by Chris Cannon
“Can I help you?”
“Maybe.” He gave a shy smile. “Are you Lisa Johnson?”
I nodded.
“Is your mother Evelyn Johnson?”
Faint alarm bells started going off in my head. Could this be one of my mom’s patients? “Why do you ask?”
“I’m an old friend of your mom’s,” he said. “If I gave you my business card, would you pass it along to her?”
No harm in that. “Sure.”
The man pulled a gray card out of his wallet and set it on the table. “It was nice to meet you, Lisa.” And then he turned around and left…headed straight toward the exit without buying anything…like the only reason he’d come into the store was to speak with me. Weird.
I checked out the card. Gavin Johnson. Data on Demand. Must be some type of computer tech guy.
Other people might think us having the same last name was significant but Johnson was one of the most common last names in the United States so it didn’t faze me. When I was little, my mom told me there were almost two million Johnsons in America. There were times I wished I had a more unique last name but sometimes it was good to blend in.
When I walked into the house later that night, my mom sat on the couch in her Wonder Woman pj’s, drinking a glass of wine and reading a book. “Hey, sweetie. How was work?”
“Good.” I told her about Trey.
“He sounds like a nice guy,” my mom said.
“He is. Speaking of guys.” I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out the gray business card. “Someone you used to know stopped by and gave me this.” I passed it to her.
She glanced at the card and sucked in a breath. “What did he say to you?”
I told her what the man had said, word for word. “Should I be afraid? Is he some kind of stalker?”
She pressed her lips together like she wasn’t sure what to say. After a moment, she shook her head no.
I waited for her to say something else. A cold sensation started in my stomach and seemed to spread outward through my body, like I just drank a large frozen Coke. “Mom?”
“Sit.” She patted the seat next to her on the couch.
I sat down and waited, wondering where this was going.
“Gavin was my…well, he’s your father.”
“What?” I practically yelled the word.
My mom nodded. “I always wondered if he’d try to come back into our lives. I figured eventually he’d want to meet you.”
I laughed. “Wrong. The sperm donor didn’t want to meet me. He just used me to reach you.”
“You don’t know that,” my mom said.
“He didn’t even introduce himself,” I reminded her.
“I can’t pretend to know what he was thinking,” my mom said. “But he probably looked us up online and saw where you worked and decided to visit.” She glanced at the card. “He lives a few hours away in Missouri, so he put effort into driving over here.”
The cold inside me changed into hot anger. “Why are you defending him?”
“I’m not—”
“He didn’t want anything to do with me,” I said. “He rejected me before I was born.” My voice broke. My eyes burned. I was dangerously close to tears. Where in the hell was this tidal wave of emotion coming from? I took a breath and blew it out slowly. “Bottom line. He made his choice. He doesn’t get another chance.”
My mom moved to hug me, so I let her, but I began to feel claustrophobic. I needed to get out of the house and out of my head for a while.
Doing my best to project calm, I said, “I need to get some fresh air. I’ll be back in a little bit.” I grabbed my keys and headed out the front door. I dialed Nina as I climbed into my car. “Hey, this is Nina. Text me if you need me.”
Crap. That meant she was with West. Who else could I talk to about this? There was only one other person I trusted, even if he did piss me off on a regular basis. I dialed Matt’s number.
Chapter Fourteen
Matt
I was sitting on the couch watching American Ninja Warrior when my cell buzzed. Lisa’s name flashed on the screen.
Was she calling to gripe at me some more? I’d been a dick but then I’d apologized. There wasn’t much more I could do. “Hey, Lisa. What’s up?”
“I really need a friend right now. Can you forget all the weirdness that’s been going on between us and just be my friend?”
“Of course.”
“Can I come over?” Her voice sounded strange.
“Sure. What’s wrong?”
She hung up. Crap. What was that about? She wanted me to be her friend. That was good. Still, she didn’t sound happy.
I headed out onto the front porch and waited for her.
She pulled up and sat in her car with the engine running, staring at the steering wheel. I walked around the car and opened the door. “Are you okay?”
Not looking at me, she shook her head. She didn’t say anything else and she didn’t turn the engine off. I couldn’t leave her sitting in the car. I held out my hand. “Let’s go sit on the porch swing.”
She turned the car off and then clasped my hand. Her gaze met mine. Red rimmed her eyes, and frustration and anger radiated off her. A desire to protect her flowed through me. I pulled her from the car and wrapped my arms around her. “How can I help?”
I could feel her take a few deep breaths like she was trying not to cry. Pushing gently against my chest, she stepped back and looked up at me. I left my arms around her because it felt right. “Okay. Long story short, my dad tracked me down and asked me to give his card to my mom.”
Okay. That was out of left field. “That’s weird.”
“I know, right? And he didn’t introduce himself or ask about me. He just acted like an old friend of my mom’s. She’s the one who told me who he was.”
How in the hell do I deal with this? “Let’s go sit on the porch swing.” That would give me a few seconds to come up with something to say. Once we were seated, it felt natural to put my arm around her shoulders. She didn’t seem to mind. “So you’re mad because he didn’t tell you who he was?”
