His Secret Baby

by Ashlee Price

  “I do want you, Jesse. It just can’t be right now.”

  “Your father doesn’t approve?”

  How did she know? I sat up straighter in the barstool that I was now calling home.

  “Or maybe it’s because you don’t want to face me after I got the paperwork today. I thought that you were going to help me, Scott, but you were just another snake in the grass.”

  Her words had me sitting up a little straighter. She was using the same words that I always used for my father, but she was using them for me. What paperwork made her think that of me? When I asked her, she was quick to tell me, although the slurring made it hard to understand. I didn’t have to hear every word, though. I could get the gist of it quickly. I did know my father, after all.

  “You have to know that I had nothing to do with it, Jesse. I would never do that to you. I know how much the bistro means to you and your father.”

  “Well, my father is dead, and yours is going to take what I have left of him. I don’t even know why I’m calling, Scott. I just wanted you to know that I wish I never would have met you. Ever since I met you, there has been nothing but problems. You really have ruined my life. Even though it was already going downhill, you helped it get to the bottom.”

  I couldn’t stand to hear her say such things. I’d never been happier than when we were together. I didn’t like the idea of her thinking of me in such a way, but maybe she was right. I hadn’t made anything better for her, although I’d tried to. My intentions were never to harm her in any way, but just being who I was seemed to be enough. Just being my father’s son was enough to change her life for the worse. But I hadn’t known that he was going to try and buy her out. I hadn’t known about the taxes that were owed, and I didn’t think that she had either.

  “You have to believe that I didn’t mean to, Jesse.”

  “I believed that there was a reason a guy like you was talking to a girl like me. It didn’t have anything to do with anything else but money, though, did it?”

  “What we had, money was no part of.”

  “Well, that’s how you got your first date, so I’m not sure that I would agree with it. But what I can’t get is why. Don’t you have enough money? Why would you want my shop? It isn’t that big.”

  “I don’t want it. I’ll make this right, Jesse, I promise you.”

  She didn’t believe me, that was clear by the sound she made. The last thing that she was going to believe was that anything good was going to come from me. From then it wasn’t long before she was off the phone and I was left feeling far worse than I had before. I couldn’t sit there anymore, so I got up. My driver got up with me, but I waved him off. “I got this, Ernest. Don’t worry about me.” Handing him some money for a cab, I walked out by myself, trying my best to stay in a straight line.

  Sitting behind the wheel, I knew I was too drunk to drive. It wasn’t going to be safe, but as I started the engine and put it into first, another idea came to my mind. All of this was for nothing. Every day that I spent working for my father was another day that I was wasting my life. This wasn’t the life I wanted, and now I had no choice. The one woman that I wanted was never going to want me again. It was all for nothing.

  The more I thought about how helpless it all was, the more I knew that there was only one thing to do. As my foot went down harder on the gas, my mind was subconsciously looking for a place that was wide open. I needed to go fast, hoping that the speed would stop the winding of my brain. When I got to the outskirts of the city, I was going way over the speed limit, but it didn’t seem fast enough.

  Pushing the pedal down harder, I started to feel better when everything around me became a blur. What if I just went off the road right now? I could end it all. I wouldn’t have to worry about Caroline, or my father, or the fact that I was going to have to go the rest of my life without Jesse. None of it made any sense, not really, but what did make sense was just being done with it all.

  The faster I drove, the more it all seemed so much easier to give up than to keep on going. I wanted to give up, and I damn near did.

  But I wasn’t going to. I hadn’t given up on anything in my life. While it seemed like it was never going to get better, I knew that I was going to have to fix it. I was a fixer, and I needed to fix what was going on with me and Jesse.

  I took my foot off the pedal and I could feel the car start to slow down. I was still going well over ninety when I went over the hill and saw the headlights. I was going too fast to get on my side of the road, and when I made a turn towards the shoulder, I lost control. The last thing, the last thought that went through my mind, was the idea that I was never going to be able to make it right. While I’d thought about ending it all, as blackness moved into my vision, I knew that more than anything I wanted just a little more time. A little more time with Jesse.

  Chapter 4 – Jesse

  The next morning I woke up with a headache that just wouldn’t quit. I couldn’t even open my eyes because the small amount of light that was filtering in through my eyelids was enough to make me cringe and pull the blankets over my face. Why did I keep on drinking? I should know better by now, but as I tried again to open my eyes, I knew I’d failed miserably. I was obviously an idiot.

  Calling out to Melissa, I winced again when I felt like my own voice was going to make my head explode. Where was Melissa? She was supposed to stay over, but I didn’t see her anywhere. After a minute I tried to sit up. I regretted it almost immediately.

  I didn’t remember much about the last night. There was a bar and dancing, which I kind of remembered, and then a cab ride home. That meant that my car was still at the bar, but I was thankful that I hadn’t tried to drive. I didn’t remember if I was the only one who’d been three sheets to the wind, but I didn’t think that I was.

  “Melissa!”

