by Jessie Evans
Two parents.
What would it be like to have a helpmate? Someone who wasn’t Aria’s mom or dad or one of her sisters? Someone to get up in the night once in a while so Aria could get a full night’s sleep, someone to run grab more diapers at the store while Aria put the baby down for her nap and grabbed a few minutes of peace with a glass of sweet tea and a good book?
It sounded like heaven, especially after the nightmare of learning Liam was going to try to take Felicity away. She would give anything for a stable home and marriage, to have a true partner and freedom from this kind of stress.
“Well, thank you so much for your time,” Aria said. “I really appreciate it.”
“No problem, and if you want some recommendations for someone to represent you, just let me know. I know a few people in Summerville who are affordable, but great at what they do.”
“Thanks,” Aria said, then rushed to add, “Can I ask you one more thing?”
“Sure,” Chris said.
“Is there anything I could do to make this go away? Without a big legal battle or going to court?”
“You’ll have to go to court, at least for that hearing at the end of August listed on the documents, but…” Chris covered the phone again, murmuring he’d “be right there” before coming back on the line. “Moving into your own place with a separate bedroom for the baby would be a start. Then your ex couldn’t complain you were living with a bad influence, or that your child didn’t have her own space. And you know, just anything else you can do to even the playing field and make his objections seem unfounded.”
“Okay,” Aria said, trying not to let her disappointment creep into her voice. “Thanks so much.”
She hung up and took a deep breath, steeling herself as her family wandered back across the lawn.
“So? What did he say?” Aria’s mom asked, running a nervous hand over her perfectly smooth blond bob.
“He said Liam has a case,” Aria said, giving Mason his phone. “Not a great case, but he has a chance of winning shared custody.”
“What? But that’s crazy!” Lark said, her outrage clear in her voice.
“Crazy or not…Chris sounded like he knew what he was talking about.” Aria sighed and pressed a firm finger to her eyebrow where a migraine was quickly beginning to gather its forces to unleash fury upon her skull. “Chris said it would help if I moved out and got my own place, but I can’t afford that right now.”
“Yes, you can,” Daddy said, his grim expression revealing he had finally caught on to the fact that this wasn’t funny. “Mom and I will cover the first and last month’s rent on a two bedroom apartment.”
“No, Daddy.” Aria shook her head. “I know you’re strapped for cash right now.” Her parents had just opened two new Bob and Sue’s Smoke Shack locations and were in debt until the new restaurants started paying off.
“It doesn’t matter,” Mom said. “We’ll find the money.”
“No, you won’t. I won’t accept that kind of help from you, so just forget it,” Aria said firmly. “Besides, Liam has a huge house in Nashville, a two bedroom apartment would hardly compare, and the lawyer said I’d need to even the playing field.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Lark said, putting her arm around Aria’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, okay? There has to be a way we can make this better.”
Aside from meeting Prince Charming, marrying him, and moving her and Felicity both into his castle, Aria couldn’t imagine what that “way” might be, and she knew better than to think Prince Charming was a viable option.
Liam had taught her better than to believe in happy endings.
“Come on, let’s eat and then get going to the fair,” Lark said as Melody emerged from the house with Felicity in her arms.
“I don’t really feel like going to the fair anymore,” Aria said, reaching to take Felicity from her sister and hugging her a little too tight, until Felicity squirmed to be put down to play in the grass.
“But it will be fun,” Lark insisted, tossing Felicity the red ball she loved to bat around the yard like a puppy. “You need to relax and have a little fun after how hard we’ve worked this summer.”
“I don’t know,” Aria said, though she had to admit Lark was right.
She, Melody, and Lark had been busting their butts to make Ever After Catering, Lark’s catering business, the most coveted wedding caterer in the greater Atlanta area. They had been booked solid every weekend this summer—and several weekdays, too—and were now booking weddings through the fall. Next month, Lark was going to increase their base fee by five hundred dollars, and had promised both Melody and Aria a raise.
