by Brenda Novak
He stood glaring at Riley.
“Don’t push this,” she pleaded, grabbing Aaron’s arm. “Neither of us needs this kind of trouble.”
“He’s an asshole,” Aaron said.
“Why?” she asked. “He hasn’t done anything that should bother you.” Aaron had never cared enough to make a commitment to her or any other woman. Hormones and male ego had led him into this—and the same was probably true for Riley.
“Come on, Aaron,” she said. “Go back to work. There’s nothing to fight over here. Why end up in jail?”
Riley shot her a frown that told her he didn’t like that she was standing so close to Aaron. Appealing to him implied a level of intimacy beyond what she shared with Riley. But she and Aaron had a history. And she couldn’t bear the thought of seeing him hurt if Riley’s friends decided to jump in.
“Have it your way,” Aaron said, but he forced Riley to back down enough to move aside, along with his friends, before he would leave.
“That guy has issues,” Riley muttered as they watched Aaron go.
Presley wanted to defend him. What’d happened wasn’t all his fault. Riley had been a bit smug, kissing her like that. It was almost as if he’d been trying to make Aaron jealous.
But maybe Riley could sense that there was more going on between her and Aaron than it appeared, and felt threatened. Maybe he instinctively wanted to stake his claim so there could be no confusion—and, hopefully, no challenge.
“Here, let’s wipe off your back so you don’t get massage oil on your shirt,” she said to Riley, and after a slight hesitation, he turned to let her do it.
“Don’t worry. He wouldn’t really have done anything,” she told everyone and took the next person in line.
14
When Presley was finally done at the studio and went to pick up Wyatt, it was after six but Dylan was still at work. Finding her sister alone wasn’t entirely a good thing. It meant Cheyenne would be able to focus exclusively on her—and she did.
“So...how’d it go?” she asked as she held the door.
“Far better than I expected.” As soon as Presley stepped inside, Wyatt squealed and came running.
Cheyenne waited as Presley swung him into her arms and planted a kiss on his chubby cheek, then she asked, “How many people did you have?”
“I lost count.” She lifted her son’s shirt and blew on his belly, smiling when he gave her the giggle she loved.
“How about a ballpark figure?”
It was so satisfying to have her son in her arms. The solid weight of him, that baby-soft skin, even the smell of his shampoo, made her feel as if the rest of the world could fall apart as long as she had him. But when he lifted the shirt himself so she could make him laugh again, she gave him a squeeze instead. She couldn’t talk if they continued to play, and it was rude to keep Cheyenne waiting. “At least forty, judging by the massages I did,” she said. “My hands are numb.”
“And not everyone stayed for a massage.”
“True. Some people had to leave when the line got too long.”
Cheyenne clapped in excitement. “That’s a great turnout. Was there enough food?”
“Almost. Your friend Callie came over after you left, saw that I was out of lemonade and low on all the rest and went to buy more. She wouldn’t even let me pay her back.”
“Callie’s a wonderful person. So was it worth the effort? Did you book many appointments?”
“I did. I have a full week and then some. Not a bad way to start.”
“What about the yoga classes?”
“They weren’t quite as popular, but I handed out all my flyers. We’ll see how many show up to the first class on Monday.”
Cheyenne hugged her and Wyatt, too, since Presley was holding him. “That’s fantastic, Pres. I’m thrilled for you.”
“It’s largely due to you and Dylan. I appreciate how you helped spread the word and got your friends and their friends to come. And thank you for looking after Wyatt, too. It would’ve been so distracting to have him there all day.”
“No worries,” she said. “I love this boy as much as you do.”
Eager to get home, where she could rest and reflect on her day, Presley began to gather up her baby items. As far as her business was concerned, she was relieved and excited. But she felt less comfortable on the personal front. Riley hadn’t stayed long after his massage, but he’d asked her to dinner tomorrow night and she hadn’t been able to refuse because he’d done it in front of his friends.
“You got everything?”
At the change in Cheyenne’s tone, Presley looked up. For some reason, her sister’s enthusiasm had faded. “What’s wrong?”
“You weren’t going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“That Aaron showed up and caused a scene?”
Presley swallowed a sigh. If Cheyenne had been testing her, she’d just failed. But she’d been hoping to avoid this conversation. It would include too much deception, and lying made her fear she was reverting to her former self, despite all the effort she’d put into growing beyond that. “How’d you find out?”
“Riley called.”
“Was he upset?”
“Confused. He says Aaron acts as if he has some claim on you.”
In a way, he did. He’d just spent the night in her bed, hadn’t he? “Aaron didn’t do anything. It was no big deal.”
“No big deal? Riley said they almost came to blows!”
In those first few seconds after Aaron stood up, Presley had been afraid he might throw a punch. But the incident hadn’t amounted to anything more than a tense moment, so she could downplay it and preferred to do so. “It was Riley who provoked the whole thing.”
“How?”