  Again there was no answer, but she slept like a rock. There was a chance that she legitimately hadn’t heard me. So I got up and padded down the hallway to the living room to see if she was there. I was a little relieved to see that Melissa was passed out on the couch. I didn’t like the idea of her being out if she was as drunk as I was the night before. I almost woke her up, but she looked like she needed some sleep. I felt like I needed some sleep as well. There was no need to get out of the bed. The shop was closed, soon for good.

  The realization had me going faster back to my own bed. I’d forgotten about the letter I’d received before close of business the day before. I hadn’t known that there were taxes due, and now it didn’t matter. His father had paid them and done something to take over. The letter was to tell me that he was now the owner of the shop and that I had only a short time before I’d have to vacate the premises. I couldn’t even think about it. I lay back down with my head already starting to hurt again. Why did things like this always seem to happen to me?

  I was in the middle of wallowing in self-pity when I noticed that my phone was in the bed with me. I didn’t remember using it, and I was about to go back to sleep when a bit of a memory came into my mind. I could remember talking to Scott.

  Opening my eyes, I was praying silently that what I thought had happened, hadn’t actually happened. The last thing that I wanted to do was believe that I’d called Scott. I’d been drunk and there was no telling what I’d said to him. I was afraid that I’d called him to tell him how much I loved him.

  Sitting up, I ignored the pounding in my head long enough to check my phone. I pushed the send button and was distressed to see that Scott was the last number that I’d called. We’d talked for almost ten minutes. I didn’t know what I’d said to him, but I knew that it couldn’t be good.

  Debating what to do, I got it in my head that I was going to call him and tell him that whatever I said, I didn’t mean it. I’d been drunk, so he couldn’t use any of that against me. But I knew I couldn’t. I was just going to have to stew and wonder what had happened, what I’d said.

  When I finally got my eyes shut again, my mind was going
a mile a minute and there was no way that I could sleep. Hearing Melissa start to stir in the other room, I got up myself and slowly got dressed. I wasn’t feeling as bad as before, but I was still moving slowly as I made my way to the front of the apartment.

  “Good morning, sunshine.”

  Melissa made a grunting sound. I could see that she was about as excited to get up as I was. She was hurting just as bad as I was this morning. I went to the kitchen to start the coffee pot going. It was something that was bound to help, and it looked like both of us needed some help.

  “Man, I feel horrible.”

  I smiled at her and pushed the cup I’d just poured to her as she sat down at the bar. “I hear you, me too.”

  “Well, at least we took a cab. You wanted to drive home, but I just couldn’t let you. I don’t think I’ve seen you drink like that since we were teenagers.”

  “It seemed easier when we were younger. I didn’t feel so bad the next day.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “I remember you promising me that you were going to make sure I didn’t drunk call what’s his face.”

  Her eyes got a little bigger. I could tell that she liked the idea of me calling Scott. She was a hopeless romantic, after all, and I was sure that she wanted us to get back together. “Yes, I called him, and I don’t know what I said, but I was on the phone for almost ten minutes. I don’t even want to think about it, but I can’t help it. Do you think that I should call him?”

  “What are you going to call him for?” The hopeful look was back in her eyes, and all I could do was groan out loud. She was insufferable sometimes, and this was one of those times.

  “I don’t know. To apologize or something, but that isn’t right, is it? I don’t know, Melissa, I feel like I have to say something. You know how I get when I’m drunk. There is really no telling what I said.”

  “What are you so worried about?”

  “I’m worried that I confessed my love to him or something.”

  She shrugged, and then we both kind of jumped when my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, but as long as it wasn’t Scott, I figured that I was going to be okay.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello, this is Wendy with Hartbrook Medical. We have a patient here by the name of Cade Scott. Since he doesn’t have a medical contact on file, I was hoping that his last call would be family or someone that can notify his family.”

  “Um, I’m not family. Is he okay?”

  “I can’t reveal any more information if you’re not related. Do you know of someone who is that I can contact?”

  “Yes, let me find the number for you.”

  I looked at Melissa. She was looking back with a question in her eyes. I couldn’t tell her then. My heart was racing too much. All I could think about was Scott. What had happened to Scott?

  To be continued in Part 8…

  Served Part 8: Blend

  By: Ashlee Price

  Prologue

  When Jesse gets the call about Scott, she’s scared that something has happened to him. Even though they aren’t together anymore, she doesn’t want to hear that he’s been hurt. She has to know if he’s okay, and since she’s not a family member, Jesse fibs a little bit and tells the doctor that she’s Scott’s wife. After seeing that he’s okay, she gets out of there before he wakes up. The last thing she wants to do is have to explain herself.

  Scott wakes up to hear that his wife has been in to check on him after his car wreck. He knows that it was Jesse when his doctor describes her, but he doesn’t know what she was doing there. After everything that he and his father have done to her, she shouldn’t want to speak to him.

  But her claiming to be his wife gets him thinking. There’s a lot he’ll need to do to get her on board, but Scott is now focused on getting her to say yes to a question that he should have asked a long time ago. The only way that he’s going to be happy is with Jesse. Scott just has to convince her of that.

