Pretend Daddy

by Amy Brent

  “So, you think she’s in hiding because of her ex-husband?” I asked.

  “That’s the general opinion,” Marcus replied, and he tore a piece of paper from his notepad. “Here is the address she is staying at. I wrote down the various times that the security team appeared and when they changed shifts. It might be better for you to confront her at night. There aren’t any street lights along this street.”

  “Thank you,” I said, shaking Marcus’s hand with a sigh. “I will be in contact with the last part of your check. Sound good?”

  “Sounds good.”

  I remained seated in my chair until the fire in the pit dulled out. Cold air seeped in through my heavy jacket. An entire summer had gone by without any word from Amber. It was possible that she wasn’t interested in a relationship anymore. Part of me argued it was foolish to chase after her when she had obviously taken great measures to disappear from everyone.

  It wasn’t until I dropped Lily off at Raychelle’s house that I decided it was time. It was time to find Amber, to confront her, and to get answers. I kissed Lily goodbye on the front porch, decorated with various pumpkins, before she darted inside to check out the Halloween cookies Raychelle had baked.

  “What has been going on with you lately?” Raychelle asked, folding her arms with a frown. “Lily told me that there has been something going on with you for the past few months.”

  “Like what?” I asked.

  “It involves Beau’s daughter, Amber. That’s all I know.” She peered at me intently. “Tell me everything. Don’t even bother lying because I can see it in your eyes. Something happened between the two of you.”

  So, I told her. It felt good to say it for the first time since February. Every little detail. Every little secret and exchange. I half-expected Raychelle to turn away in disgust, but her expression didn’t change once.

  “If you love her,” she said. “Then, you need to go find her. You deserve some answers.”

  “That’s what I plan to do,” I replied slowly, with surprise. “I didn’t think you’d be accepting of any of it.”

  Raychelle shrugged her shoulders. “I may be older, but I’m not a square. Amber is a grown woman. I don’t see a problem with it.”

  “Her family is in politics,” I said grimly. “Beau has no idea. I haven’t spoken to him about it, and I know that Amber hasn’t, either.”

  “Maybe it’s time for you to have that conversation.”

  “Maybe. We will see after this trip.”

  I hugged Raychelle goodbye with lighter shoulders. It felt good to hear someone accepting what happened between Amber and me, not the other way around. I drove to the address that Marcus had written down to find exactly what he said I would find.

  There were two SUV’s parked outside on the street, Beau’s personal security team. I parked around the corner to wait for darkness to fall. I watched the two SUV’s drive away to swap out shifts. Their replacements would be here any minute. I didn’t have much time. It was now or never.

  I hurried forward to the front porch step. The living room light was on in the house, so Amber was probably still awake. I took in the small pot of golden flowers as I knocked on the door. I didn’t want to risk waking Ethan up since I knew that he was most likely in bed by now.

  Hushed silence followed.

  I knocked again. Insistently. This time I heard a slow shuffle of footsteps approach the door. I looked up to the small peephole to find Amber’s eye peering back at me. My heart pounded furiously in my chest. Months of pent up emotions threatened to spill out, right there on the front porch step.

  “Open up, Amber,” I said. “I think you and I need to talk.”

  “Gage. What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

  “Your father didn’t tell me, if that’s what you’re wondering,” I said.

  “Then, how did you find me?”

  “You aren’t the only with resources,” I said and peered into the small peephole. “Open up. You owe me that much.”

  A small part of me expected her to tell me to go away. She had put all this effort into hiding away from everyone, but I was surprised when the door opened. I was even more surprised to find Amber standing there with a large, pregnant belly.

  Chapter 24

  Amber

  The first knock on the door poured an icy bucket of fear over me. There were only a total of three people who knew the truth and knew my location. I set my book down on the coffee table with an uneasy stomach. I waited to see if the person on the other side knocked again. It was probably a salesperson. They seemed to come through this quiet and upper suburban neighborhood all the time.

  It was private. It was far away from the city bustle of Bozeman. More importantly, it was far away from Scott who had returned to Colorado Springs to wait me out patiently. He didn’t know where I was, but he still had those photos. It was only a matter of time in his eyes for me to make up my mind, but hiding out seemed to the best at the moment. Even if it killed me not being able to pick up the phone to call Gage, to let him know that I missed him more than anything.

  The person knocked again. Insistently. Louder than the first time.

  I grabbed my cellphone from where it was charging on the breakfast bar. Just in case. I knew my time was limited with hiding. Scott had PI’s that were good at finding people. He had done it when I had stayed with Gage at the beginning of the year. After a few months out of the spotlight, not returning anyone’s phone calls, I knew that Scott was seething mad.

