Paige and the inn. That was another snag in his original plan. No. Not a snag. He wouldn’t call her that when she’d done so much to brighten his world. Not only with Rosie, although the changes in his little girl since Paige had entered their lives were nothing short of a miracle.
But it was more than that. It was who Paige was on the inside—sweetness and smarts and determination all rolled into one gorgeous package. She made him look beyond himself in a way he hadn’t in the past. He wanted to do the right thing by her, as unfamiliar as the right thing felt.
He needed to figure out a way to make sure she got to keep the inn and that he still fulfilled the agreement he had with Trinity. He couldn’t imagine disappointing Paige, but he also understood he couldn’t defy his board full stop without major repercussions.
He picked up take-out Thai food on the way home. An unfamiliar sedan was parked in front of the house when he pulled into the driveway. Shep didn’t think much of it, assuming it was a drive-by tourist who’d stopped in to check out The Bumblebee.
But as he walked up the porch steps, the front door swung open to reveal Paige, her expression tense and nervous.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said in a voice that was too high and tight. “We have visitors.” She swallowed. “Roger and Dawn Staniskowski.”
Shep’s blood suddenly felt like it had been spiked with ice crystals. “When did they get here?”
“About twenty minutes ago,” she answered. “I haven’t had a chance to call you yet but—”
“It’s fine,” he told her even as his world tilted on its axis.
Paige grabbed his arm as he made to move past her. “They’re nice.” She winced as she said the words, like they were painful to admit. “Rosie’s doing fine.”
Shep sucked in a breath, unsure whether the news made him feel better or worse.
“Is Janet still here?” he asked.
Paige shook her head. “I sent her home as soon as the grandparents arrived. It felt complicated to have us all here together.”
“Thank you.” He met her gaze for a long moment. All the things he’d planned to explain to her went out the window with this unexpected development.
The sweet half smile she gave him made his chest ache. “We’ve got this,” she told him and he wanted to believe her so badly.
“Hello,” he said as he walked into the living room.
“Dada!” Rosie shouted happily.
The Staniskowskis both stood. They were an attractive couple who looked to be in their midfifties. Roger’s salt-and-pepper-colored hair was cropped short, and Dawn could have been Monica’s older sister. She had the same pale blond hair, although hers was pulled back into a neat ponytail. “I hope it’s okay that we arrived a little earlier than expected,” Roger said. “Dawn just couldn’t wait until the weekend.”
Shep tried to smile but couldn’t force the corners of his mouth to turn up. “I’m Shep Bennett.”
He didn’t wait for either of Monica’s parents to answer but bent down to scoop up his daughter from where she sat stacking blocks on the floor. He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek, inhaling the scent of shampoo and applesauce, hoping his daughter’s presence would ground him enough to get through this visit without losing his mind.
“She’s a beautiful girl,” Roger offered, shoving his hands into the pockets of the khaki pants he wore.
“She sure is,” Shep agreed then lowered Rosie when she squirmed. A few weeks ago, his daughter would have buried her head in his shirtfront when confronted with strangers paying attention to her. Now she held out a block for Dawn to take.
“She looks just like Monica as a baby,” the woman said with a watery smile.
“Her blue eyes come from Shep’s side of the family,” Paige said from where she stood in the corner of the room watching the scene.
He glanced at her and his shoulders relaxed. She must have noticed because she gave him an approving nod.
“Otherwise,” Dawn amended, “she looks just like Monica.”
“Has she called you?” Roger asked.
Shep shook his head.
The older man’s mouth pinched. “She was supposed to have a talk with you before we got here.”
Unease prickled along Shep’s spine. “What talk?”
Roger hesitated, rocking back and forth on his feet. “There’s no easy way to broach the subject.”
“We want Rosie to live with us,” Dawn blurted then cleared her throat when her husband turned to glare at her. “Monica agrees.”
“That wasn’t exactly how we intended to start the conversation.” Roger gave another weighty glance at his wife.
“Well, we can end it there, too,” Shep told the man. “Rosie stays with me.”
Dawn sniffed. “Monica—”
“Isn’t here,” Shep snapped, running a hand through his hair when Dawn gave a muffled cry. He felt Paige’s warmth at his side. She didn’t touch him, but just her calming presence helped him regain a bit of his emotional control. “I appreciate your interest in my daughter,” he told the Staniskowskis. “I want you to be part of Rosie’s life. But I’m her father.”
“Only for the past few months,” Roger pointed out. “If our daughter hadn’t called you, would you have known?”
“No,” Shep answered, “but I could ask you the same question. I’m not sure why Monica made the choices she did surrounding Rosie’s birth. But I’m here now.”
“So are we,” Roger said. “We have a stable home, the financial resources to take care of the girl.”
“As do I,” Shep countered, his temper flaring again.
“You’re living in a hotel,” Dawn said sharply. “What kind of stability is that?”
