by Parker, Ali
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have left,” I retorted.
“Jace,” she said. I hated how she said my name. Like she still cared about me. Like we were still people who shared something special between us—something besides our son. She was a master manipulator. But I was onto her tricks now and had been for a while. “Please. He’s my son too.”
I closed my eyes and pressed my head against the seat. “I’ll think about it.”
Gwen had a tendency to call out of the blue and expect me and Paxton to work around her schedule. She was the one who had left. She was the one who should put in the effort to accommodate us, not the other way around.
But that wasn’t how it worked with Gwen.
It never had.
“You’ll make it work,” Gwen said. “You always do.”
For Paxton. Not for you.
“Besides,” she carried on, “I have a gift for him.”
“Of course you do.” I groaned. She was always bringing Paxton gifts from her world travels. Gifts that meant nothing to him, of course. All he wanted was time with his mother, but every time she showed up and left, it only made him more and more confused and less sure of what to expect from her. Each visit only seemed to make her more of a stranger in his eyes, and despite how I felt about Gwen, I didn’t want him to feel that way about his mother.
It wasn’t fair.
“He’ll love it. I’m sure of it. And I want to see his face when he opens it.”
I sighed. “We’ll make something work.”
“Oh good. Thank you, Jace. I’m so glad. How’s, um, how’s teaching?”
I opened my eyes and reached for my keys in the ignition. “Teaching is fine. I have to go, Gwen. I’ll talk to you later.”
“All right, have a—”
I didn’t hear the rest of her sentiment. I twisted the keys, pulled them out of the truck, and got out. My boots struck the cement hard as I crossed the parking lot to the front doors, and I bristled in the aftermath of our conversation as my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the steakhouse.
At least there was steak in my near future. And a cold glass of beer.
I spotted John and Marie at a table near the window and moved between tables to reach them. Marie popped up to her feet and gave me a warm hug before sitting back down, and I took the seat beside John.
“How are you?” Marie asked.
“Good,” I said, pushing my conversation with Gwen to the backburner. I leaned in. “Congratulations, Marie. I’m so happy for you two. I mean, I’m still dumbfounded that you want John’s offspring, but hey, we all have our kinks, right?”
Marie giggled.
John swatted at my shoulder.
I was about to defend myself when a waitress popped up by our table to collect drink orders. Within minutes, I had a cold beer in my hand, and I took three eager gulps, desperate to put some distance between me and the sense of dread spreading in my chest. Gwen had a way of getting in my head and fucking with me, even when she was on the other side of the planet.
“Is Emelia still coming?” I asked innocently.
John snorted. “Yes. Keep it in your pants, will you?”
“What?”
He gestured at all of me. “The shirt. The fresh shave. You’re as transparent as cling wrap.”
Marie blinked. “That’s a strange analogy.”
“Well it worked, didn’t it?” John asked.
She shrugged and looked at me. “You look nice, Jace.”
“Thank you,” I said, squaring my shoulders and lifting my chin. “At least someone appreciates my efforts.”
Marie smiled. “I might not be the only one. Here she comes.”
I tried to play it cool. I really did. But I couldn’t help myself.
I twisted around in my chair like a toddler spotting Santa Claus across the room and looked about wildly until my gaze landed on her.
Emelia West.
Damn.
Her legs were as long and dangerous as I remembered. She was dressed casually, in a pair of close-fitting dark blue jeans that showed off her shape—and what a shape it was. Curvy as hell like a back road and smooth as polished marble. In the dim lighting, her dark brown eyes looked almost black, but they shone the same way they had under the stars at John and Marie’s wedding all those nights ago.
I swallowed.
Somehow, she was even sexier than I remembered.
The bitterness from my conversation with Gwen slipped away as Emelia drew closer to our table.
Here we go.
Chapter 8
Emelia
As I made my way to the table by the window, I locked eyes with Marie. The corner of her mouth twitched in a smile that was half apology, half amusement, and I tried to tell her with my eyes that I was so not pleased that she and John had left me to sit directly across from Jace.
