by Taryn Quinn
God, did I ever. I wanted her to straddle me while those entrancing dark eyes of hers twinkled and her slim, strong thighs gripped my hips. I’d give her a minute to think she was in charge, and then I’d roll her beneath me and show her who was boss—in bed, if nowhere else.
The baby let out a wail right before she spit up all over her blue onesie.
And that was precisely the end of that fantasy.
“Where’s Sadie?” I asked rather than staring at Gina’s perfect ass encased in tight denim as she bent over to grab a wipe to clean up the mess.
“Out back running around. She has energy to spare today. Figured she’d cause chaos with the tree.”
“Accurate.”
“Can you go grab the baby a fresh onesie? I have some unfolded laundry in the basket on the bed in my room.”
“Sure.” I scraped a hand through my hair as I watched Gina tend to the baby so capably. “Can I, uh, help?”
She looked over her shoulder with a lock of wavy dark hair tumbling into her eyes. “Do you really want to?”
“I’ll get that onesie.”
Her laughter followed me up the stairs and into her room.
She hadn’t lied that the half full laundry basket was on the bed. I hadn’t done much about converting the extra guest room into a nursery, so for now, the baby slept with Gina at night. Which probably wasn’t fair. I had to be taking advantage. And yet if I didn’t, I’d either have to set up the nursery or have the baby sleep in my room in her portable crib, and I absolutely was not ready for that.
I was willing to bet the baby wasn’t either.
Another thing I wasn’t ready for was finding Gina’s underwear mixed in with the baby’s things and my boxers and T-shirts. They were cheerfully tossed together like they belonged that way.
As if we weren’t just temporary roomies. Almost like we were a family. Starting to be one anyway.
I picked up a pair of tiny jeans with flowers embroidered on the back pockets. Cute. She’d grow out of them in no time, but she was still as small as a button. Which reminded me I had to call my doctor. I had to find a physician for her, preferably one who knew how to restart my heart because dear God, Gina wore thongs.
That was information I’d never known I needed to have. And now it was the sum of my entire life.
“Yo, Brooks,” she called from downstairs. “The baby is naked.”
That spurred me into motion, and I grabbed a new onesie. When Gina sent up another distress call, I leveled up on being a pervert and tucked the gray thong into my jacket pocket.
If I was going to hell, I might as well have prime spank bank material for the trip.
I came downstairs to find Gina dancing around with the diaper-clad baby to some classic Sinatra holiday song she’d put on. The baby was making those giggles that melted me into a freaking puddle. I’d read online that two months was early for babies to laugh, but it could happen. Of course my girl would be advanced. I didn’t doubt it for a minute.
Mostly because of my best friend, who talked and sang to her constantly, always giving her stimulation and someone to interact with. I was trying—God knew I was—but I wasn’t a natural. Not like Bee.
“You’re amazing with her.”
Gina glanced over at me, her smile faltering as her gaze zeroed in on my pocket. “Is that my panties?”
Dear God.
How could I claim to be capable of being sheriff when I wasn’t even competent enough to tuck away one little pair of thongs?
“No.”
Narrowing her eyes at me, she stepped forward, and I wasn’t fast enough to evade her grab for the contents of my pocket. Yet another demerit toward my supposed fitness as a duly sworn officer of the law.
She held up the panties between two fingers, arching a brow.
“Sorry. I sneezed and grabbed them because they were closest.”
She dropped them so fast that I laughed.
“Are you serious? You sneezed in my underwear?”
“Well, they’re so shapeless that I figured they worked for the purpose.” I held out my arm. “Just smack me now and get it over with.”
She snatched the clean onesie out of my hand. “Nope, too easy. You better hide your boxers. You never know what I’ll do with them.” Still muttering, she carted the baby upstairs, who was leaning backward over her arm to keep me in view.
Good thing Gina didn’t do the same thing.
I didn’t hide my smile as I picked up her panties.