She wished she hadn’t said even that much. Because of Aaron’s reputation as a troublemaker and Riley’s as a model citizen, she doubted anyone else who’d seen what happened would perceive it the same way she did. But Riley had definitely tried to establish supremacy. Why let Aaron take all the blame? “It’s hard to explain.”
Recognizing her dodge for what it was, Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “Give it a try.”
“Riley and I have only been on one date, and yet–” pausing as she finished collecting Wyatt’s toys, she shifted him to her other hip “–he was sort of...acting as if we were together.”
“That means he likes you!”
“He overstepped the bounds.”
“So? What does that have to do with Aaron? Why would Aaron care if you were with Riley or someone else?”
“I’m sure he doesn’t. Not really. He was just put out that Riley was making such a show of taking his spot.”
Cheyenne scowled. “So you think it was Riley’s fault.”
“It was both of them. Riley got under Aaron’s skin, and Aaron nearly taught him a lesson for it. That’s all.”
“That’s enough.” Cheyenne tied Wyatt’s shoe, which had come undone.
“Let’s not blow it out of proportion,” Presley said.
Her sister sent her a dubious look. “I don’t get what Aaron was doing at your opening in the first place.”
“He showed up to support me like everyone else. It’s not as if we were never friends, Chey.”
“That’s true, but...there are so many other women he could socialize with. I wish he’d forget about you.”
“He did, for two years. But now that I’m back, and Riley’s interested, he wants to be sure he’s not missing out on anything. In time, he’ll realize I’m pretty well the same girl he knew before, and that’ll be the end of it.”
Cheyenne twisted her lips to one side. “My guess? It’s driving him crazy that you won’t have anything to do with him. He’s not accustomed to meeting with resis
tance from women.”
He hadn’t met much resistance last night, not in the end, which was why she couldn’t look Cheyenne in the face. “There’s probably an element of that, too.”
“Having him buzzing around all the time makes me nervous. Wyatt’s the spitting image of his father!”
Presley shouldn’t have moved back until Aaron had actually left town, but she’d been so homesick, lonely and distrusting of anyone who watched Wyatt that she couldn’t hold out any longer. Now she was in a tenuous situation.
She had other worries, too—like the fact that the pregnancy test she took last night might not have been one hundred percent accurate. Even if it was, she and Aaron had made love afterward. They’d used a condom every time, of course, but there was always the chance that one of them had failed, like last Monday. They must’ve had some type of failure when she got pregnant with Wyatt, too. She was living far too dangerously—and just when she was starting to do something with her life. Foolish!
“Like we’ve said before, he’ll be leaving soon.”
“Thank God,” Cheyenne mumbled.
Presley scooped up Wyatt’s diaper bag and walked to the door. “What’s taking Dylan so long at work?”
Cheyenne helped her load the stroller. “They’ve been extra busy at the shop.”
“That makes it even nicer that he sent his brothers over for my grand opening.”
“He didn’t send Aaron.”
“He came separately.”
“I know. Anyway, Dyl loves you like I do.”
“You’re lucky to have him.”
“You’ll find someone,” she said. “And maybe that someone will be Riley.”
Pretending she hadn’t heard the last part, Presley said goodbye and pushed Wyatt home. Then, as soon as she got him settled, she called Riley and canceled dinner. Although he apologized for the incident at the studio, she told him it wasn’t that. She said she wouldn’t be dating for a while, that she had to concentrate on her son and her business.
As much as she’d enjoyed their time together on Friday, she felt a strange sense of release after she’d finished the call—and her relief grew later that night when she started her period.
* * *
Aaron didn’t hear a word from Presley over the next two weeks; he didn’t see her, either. He thought of her a great deal, and was often tempted to call. He was interested to hear how her business was going. Was she getting a good number of people in her yoga classes? Was she booking enough massages?
He would’ve checked in. He knew she was struggling to get by, and he worried about her. But after letting his jealousy drag him into that pissing contest with Riley Stinson at her opening, he decided he’d do her a bigger favor by staying away. If she didn’t want his friendship, he needed to give her the space to find something more fulfilling, even if he did want to punch Riley in the face every time he remembered that kiss at the studio.
Fortunately, he had his hands full with his own life. From one day to the next, he wavered about whether to open a franchise. He was concerned that the letter he and Dylan had sent their father wouldn’t convince J.T. to move elsewhere. And when he wasn’t deliberating over those two things, he was trying to figure out how to get Cheyenne pregnant without doing anything that would make either one of them uncomfortable with the process.
So far, she hadn’t been able to find a local clinic that would allow her to be artificially inseminated without her husband’s approval. So she’d asked him to pose as her mate, but he was reluctant to go that far. He was afraid the doctor or some nurse might take him into the examination room—perhaps to show him how the procedure would be accomplished—and he’d see parts of his sister-in-law he was never meant to see. He was willing to help, but those were not the kinds of images he wanted imprinted on his brain. Although he was trying to approach this in a practical, even impersonal way, it still seemed too intrusive and disrespectful of Dylan.
