by Melody Anne
He looked up in time to see Arden spit his drink of juice down the front of him before he began coughing. Arden glared at him.
“Wow, a little warning next time would be nice.” Arden pulled himself together quickly. “Why don’t you tell me how you really feel,” he added with a chuckle.
Kian sighed, then he relayed his frustrations to his brother, who didn’t interrupt once. He had to respect the man for that. Kian wasn’t sure he’d have been able to keep quiet for so long.
“What does Roxie plan on doing about all of this?” Arden asked quietly.
“I can’t read her anymore. I’m beginning to think I never was able to, and maybe our entire relationship was all in my head,” Kian admitted.
“I don’t think that at all,” Arden disagreed.
“The entire family liked Roxie,” Kian said. “I loved that at the time, but now, with these new developments, I’m thinking you all are gonna side with her and turn against me,” he said, only half kidding.
“No matter what you do or don’t do, we’ll always have your back,” Arden assured him.
“You should have gone into counseling instead of teaching. You’re good at it,” Kian said.
“Yeah, I’ve been told that before. But teaching is a lot like counseling. I love these kids, and I believe in them,” Arden insisted.
“They know it, too,” Kian assured him.
“There are days I don’t think I can get through to some of them, and then there are other days I feel I’m making progress. Sometimes I want to give up, but then I’m around a kid like Matt, who has an atrocious home life, and I see him glowing now, feeling a real part of the team and doing great with his grades, and I know I’m where I belong,” Arden said.
“Plus, you get to be a bum all summer,” Kian pointed out.
“Hey, we have football practice for half the summer. I’m not slacking,” Arden said.
“Football isn’t work,” Kian insisted.
“It is when it’s ninety degrees out,” Arden argued.
“I think you just like to get all sweaty and shirtless for the cheerleading coach,” Kian said with a wink.
“The cheerleading coach is sixty and happily married.” Arden laughed.
“Well, maybe it’s for one of the hot teachers. I hear some kinky stuff goes on in schools when the lights go out,” Kian said, finding himself quite amusing.
“I’ve had a few desk fantasies with one or two of the staff members.” Arden winked again.
Right then the seventy-year-old librarian walked by and winked at Arden, and Kian busted up laughing as his brother’s face turned a nice shade of red.
“I think Ms. Myrtle’s interested in helping you out.”
“Shut up,” Arden grumbled.
Kian was serious for a moment as he looked at his brother. “Thanks. I’ve been sufficiently distracted.” He flashed a crooked smile.
It had only taken a few minutes, and Kian was feeling much better. He’d made the right decision in coming to visit his brother. They might rib each other like crazy, but at the end of the day, there wasn’t anything they wouldn’t do for each other.
“Mom and Dad haven’t called me for a few days, so I’m assuming they’re consumed with being grandparents,” Arden said with a chuckle.
“They didn’t last long with keeping their distance, but I think it’s good for Roxie to have them in her face. They have respected her, but now that they know for certain that Lily is my daughter, they don’t want to miss any more time with her,” Kian grumbled.
“You’re upset about this?” Arden said, obviously confused.
“No, not at all. I just want to be with Lily as well. I knew Mom and Dad would be incredible, and I love that Lily has this family with open arms. She’s my daughter, and that’s all any of our family needs to know in order to love her. I just want her to have the full benefit of grandparents and aunts and uncles. I want Roxie to have that, too.”
“She has that,” Arden told him.
“But we’re broken right now. It’s wrong. Mom has told me how beautifully Roxie is doing as Lily’s mother.” Kian sighed because Roxie was allowing his mother in and not him. “Maybe I’m failing as a father. Maybe I’ll never get it right.”
Arden laughed before slapping Kian on the back. Kian wasn’t too thrilled about that. He waited to see what his brother had to say.
“I love seeing this humble side of you,” Arden said. “But don’t let it last too long. It sort of freaks me out.”
“I’m being a little bitch, aren’t I?” Kian chuckled.