See, I could be stealthy. I’d just proved it. And my spoils were soft gray cotton with an all too interesting pair of puffy red lips right over the crotch.
This woman was going to kill me.
But since I didn’t want her to maim me first, I shed my jacket and walked over to the big plastic tub of ornaments thiefed mainly from my dad’s and bought on shopping trips with Gina. She’d hauled it out from the closet while I was procuring our tree. A not-so-subtle reminder that hey, that was only half the job.
So, I got to work making it look, well, festive. With enough garland and that stringy old-fashioned tinsel stuff along with the big glass ornaments passed down from my grandmother, it actually looked pretty damn good if I said so myself. I added a few of the reindeer and little gingerbread dudes we’d bought together at various Cove shops and then swallowed hard as I realized Samantha needed an ornament.
Baby’s First Christmas.
Daddy’s First Every-Damn-Thing.
Gina still hadn’t come downstairs when I finished with the tree. All except the requisite popcorn ball stringing, which we’d do together while Sadie stole—
Sadie.
I marched toward the deck and let out a laugh at the sight of my dog practically Velcro-ed to the glass sliding doors, waiting to be let in. She let out a yip as I opened the door, launching herself at me with all ninety pounds of her wet, wriggling body.
Wait, wet?
“Where have you been, girl?” I rubbed her head as she stared up at me with her soulful eyes. “Did you dig out under that fence again?”
Her rump wiggled as she put her paws on my chest, her newest trick to get out of trouble.
It worked, just as it always did.
“I’ve gotta get John and his crew out here to fix that fence. Maybe it’s time to rebuild the whole thing. What do you say about that? Then you won’t be sneaking off to the O’Malley’s to steal their crabapples or to hassle their chickens. Never mind taking a dip in the lake.” I frowned. “It’ll be freezing up soon, so enjoy that water while it lasts, missy.”
She laid her head on my chest and gazed at me apologetically. Her expression was one of total love and acquiescence.
Until she heard Gina clomping down the stairs and left me in the dust like an old forgotten bone.
“Whoa there, girl, watch it. Those claws are something fierce. How long has it been since Daddy got you groomed? Too long, probably. Men. Can’t kill ‘em but you can lock them in the basement.”
I tucked my hands in my back pockets as she went into the living room with her faithful canine companion at her side. I smiled as I heard her gasp over the Christmas music still playing.
“What do you know? He has some skill with his hands, after all.”
Oh, if she even knew.
But our friendship was the best thing in my life. I didn’t want to take a chance on messing it up. Even if the events of the past week were screwing with my head and causing me to reevaluate a lot of things.
Rather than joining them in the living room, I went to the stove and took down a couple of the old-fashioned shake it up popcorn tins. She finally came looking for me when she heard the telltale popping.
Sadie trailed after her with one of Gina’s sneakers in her mouth. I wasn’t sure if Gina hadn’t noticed yet or was picking her battles. Or maybe this week of having a baby had given her a new perspective.
It sure had with me.
“Is this bribery?”
“For what?”
/> “For misappropriating my favorite pair of underwear.”
“You can have it back.”
“Thanks, I’ll pass.” She crossed her arms under her breasts. “I have to be at work in a few hours.”
My fingers tightened on the handles of the popcorn, one for each hand. “Don’t you usually have Sundays off?”
“Most of the time, but with the holidays coming up, more people are asking for time off. Especially the ones with families. The single pringles like me usually offer to take up the slack.”
“But you have—” I fell silent before I revealed my hand.
It wasn’t as if I’d even thought of it consciously. Just my instinct was to say we were hers. That she was ours.
And no matter what kind of house we were playing temporarily, that just wasn’t true.
“Right. That’s nice of you.” I cleared my throat. “The baby is down for a nap?”
“Yeah. Full belly always knocks her right out. Well, not always. I’ve only known her since Tuesday.” She let out an awkward laugh then laughed for real when she realized Sadie had curled up on the mat in front of the sink to have private time with her shoe. “Give me that, brat.”