“Ever heard of Eloise?” Paige muttered. Shep had no idea who the hell this Eloise was but by the way Dawn’s eyes narrowed, she understood the reference.
“That’s fiction,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Shep isn’t just a guest at the inn,” Paige said, taking a step forward. “He owns The Bumblebee.”
“You’re an innkeeper in your spare time?” Roger asked, his tone condescending.
“I bought the inn as an investment.”
“But you’re living here,” Dawn said again.
“Temporarily.”
Roger crossed his arms over his Semper Fi T-shirt. “Do you own another house in town?”
“Not at the moment.”
“What about in California?”
“No.”
“Then where is our granddaughter’s permanent home?” Dawn asked, moving closer to her husband.
Rosie stopped playing with the blocks, her attention drawn to the four adults now looming over her. She put her hands and feet on the floor and pushed herself to standing.
“That’s my big girl,” Shep said, crouching down to her level. “Are you going to walk to Daddy?” It was a question he’d asked a hundred times in the past week. Rosie was delayed in taking her first steps, at least according to the parenting websites he trolled late at night when he couldn’t sleep.
“Listen, Shep...” Roger began then was loudly shushed by his wife.
Rosie startled at the unfamiliar noise and plopped back down to her bottom. Her face scrunched and her breathing turned ragged. Shep recognized the signs of full meltdown mode. He bent to his knees and scooped her into his arms, straightening again.
“I’ll take her,” Dawn offered, but Shep turned to Paige.
Rosie immediately reached for her, and Paige took the girl in her arms. “Let’s go get a snack,” she told Rosie and slipped from the room, his daughter’s cries echoing in the silence.
“You’re not taking Rosie,” Shep ground out, fists clenching at his sides.
“We’re prepared to go to court,” Roger answered, almost relu
ctantly.
Shep shook his head. “No.”
“We don’t want that either,” the older man added quickly. “It’s obvious Rosie adores you. We want you to be a part of her life.”
Dawn nodded. “We’re willing to move to California to be closer to you and Monica.”
“Monica?” Shep laughed and it felt like rusty metal scraping against his throat. “She’s in New Zealand now and who knows where next. She doesn’t want to be a mother.”
“That’s not true,” Dawn protested weakly. “She talked about auditioning for a television series after the movie wraps so she’d be in one place.”
Shep threw up his hands. “For how long?”
“How long will you be in Colorado?” Roger countered.
When Shep didn’t answer, the other man sighed. “That’s our point. Rosie is young now but she’s going to need stability and security. We can offer that to her. You’ll still be her father.”
“Always,” Dawn added.
“We only want what’s best for her,” Roger said.
It killed Shep to know they didn’t think he was it, and he hated to admit that most of the time he agreed with them.
“I don’t want to fight with you,” he said when the awkward silence between them had dragged out longer than even he could stand. “Or with Monica. I need to speak to her before we discuss anything else about the future.”
Roger’s gaze dropped to the floor. “She’ll tell you—”
“I need to talk to her.” Shep held up a hand. “No more of this tonight. I’ve had a long day and it’s almost time for Rosie’s bath.”
“We can stay and help with that,” Dawn offered.
Shep shook his head. He needed time to settle his emotions and there was no way that would happen with Monica’s parents looking over his shoulder. “Come back tomorrow. You can spend the morning with Rosie and her nanny. If she’s comfortable with you, then after her nap you could take her to the playground if you’d like.”
“That sounds great,” Dawn said, clasping her hands together. “We got a car seat from the rental car agency, so we’re all set.”
“Fine.” Shep forced a neutral tone.
“Would you like help cleaning up her toys? I’m happy to help with anyth—”
“Not tonight.” Shep took a step back. He’d been a dad for less than a year but couldn’t imagine a time when there wouldn’t be toys and books scattered around any house where he lived. “Thanks for the offer.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Staniskowskis exchange a glance but all Shep could focus on was drawing air in and out of his lungs without hyperventilating.
“We’ll see you tomorrow,” Roger said as they moved past him.
“Yeah,” he whispered, hoping to hell his life would seem more manageable in the morning light.
* * *
“Are they gone?”
Shep glanced up as Paige walked into the family room with Rosie, who shouted his name like she hadn’t seen him in months.
Her enthusiasm never failed to charm him. Had he been like that as a toddler? It was difficult to think of himself as anyone but the rebellious boy he’d become as he’d aged, the one his father had seemed to take great pains to tear down at every opportunity.
He’d never do that with his daughter. He swallowed back the unfettered rage he felt after the Staniskowskis’ visit and smiled at his daughter. “Did you have a good day, Rosie-girl?” he asked.
She babbled a response as Paige set her on the floor in front of her toys.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to warn you,” Paige said as she came to sit next to him on the sofa.
He shook his head. “It would have been like warning someone when a Category 5 hurricane was minutes from landfall. Knowing what was coming wouldn’t have changed anything.”
Paige gave him a pained smile. “I think they meant well.”
“I bet Pol Pot thought the same thing about himself.”