Talk about awkward eye contact.
The last thing I needed was to be directly placed in front of him. How was I supposed to pretend not to be interested in him when he was three feet across from me?
And looking like that.
I was nearly upon the table. There was only ten or fifteen feet between me and the chair across from the man who’d quite literally turned my world upside down and given it a hard shake for good measure. Not intentionally, of course.
But here we were.
I slapped on my well rehearsed I’m-totally-comfortable-right-now smile as I arrived at the table. Everyone stood up. Chair legs dragged across the tile floors, and Marie was the first one to throw her arms around me in a warm hug. She rocked us back and forth three times in either direction before standing back to hold me at arm’s length.
Her fingers pressed into my upper arms as she gripped me tightly. “You look so good. It’s ridiculous.”
“Thank you.” I turned to John in an attempt to hide my reddening cheeks from Jace, who stood with his hands clasped in front of him as if waiting for me to greet him.
John gave me an equally enthusiastic hug and then held me with one arm by the shoulders to face me toward Jace. “You remember your old pal Jace, don’t you, Em?”
My practiced smile nearly shattered, but I held it in place. “Of course. It’s good to see you, Jace.”
He held out an awkward hand. Was this how people greeted one another after not speaking for half a decade, the last encounter having been a naked and sweaty one?
Naked, sweaty, and a hell of a good time.
“A pleasant surprise,” Jace said smoothly.
His voice was as deep and gravelly as I remembered, and his hand wrapped around mine was familiar. Warm. “I figured we’d run into each other sooner or later,” I said.
Play it cool, Emelia. Play it cool.
I lowered myself into my seat and resisted the urge to adjust my shirt or fidget with my hair. It was like a compulsion when I was nervous. So I slid my hands under my thighs and smiled tight lipped at the faces around the table. “Have you all ordered?”
“Just drinks.” Marie plucked the drink menu from its wooden holder on her end of the table and handed it to me.
“What did you order?” My eyes were down on the page as I scanned my options. Sangria was nice in the fall. Or I could go for something simpler. Like a beer. Yes. A beer would do. I closed the menu and looked up at Marie, who lifted her glass in the air.
“Just starting with soda water.”
I nodded and rested my elbows on the table. I was about to reach up to play with my hair—a curse, honestly—when the waitress arrived at our table. She took my beer order, and after she left, the four of us selected our meal options.
Once that task was complete, I was left with only one more thing to do.
Look across the table at Jace.
He gave me a crooked smile, and I wondered if he was as uneasy as I was. If he was, he sure didn’t look it. Jace appeared to be as calm and collected as he was on the wedding night. His broad shoulders were squared, his back straight. I’d found his posture i
mpressive the first time we met.
I watched, a knot forming in my gut, as he raked his fingers through his dark hair. Then he leaned in, the corner of his mouth drawing up in a more obvious grin and cleared his throat.
Gulp.
“A little birdie told me you’re coming to teach at Annapolis Secondary,” he said.
I nodded.
Jace ran a thumb along his jaw. It was so sharp, so strong, I could have popped the cap off my beer bottle with it. “You start on Monday?”
I nodded again and then kicked myself into speaking. I couldn’t very well sit there with my lips sealed shut, nodding my responses like a shy toddler. Well, I could, but that was no way to convince someone I was over them, was it? “Yes, Monday. I’m excited. A little nervous, but that will pass after the first week I’m sure.”
Jace flashed me his white teeth. “You’ll do great.”
John patted me lightly on the back. “The kids will love you. Just gotta show ‘em who’s boss. You know what I mean?”
Jace shot him a look.
John rolled his shoulders with laughter. “What? It’s true. The little heathens need to know who’s in charge, and once they respect you, it’s smooth sailing.”
I bit my bottom lip. “That’s a little daunting. Are they… hard to handle?”
“No,” Jace said quickly.