She nodded. “It’s like he just used me to get to my mom. In one way it feels like I’m overreacting, but in another way it’s like he wanted nothing to do with me…again.”
I knew it was just Lisa and her mom. I always thought her dad had bailed when she was a little kid. “When was the last time you saw him?”
“Never,” she said. “The bastard left when he found out my mom was pregnant.”
“Shit.” There wasn’t much else I could say. “What kind of dirtbag walks out on someone who is pregnant?”
“Exactly. My mom was so calm about the whole thing and I’m just so pissed off.”
“Totally justified,” I said.
Ford, our three-legged black lab, loped around the side of the house. He walked right up to us and put his head on Lisa’s lap. She reached down to pet his head. “Hey, there.”
“This is Ford,” I said. “He doesn’t like it when people are upset.”
Lisa sniffled. “He’d make a good therapy dog.”
She stroked Ford’s ears, and I sat there with my arm around her, hoping Ford would know what to do next because I didn’t have a freaking clue.
“I thought I didn’t care,” Lisa said. “I’ve known my whole life that my dad didn’t want me but having him show up out of nowhere like that…not bothering to tell me who he really was…I can’t explain how crazy angry I am right now. Plus I’m mad at myself for reacting this way. I should be able to blow the whole thing off.”
Now was the time for me to jump in and say something to make her feel better, so I tried. “You’re allowed to be mad.”
“The coward should have manned up and told me who he was.”
“Feel free to tell me to shut up,” I said, “but maybe he didn’t tell you who he was because he wanted to make sure your mom knew that he was reaching out to you. Maybe he was asking her permission before he
told you who he was.”
Lisa glared at me.
“I still think he’s a total dick, but that might have been his reason.”
She nodded and continued to stroke Ford’s ears. The dog sighed and closed his eyes.
“Do you think I should talk to him…give him a second chance?”
“That’s up to you.”
“What would you do if you were in this situation?” she asked.
That was hard to answer, because I had a great relationship with my father. “If I’d never met my dad and he showed up out of nowhere and introduced himself, I don’t know how I’d act, but I definitely wouldn’t be ready to forgive and forget.”
“This whole situation is not helping to maintain my drama-free zone,” Lisa muttered.
“Yeah, and I haven’t helped with that lately. I really am sorry about being a jerk.”
She looked up at me with big brown eyes. “Thank you. The good news is what you’ve done lately doesn’t even register after meeting my dad.”
Ford whined and nosed Lisa’s hand.
“You stopped petting him,” I said. “You aren’t allowed to do that unless you give him fair warning.”
Lisa laughed. “I’m sorry, Ford.” Using two hands, she rubbed both of his ears at the same time. Ford made a satisfied snuffling sound.
“I think you have a new best friend.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lisa
Ford snuffled and closed his eyes and the world no longer seemed like a terrible place. Maybe all I needed in my life was a dog. Having Matt’s arm around me didn’t hurt, either. Warmth from his body seeped into mine. “Thank you.”
“For what?” Matt asked.
“For talking me off the ledge.” I smiled at him. Funny how we fit together and it wasn’t awkward. I couldn’t help noticing that we were in the perfect position for a first kiss. If we were a real couple. But he’d gone out of his way to point out we weren’t, and he had no desire to kiss me… That didn’t mean he didn’t care about me. Right now he was being all kinds of warm and nice and helpful.
My cell buzzed, startling me. “That’s probably my mom. I left the house without telling her where I was going.” I pulled my phone from my pocket and saw the text from her.
I’m making brownies. Done in twenty.
I smiled.
“Good news?” Matt asked.
“My mom always makes brownies when I’m upset. Our family motto is, Chocolate might not fix everything but it’s a good start.” I texted back that I was at Matt’s and I’d be home soon.
“Your mom seems pretty cool,” Matt said.
“She is. Which is another reason why I can’t understand why my jackass of a dad bailed.”
“Sometimes people do stupid things.” Matt reached over to pat Ford’s head. His warm fingers brushed against mine. My heart rate kicked up a notch. The silence stretched out. Ford panted, oblivious to the tension in the air. Doggy breath drifted up to me, making me wrinkle my nose. “Ford is adorable, but he needs a mint.”
Ford’s ears perked up and he tilted his head, looking at me like I’d said something super interesting.
“What’d I do?” I asked Matt.
“Watch this,” Matt said. “Ford, do you want a Minty?”
Ford jumped backward and did a three-legged tap dance before turning in a circle, exuding pure puppy joy.
“Come on.” Matt stood and pulled me to my feet. “Watch out for Chevy. Once he hears the treat bag open, he’ll come flying in here.”
I followed Matt into the house. His kitchen was off to the right. He opened one of the bottom cabinets and pulled out a bag that said Minty’s Dog Treats on the front. The top opened like a ziplock bag. He didn’t even have the bag all the way open before another dog, also with three legs, came zooming in from another room.
Matt gave each dog a green bone, and they trotted off to lie side by side on a throw rug in the living room.
“I have two questions. First, what’s in those things?”