“That’s rough.”
He sighed. “I know, and they’re decent people. I get that. But they want to take my daughter.”
“They mostly want to be part of her life. I think they’re scared right now and reeling from the way they found out about Rosie.”
“I need to call Monica,” he muttered, scrubbing his hand over his face. “She needs to—”
“Shep, look.”
He dropped his hands and lifted his gaze to see Rosie balancing on her feet. She held her arms out straight and stared right into his eyes, giving him the widest grin he’d ever seen as she took one then another tentative step forward.
He reached out and found Paige’s hand, squeezing her fingers as they watched Rosie walk forward a half-dozen more precarious steps before dropping to her knees. She power-crawled the rest of the distance and Shep lifted her into his arms.
“You’re a big girl now,” he said, kissing both of her cheeks.
“Rosie walked,” Paige said, leaning in to drop her own kisses on the girl’s downy-soft hair. “It was the best walking any toddler has ever done.”
Rosie clapped for herself then climbed out of Shep’s lap to reach for her favorite stuffed animal.
“She may have taken a while,” Shep said, “but it was worth the wait.”
“She was perfect,” Paige agreed.
So are you, Shep wanted to tell her but couldn’t quite form the words. It felt like they’d reveal too much about how she’d slipped past his defenses and wound her way around his heart. His life was a mess at the moment, and he wanted to clean it up before he moved forward with Paige.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Paige asked, as if she could read his thoughts. “About Rosie’s grandparents and their offer?” she clarified when he only stared at her.
“Not now,” he said, the band around his chest loosening slightly. “The Staniskowskis were the cherry on top of a lousy day ice-cream float. I’d like to forget about everything except you and Rosie for the rest of the night.”
If she knew about Vincent and the fact that he’d actually signed a contract to give Trinity access to the inn’s property...
That was a hurdle to cross another day.
“Agreed,” she said and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“That was almost too easy.” He turned toward her, smoothing the curls away from her face. “Do you want to talk about your day?”
“Nope.” She grinned but it didn’t come anywhere near her eyes. “I want to forget everything.”
Shep knew he should push, but it was too easy to ignore the real world when they were alone in the inn.
Which was another problem, because they wouldn’t be alone here for long. Logan Travers had told him about a house for rent outside town that sounded perfect for him and Rosie. But there was another thing he couldn’t stand the thought of talking about with Paige. What happened when he moved out?
“I’m going to start dinner,” Paige said, suddenly standing like she was dealing with the same kind of turbulent energy as him.
“I brought home Thai,” he told her. “It’s in the truck. I forgot to grab it.”
“You get it,” she said, not making eye contact with him, “and I’ll heat up something for Rosie.”
He nodded and watched as she scooped up his daughter then walked out of the room.
“Paige,” he called before she disappeared.
She looked over her shoulder at him, so beautiful with her tumble of curls and creamy skin it almost took his breath away. “Thanks for being here,” he told her. “For staying earlier. I don’t think I could have gotten through it without you.”
She gave him a thumbs-up sign. “No problem,” she said. “That’s what friends are for.”
Before he could answer, she was gone.
Chapter Fourteen
Friends
.
Paige replayed the conversation with Shep and her final, stupid, clichéd line in her head as she showered later that night. That’s what friends are for. She might as well have just teased her hair and broken out in song, like it was 1985.
Of course she and Shep were friends of a sort, but her feelings for him went so much deeper. So deep that they scared the heck out of her.
She had no idea if any of it was reciprocated. She’d been a fool when she’d told herself it didn’t matter. Of course it mattered. How could she be in love with a man who put her in the “friends with benefits” category? They’d never discussed or put any kind of label on their relationship.
They’d never even been on a real date with just the two of them. They’d skipped straight past dating to living together and raising his child. And Paige had moved right through like or infatuation to full-out falling in love.
The visit from his ex-girlfriend’s parents had shaken Shep. There was no doubt about that. The conversation with her mother had rattled Paige. She knew there were things he wasn’t telling her, and she couldn’t seem to make herself share everything with him.
What a pair.
He didn’t even know the real reason the inn meant so much to her. As far as Shep understood, she was trying to honor her nana’s legacy, which was true. Just not the whole truth.
Everyone else saw her as delicate, as the woman who’d once been a sick girl. That was the thing about cancer, even if you survived it, the damned disease never truly went away. The vague notion of it returning was always there for Paige. She didn’t want to admit how much her mother’s fears mirrored her own. She only wanted to be whole. To shed the mantle of survivor and trade it for regular person.
When the water began to cool, she turned off the tap, stepped out of the shower and wrapped one towel around her wet hair and another around her body.
She’d made an excuse to Shep about going to bed early but already missed spending an evening with him. How much worse would it be when he and Rosie moved out? She knew he was looking at rental houses, and Carly made regular comments about how they couldn’t book the inn when Paige had Shep and Rosie living there.
Anything for His Baby Page 15