags at their feet, he pulled her through the house to the back door. “Okay. Close your eyes.”

  “I can’t close my eyes. I’ll waddle the wrong way and fall.”

  “I’m holding on to you. I won’t let you fall.” Not ever.

  She sighed but closed her eyes.

  “No peeking.” He led her down the stairs into the side yard. When they stood in front of the willow, he said, “You can open them now.”

  “Oh, my God.” Her voice lifted with excitement. “This is so cool.”

  They stared at the tire swing he’d hung hours ago. He’d had a hell of a time finding an actual tire instead of some hard plastic shaped like a tire. He wanted her to have the real thing. “You did say tire swing, right?”

  “Yeah. It’s just like I pictured it.”

  He nudged her with his elbow. “Go ahead and give it a try.”

  “My butt is way too big to fit.”

  “Your butt is fine.” He gave it a swat. “It held me. It’ll hold you.”

  Her teeth sank into her lower lip and her smile broadened. “Really?”

  “I’ll push.”

  She climbed onto the tire, and he grabbed the ropes and swung her. Her hair whipped around her face and into his as he shoved the tire. She smelled of springtime. The momentum of the swing increased, and he heard what he’d been waiting for. A giggle started and grew into a full-blown laugh, unrestrained. It echoed across the lawn. He knew he couldn’t live without hearing that sound for the rest of his life.