Then There Was You: A Single Parent Collection

by Gianna Gabriela

  “I called you last night and you answered.”

  She got a flashback of that phone call, the sketchy jangle of images from the night before coming together slowly, although still not completely. “I called you a bastard,” she said.

  Max chuckled, the vibration running through his chest and into her hand still over his strong heart. “You did.”

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

  “Sure you did. You have every right to call me any number of names. I screwed up.”

  “How did I end up at your apartment? I didn’t just…show up, did I?” Talking about her holey memory from her drinking binge was embarrassing—at least it was easier talking to his back rather than his face while she was doing it.

  “I asked you to come around.”

  “And I just showed up?”

  He laughed again. “You said you were going to lose Jen first.”

  She groaned. “Jen.” Her roommate had made her promise she wouldn’t answer any calls from Max. She had also promised she’d forget about him for the night and try to have fun. Jen’s idea of fun involved tequila and random hook-ups. Gigi was okay with the alcohol, but not with the casual sex. “I’ll have to call her.”

  Max squeezed her hand. “Call her later.”

  She nodded and relaxed against his back. What they were doing was nice, but it couldn’t last. The problem they fought about yesterday still existed. For right now, she would just enjoy the feel of his strong, warm body against hers. Gigi inhaled and let the breath out slowly. “Max?”

  “Hmm?”

  She thought maybe he had drifted off to sleep again. “Tell me about Chelsea.” She felt his whole body stiffen instantly. “Please?”

  He was too silent and too still for a long minute. She thought he’d refuse her. But then he said, “I’ll tell you everything you want to know.” Rolling over, he faced her. “But let’s do it over breakfast.”

  “Why—”

  “You’re hungover, and probably severely dehydrated.” Glancing over at the nightstand, he added, “Drink the water. Take the pills. Get dressed then meet me and Erin out in the kitchen.” He leaned forward, kissed her temple and rolled off the bed, taking his phone from the nightstand as he went. She watched him go, studying the muscles as they moved in his back. She would miss him when he was gone. Sitting up, she held the sheets to her body and reached for the glass he’d left and the two Tylenol.

  When she felt able to, she got up, finding her clothes folded up neatly on the back of a large armchair in the corner of the room. Putting on the skirt and top, she looked at herself in the mirror and balked. She had gone out like that last night? Jen had actually picked that particular outfit and thought it looked good? Max must have had a heart attack when she turned up on his doorstep.

  She looked down at the ground, snagging one of Max’s tees from a pile. Holding it to her nose, she inhaled; it smelled of Max’s aftershave and of his skin. Slipping it over her head, she padded out into the kitchen.

  Erin was sitting in her high chair while Max fed her breakfast. The little girl smiled widely at Gigi before opening her mouth for the next mouthful of porridge.

  Max gave her an appraising look. “I just put the coffee on, but I want you to have some more water first.”

  She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and did as he asked. She drank two more glasses of water then tackled the coffee pot. Slumping down onto a chair at the kitchen bench, she announced, “I’m never drinking tequila again.”

  He laughed at her. “I think that’s a good idea. How’s your stomach? Think you can handle some food?”

  She didn’t think putting anything else in her body other than coffee was a good thing, but the idea of bacon was too alluring. “As long as it’s greasy, I think I’ll be all right.”

  He nodded and got busy putting strips of bacon on the griddle. “How do you like your eggs?”

  “Scrambled, please. I don’t think I could handle even the sight of runny yolks this morning.”

  He gave her a brief smile and cracked a couple of eggs into a bowl, then started whisking. Gigi’s eyes were fixed on the way his muscles bunched and relaxed in his exposed shoulders, her thoughts turning sexual. She cleared her throat, ignored the moisture pooling between her thighs, and got Erin out of the high chair when she started to fidget. She placed the little girl on the floor to play then took a seat on the couch.

  “Where do you want to eat?” Max asked from the kitchen.