Too bad the raise wasn’t coming a little sooner.
“And you know Nana will never forgive us if we don’t come see her watermelon while it’s wearing its blue ribbon,” Melody said as she retrieved the ribs from the grill and arranged them on a giant serving plate. “She’s prouder of that watermelon than her great-grandchild and all three of her toy poodles combined.”
Aria smiled, but it felt brittle on her face. “I think Nana will understand why I’m not in the mood.”
“I think you should go,” Mom said, surprising Aria. “I’ll watch Felicity tonight like we planned, and you go have fun with your sisters and Mason. You might be surprised what comes to you while you’re there. Sometimes the answers to our problems are just waiting for us to relax and let them in.”
Aria doubted there were any answers waiting for her at the county fair, but she finally agreed to head out with Lark, Melody, and Mason after supper.
She had been looking forward to tonight, and she wasn’t going to let Liam ruin anything else for her. It would be like letting him win, and she was never going to allow that to happen.
Not without one hell of a fight.
Chapter Two
Nash Geary hadn’t been in a fistfight in ten years, not since a jackass came to work drunk on a construction site and ran over Nash’s foot with a pick-up truck.
Even with three broken toes, Nash had kicked the other man’s ass into the hot, sandy ground.
Nash was six foot four and, as his grandma liked to say, built like a brick shithouse. He had been born bigger and stronger than most of his peers, and, since learning a thing or two about bullies at a young age, he’d done everything he could to widen the divide. He worked out six days a week, starting his day with cardio from six to six-thirty, weights for another hour, and then a lightning fast shower before he cruised into work at the station at eight.
One of the perks of making Captain was being able to set his own hours. No more night shifts for him.
Now he had his nights free to go out, get involved in the community…and run into his ex-girlfriend so often he would swear Rachael was stalking him if she hadn’t made it abundantly clear how much she loathed crossing paths.
Right now she looked like she’d been sucking on a lemon.
Rachael was doing her best to pretend she hadn’t spotted him three people behind her and her new man, in line to buy admission to the fair, but she had. He could tell by her prune lips, tense shoulders, and the way she clutched at Lee’s arm like a life preserver. Even if Nash hadn’t been able to read Rachael like a book—a poorly written one, where the depressing middle and end didn’t match the rosy beginning in the slightest—Lee’s behavior left no doubt that he knew Nash was watching his every move.
He let his hand linger on Rachael’s ass, kissed her with enough tongue to make Nash want to gag, and smiled his smug, double-chinned smile over his shoulder, not meeting Nash’s eyes, but making damn sure Nash could see how proud Lee was of himself for stealing Nash’s girl.
Nash wanted to tell the bastard that he couldn’t care less about Rachael, that he was glad Lee had taken her off his hands, and that he wouldn’t take the lying, manipulative woman back for a million dollars. Better yet, he wanted to smash his fist into the car salesman’s pompous face and watch teeth fly like confetti. If attacking a civilian w
ouldn’t mean losing his job, Nash would have seriously considered it.
Instead, he clenched his jaw, averted his eyes, and prayed to make it through the line without having to exchange words with his ex or her new boyfriend. Unfortunately, God must have been busy elsewhere. Ten feet from the ticket window, Lee turned, affecting surprise as he met Nash’s eyes.
“Well! Hot damn, if it isn’t Captain Geary,” Lee said, smiling even wider, showing off his tiny, Chiclet-shaped teeth as he ushered the three people in between them ahead of him and Rachael in the line.
“How are you tonight, Captain?” he asked, doing his best to look Nash in the face without tilting his head back, but failing. Lee had always been on the short side, and seemed even shorter after putting on fifty pounds since high school. “Out alone again?”
Rachael’s puckered lips relaxed into a smirk. Nash hadn’t dated anyone since they had finally broken up for good six weeks ago and, somehow, Rachael knew it.
Knew it, and took it as proof of how badly she’d hurt him.
“I’m meeting my date inside, thanks,” Nash lied in a lazy drawl.