Sadie let her take back her sneaker then dropped her head to her crossed paws with a morose expression.
“Lord only knows where the other one is.” She shook her head as she dropped the sneaker on the floor. “I may be hotfooting it at the diner.”
“You could call in?”
Even as I asked it, I knew it was a stupid question. Gina had a policy that neither death or dismemberment could keep her from a scheduled shift. Since I had similar values, I admired her sense of responsibility.
Or I did normally, when I didn’t really want to spend the day with her and the kid and the dog. Just putting together popcorn garland and listening to corny Christmas songs and loafing around doing nothing. I didn’t get a lot of those days, and now with a baby, I’d be getting them even less—especially once I told my dad and Mason about the new addition to the family, along with Bonnie and John and August and all the rest.
They would want to meet her and get to know her and then there would be sitters and school and so many things I couldn’t even comprehend yet. Things I was not prepared for in the slightest.
I was on borrowed time. The jig was almost up. Soon, I would no longer be able to pretend I was the same Jared Brooks I’d been even a week ago.
With Thanksgiving imminent, today felt like a last oasis before my personal world went completely nuts. Of course I wanted to share it with Gina. Why wouldn’t I? I wanted to share everything with her.
Including your bed.
“If I called in, someone would have to cover for me.”
“Yeah.” I shook the popcorn harder as it started to seriously pop. What else could I do? I knew she was right.
“Besides, you wouldn’t call in yourself, so how can you ask me to?”
“Privilege of the penis?”
She hesitated for a moment. “Your penis has no privilege or sway here. Sorry, pal.”
Didn’t I know it.
“But I still have some time before I have to go.” She moved beside me at the stove and grabbed the handle of the other popcorn container, giving it a good strong shake. “So, we can do whatever you wanted to do if I called in, just faster.”
There was no way I could censor myself. “I prefer nice and slow.”
She stopped shaking the popcorn and took a deep breath. “Is that how you made that baby upstairs?”
My fingers curved around the handle until my knuckles went white. “That’s always going to be between us.” My voice was quiet.
“It happened. You can’t wish it away.”
“I wouldn’t. I don’t want her not to be here.”
“Sure about that?”
The casual question stung, even if I probably deserved it. “Not knowing what to do doesn’t mean I regret having to do it. There are things I regret though. I wish I hadn’t hurt you.”
“I’m not hurt.” The bravado in her tone would’ve fooled a lot of people.
Just not me.
“I never want to hurt you,” I said anyway. “No matter what you think of me, you have to know that. I didn’t tell you about what happened because—”
“It didn’t matter. Yeah, I heard you the first time. Except it obviously did and does. And no matter how hard you pretend things are normal, they aren’t. You have to tell the people who matter. Who will want to help you through this, if you’ll just let them.”
“I know.” I shook the popcorn hard enough to get a cramp. “I’m going to tell them.”
“When exactly? When she’s ready for preschool?”
“This week. The holidays are coming up, and I can’t just go off places and leave her here.”
“Wow, you just leveled up in the parenting game, Brooks.” She rolled her eyes.
“I mean, I know that, and even if I had some secret sitter—”
“You definitely do not. You’re lucky you’ve had one this long.”
“I know. It’s just not feasible to keep hiding it, even if I still need to take that paternity test.”
Even if she wasn’t mine, I wasn’t prepared to turn her back over to her mother’s care. How could I, after the stunt she’d pulled? I didn’t even know where to find her.
Truthfully, that was the last thing I wanted to consider.
“Did you schedule the test yet?”
“No. I will soon.”
“There has been awful lot of ‘I’ll do it soon’ with you lately. You can’t put all of this off forever. Your life is different now.”
I waited for her to say hers had also changed, but that was just another way I was pretending. She was helping because she was my best friend. But that clock was ticking too.