  “Wherever you want.”

  He brought over her plate, the flatware balancing on the side, and placed her coffee cup on the table. He retreated to the kitchen to get his breakfast, but instead of sitting beside her, he perched on the edge of the coffee table beside her cup. Gigi had another one of the missing pieces flash into her head; he had done exactly the same thing last night.

  “Can I just start by saying I’m sorry,” he said, his bourbon eyes fixed on her face. “I know it all looks really bad, but it’s complicated.”

  She had decided she had to hear him out. Now that Chelsea wasn’t there, it made it easier. She nodded to encourage him to continue.

  “A little over three months ago, I returned home from work at the nightclub to find Chelsea gone. She’d cleared out her wardrobe and left Erin sleeping in her crib.”

  She placed her fork back down. “She just left?”

  He nodded slightly, pushing his eggs around his plate. “I had no idea where she’d gone. I tried calling her, but she’d turned her phone off. Eventually I gave up completely. Honestly, our marriage had been on the rocks before that. Coming home to find her gone wasn’t exactly a shock, but finding that Erin had been left alone was.”

  “Did you ever get an explanation from her?”

  “Yesterday morning was the first time I’d seen her since she abandoned Erin.”

  “Did she tell you why?”

  “Yeah,” he replied, setting his plate on the table. “She said she didn’t want to be a mom anymore, that she wanted her old life back—the life where she could hang out with her socialite friends and have champagne breakfasts and go shopping all day.”

  Gigi made a small noise in the back of her throat.

  “What?”

  She looked at him, showing him that what she was about to say had nothing to do with spite; rather it was just an observation. “She doesn’t sound like the kind of woman you’d be interested in.”

  He sighed, his attention fixed on Erin who was playing with some blocks. “Like I said, it’s complicated.” He looked at her. “But I want you to know it all. That way, you have all the facts and if you want to walk away from what we have, then I’d completely understand.”

  “Okay.”

  His chest rose and fell with a deep breath. “Chelsea and I have been together since high school. I was the quarterback every girl wanted to be with. Chelsea was the head cheerleader every guy wanted to have.” He gave her a meaningful look.

  “So you ended up together,” she finished for him. “Of course.”

  He nodded. “I dated her because she was unobtainable to every other guy. We weren’t compatible though. Chelsea was an only child. She was spoiled by her parents and given everything she could ever want. That sense of entitlement became her way of life. I was just a prize she could claim. We stayed together because that was just the way it was. I simply ignored her bad behavior and put up with her narcissism.

  “The end of high school was rolling around, and I couldn’t wait to be free of her. She had no plans to go to college. She thought her parents would continue to bankroll her ever-growing extravagant lifestyle. I, on the other hand, had a football scholarship all lined up…”

  Max looked wistful for a moment, his thoughts obviously on what could have been. Gigi leaned forward and grabbed her coffee and took a sip.

  “I was supposed to start at Washington State in the fall. About six weeks before school finished, I found out that Chelsea had screwed around on me. She told me it was o
nly one time, but the rumors around school said she’d been cheating on me for a while. At the time, I was angry, but I was also relieved; she’d just given me a legitimate reason to break up with her, and I did. A month later, Chelsea came around to my house in tears. She told me she was pregnant and she didn’t know who the father was since she’d slept with this other guy as well as me within days of each other.”

  “Oh, Max,” she said, unable to stop herself from reaching out and taking his hand. All of this certainly made his attitude and behavior when they’d first met make sense.

  “That was the moment my life changed forever. My dreams of playing pro ball were sliding down the drain and I was left with a decision I knew could only end one way.”

  “You married her,” she murmured.

  He sighed. “I married her.”

  “But…” Gigi was doing the maths. “Erin’s too young to be the baby she was talking about.”