“Yeah, but I’ll forgive you,” Arden said. “Now quit whining, and you can walk me to class.”
“I’ve got nothing better to do at the moment,” Kian said.
It took both men a few seconds to get out of the table. For just a moment, Kian felt trapped and wanted to break the damn thing, but he might get his brother in trouble if he started smashing school property.
“Did you get a call from Dakota?” Arden asked as they made their way down the hall.
Their little sister had married Ace Armstrong last year. And though all the brothers had wanted to smash Ace’s face in at one point for not only putting Dakota’s life in jeopardy, but also for knocking her up without being married to her, they all really liked the man now, and his entire family. The Armstrongs were good people.
“Not in a few days—why?” Kian asked. He was instantly worried. Their little sister might be married now, but that didn’t mean they didn’t worry about her. If Ace ever hurt her, they’d have to kill the man.
“She’s about to pop at any time,” Arden said.
“It’s unreal how much is changing in such a short period,” Kian remarked. “Now there will be two grandkids for our parents to lavish attention on. You know they’ll be hungry for more.”
A shudder went through Arden as a light of panic entered his eyes. He laughed, as if pushing it aside.
“They have four other children to give them all the kiddos they want. I will focus on the overgrown toddlers in this high school,” Arden finally said.
“I don’t think they will see it that way,” Kian argued.
They reached Arden’s classroom, and Kian propped himself up on one of the kids’ desks as he faced his brother.
“My students aren’t going to like your ass print on their desk,” Arden pointed out.
“I have a great ass. They won’t mind.” Kian winked.
Arden laughed as he sat in his chair and pulled out some papers to be graded.
“Want some help?” Kian asked.
“You’d just give them all As and call it good,” Arden told him.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t actually read that crap. I’ve been through enough schooling to last a lifetime.”
“You’re the one who wanted to go to medical school,” Arden pointed out.
“And every single day, I’m still happy about the decision.” He flashed through the night he’d lost Pamela in his ER and thought he might not be so grateful every day. But he didn’t need to say that out loud.
He chatted with his brother a few more minutes before making a hasty retreat. He definitely wanted to be out of that school before the next bell rang and the halls filled with obnoxious kids. He’d leave the teaching and counseling to his brother.
Right now Kian had one thing on his mind, and only one thing. He had to figure out a way to make things right with Roxie, and he had to do it before he lost too much more time with his beautiful daughter. Just knowing he had a little girl had brought a new optimism to his life he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Kian smiled as he jogged out to his car. Arden really had helped improve his mood.
Chapter Fourteen
There was a mixture of relief and apprehension filling Roxie as she walked from the interview with the emergency department at the same hospital Kian worked at. She’d applied at three other places, and none were hiring, telling her to come back in six weeks. She didn’t have six weeks t
o find work. She had to do it yesterday. She had a little girl to take care of, and no matter what her sister’s will had said, she wasn’t planning on sharing her with Kian.
He was a doctor, for goodness’ sake, and busy all the time. She would calmly talk to him about Lily being raised by an aunt who adored her, or a nanny who didn’t have anything invested in her at all. Roxie would find a new job where she’d take as many night shifts as possible so she could be with Lily during the day.
Kian, on the other hand, worked a massive number of hours. If the man wouldn’t be reasonable, then maybe a judge would see it in Lily’s best interest to be with family versus nannies. If Roxie truly thought about it, she knew she had no rights, but she couldn’t think that way. It scared her too much.
Luckily, Roxie had gotten Eden to babysit for her while she’d done this job interview, so she hadn’t had to try to juggle her cranky niece while doing it. She wanted to seem more than capable of getting the job. She knew not working would look really bad for her if this did end up going to court. She was desperately hoping to avoid that.
