by Raine Thomas
“Because you’re a wealthy man with wealthy, influential friends, your daughter is the latest YouTube sensation, and Ms. Wilkins is flat broke.”
The sound of the guest room door opening drew their attention to the hallway. Katie shuffled into the room carrying JoJo under her arm. She still looked half asleep. Pillow creases lined her right cheek. One leg of her Moana-themed pajamas was stuck several inches higher up her calf than the other. Her hair was a spectacular display of frizz and tangles.
She had trudged over to the sofa, climbed up onto Will’s lap, snuggled against his chest, and closed her eyes.
Will looked back at Ryan. “Let’s make it happen.”
The next few hours had involved contacting Carol Ann about the change in location, calling his attorney’s office and asking for a call back the moment Sharon was out of court, discussing everything with his dad when he got home, and making arrangements for him to take Katie out for the afternoon with Ryan for protection. Between all that and trying to stick to Katie’s routine as much as possible to avoid alarming her, Will hadn’t even thought about sleep.
As he had arranged ahead of time, Carol Ann parked in his dad’s garage and used the backyard gate to get to Will’s house. He met her at the rear deck sliding doors. When he opened them, a loud chime resonated through the house. Carol Ann’s eyebrows lifted.
“I know,” he said apologetically. “I had audio and visual monitoring installed to help keep an eye on Katie. It’s not the subtlest thing.”
She let out a light laugh. “I get it. Can’t be too safe, right?”
And that was all Will had said about the cameras and mics Ryan installed.
“Thanks again for meetin’ with me,” she had said when they were seated in the family room. “You have a beautiful house. I’m sure Katie’s very happy here.”
He hadn’t seen any point in touching on either of those comments. “Look, Carol Ann, I realize you’re being polite, but I don’t have a lot of time or interest in small talk. It’s been a really long couple of days. Why don’t you just get into what you’d like to tell me?”
An irritated look flickered over her pretty features, though she masked it quickly. “Of course. I know you’re a busy guy.” She rested her hands over her knee where her long legs were crossed. “As I mentioned on the phone, I’ve been workin’ through some of the most difficult parts of my life to help with the healing process.”
He nodded.
“One of the hardest things I have to learn to do is forgive myself for what I did while I was sick. My doc says one way to do that is to try and earn forgiveness from those I’ve wronged.” Her eyes had filled as she looked down at her hands. “You probably don’t believe me, Will, but I don’t know how I’ll ever forgive myself for leavin’ Katie like I did. I can’t explain the way my depression impacted my thinking. There were days when I was worried I would hurt one of us. I was desperate to save her from me.”
Between the tears shining in her eyes and the pain in her voice, he had found it hard not to empathize with her at least a little. He grabbed the box of tissues from one of the end tables and stood to hand it to her.
She sniffled and took one. “Thanks.”
“I’m sorry to hear that you struggled so much,” he said. “But why didn’t you leave her with your family?”
His phone had chosen that moment to ring. It was Sharon, and he couldn’t miss the opportunity to talk to his attorney with her time being so limited. He’d had to excuse himself to take the call in the guest room.
He talked to Sharon for close to fifteen minutes, sharing what he knew about Carol Ann and the situation as it stood. She assured him she would review everything from their previous legal proceedings to make sure there were no loopholes Carol Ann could try to take advantage of, but said he should feel confident his custody was secure.
It was the slight glimmer of a chance that it wasn’t secure that now had him pressing his thumb and forefinger to his eyes and fighting the exhaustion that wanted to overtake him. The physical and mental strain was taking its toll.
He shook it off, unwilling to leave Carol Ann alone in his home any longer than necessary, security or no security. Tucking his phone back into his pocket, he headed back out to the family room. He frowned and came to a halt when he noticed that the interior of the house had gotten darker.
“Why did you close the curtains?” he asked.
“I thought I saw someone back there.” She shivered and rubbed her upper arms. “It totally creeped me out. No offense, but I don’t think I’d be okay livin’ with all those paparazzi around.”
His gaze moved to the open bottle of beer beside her as he sat back down. “Sure made yourself right at home, didn’t you?”
Her cheeks pinkened. “I’m sorry for presumin’. I’ll pay you for it. I’m just so nervous. I hoped it might take the edge off a little.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, though he questioned the wisdom of someone with depression drinking anything alcoholic. “Where were we before I had to take that call?”
“You asked why I didn’t leave Katie with my family.” She lifted the beer and took a drink. After she swallowed, she answered, “There were two reasons. The first was that I’d been followin’ your career. I knew you were in a better place financially than anyone in my family could ever be. The second was that I just couldn’t have her anywhere near me.”
When he didn’t reply, she fiddled with the beer’s label and said, “You see why this is so hard for me to talk about, right? I look back at those decisions and I’m filled with shame. It was like my body had been taken over by a—well, an alien or something. You must think I sound ridiculous.”
“I can’t pretend to understand the complexities of mental illness,” he said carefully. “I believe you were going through a difficult time.”
She looked at him with hope-filled eyes.