  Max smiled at her, but it was humorless, and anger bled from the edges. “Days after graduation, I married Chelsea at city hall. Soon after, she told me she wasn’t ever pregnant. She’d only told me that so I’d take her back and she would have everything she ever wanted—to be married to the high school star quarterback.”

  “Neither of you were in high school anymore.”

  “Try telling Chelsea that. The real world was a smack in the face for her. She was no longer the queen bee. She no longer had the other cheerleaders kissing her ass and telling her how perfect she was. I thought moving to LA would help her to realize that life wasn’t just high school for grown-ups. She never did get it though.”

  “Why didn’t you just get divorced?”

  “I had planned on being married only once. I’m a stubborn sonofabitch, and although Chelsea made my life hell, I stayed with her. I wasn’t in love with her anymore, though—how could I be after she did that to me? She knew it, too. She wanted to have a child. She thought it could ‘fix’ things between us, but I’d sworn never to have children with her. It even got to the point where I refused to sleep in the same bed as her.”

  Gigi glanced down at Erin, who had her chubby fingers wrapped around a bunny’s ear. “You must have slept with her at least once.”

  He followed her gaze. “I meet up with my best friend every Thursday at a local bar. One time, we both drank too much and I stumbled home, collapsing on the couch. When I woke up, Chelsea had my pants down around my ankles and…” he grimaced. “Let’s just say it was the least satisfying orgasm I’ve ever had. I felt violated, but to Chelsea, she saw what she’d done as a way of getting what she wanted…again. Almost ten months later, Erin arrived.”

  “But she didn’t fix the marriage.”

  “No, she didn’t. Don’t get me wrong; I love my daughter. I wouldn’t change anything that’s happened except for marrying Chelsea and believing all her bullshit.” Leaning down, Max picked up the little girl and sat her on his knee. “So that’s it.”

  “What about Chelsea? Has she gone home?”

  “I told her never to come around to talk to me again. I’ve been in contact with my lawyer, and when I get back to LA, I’m going to have a meeting with him to discuss my options.”

  “You’re still going back, then?” she asked, her stomach clenching into a tight knot at the reminder. He studied her face carefully. “I have to, Gigi. My life is there—my mom, my friends, my job. My boss will need me back, too. She only asked me to come over here temporarily until her new club was set up properly and running like she needed it to be.”

  “I just realized I have no idea what your other job is.”

  He gave her a small grin. “It’s exactly what I’m doing here in New York, but just in LA. I manage Temptation six days a week.”

  She looked down. “So where does that leave us?”

  “I’d like us to still have a relationship. Whatever this is between us, it works. Being in the same city as you and not being able to touch you would be torture.”

  She bit her lip, thinking. There were so many reasons why she should just end it now: Max was still married, he was still leaving and he would still break her heart. His warm palm cupped her chin, forcing her eyes to his face.

  “Don’t overthink this.”

  “I’m not,” she whispered. “I wouldn’t be able to stand the torture either.”

  27

  Max smiled triumphantly at Gigi, her answer just what he needed to hear. “When will you move back in?”

  Her returning smile was shy. “I have classes today, but I’ll come back around tonight. Do you have to work?”

  Now, that was a sobering thought. “Yeah. I have to be in at four.” Her gaze dropped to his mouth, her eyes devouring him. His body responded as if he hadn’t touched her in weeks rather than hours. He cleared his throat. “What time is your first class?”

  “Ten,” she replied.

  Leaning forward, he kissed her hard, leaving her breathless when he pulled away. “It’s thirty now.”

  She blinked once. Twice. “What?”

  “It’s nine thirty. You have half an hour to get to class.”

  She jumped up from the couch, almost knocking her empty plate from the cushion beside her. “I have to get ready. I have to go back to the apartment and take a shower.”

  “Check in your room here first. You were in such a hurry to leave that some of your clothes were overlooked.”