The only people he was meeting inside were his two oldest sisters and their five rowdy kids, but he could be meeting a woman inside, and maybe he would. Back before Rachael ripped out his heart with her tiny red claws and gnawed it to pieces, he had been pretty good at picking up women.
Damn good, in fact.
“Nice,” Lee said. “That’s great to hear. You gotta get back on the horse, you know?” He broke into loud laughter that made the people ahead of him turn to stare.
Again, Nash considered punching him. It was only his career and livelihood at risk, and how good would it feel to knock that grin off Lee Otter’s chubby face?
Very good. Very, very good.
The man was an even bigger asshole than he’d been in high school.
Back then, Lee had had only one chin, and had been a fairly decent football player, but not as good as Nash. Nash was the quarterback, the one who could probably have gone pro if he’d had any interest in getting his head smashed in for a living. But he’d only played sports as an excuse to stay after school, instead of going straight home to take care of his ten brothers and sisters.
For those hours between three-thirty and five-thirty, and every game night, he had just been Nash, not Nash, the surrogate parent. It had been his time, and his sister Raleigh had been forced to step in and run herd over the little ones until Nash got home. That’s what meant the most to him, not the game itself, and Lee had hated him for it. Nash couldn’t count the times the other boy had whined that Nash should quit and give someone else a chance if he didn’t really care about playing ball.
Nash had always ignored him. Even if Nash had quit, Lee would never have been a football star. He was a greasy-haired, paunchy car-salesman-waiting-to-happen, even back then.
“I’m glad there are no hard feelings,” Lee continued in a mocking tone that made Nash’s hands ball into fists at his sides. “It’s so much nicer that way, don’t you think? Especially now that Rachael and I are engaged.”
Nash’s mouth fell open. He couldn’t help it, though he regretted letting his shock show as soon as he saw satisfaction flicker in Lee’s eyes.
But hell, it had only been eight weeks since Rachael had said she needed a ring from Nash or she was moving out, and only six weeks since they’d finally called it quits. Six weeks! He hadn’t even had time to get the smell of her perfume completely out of the curtains. He still found her tiny pink-trimmed socks hiding under the washer in the laundry room.
He still woke up expecting someone next to him, and felt that unwelcome pang of loneliness when he realized the other side of the bed was empty.
“Show him your ring, honey,” Lee said, while Nash did his best to regain control.
“Come on, Lee, we’re almost at the booth,” Rachael said, in a half-hearted protest. “And Nash doesn’t want to see my ring. Nash has no interest in rings, do you Nash?” She lifted an eyebrow in his direction, giving the dig a little extra oomph, stoking the fire building in Nash’s belly.
He hated this woman. It was impossible to believe he’d ever thought he might be falling for her.
“I don’t know about that,” Nash said, anger moving his lips before his brain could weigh in. “I’ve been thinking about proposing to someone special, myself. Just haven’t been able to find that perfect ring just yet.”
Now it was Rachael’s turn to gape in surprise. Watching her struggle to find words felt pretty damned good.
For about three seconds, until Nash’s brain caught up with his mouth to inform him what a dumb mistake he’d made.
Great work, genius. Now you’re going to look like an even bigger asshole when it becomes obvious you haven’t even got a girlfriend, let alone a fiancée.
“I’ll believe it when I see it, Nash Geary,” Rachael finally sputtered, almost as if she could read his thoughts. “For a guy with so much muscle, you sure are afraid of the ‘M’ word.”
She forced a little laugh, and Lee joined in, but her fiancé looked less smug after the reminder that the only reason he had a beautiful, curvy brunette on his arm was because Nash had refused to put a ring on her finger first.
Mercifully, they made it to the front of the line before any more words could be exchanged, and, with another round of tight grins and a promise to “see you inside,” Lee hustled Rachael to the fair’s main entrance.