“But I’m not sure you’re going to get whatever closure you’re seeking from me.”
The hope died. “You mean you can’t forgive me for leavin’ Katie with you?”
“I thank God every day that you left Katie with me,” he said in a level tone. “But I can’t forgive you for leaving her alone in the dark on a freezing cold porch with a note pinned to her sweater that said you were done dealing with her.”
Her face lost a shade of color. More tears gleamed in her eyes.
“All you had to do was call me, Carol Ann.”
Her tears fell in earnest then. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinkin’ clearly. I was in such a dark place. You have no idea. I was desperate.”
And he was suddenly desperate to have her gone.
“It couldn’t have been easy to share those things with me,” he said. “I understand why you’re trying to work through all this in your therapy. But it seems to me that the one person whose forgiveness you need most is yours. That’s not something I can really help you with.”
She sobbed into a handful of tissues.
Feeling a whiff of sympathy for her, he offered, “If it brings you any comfort, I’ve never been happier than I’ve been since Katie came into my life. I have you to thank for that.”
She nodded and blotted her tears with the mess of tissues. After checking her makeup in her small compact, she gave him a wobbly smile.
“Thanks for sayin’ that, Will. It’s not what I’d hoped to hear, but it really does help.”
“Good.” He made a show of glancing at his watch. “Now I hate to rush you out, but my dad’s due shortly.”
She waved that off and collected her purse, the tissues, and the empty beer bottle. “I understand. I really appreciate you meetin’ with me. Where can I put this stuff?”
“The garbage and recycle bins are right this way.”
She followed him into the kitchen and disposed of the items in the bins. He walked over to the curtains over the sliding doors and opened them, scanning the backyard for whoever she thought she’d seen earlier. There was no sign of anyon
e.
He opened the door when she approached. She paused before stepping outside.
“I know it’s a lot to ask, but do you think maybe we could stay in touch?” she asked.
“Sorry, but I really don’t think we should.”
Hurt reflected in her gaze as she nodded. “Okay. Well, thanks again, Will.”
He watched her through the doors until she entered his dad’s garage. Then he walked to the front of his house to make sure she left before pulling out his phone and texting his dad to let him know he was clear to come home with Katie.
He released Gump from his crate and spent a couple of minutes giving him belly rubs. Then he went into the family room to wait for everyone to return.
The moment he sat down, he lost the battle with his exhaustion. Sleep claimed him.
What felt like minutes later, his dad nudged him awake.
“Hey there, Sleeping Beauty,” he said. “Ryan’s got something you need to see.”
Will rubbed his face to get more alert. “Where’s Katie?”
“She’s watching a show in the bedroom.”
Spotting Ryan sitting at the kitchen table with a laptop in front of him, Will got to his feet. Gump rose from his bed in the corner of the room and plodded over to his side as he went to see what Ryan wanted to show him.
“What’s up?”
“I reviewed the footage from earlier,” Ryan replied. “I want to show you a couple things we caught while you were on the phone.”
“Did she take the twenty?”
He was referring to a twenty-dollar bill the security specialist had planted to find out whether Carol Ann might be angling for money. Will hadn’t remembered to look for it after she left.
“Yes. She also spent time looking through the stack of mail we staged on the counter, opening your cabinets and drawers, and looking at the family photos you left out.”
Just thinking about that made Will’s skin crawl. He felt violated even though Ryan had warned him to expect that type of thing if he had to leave the room.
“There’s one more thing,” the specialist said.
He pulled up a window on his browser. The feed that appeared on the screen was clearly from one of the cameras he had installed. It took a moment for Will to register the frozen image of Jasmine facing Carol Ann through the sliding doors.
“Oh, no.” Dread filled him as he fully absorbed the scene, including the bags of food Jasmine held. “Shit.”
“Did you forget to call Jasmine and cancel?” Frank asked.
Will nodded as Ryan hit the play button. The specialist had taken the precaution of installing cameras inside and outside the porch, knowing Carol Ann would be walking between the two houses and entering from the deck. They could hear everything the two women said.
They also saw the look on Jasmine’s face when Carol Ann closed the curtains in her face.
“Fuck.” Will paced away from the table to get his aggravation under control. Gump trotted along beside him. “That lying, manipulative—” He cut himself off and whipped back around to face his dad. “You don’t think Jasmine believed any of that shit, do you?”
“Of course she did,” Will answered himself, jamming his hands into his hair and resuming his pacing. “How could I have forgotten she was coming over? What am I going to do? I’ve got to call her.”
He yanked his phone out of his pocket. His dad took two strides and grabbed it from his hand.
“What are you doing?” Will demanded. “I’ve got to call her and start groveling.”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Frank countered. “For a fuck-up this big, son, you’ve got to go and grovel in person.”
Will looked over at Ryan.
“Bring flowers,” he said.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“It’s Will,” Tobias announced from his position at the front door. “Want me to drag him in here and kick his ass?”
If anyone could do it, Jasmine mused, it would be him. Tobias spent much of his free time kickboxing and had the physique to prove it.