  She dashed off in the direction of her bedroom. Her bedroom. Max would have to fix that when she moved back in tonight. There was no way he was having her sleep in there when she could be sharing his bed. She must have found what she needed because a few moments later, the shower began to run. He cleared the dishes then went to change Erin into new clothes for the day. He had planned to take a walk in the park that morning. When his daughter was ready, he put her on his bed and got changed himself. After pulling a running shirt over his head, he slipped his feet into his shoes and tied the drawstring on his shorts. He was just strapping Erin into the stroller when Gigi emerged.

  Dressed in a pair of shorts, a tank top and a pair of red Chuck Taylor’s, she didn’t look at all hungover. “You look nice,” he said.

  “I feel terrible,” she shot back with a small grin. “Seriously, don’t let me drink tequila again.”

  “You got it. Want me to walk you to university?”

  “Are you heading that way?”

  “I was going to take Erin to Central Park.”

  She waved away his offer. “It’s in the opposite direction. I’ll be okay.”

  He stalked towards her, wrapping a firm arm around her waist and pulling her in close to his body. His kiss was demanding, letting her know that although they didn’t have time to get reacquainted now, that time would come later.

  They rode the elevator down together, parting ways out the front. He said, “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

  She got up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “See you then.”

  Max had been running for about twenty minutes when his phone rang. Pulling the stroller to a stop, he wheeled Erin off to the side of the track and dug a hand into his pocket.

  “Evangeline,” Max said, breathing hard, “how are you?”

  “Did I catch you at a bad time?” his boss asked.

  “No, just out for a run with Erin. What’s up?”

  “It sounds like New York is agreeing with you. I kind of hate to be the bearer of bad news.”

  “You’ve filled the positions, haven’t you?”

  “One of them, yeah. The guy taking over for you is named Brian Wilson. I head-hunted him from Bembe when I heard he was looking around.”

  Max whistled. He’d heard of Bembe before; it was voted one of New York’s top dance clubs. “What about the head bartender position?”

  “I’m still waiting back to hear from a few people. Jeremy is just going to have to stick it out for a bit longer.”

  He laughed. “I’m sure that won’t be an issue for him.”

  Evangeline was si
lent for a moment. “Chelsea came by looking for you.” He didn’t say anything. “I didn’t realize you two were having problems.”

  “What makes you think we’re having problems?”

  “Max, please; give me a bit of credit. You didn’t even tell your wife that you were leaving with your daughter to go to New York for four months.”

  He swirled the words he was going to say around in his mouth for a moment. “She walked out on us three months ago.”

  “Oh, Max.”

  “I don’t need your pity, Angel.” His words were weary with resignation. “Sending me here was the best thing you could have ever done.”

  “Well, I didn’t know any of this before I told her where to find you. I’m sorry if she shows up.”

  “She already did,” he replied. “I sent her away.”

  “Is there anything I can do for you?”

  He wiped the sweat now trickling from his brow. “No. I’m good. Thanks, though. So, when is Brian coming in?”

  “Tonight. I told him to go and see you at five. I also gave him your number.”

  “How much longer will I be staying in New York?”

  A pen tapped in the background. “Once you give Brian the rundown, which I can’t see lasting more than a couple of days, I’d like to have you back at work for Friday night. I’ll start looking at flights leaving mid-morning. That should get you back with enough time to rest and get ready for the night shift.”

  Max smiled tightly at a couple of female joggers smiling at him after glancing down at Erin.

  “Sounds fine. I guess I’ll see you on Friday.”

  “It’ll be good to have you back.”

  He ended the call and began walking again, his muscles already tightening up from the short break. He replayed the phone call in his head, always coming back to one thing—he was leaving on Friday morning. That invisible deadline that had been hanging over his and Gigi’s head was now a tangible reality. The thought of leaving almost hurt as badly as it had when she had walked out on him the morning before. What was she going to say? What were they going to do? He didn’t think she would take the news very well. He also doubted they would do a long-distance thing, but the thought of walking away from what they had was also a huge hell-fucking-no.