But John’s louder voice drowned him out as he said, “They’re teenagers, Em. What do you think?”
Jace studied John from under his dark eyebrows. “Way to put her mind at ease.”
“What?” John asked, splaying his hands innocently. “I’m just being real with her. She went to school. She’s done her TA and sub time. You know what to expect from a room of sixteen-year-olds, don’t you, Em?”
I nodded and ran my hands down my thighs. The denim against my palms was soothing. “Yes. Of course. Fresh starts just make me nervous. I’m sure it will be fine.”
“It will be,” Jace said confidently.
For the first time since sitting down, it was easy to smile at him. “Thanks.”
Conversation bubbled up around me as John and Jace bickered. Marie and I exchanged a knowing look, and I was content to sit back with my beer and enjoy being in the company of people I knew in a town I didn’t. I hadn’t been here long, and the only social interaction I’d really had was with Linden, and he wasn’t the best conversationalist. Not that that was his fault. A five-year-old can only cover so many topics before he’s exhausted all his resources.
I was among friends. That felt good. And right. And a lot less lonely. There were people here in Annapolis I could call to go for a drink with. And in time, there would be more than this small circle. I just had to stick it out.
At least I had a good starting place. It was more than what most people got, starting over in new cities.
“How have things been with you guys?” I asked when John and Jace grew tired of their back and forth.
Marie looked at John, and he grinned before averting his gaze down to his beer.
I narrowed my eyes and looked back and forth between them. “What was that?”
“What was what?” John asked.
“That,” I said pointedly, flicking a finger from him to her. “That look.”
Jace chuckled and raked his fingers through his hair again. Damn him. He was going to have to stop doing that. It made a girl cross-eyed with fantasies.
“You know something.” I bristled under being the odd man out. “All three of you.”
“Maybe,” Jace mused, lifting his beer to his lips and taking a sip. A bead of gold liquid caught in the corner of his mouth, and I willed it to trickle down his chin. It didn’t. He wiped it away with the back of his hand.
My eyebrows were inching steadily closer to one another on my forehead as I scowled around at them. “Well, is someone going to tell me, or are you all going to leave me in suspense?”
Marie sat up straighter. Her already rosy cheeks turned an even deeper hue of red, and her eyes twinkled in the dim lighting of the restaurant. “We have… news.”
“Okay,” I said slowly.
She was practically vibrating with excitement as she reached across the table to hold John’s hand. Then they both turned toward me. My attention was glued on Marie as realization dawned on me.
Could it be?
Marie beamed at me. “John and I are pregnant.”
“Shut up,” I breathed.
Marie shook her head, and her eyes grew glassy with happy tears. “I know. It’s crazy. We can’t believe it ourselves. But we are.”
“Holy shit.” My chair squeaked on the floor as I got to my feet, rushed around John, and met Marie on the other side of the table for a bone-crushing hug. “I can’t believe it. You’ve been trying so long.” Tears stung my eyes, and my heart thundered in my chest as if pounding a drum in celebration. “This is incredible.”
“I know.” Marie half laughed, half sobbed into my shoulder.
We parted, and I wiped her tears from her cheeks. “A momma. Finally. This is the best news ever.”
I meant every word of it. I’d been the first call every time Marie took a negative pregnancy test. I’d been the one to sit on the phone with her for hours while she watched shitty reruns on TV and tried to come to terms with the fact that the maternal instinct and desire in her soul was never going to be quenched. I’d sat quietly and listened to her cry just to be there.
And it had all led up to this.
A miracle baby.
I hugged John next, who steadfastly denied that he was crying when I called him on it. By the time the tears were done and my heart rate returned to normal, I was back in my chair sipping gratefully at my beer. John and Marie told us everything they knew so far. It was still early, but everything was going according to plan. They were going to be under the watchful eye of their doctor for the first half of the pregnancy until they were in the home stretch.
“Can I plan the baby shower?” I asked.