  I waddled across the living room with one hand curled around my seven-month belly in a protective gesture. A little girl. I wanted to tell Gage, but after a few months of silence, I was sure he had moved on in frustration. I never gave either one of us the opportunity to talk about the situation. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to be the one who shamed my father with scandal because of my own lust and need for Gage.

  Resting a hand against the door, I peered through the tiny peephole to find an undeniable pair of icy blue eyes peering right back at me. My heart skipped as Gage tilted his head back to stare right back at me through the door. He looked worn out, from the shadows beneath his eyes, to the rough beard covering his face. His lips stretched into a thin line.

  “Open up, Amber,” he said. “I think you and I need to talk.”

  “Gage,” I started, shaking my head. I had no idea how he found me. My father had sworn to keep my location secret until I figured out a plan on what to do. It’d been a few months, but here, Gage was standing outside my front door. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

  “Your father didn’t tell me, if that’s what you’re wondering,” he said.

  “Then, how did you find me, if he didn’t tell you?”

  “You aren’t the only with resources,” he said, peering into the peephole to catch my eye. “Open up. You owe me that much.”

  I took a deep breath to contain my emotions. I did owe him that much. I owed him more than a disappearance. More than anything, I wanted to throw myself into his arms. Even if he was visibly pissed. A small part of me was flattered that he hadn’t let us go, not without wanting to see me one last time at least.

  I slid the lock back to open the door. Gage’s eyes skimmed over my face before settling down on my pregnant belly that was visible through the sleeping shirt I was wearing. His eyes widened in disbelief before looking up at me again.

  “You’re pregnant?”

  “Yes,” I said. I reached out to grab Gage’s arms and pull him inside. “Please, come inside. I don’t want—”

  Gage yanked his arms back from my hands. The gesture stung deeper than I expected it to. I deserved his anger, though. I peered out the front door nervously in search of the SUV’s that were supposed to be parked there. The neighbors were undoubtedly listening in on our conversation, too. I never had visitors.

  “What is going on?” Gage demanded. His eyes were fixated on my belly. “Is this why you left without a word? I’ve seen the h
eadlines, Amber. Is it true?”

  “What headline are you talking about?” I asked nervously. “There are so many of them, Gage. Ninety-nine percent of the time, they aren’t true. You should know that by now.”

  He shook his head at me in disbelief. “What am I supposed to believe, Amber? You disappeared without saying a word to me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  It was the only thing that I could think to say, but it wasn’t enough. I knew that it wouldn’t be, judging from the way Gage’s eyes floated down to my pregnant belly again. I glanced over Gage’s shoulder by standing on my tip toes, scanning the surrounding street and bushes for any signs of Scott or his PI.

  “Please, Gage,” I said. “Come inside. I’ll explain everything if you just come inside to talk to me about it. I don’t want this leaked to the press.”

  A tense moment passed before Gage stepped inside, much to my relief. I shut the front door quickly to lock it as well. Gage glanced around the living room, taking in the autumn decorations Ethan and I had placed throughout the house the previous weekend. He looked over at Ethan’s Spiderman Halloween costume, hanging on the back of a chair before turning to look down at my belly again. A vein flickered in Gage’s temple. I placed a hand over the swell of my stomach, in a protective gesture.

  “How far along are you?” Gage asked.

  “Seven months,” I replied, gesturing to the couch. “You can sit down if you want. It might be better if you do, so we can talk.”

  Gage didn’t budge from where he stood rigidly next to the coffee table. His jaw clenched as he tore his eyes from my belly again to look me straight in the eye.

  “Seven months?”

  I nodded timidly. “Yes, Gage. Seven months along. It’s a girl, too.”

  “It’s mine,” Gage stated matter-of-factly. “Right? We were together seven months ago. We were in Florida together about seven months ago. Of course, this baby is mine.” He paused to give me a long and hard look. “Is this why your father has barely spoken two words to me about you? The only times we talk are through my contracts.”

  “I asked him not to tell you,” I said. “It was the only way I thought that would protect us from everything.”

  “Protect us from what?”

  I sat down on the edge of the couch while Gage paced in front of me. He ran a hand over his face in aggravation. Guilt tugged at me. Telling him the truth would put both of us at risk, but all I longed to do was to feel Gage’s arms around me again. I craved that more than anything in the world. I had to tell the truth.

  “If you sit down,” I started, twirling a piece of hair around my finger anxiously. “I’ll tell you everything. Starting from Florida until now. I don’t want you to wake Ethan with all your pacing.”

  “Fine.” He took a seat in the recliner across from me. “Start from Florida because I honestly want to know what the fuck happened. I can’t even wrap my mind around any of this right now, Amber.”

  I sucked in a long and deep breath while rubbing at my aching ribs. “I got a phone call from Scott while we were in Florida. Not on my cell phone, but through the hotel line. He had hired a PI to track me down. This investigator followed us around for a while apparently, because there are photos of us together.”

