by Len Webster
Alex cringed. “Ew, Sav. That’s my dad you just called hot.”
Her best friend grinned. “You deserve it. Now, y’all should go. Have a great summer.”
“Have a great summer, Sav,” Alex said and hugged her once more.
When they pulled away, Savannah glanced over at Evan and whispered to her, “I approve of y’all being friends, but be careful. He might be your OTP but don’t forget what he did to y’all.”
The pang of guilt erupted in her chest. Right now, she was more than just Evan’s friend. She was his secret lover, and she hated that she had to keep it from Savannah until she was sure she and Evan would work. That dreams and fantasies could be a reality for them.
Savannah walked over to Evan and gave him a hug. “Thanks for your help, Evan. Have a great summer.”
Evan nodded at her with a smile. “You, too, Sav. We’ll see you in Brookline.”
“Definitely.”
Alex turned around and walked over to her suitcase that had been by Savannah’s truck. She grasped the handle and lifted it before she returned to Evan who had picked up his Stanford duffle bag. “Cab is over there,” he said.
Once they reached the cab on the other side of the parking lot, the driver got out and asked, “Cab for Evan?”
“That’s me,” Evan said as he took Alex’s suitcase from her. Then he followed the driver to the trunk, and the driver lifted the lid. Once her suitcase and Evan’s duffle were inside, they got into the back seat and buckled their belts.
“Where we headed today?” their driver asked.
“The airport, please,” Alex answered. She stared out the window and watched Duke pass her as the cab pulled out of the parking lot. Then she felt Evan grasp her hand, and she turned to smile at him.
“Ready to go home?”
Alex’s smiled deepened. “I’m ready.”
“I have faith that your brother will bounce back from last season’s World Series loss,” Burnley, their cab driver from New Orleans, said as he pulled up to Alex’s parents’ house. The first time she met Burnley was when he had driven her to Evan’s house during Thanksgiving break and Evan had never shown up. It seemed like so long ago that she had waited for him on his doorstep. But she wouldn’t tell him just how she had met the famous Red Sox cabbie. Their time together wasn’t about reliving the pain of the past. They were moving on together. They were giving each other a fair chance at something real.
“The injuries after the Philly game didn’t help the team. But Kyle’s definitely stronger after he recovered from his ACL surgery,” Evan said as he unbuckled his seat belt.
“Have you been able to see many games, Mr. Burnley?” Alex asked.
The cab driver turned in his seat and faced her. “I saw three full series last season, Miss Alex. Thank you for getting me those tickets. You didn’t have to.”
She smiled, happy that in her absence at Fenway Park, another had experienced it. “You don’t have to thank me, Mr. Burnley.” Alex leaned over and picked up her purse from the floor.
Just as she was about to open it to pay the cab driver, Evan leaned forward and handed the driver the fare. “Thank you for the ride, Mr. Burnley.”
“You’re very welcome, Mr. Evan,” he said before he took the cash and then got out of the cab.
“I was going to pay,” Alex complained.
Evan rolled his eyes at her and then slid across the back seat to her. He pressed a kiss to her cheek, enticing the silly grin on her face. Alex glanced around to find the trunk lid still up and no one on their street as she pressed her fingers to his jaw and kissed him full on the lips. She knew it was risky, but she didn’t care.
They’d been careful for two days.
They needed a second of recklessness to take off the edge.
When she pulled away, she whispered, “I love you.” Alex lowered her hands from his jaw. “It’s the first time in days that I’ve said it without feeling guilty for keeping it from Savannah.”
“I love you, too, AJ. Dinner is going to be hard with your parents. I don’t want to keep anything from them.”
Alex let out a small groan. “I know. Me either, but they’d understand. Do you need to pack before dinner?”
“I hate that I have to leave you tonight to go back to Stanford,” he said with a hint of sadness to his voice.
“It’s okay,” she assured. She reached over and squeezed his hand. “I’ll drive you to the airport tonight. Go pack and don’t worry about anything. We’ll be okay.”
“We’ll be okay,” he promised.
Alex smiled, hearing the truth in his promise. “I’ll see you at my place after you’re finished packing?”
He released her hand with a nod. “Yeah.”
Alex grasped her purse in one hand and the car door handle in the other. She pulled on the handle, opening the door. Once she was out of the cab, Burnley stood next to her with her suitcase.
“Welcome home, Miss Alex,” he said in a sweet tone as he removed Evan’s bag from his shoulder and handed it to him. “You, too, Mr. Evan. Boston’s missed y’all.”
“It’s good to be home,” Evan said, surprising Alex. He had never been one to love or call Boston home. For so many years, the city had suffocated him. But she knew that this time, home was about being with her. “I’ll see you soon, AJ.”
She nodded. “Yeah, come over when you’re finished.”
“Okay,” Evan said before she watched him walk toward his childhood home.