Marie nodded eagerly. “Of course. Yes! I was going to ask you.”
“I have so many ideas already.”
“Of course you do.” John chuckled.
I pushed at his shoulder playfully. “Don’t judge. You’ll reap the benefits and won’t have to buy all your baby stuff. It adds up. Big time.”
“Sure does,” Jace said, leaning back in his chair and draping his arm over the back of Marie’s.
I blinked at him. “Do you have children?”
Jace nodded and lifted his beer with his other hand. “Sure do. A boy. His name is Paxton.”
“How old?” I asked.
“Four.”
“Four,” I breathed.
Wow. Curve ball.
Jace had a four-year-old and a five-year-old he didn’t know about.
Linden has a half-brother.
“You all right, Em?” John asked, peering over at me curiously.
I nodded. “Yes. Yes, sorry. Perfectly fine.”
“Speaking of children,” Marie said, “how’s Linden doing? I was hoping you’d bring him along tonight.”
I gave her a tight-lipped smile and looked anywhere but at Jace. I could feel his eyes on me. Would he be suspicious if he found out how old Linden was? Would he think there was a chance the boy was his? Or would he think nothing of it? He’d moved on and had a child. Why wouldn’t I have done the same?
“He’s good,” I said. “Really good. He’s had a bit of a week, what with getting settled and all and looking at his new school. They recommended a sitter, and I opted to leave him at home with her. That way, he’ll go to bed at a reasonable time, and hopefully, his schedule won’t be thrown even more out of whack than it already has been. It’s been a wild ride trying to find a bit of normalcy after such a big move.”
Jace chuckled. My gaze swept over to him as he held his beer out to the middle of the table. “A toast. To kids. And soon to be kids.” He winked at Marie.
She giggled, and we toasted to the children in o
ur lives.
Chapter 9
Jace
“You’re such a dork.” Sarah half giggled, half sneered at Emelia, who had just snapped open her clutch and was pulling out bobby pins and thin sheets of nearly translucent paper.
Emelia stared evenly at the other bridesmaid. “I’m the maid of honor, Sarah,” she spat her name out like a bite of spoiled food. “It’s my job to be prepared for worst-case scenarios on the wedding day.” Emelia rolled her eyes as she continued rummaging through her little gold purse and muttered, “Too bad I couldn’t bring anything to defuse a bitchy bridesmaid.”
I snorted.
Sarah stormed away and swung around the door frame back out into the main hall where the dancing was well underway.
“Can I be of assistance?” I offered, moving closer to the pretty maid of honor who’d held my attention since the rehearsal dinner last night.
Emelia tucked a loose strand of ash-blonde hair behind her ear and batted her long, dramatic lashes at me. “Oh no, I’m all right. Thank you, though. I’m just looking for Marie’s lipstick. She needs a touch up, and I can’t for the life of me remember where I put it. Ah! Here it is!” She withdrew a plum-colored tube with a gold lip with a triumphant grin.
“Sarah’s a gem, isn’t she?”
“Sarah can suck my nuts.” Emelia scowled.
I held a hand over my stomach as I laughed.
Emelia seemed to realize she might have crossed a line and giggled nervously. “I’m sorry. That was rude. I don’t really know her.”
“Me neither.”
“Lucky us, right?”
“Infinitely lucky,” I said. “She’s a pill. John told me she’s in the bridal party out of obligation, not because Marie wanted her to be. Family or some shit.”
Emelia nodded knowingly. “And here I was thinking the wedding was about the bride and groom.”
“And Sarah,” I added matter of factly.
She giggled again. I liked the sound. Light and bubbly and unabashed. The hair Emelia had just tucked behind her ear fell free again. Had I had a few more drinks in my system, I might have had the nerve to reach out and tuck it back into place for her. But there was still plenty of time in the evening left for such things, and I didn’t want to scare her off. We’d both arrived at the party solo. And unless I was imagining it, we’d both been stealing glances at each other since the ceremony.