  Gage’s eyebrows furrowed together. “Photographs of us being intimate?”

  “Yes,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes. “Many of them were of us being intimate. The last photograph he had was of us on the beach in Florida. So, Scott called to tell me that if I didn’t leave you and drop the divorce, he’d leak the images to the press.”

  “Fuck.”

  “I know. Trust me. I wanted to tell you the truth, but I wanted to see the pictures for myself. Scott never bluffs when it comes to threats. I told him that I had left you because I didn’t want to ruin my father’s career. He’s already so disappointed in my life at the moment.”

  “And you dropped the divorce?”

  “I dropped the agreements,” I said. “I’m still legally married to him at the moment, until I figure out what to do.”

  “What about the baby?” Gage asked harshly. “Our baby, Amber. How could you hide something like that from me? You know how much I wanted to start a family with you.”

  “I didn’t know I was pregnant until I came back from Florida,” I said, startled by the intensity in Gage’s voice. “I just knew that this was something that Scott would see as bait. I was trying to protect you and my father. You have to understand that.”

  “Don’t play the victim in this situation, Amber. You could’ve told me. We were together, for Christ’s sake.” He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “This involved me. I was going to propose to you in Florida. I had a plan to tell your father, and none of that would have changed if you just told me.”

  I sank back against the couch cushions in disbelief. Shock filtered through me numbly. He was going to propose to me? I stared across the coffee table at the man I had imagined being with since I was a teenager. We would’ve been engaged by now. We would’ve been enjoying our first child together. That possibility had gone out the window the moment I decided to believe Scott’s words over Gage’s love and care for me. It made me sick to my stomach thinking about it.

  Hurt flashed in Gage’s eyes as he rose from the chair on unsteady legs. I pushed myself up and off the couch to grab Gage’s arm before he reached the front door. Desperation washed over me as I looked up at his cold and stony face pleadingly.

  “I’m sorry,” I cried, trying to keep my voice low to not disturb Ethan. “I didn’t know any of that, Gage. If I would’ve known—”

  “That was the point. It was supposed to be a surprise.” Gage shook his head at me as he untangled himself from my hands. “I can’t do this, Amber. I know why we are in the situation we’re in at the moment. You chose to believe your ex-husband’s words over mine. You chose to trust your future with him, rather than with me.”

  “Gage—”

  “That’s exactly what it is,” he said flatly. “I hope you figure it out, Amber. I can’t deal with this when you are the one calling all the shots, without even telling me a word.”

  “I was just trying to protect my father and you!” I exclaimed as he opened the front door. “That’s all I was trying to do, Gage. Not to hurt you, or anyone else.”

  “You did, though. That’s what you don’t understand.”

  Freeing himself from my hands, Gage stepped out into the dark night without looking back at me. I gripped the side of the door with tears streaming down my face as I watched his tall and trim figure disappear into the shadows across the street. The SUV’s, my father’s security team, were back in their usual spots. They followed Gage’s retreating form down the street.

  I closed the door with a shaky sob. The world gave out beneath my feet, and I sank down to the ground. Curling up into a ball, I tried my best to stifle my cries with the back of my hand. Gage was right. All of this was my fault. I had chosen to believe my ex-husband over Gage. Now, I was stuck in a home all alone, with my son sound asleep upstairs and a newborn baby on the way. I had done everything I thought I could do to protect my father, but also Gage and our little family.

  So much for that, Amber. You’re the one that shit all over what you could’ve had.

  I pressed my forehead against the carpeted floors. I had no idea how I could even fix it in the long run. There was no going back to the past, even though I wanted to go back to Florida that morning to hang up on Scott. Let him leak the pictures. Let him run his mouth all over the television. I would’ve at least had Gage throughout all of it, along with our baby girl, Lily, and Ethan. We would’ve had each other.

  Chapter 25

  Gage

  “This costume sucks, Dad.”

  I bit back an exasperated sigh as Lily picked at her Frozen dress with a frown. She adjusted her blonde wig, full of massive amounts of coarse blonde hair intricately braided, with a frown as well. I zipped up the last part of her d
ress before taking a step back.

  “You said the dress from Frozen,” I said. “This is what I picked up at the store.”

  “Yeah, but every girl in my class is going to have the same type of dress,” Lily said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She rolled her eyes at me dramatically. “It’s going to be lame, Dad. I’m going to look the same no matter where I go tonight.”

  I did my best to contain my irritation, even though little things like this were starting to wear me down. Marcie had been one of those moms who understood what her daughter needed, or what she desired to do. She would throw Halloween parties in our house for all of Lily’s friends, but that had changed over the years. Our house wasn’t even decorated for Halloween as it once was. Lily never brought the topic up, and I never bothered climbing up into the attic to sort through Marcie’s boxes of decorations.