Her entire life, Roxie had always been that girl to look on the positive side of things. She’d correct people when they only saw the bad in any situation, and now here she was fighting to find the positive. She vowed she wasn’t going to do that anymore. She would have a job and a bright future ahead of her. She wasn’t even going to think about the road bump in the way named Kian Forbes. Nope. He was just a blip on her radar. That was all. Nothing more and nothing less.
Roxie was on her way down the hallway when she stopped. Ahead of her, in his white coat that showed his shoulders to perfection, was Kian, walking quickly before he slipped into a room. Though she’d only seen him from the back, she would know that confident gait of his anywhere. He walked how he talked and how he faced life—with determination, as if there was nothing at all in his way. To be honest, it was slightly intimidating.
The two of them were scheduled to meet at the café in two hours, and what Roxie should do was quietly slip from the hospital and prepare herself for that meeting. She’d stayed up half the night making a case to present to him on why Lily was better off with her full-time and him part-time. She was quite proud of it.
But almost as if her legs were working outside of her control, she found herself moving down the hallway in the direction of the room Kian had just slipped into. It was so wrong for her to be following him, but even knowing this, she couldn’t quite get herself to stop her forward motion.
If he caught her, he’d think she was spying. What would that say to him about her? Certainly not that she could be a responsible parent to his daughter. That thought made her feet pause. It wasn’t something she was allowing herself to think of right now. She didn’t like thinking of Kian as a father, especially to Lily. But Lily was indeed Kian and Pamela’s child. They had shared a one-night stand, and Lily was the result. Those thoughts hurt her in so many ways, she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to heal from it. The pain it caused was devastating.
But she had no other choice but to move forward. She couldn’t hate him for having sex with another woman when they were broken up, and she couldn’t hate her sister for sleeping with him, because her sister had hated herself enough as it was. She certainly couldn’t hate her niece, who was the only light out of all this. That left her with no one to hate but herself, and she wasn’t going to do that, either.
Roxie knew she should turn around and leave the way she’d come into the hospital, but even as she had that thought, she found herself moving forward again as she heard the sound of Kian’s rich laughter travel down the hallway. Her steps quickened, as she wanted to see what was amusing him.
It truly was none of her business, but she couldn’t seem to convince herself of that. She was now too curious to turn away. She’d just take a quick peek and then be on her way, and he would never even know she was there. Mission accomplished.
The closer she got to the door he’d gone in, the more Roxie felt like some damn teenage stalker about to be busted by the mall police. She glanced guiltily around her as she looked to see if anyone was paying her the least bit of attention. Would the doctor who’d just interviewed her take away the potential job offer if he could see her now? Probably. She certainly would hesitate to hire a nurse who was prone to stalking doctors. Even with these chastisements running through her head, she still moved forward until she was right at the door Kian had walked through.
His rich voice sounded sweet as he spoke to the obviously elderly woman on the other side. The woman’s replies came out childishly in her sweet, high voice. Kian laughed as she told him not to suck all her blood like a vampire. Roxie felt her lips turning up as she decided to just peek inside. She wanted to see what the woman looked like now that she had an image in her head.
Roxie was a nurse, and she’d seen it all in her years of medical service. She liked to try to imagine what her patients would look like just from their charts or the sound of their voices. She rarely ever got it right. Once in a while, though, she was 100 percent correct.
She imagined this woman as a sweet, petite, white-haired granny with glasses. Her voice was just too sweet to be anything other than that. She probably had a dozen grandbabies and two dozen great-grandkids. Roxie didn’t even want to think about the fact that she’d be lucky to have her own child, let alone grandchildren. That was a thought to ponder on another day.
Finally, she peeked into the room and then had to cover her mouth before she let out a surprised gasp. The woman was absolutely nothing like she’d imagined. She was pretty petite, that much was clear, but she wore shoulder-length purple hair and had bright-pink lipstick on her lips, and blue eyelids she was batting flirtatiously at Kian.
He was sitting next to her as he held her hand and laughed at another joke. He seemed besotted with the woman, who was old enough to be his grandmother, and the woman was eating up every single moment of it.