Matt grinned and tossed the bag back in the cabinet. “Peppermint oil, parsley, and some other stuff. It really does help with their breath. I tried one once.” He grimaced. “It tasted terrible.”
“You tried one?” I smiled at the idea of Matt biting into a green dog treat. “Why?”
“Charlie did it first, so I kind of had to.”
Guys were so weird. “That’s a twin thing?”
“A brother thing,” he said. “What’s your second question?”
“Why do your dogs only have three legs?”
“Before we adopted them, they both had run-ins with cars.”
“That’s sad.”
“Yeah. My sister Haley volunteers at an animal shelter, and she agreed to foster them during their recovery.”
“And then you fell in love and never gave them back?” I guessed.
“Pretty much.”
“And their names?”
“Kind of an inside joke,” Matt said. “Ford’s name at the shelter was something ridiculous like Francis.”
“Ford seems to fit him better.” I caught sight of the clock on the wall behind him. It had been twenty minutes since my mom texted. “I think those brownies are done so I better go. Thanks for helping with my mental breakdown.”
He leaned back against the counter with his hands in his front jeans pockets. “No problem. That’s what friends are for,” he said. “And no matter what stupid things I say, I’ll always be your friend.”
“Thanks. And I’ll try not to get mad when you say dumb things because you are a good friend.”
“Gee, thanks.”
I grinned, feeling the balance of the universe had been restored. “See you tomorrow.” I didn’t wait for him to offer to walk me out to my car, because I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to and that could have been awkward anyway. As I drove home, my traitorous brain replayed the way he’d hugged me and put his arm around me on the swing. He was a good guy. He just wasn’t the guy for me. I needed to keep my eyes on the prize…focus on Trey or on making myself appear datable. In a few weeks, Matt and I would be firmly back in the friend zone where we belonged.
When I walked into the house the mouthwatering scent of chocolate filled the air. I headed straight for the kitchen where my mom sat at the table halfway through her brownie. “Hey, sweetie. Feeling better?”
“Yes, and no.” I cut myself a hunk of brownie and joined my mom at the table. Before hashing this out, I took a bite. Warm gooey chocolate goodness made the world seem like a better place. Fortified with chocolate, I was ready to share. I told Mom about how Matt had acted.
“So he was good to you and then he reminded you that he isn’t boyfriend material?” my mom said.
“No.” I hadn’t seen it that way. “I’m pretty sure he is boyfriend material. He doesn’t see me as girlfriend material.”
“But you went to the movies last weekend.” She cut herself another piece of brownie. “I don’t understand why he’s backpedaling.”
Should I tell my mom about my secret agreement with Matt? I trusted her not to share, so I dove in. “Here’s the thing.” I filled her in on my fake-dating deal and our theory about the wedding ring effect.
She sat back and crossed her arms over her chest and gave me the mother of all mom-looks.
“Wow. That is not a look of approval.”
“No. It’s not. Matt is going after someone who is in a committed relationship. That’s wrong.”
I squirmed in my seat. “I don’t think he’s going after her. It’s more like he wants her to see that he isn’t just Haley’s older brother. He’s someone that could be a good boyfriend if she is ever single again. And I’d like to add that the person whose attention I want isn’t dating anyone.”
“I still say Matt is in denial. He better figure out what he wants or you’ll end up with Trey and he’ll end up by himself.” She took a deep breath. “Can we talk about Gavin? You have every right to be upset, but I need to know
how you’re feeling.”
“Blindsided,” I said. “And angry and confused and just…sad.”
“Understandable.” She took another bite of brownie. “I’m feeling mostly angry that he approached you. He should have contacted me first.”
“Yes, he should have,” I said. “What are you going to do about him?”
“I’m not sure. Now that he’s here, he probably won’t go away, so I’ll call him in a few days and see what he wants.”
“Is it wrong that part of me hopes he’s contacted us because he’s dying of some terribly painful disease?” I was only sort of joking.
“That’s a little bit wrong,” my mom said. “There was a time where I would have gladly mowed him down with my car and shown zero remorse. Since then, I’ve realized I wasn’t the problem. He’s the one with issues.”
“So you no longer want to run him over?”
“Maybe with a small scooter or a bike,” my mom said. “Nothing that would cause any permanent damage.”
I laughed.
Chapter Sixteen
Matt
After Lisa left, I stood there feeling confused. When she’d shown up in tears, all I’d wanted to do was take care of her. Once I had my arm around her on the porch swing, I hadn’t wanted to let go. It would be easy to just go with this, but in the end it wouldn’t work because she’d never be Jane and I’d never be Trey.
Chevy barked at me.
“What?”
He hopped up and trotted over to the cabinet where we kept the dog treats.
“You had one,” I said.
He sat down and tilted his head, staring at me with big puppy dog eyes. He glanced back at the cabinet door, thumped his tail on the floor, and gave a small whine.
“Fine.” I grabbed two more dog treats and passed them out. “Last one,” I warned.
“They never believe that,” Charlie said as he came down the stairs into the living room. “What was up with Lisa?”
How much should I share? “Rough day. Family drama.”
“And she came to you because you’re her—”
“Friend,” I said.