“Over a year ago, it was different,” Burnley said, reminding her that she was not alone.
Alex craned her neck to find the cab driver also staring at Evan. “Yeah. Over a year ago, we were different people.”
“And now?”
She mulled his question over. “We’re almost there,” she said as vaguely as possible.
Burnley pressed his lips together and nodded, his dark brown eyes twinkling. “I’m happy to see that beautiful smile of yours again, Miss Alex. If you ever need a ride back to Logan, all you have to do is call for me. And if that boy so much as hurt your feelings, I’ll be second in line behind your daddy to beat his ass.”
Alex laughed. “Thank you for the concern, Mr. Burnley, but I think this time I know better. And I’m sure my father would love to meet you after that statement. You drive safely back to the city, okay?”
“I will. Y’all have a good summer.” And with that, Burnley got in his cab and drove away.
Spinning around, she took in her childhood home as she grasped her suitcase’s handle. The house still looked warm and inviting. It still looked like a well-loved family called it home. Smiling, Alex rolled her suitcase up the path and to the front steps. Once she lifted the heavy suitcase up each step, she came to a stop at the front door and flipped open her purse. She raked around until she found her keys and inserted the key into the lock. With a twist, she unlocked the door, and pushed it open before she dragged her suitcase inside, noticing how quiet the house was with her parents at work. Then she closed the door behind her, too tired to haul her suitcase up the stairs, and headed to her room.
She entered her room to find flowers and a welcome home sign her parents had left on her desk. When she made it to her desk, she picked up the bright violets and smiled, knowing that was her father’s choice. She had almost been named Violet as they were the flowers her father had brought to the delivery room for her mother after Alex was born. Her mother had suggested Alexandra after her uncle, and the rest was history.
Setting the bouquet down, Alex spun around and took in her bedroom. She felt different standing in it—as if she were a whole new person. She walked over to her bed and noticed that she had kept the framed picture of her ex-boyfriend and her in Southport on her nightstand.
Sitting on her bed, she reached over and picked up the silver frame, her heart clenching at the smiles on he
r and Landon’s faces. She remembered that day. He had driven them to Savannah’s hometown so she could deal with her mother. It had also been the day she had told him she loved him for the very first time. Her chest constricted at the memory of what followed. She had trusted him and loved him enough to be intimate with him. He had been the only guy Alex had been with after she had lost her virginity to Evan.
Suddenly, sobriety came to an end as tears slipped down her cheeks. She might not love Landon like she used to, but she was sad that those memories had to be forgotten. Landon Carmichael had loved her—to the best of his abilities he had—and she’d felt it. But life made him choose, made her choose, and they had come to an end.
Brushing away her tears with the back of her hands, Alex let out a deep breath and reached over and pulled the drawer open. Alex glanced down at the picture once last time, allowing her fingers to brush against his glass-covered face before she set the frame inside and closed the drawer.
Finally putting Landon, their memories, and their love away.
86 Rn
radon
EVAN
Now
“Evan, did you hear me?” his ex-girlfriend asked, her voice tight and full of fear.
He was in shock.
He had no idea how to answer her.
AJ’s pregnant.
It made sense.
Why she wanted a bigger apartment.
Why he found her hunched over the toilet this morning.
It wasn’t food poisoning.
It was morning sickness.
His best friend, the love of his life, his ex-girlfriend was pregnant.
Holy shit, AJ’s pregnant.
A smile slowly spread across his face.
AJ’s going to be a mom.
Mom.
She’s going to be a mom.
Then it hit him. Realization sliced his chest and plunged deep inside him, stretching his ribs apart as his stomach dipped.
She spent time with him in the UK.
Mrs. Parker had told him that when he had lunch with her after he had picked her up from one of her parenting class. It had been when Mr. Parker’s flight from New York had been delayed. She had taken him out to eat as her way of thanking him, though there had been no need to. He would do anything for Clara Parker. But that was the afternoon she had let slip that his ex-girlfriend had gone out with her ex-boyfriend.
The ex-boyfriend she had chosen over Evan the very first time. But AJ had yet to mention him since she returned to Brookline. She never indicated to Evan that she was back together with him.
That hope that maybe it could be his diminished.
She’s pregnant with his baby … She has to be.
For a single moment, the thought saddened him. Jealous that she had moved on while he had been in Boston after their breakup. He had missed her and spent every day hoping she’d come home and he’d beg for her forgiveness.
Those bright emerald greens of hers searched his, waiting for him to react.
She was pregnant.
It wasn’t his.
But as he looked at her, he felt a sense of warmth replace the jealousy in his chest.
That baby would be half of her.
It’s AJ’s child.
She was the best person he knew. And he knew that he would love that child as much as he loved its mother. He’d be there for her and support them both. He’d step up if the famous NBA player wouldn’t. He might not make millions, but he would give them his undying love.