“I’ve told you I used to dance over at the corner of Pearl and Seventieth Street, right?” the woman said in an attempt at a raspy voice, but she went too low and caused herself to cough. Kian turned her slightly and patted her back.
“Yes, Millie, you have, and I wish I would have seen you,” he said. “But you have to slow down a little bit,” he warned.
“Are you trying to tell me I’m old?” she asked, her lips forming into a pout.
“Not at all,” he insisted as he let go of her hand and held her chart, glancing at the numbers. “But you had a close call. It’s okay to listen to our bodies and slow down. I don’t want to see you in my ER again unless it’s to stop and say hello.” His voice was warm and firm at the same time. He commanded respect because he gave it. Roxie hated that she felt her guard slipping as she stood there gawking at the two of them.
“I will most definitely stop in for a visit. If you do a good job and get me out of here quick enough, I might even bring you a coffee,” she said, her practiced pout back in place.
Kian chuckled. “I wouldn’t turn down coffee at any hour of the day. I swear the stuff they serve here is truly just car wax with a little bit of flavor,” he told her.
She had a perfect little melodic laugh that had Roxie smiling again. She had a difficult time not joining the two of them in merriment. This patient right here was why Roxie loved being a nurse so much. Patients who were full of spirit and life and who didn’t allow age to be anything more than a number.
“When my knee isn’t acting up so much, I might have to show you one of my dances,” Millie told him.
Roxie knew not to be jealous of a patient even if she and Kian were in a relationship, which they weren’t, but even with that knowledge, she felt just the slightest stirring of that green-eyed monster light up inside her. It was so much better for her peace of mind to not see Kian at all, and certainly to not think about him at any club looking at dancers who were far younger than Millie and who liked to go home with men like Kian. It didn’t matter if he did that. He was
his own man, and she was her own woman. That was the beauty of a breakup, she assured herself.
“I would love to see you dance,” Kian said, his voice still warm. “You were in a line, right?” A line? Roxie was confused.
“That’s right. We could dance all night. I did partner dance, too. I once danced a mean tango,” Millie assured him.
Roxie felt like even more of a fool now. The woman hadn’t been offering to strip for him. She really needed some coffee or something. She definitely needed to sneak away before she did something foolish and got caught gawking at Kian and Millie.
Roxie was getting ready to slip away when Millie’s surprisingly bright eyes looked over and caught her. Roxie grinned and tried to slip away quietly before Kian could turn around, but Millie wasn’t having any of that.
“Who are you, darling?” she asked, her voice just as childlike when she raised it. Roxie wondered if that was truly her voice or if the woman had perfected it over the years.
Kian turned, and now Roxie was certainly caught. If only she’d been able to tear herself away thirty seconds earlier, she could have been in and out without anyone being the wiser. But the old woman had mesmerized her and, unbelievably, caused the slightest bit of jealousy, and now she had to try to explain why she was standing in the doorway like some loony stalker.
She couldn’t figure out what to say, let alone come up with a reasonable excuse while they both looked at her waiting expectantly for a reasonable explanation. Kian’s gaze narrowed as he refused to look away, and that only made it worse. Roxie’s cheeks heated, and she looked guilty as she shifted on her feet, searching for an explanation she didn’t have ready.
“Um, I was just walking from the hospital and thought it might be your voice I heard, so I just glanced in for a moment and then heard Millie tell a story about dancing, and I . . . um . . . love dancing, and I paused too long,” she said in a hesitant voice. Roxie never had been a good liar, especially on the spot like this.
One time she’d been busted cheating and had actually said she’d seen a squirrel run across her classmate’s table and was looking at the desk to see if there were any scratches. The teacher had been so impressed with the creativity of her excuse, she hadn’t gotten busted that time, but she’d gotten a stern lecture to never cheat again. She hadn’t so much as turned her head a quarter of an inch during test time after that, afraid her teacher would be looking, and she’d end up blurting something out like The sky is falling.