Nash paid for his own admission and followed them as slowly as possible, wondering if Raleigh and Alexandria would care if he didn’t show up tonight, after all. He and his siblings rarely made plans that were set in stone. With a family as large as theirs, it was impossible to accommodate everyone’s schedules. They tended to keep things more casual, letting each other know when and where they would be on a given night, with an implied open invitation to any Geary who wanted to show up and join in the fun. Nash had been looking forward to seeing his nieces and nephews riding all the carnival rides he and his siblings had been too poor to afford as kids, but now…
Now he just wanted to go home, sit by himself in front of the T.V. with a beer or six, and wait for Saturday to begin.
Saturdays were his favorite day of the week, the day he could take his time with his workout and have a big breakfast afterward, then head out to the park to catch a pick-up game with his buddies or take Mason’s boat out on the lake if his friend wasn’t planning to use it.
Nash had enjoyed the boat this summer more than he thought he would, and already figured he’d have to save up to get one of his own if Mason decided to move out of his condo and into a place with ample boat-parking. But until he did, Nash planned to log as much time on the lake as he could. There was nothing like a day of fishing to get your mind off all the things you’d rather not think about.
Like ex-girlfriends who were getting married. And lies about a future fiancée who doesn’t exist.
Moving off to one side of the fair entrance, Nash pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Mason, mentally making a deal with himself. If Mason said he could use the boat tomorrow, then Nash would go home and get a good night’s rest and plan to hit the lake as soon as his workout was finished. If Mason said he was going to take the boat out himself, Nash would go on into the fair and try to have fun with his family. Better to drown his sorrows in cotton candy and niece and nephew giggles than a six pack, he thought, though he secretly hoped for an excuse to head home and avoid running into Rachael and Lee again tonight.
Mason answered by the third ring. “Hey, Nash, what’s up?” he asked in a loud voice, shouting to be heard over something roaring in the background.
“Nothing much, just wondering if you’d mind if I used your boat tomorrow.”
“What?” Mason shouted. “Sorry, man, I can’t hear you. We’re at the fair, by the rollercoaster.”
Nash smiled. “I’m right outside the entrance,” he said in a louder voice. “I’ll meet you in a few and we can talk in per
son.”
“All right,” Mason said, sounding less-than-pleased by the coincidence. “But Aria’s here,” he added, explaining the hesitation in his voice.
Mason didn’t know all the specifics, but he knew Nash and Aria had a past, and that they didn’t care for each other. The one disastrous, March sister BBQ Mason had invited Nash to a couple of months ago had made that much obvious.
“She and Lark will be getting off the ride soon,” Mason added.
“Then I’ll be quick.” Nash snapped the phone shut and headed for the entrance.
Aria March. It must be his lucky night. Running into the only woman who had broken his heart as an adult apparently wasn’t enough punishment. Now he might have the chance to exchange a few awkward remarks with the girl who had emotionally sucker-punched him as a kid, as well.
He had been out of his mind with excitement to go to art camp that summer. He played sports to have time to himself; he sketched and painted because he loved it. But there was never enough money to buy art supplies at his house. A summer with unlimited paper and charcoal and paint and no little kids’ noses to wipe had sounded like heaven. He had never dreamed he would fall in love at Art Under the Elms, or that the first girl to make him feel like he might have found his match would turn out to be a selfish liar who would throw him under the bus the minute her daddy decided Nash was white trash.
No matter how brief their relationship, up until Rachael, Aria had held the award for Most Reviled Ex-Girlfriend. Eleven years running.
Spending the evening trying to be civil to her at that BBQ had been one of his most miserable evenings in recent memory. No matter how diabolically adorable her baby was, Aria March could still set his teeth on edge.
He could certainly do without seeing her tonight.
Nash hurried down the main fairway, past hot dog carts and popcorn and cotton candy vendors, past games of chance disguised as games of skill, through the sweet and salty smells of the fair, toward the skeleton of the rollercoaster at the rear of the fairgrounds. With his long legs, he covered ground quickly, and, when he spied Mason standing near the exit to the coaster, his friend was still alone.