Seeing her watery eyes, Evan stood. He watched her chin dip as her tears rolled down her cheeks. Then he got on one knee and grasped her hand in his.
He had to make her a promise.
A vow that he wasn’t going to let her do it alone.
“Even though it’s his, I promise I’ll be there for you and this baby. It’s half you, and that makes me want to love him or her with my entire being.”
AJ cupped the side of his cheek, her thumb grazing his skin like he remembered. Her touch was as soft and as perfect as he recalled. “Evan,” she whispered.
“Yeah, Alexandra?”
She inhaled a short breath as her jaw clenched. Her green eyes twinkled with the fear and adoration he had missed seeing. “It’s yours.”
It’s … mine?
“W-what?” he stammered as he got onto his knees, fearing he’d tumble over.
“You’re the father, Evan,” she revealed.
“I’m … Me?”
His heart beat so fast he was terrified that it would give out.
He couldn’t breathe.
His head spun at the revelation.
At the truth he had wanted.
He was going to be a father.
Better yet, the mother of his baby was his best friend.
“I never slept with him when I was in England. We went to dinner, and that was it. That was three months ago. I’m eight weeks pregnant. It’s yours, Evan. You’re the only man I’ve been with in almost four years.” Her eyes never broke away from his.
His smile returned. “I’m going to be a dad?”
AJ bit her lip as she pulled her hands from him and stood, staring down at him. “Yes, but you don’t have to be. I don’t expect you to—”
He shot up onto his feet, shaking his head at her. “No,” he begged. “I want to be a father. I want this baby with you.”
“Evan, I won’t let you not go to LA. You were excited. You even sold your house. Besides this baby, you have no roots here anymore. You’re ready to move on with your life. And I won’t let our son or daughter be the reason you stay here. Boston has never truly been your home.”
My home was with you.
But I ruined that.
I’m trying to make up for that.
But you don’t know that.
“Look, we should talk. But not here in Fenway Park. Let’s go for a drive. We’ll talk all of this through. We’ll make this work, Alexandra,” he said.
So we can be a family.
She shook her head. “I’m tired. Right now, I’d rather go home. I know you mean that, us working this out, but you haven’t thought it through. This baby, if you choose to really be a part of his or her life, will change yours and alter your happiness. I don’t want you to conform to fit in my life, Evan. Not again. And not anymore. I want you to be happy.”
He understood what she meant. He knew why she would doubt his commitment. He had left her in Zürich. Evan had been the one to give up on her. So he understood why she was cautious when it came to their baby.
Our baby.
AJ and I are having a baby together.
His heart swelled with love.
He would have to prove to her that he wasn’t going to give up on her.
Prove to her that he still loved her.
“Okay. Let me drive you home,” he said.
“No,” she declined. “I’m sure you had plans tonight. I can grab a cab—”
“Alexandra.”
Her bottom lip trembled. “Yeah?”
“You’re the mother of my unborn child,” he stated.
“I am,” she breathed as if she were only now truly coming to terms with the revelation. And that soft, beautiful smile of hers spread across her lips. “Yes, you can take me home.”
Turning off the ignition of his BMW, he let out a sigh and glanced over to find AJ staring out the passenger side window. She had been quiet during the entire trip. He wanted to talk to her and had planned to drive to Rhode Island like they used to and talk through where they went forward in their lives.
They were having a baby.
The baby he thought wasn’t his but had desperately wanted to be a part of its life. But he was the father. He was going to be the father of Alexandra Louise Parker’s baby. It would be half her
. His heart throbbed at the thought once more.
She was the mother of his unborn child.
“My parents don’t know,” AJ finally said as she craned her neck to face him, frowning. “With all of my family coming in from Australia and New York, and them busy with Seb, I haven’t had the chance to tell them that they’re going to be grandparents.”
His heart stalled at what she just said. Mr. and Mrs. Parker, AJ’s parents—the very couple who had helped raised Evan—were going to be his child’s grandparents. His eyes stung at the thought. He couldn’t think of a pair more perfect to be his child’s grandparents. They would love him or her just as much as he and AJ would love their child.
“I won’t say anything to them until you’re ready,” he promised.
She smiled with appreciation as she unclicked her belt. “Thank you.”
“I’ll walk you to your door,” he said as he freed himself of the seat belt and pulled on the handle to open the car door. Once he slipped out and shut the door, he walked around the car to her as she opened her door. Evan grasped the handle and opened it wider for her.
“Thank you,” AJ said before she got out of the car and fixed her beautiful silk dress that matched the color of her eyes. She had drawn him to her the moment she entered the party. Had he not been talking to one of the newest MLB executives, he would have gone to her immediately.
Side by side and step by step, they walked toward AJ’s front door. Once they had climbed the short steps and stood under the porch light, she let out a sigh and faced him. She offered him a small smile as she brushed her hair behind her ear. Her bright green eyes gleamed at him.