I could only hang on to the past for so long before I took the necessary steps forward, and my new reality fully took root.
And I had no idea if Gina would still be by my side.
Seven
Being grilled by your own mother was a particularly heinous experience.
Especially when I was lying to her for the benefit of my best friend, whom I did not want to lie for since he was taking entirely too long to tell the truth.
But somewhere in the bestie contract was an implied tenet about always having their back. Even when they were making the wrong move by sticking their head in the sand…err, lake.
“Lou O’Malley told me she saw you with a baby outside the sheriff’s place. You’re telling me she’s a liar?”
“Shhh. Does the whole diner have to hear your theories?”
“What theory? She has eyes, and she used them. Are you saying it was a case of mistaken identity, and it wasn’t you there? That another woman was carrying an infant and laughing and joking with Jared as he brought in a Christmas tree?”
“I’m not saying anything.”
“Then there’s your car being at the sheriff’s all the time lately. Lou said that even when she gets up to let out Skeeter at four am, your car is in his driveway. All I want to know is if his car is in your driveway.”
I did not want to be having this conversation with my mother at the diner or anywhere else. But especially not here where practically half the town could hear her interrogating me.
She’d picked the dinner rush to ask me these things, rather than on the phone or maybe privately at Thanksgiving, oh, day after tomorrow. Worst of all, some of my friends were eating dinner a few tables away. I didn’t want to put Jared’s business in the street, but lying didn’t sit well with me either.
So, I did what I did best. I waved her off and went back to the kitchen to plate another order.
My mom was sitting with Erica so she wouldn’t go for blood at the level she normally would when it came to fresh gossip—especially if it involved her last-born child. Erica was almost on the verge of popping so our mom wouldn’t risk…dislodging her baby early with an argument. She’d just nudge me
up to the brink of one.
The problem with my plan? The food I plated belonged to the table of my friends I’d been referring to. I hadn’t been their server because Polly had reached them first, but we all took turns delivering the meals.
Reluctantly, I wheeled up the cart with everyone’s orders to the booth that contained Kinleigh and August Beck, plus August’s sister, Ivy, and August’s younger brother, Caleb, who taught at the Catholic school. “Hey, guys. Glad to see you here tonight. Rory away?” I asked Ivy as I started plucking plates off the cart.
“Yeah, back in LA. He’ll be home early Thursday. He’s producing Ian Kagan’s album, and Ian’s cutting a single with their friend Flynn on the west coast.”
“Hard being rich and famous,” I teased as I set down Ivy’s huge house salad with a side of garlic breadsticks.
Ivy sighed. “Emphasis on famous. He keeps getting busier, and Rhi is teething. She’s always crying for daddy, and mama can’t do anything right.”
Kinleigh reached across the table to squeeze her bestie’s—and sister-in-law’s—hand. “He’ll be home soon, and then he’ll be here through the holidays. Soon, you’ll be sick of him.”
Ivy smiled wistfully. “I can’t wait for that. I’m thinking of going back with him when he returns there in the new year. My ice cream truck isn’t open in the winter, and it might be fun to give Rhi a change of scenery.”
“You too,” Caleb put in, gazing pointedly at his sister. “You need to see something other than a kid latched to your nipple.”
August rubbed his forehead. “Can we not? Hi, Gina. Thanks for that,” he said as I set his meatloaf down in front of him.
I’d already served Caleb his burger while Ivy was considering her temporary west coast relocation.
“You’re all so settled and domesticated that it’s disturbing. You’re single, right, G?” Caleb flashed me his entirely too disarming smile.
“I am so single,” I said loudly enough for my mother to hear in the next aisle.
If she started speculating harder about Jared and I, there was a good chance she’d start sharing her thought process as facts. Not to cause trouble necessarily. She was just a mom. And moms did that stuff.
I frowned. Not that I would ever know that for myself as one. At least it was unlikely. No matter what kind of roleplaying I was doing with Jared and his adorable daughter.