He and Danny had been doing their best to comfort her since she got home a couple hours ago. They knew something was wrong the moment she walked through the door. It hadn’t taken long before they put the groceries away for her, settled her on the sofa, and poured her a glass of wine. They’d all been sitting in the family room talking about Will, Katie, and the entire situation since then.
“How horrible do I look?” Jasmine asked Danny, suddenly highly aware of the dried tears on her cheeks.
“Nothing a quick splash of water from the sink won’t fix, honey,” he said, standing and taking her hand to help her to her feet. “It’s best to make an entrance anyway. Run on up and do what you need to do. We’ll run interference.”
She leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thanks.”
Five seconds later, she closed herself in the upstairs bathroom as the front door opened. She leaned over the sink and tried to decide if her racing heart was from the jog up the stairs or the prospect of seeing Will again.
What was he about to tell her?
Had she ruined things between them by refusing to contact him for so long?
Could her heart handle seeing him right now after he’d been with Katie’s mother?
The questions ran fast and furious through her mind as she washed her face and tugged the end of her braid to remove the hair tie. Most of the braid had come loose anyway, so she just ran a brush through it and left it down. She had learned enough about Will’s preferences over the past few months to know he liked it that way.
She took the time to apply a little makeup too. No sense making this easy on him if he intended to end the sex-only thing between them.
Her heart gave a hard lurch over that.
Deciding she couldn’t stall any longer, she took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom. She didn’t see anyone at the bottom of the stairs. The sound of voices reached her, including Will’s. It told her that her roommates had let him past the threshold.
It took one more deep breath to give her the nudge to walk downstairs. As she drew it in, a powerful, delicious scent filled her nostrils.
French fries.
She emerged from the stairway and turned toward the family room. Will stood beside the sofa holding a glass vase full of flowers. Beside him on the coffee table was a grease-stained brown bag, the source of the heavenly smell. A cardboard container beside the bag contained two chocolate milkshakes in clear plastic cups.
She met his gaze over the flowers. He looked…worn, she decided. There was a weariness about him she’d never seen before, one that seemed to extend beyond just physical exhaustion.
It touched her heart, eliminating any residual anger she may have harbored toward him.
“We’ll leave you two alone,” Danny said, looking between her and Will as he waved Tobias toward the stairs. “You just call on up if you need us, Jazzy.”
“I will. Thanks.”
Tobias didn’t immediately follow. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was giving Will a steely stare-down.
“Tobias?” she prompted.
“You gonna eat this stuff he brought?” he asked.
Her stomach chose that moment to growl loud enough that it had the two men looking over at her. Despite the tension in the room, it made her laugh.
“Guess that answers that,” Tobias said, finally uncrossing his arms. “You haven’t eaten since breakfast. Make sure you at least eat this.”
He pointed to the fries and shakes. She nodded. Giving Will one last warning glare, he headed upstairs.
When they were alone, she and Will exchanged another long, quiet look. Beyond the exhaustion, she read the apology in his eyes. But what was he about to apologize for?
There was only one way to find out.
“Are these for me?” she asked, walking over to him and leaning close to smell the fresh, vibrant flowers.
“Yeah. Unless you hate them. Then they’re for Tobias s
o he won’t tear my testicles off.”
She quirked an eyebrow as she accepted the vase from him and walked over to set them on the counter bar. “Did he threaten to do that?”
“Not in so many words. But his body language said it clear enough.”
The flowers made her smile. “Tobias will have to be appeased some other way. These are too beautiful to give him.” She turned back to face him. “Thanks. Now are you about to tell me what they’re for?”
He nodded and lifted the brown bag. “But it sounds like you need to eat. Should I bring these to the table?”
“Let’s live on the wild side and sit on the sofa.”
He sat and waited for her to do the same before he tore open the bag. She saw that it didn’t contain any cardboard holders. It was just filled with fries.
“The guy at the drive-thru recognized me,” he explained. “When I said I needed his hottest, freshest fries and a couple of chocolate shakes to grovel to my woman, this is what I got.”
My woman.
Her heart chose to cling to those words as she lifted the top off her shake. “He must’ve really wanted you to win me over.”
Will took the top off his shake too. When she reached for a couple fries, he did the same. She dipped the fries into the shake.
“So we’re really doing this, huh?” he asked, watching her as though he didn’t think she was serious.
“Oh, yeah.” She ate the first sweet and salty bite and moaned. “God, that’s good.”
Lifting his shoulders in a what-the-hell gesture, he dipped his fries and ate them. It didn’t take long for his eyes to widen in surprise.
“Wow. That is good.”
“Yep.” She kept her attention on the fries as she reached for a couple more. “And now you’ve successfully paved the way to the conversation we need to have.”
He finished swallowing his last bite and nodded. “Okay. Let me start by saying I’m really sorry I forgot to call you this afternoon to reschedule Katie’s lesson. It’s been a real pisser of a day and there’s been a lot going on. On top of that, I haven’t slept more than a couple hours over the past two days. It completely slipped my mind.”