  Chapter 1 – Jesse

  The last thing I was thinking was about how mad I was at Scott. I was much more worried about him being okay. I knew that he’d dumped me and told me that he didn’t want to be with me anymore, but I couldn’t stand the idea of him in a hospital all by himself. I did give his father a call, but I kind of doubted that he would come to see his own son. I didn’t know all of the details between the two of them, but I knew that there was tension. It was something that was impossible to deny.

  So Melissa came with me and we went down to the hospital. Since the lady on the phone wouldn’t give me any information, I was just going to have to get what I could when I got there. I was worried for Scott, worried that something was going to happen to him or already had. They wouldn’t have called if it was nothing, right? Then I realized that he had to have been unconscious or they would have just asked him for his information.

  The closer I got to the hospital, the more my mind wandered over what could have happened. It made me realize once again how much I loved the man, because the very thought of something happening to him was more than I could handle just then. I was driving faster than I should have, but it still didn’t seem to be fast enough.

  “You have to slow down Jesse. I don’t know why you’re even going. You’ve done your part and called his family. No one else would expect any more from you than that, especially not the way it ended. Besides, it was weeks ago.”

  I knew she was right, but even after hearing out loud what had already echoed in my head, something told me that I was supposed to be there. It was a feeling that I couldn’t shake; when I tried to it was impossible. So I mashed down on the gas a little more and ignored the way that Melissa kept grabbing the sidebar on the door. I slowed down a little when I saw the turnoff for the hospital. I was almost there, but I still seemed so far away.

  When I got to the emergency entrance Melissa offered to park the car. She knew that I was worried and she knew that I wasn’t going to feel any better until I could see Scott for myself with my own eyes. There was nothing else that was going to relieve the tension in me.

  When I got to the information desk, I asked where Scott was and the lady asked me how I was related to him. I wanted to get in there and I wanted information, so instead of telling the truth as I had before with the nurse on the phone, this time I lied and said I was his wife. It was innocent enough, and I knew that he wouldn’t ever find out. I was hoping he wouldn’t, anyways. It wasn’t any harm to anyone. I just wanted to make sure that he was fine, and then I was going to leave. No one had to know that I was there.

  “Well, dear, just go up to the third floor. He’s in room 230.”

  I thanked her, and she handed me a small map to help me find my way. The hospital was large enough that a person could get lost in it, and I was glad for the map when I almost got lost myself trying to find the floor Scott was on. When I saw him through the glass door, he didn’t look too bad, but there was a bandage on his head that was stained with a little blood that had seeped in from underneath. My heart lurched in my chest, and I moved forward before I could do anything else. All I could think was that I couldn’t lose him like I’d lost my father. I hadn’t known Scott nearly as long, but I knew that there would be the same pain.

  A beeping sound was the only distraction in the room. They may not have known who he was, but they hadn’t spared any expense for him. Scott was in a huge room, nothing like the one that my father had shared with several other people when he was dying. The differences were stark, and I figured that Scott must have a gold card for his insurance as well.

  Moving to his side, I looked down at his sleeping face. He didn’t look like anything was wrong. There was only one mark on his head that I could see, and his vital signs looked good as well. Having seen that he was basically okay, I was just about to leave when a doctor came in.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that someone was in here. How are you today, Miss?”

  “I’m good, thanks.”

  “Who are you t
o the patient?”

  He was eying me like I wasn’t supposed to be there, and since I knew that was true, I felt guilty. “Um, well, I’m his wife.”

  “His wife?”

  I nodded my head and squared my shoulders to convince him that I was telling the truth. I was lying, of course, but there was no room for me to back down now.

  “Well, I’m glad you’re here. We were worried that we weren’t going to be able to get any family down here at all.”

  I nodded my head again, really not sure what I was supposed to do. I was just there to check on him. That was what I was supposed to be doing, anyways, but now I was face to face with his doctor. I should act concerned and ask some questions like any other wife would.

  “So is he going to be okay, doctor? I don’t even know what happened.”

  “From what we’ve been told, he was in a car accident with another vehicle. He came in here unconscious and has yet to come to. Well, there were a few moments when he became conscious, but he wasn’t lucid and we weren’t able to get much information past what the EMT told us. He’s lucky to be alive. The car was pretty mangled up, from what I hear. He was going so fast…”

  The man paused, and I wasn’t sure why. I finally asked if he was going to be okay when he woke up.

  “Everything tells me that he’s going to make a full recovery. He just needs some time to rest, and then he’ll be able to go home.”

  I thanked him and waited for him to leave before I took one last look at Scott and followed him out. I wouldn’t be there to take him home and he wasn’t going home with me, but I’d done what I was there to do.

  Melissa was waiting for me in the lobby. When I told her that he was okay, she seemed as relieved as I was. There was no telling her that I didn’t love him now. It was obvious after the way I acted, and I wished that I’d done a better job of holding that all in.

  Chapter 2 – Scott

  “Good to see you up and around, Scott. I don’t know where your wife went, but I’m sure she will be around in a little bit. How are you feeling?”