As an alternative they’d considered having her claim to be a single woman, but she’d already approached all the clinics in the area and was nervous that they might connect her new inquiry with her old one. Many people still looked askance at a single woman being artificially inseminated, anyway, which was why she’d initially admitted to being married.
The last time he and Cheyenne had talked, they’d still been wondering what route they should take. She’d said she would do more research. So when Dylan called everyone at Amos Auto Body to the front of the shop on a Thursday afternoon in early April, and he was wearing a broad smile and carrying a bottle of champagne, Aaron had no idea what might have made him so happy.
“What’s going on?” Grady asked.
Aaron waited with his brothers for the answer, but Dylan didn’t give them one. Instead, he had them each get a cup and ceremoniously poured the champagne.
Apparently, the best drinking device Rodney could scrounge up was the red Solo cup on the water cooler. “Are you going to tell us what we’re celebrating?”
Last to join them, Mack pulled off his painting goggles and threaded his way through the others. “Don’t tell me Dad’s getting out of prison early!”
Aaron and Dylan exchanged a glance that said they would not be sharing champagne if that were the case, but Dylan said, “It’s not quite that exciting.”
Hearing the sarcasm in his voice, Mack bristled. “I don’t understand why you don’t want to see him, or even talk about him. It’s been nearly twenty years. He’s paid the price for his mistakes. Why can’t we give him another chance?”
“The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior,” Dylan said. “But we can talk about Dad later. Don’t ruin this moment for me, little brother.”
“Did you win the lottery?” Rod asked.
“I’d have to play the lottery to win it,” Dylan replied.
“So what is it?” This came from Mack, who was intrigued enough to let the business about their father go.
“Cheyenne’s pregnant.” Dylan’s smile stretched wide again, as if he simply couldn’t contain it. “Can you believe that? We’re going to have a baby.”
Aaron caught his jaw before it could hit the floor. What was Dylan talking about? Last he’d heard, Cheyenne was still searching for a clinic. Had that changed? Did she not need him, after all?
He wanted to feel relief. Instead, a certain uneasiness crept over him. The fact that she was suddenly pregnant without even texting to let him know was...curious at best.
“I was wondering when you were going to get busy.” Rod lifted his coffee mug. “Congratulations!”
Dylan’s chest swelled. “I’m so happy I could die.”
That was pretty happy, especially for his stoic brother.
When Aaron, too surprised to react, didn’t perform the toast, Grady nudged him. “What’s the matter with you?”
He cleared his throat. “Nothing. There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m just...excited for Dyl, that’s all.” He held up his plastic Big Gulp cup. “Cheers.”
“We’re going to be uncles,” Mack said.
Rod clapped Dylan on the back. “What do you want—a boy or a girl?”
“I’ll take either. I just want the baby to be healthy.” Dylan downed his champagne. “But if I had to choose? There are enough boys in this family. I’d like a sweet little girl.”
“When’s Cheyenne due?” Grady asked.
“Don’t know yet,” Dylan told him. “It’s not quite official. She needs to see a doctor, but she took a home pregnancy test early this morning, and it was positive.”
It’s not quite official... Aaron stared into his drink. Was there a reason for that?
“Are those reliable?” Grady asked.
Dylan shrugged but was clearly more invested than that shrug made it appear. “They’re supposed to be.”
&n
bsp; Aaron certainly hoped they were. He was relying on the results of the one he’d had Presley take. And he’d be thrilled to be let off the hook with Cheyenne.
Could this be for real?
“Here’s to a girl who’ll steal Daddy’s heart.” Mack raised his cup high.
Aaron joined the toast and pretended to enjoy the moment. But as soon as the champagne was gone and the others went to work, he slipped out back to call Cheyenne.
“It is true? Are you pregnant?” he asked the second she answered.
He was praying she’d say yes, but the hesitation that met this question only made the knots in his stomach worse. “Chey?”
“No. But I had to tell Dylan I was. He was planning to go to the doctor on Monday. He sprang that news on me late last night, just mentioned it casually. And then I tossed and turned for hours trying to figure out what to do. I had to give him a reason to cancel before it was too late.”
“Oh, hell.” Aaron pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Now there was no way to back out—not that he was planning to, but at least he’d had the option. Worse, they were under increasingly more rigid time constraints. He had to help Cheyenne get pregnant and he had to do it before her next period, or his brother would be devastated.
“I’m sorry, Aaron,” she said. “I didn’t want to lie to him, but...I didn’t feel I had a choice.”
Aaron kicked a rock across the gravel that served as their overflow lot. “Cheyenne, I think we should tell him what we’re doing. I mean...you haven’t even found the right clinic yet.” And was there any guarantee she would? Especially now that the procedure had to happen so quickly?
“That’s just it,” she said. “I may have a way around that snag, but...”
It was the “but” that made him nervous.... When she paused, he assumed she was gathering her nerve.
“How would you feel about doing the insemination ourselves?”
He straightened his spine. “What? How? And where?”
“Don’t freak out. It’ll basically be the same thing. We just won’t be including a doctor. We can do it tonight, at Presley’s.”