ONCE UPON A VALENTINE

by ALLISON LEIGH,

  Everywhere they passed, he saw the signs of Valentine’s Day. Which just reminded him of Shea.

  He’d finally had enough, and turned Hooch around for home. “Pretty pathetic, eh, buddy?”

  Hooch just wagged his tail and trotted alongside Pax. The dog didn’t care where they were or what they did as long as he was with his owner.

  Back in the apartment once more, Pax turned on a basketball game, fed and watered Hooch and hit the shower.

  His cell phone was ringing when he shut off the water, and he stepped out onto the rug, grabbing it. But it was just the realtor he’d asked to look into some properties for him, and he let it go to voice mail while he wrapped the towel around his hips and wandered into the kitchen to stare into the refrigerator as if it would magically produce something edible. Last time he’d been out to his parents’ place in Port Orchard, his mom had sent him home with a bag full of leftovers, but they were long gone now.

  His cell phone rang again, and he snatched it up again, checking the display.

  Smiling broadly, he grabbed a beer with his other hand as he answered casually. “If it isn’t my favorite prickly journalist. Have you been saving my number all this time, or did you dig it up from one of those secret sources of yours?”

  She ignored him. “Thank you for the bouquet.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “You knew I’d have to respond somehow,” she continued. “That’s why you did it.”

  He twisted off the bottle cap and sat down at the stainless steel counter in his kitchen that had an unobstructed view overlooking the city. Instead of the lights, though, all he saw in his head was Shea. “I did it because I thought it might make you smile,” he said truthfully.

  “It did,” she admitted after a moment. “It’s the first bouquet of cat treats I’ve ever received. Marsha-Marsha thanks you, too.”

  “My pleasure.”

  He could hear her soft breathing through the phone line. “Well. I just wanted to say thanks. And happy...happy Valentine’s Day.”

  “Happy Valentine’s Day, Shea.”

  A moment later, he was listening to the dial tone.

  Hooch propped his chin on Pax’s knee and looked up at him.

  “Whadya think, Hooch? Any chance of winning the race if she won’t even get out of the starting gate?”

  The dog flopped his tail a few times on the floor.

  It was as much of an answer as Pax had.

  * * *

  In her apartment, Shea set her cell phone on the ancient steamer trunk she used as a coffee table and pulled Marsha-Marsha carefully onto her lap. The calico tabby had become increasingly frail over the past year, but she’d still gleefully gone after one of the cat toys from the “bouquet” that had been sitting in front of Shea’s doorway when she’d gotten home.

  She pressed her cheek to the cat’s head and listened to her throaty purr. “How am I going to tell him?” she asked. “I had an opportunity earlier today. I tried then. But I just couldn’t.” No more than she had been able to tell him just now on the cell phone.

  Marsha-Marsha just circled around on her lap a few times before settling down.

  Shea chewed the inside of her lip and stared at the coffee table.

  Next to her cell phone and the basket that had contained Pax’s wholly unexpected “bouquet” sat a blue and pink box.

  It was the third home pregnancy test kit that she had bought that day. The results for the third test had been the same as the first two.

  Positive.

  She’d interviewed Pax a lot of times. Slept with him once. He was outrageous and larger-than-life. She didn’t want to like him. But she did. She certainly didn’t want to want him. But she did.

  And now she was pregnant with his baby, and sooner or later she was going to have to tell him.

  He’d either run for the hills.

  Or he wouldn’t.

  She wasn’t sure which possibility scared her more.

  Chapter Three

  “Cupcake!”

  Shea looked up from her computer when she heard her editor bellow from his glass-walled office. She saved the article she was writing—a light-hearted piece about a duck that was making his home in an elementary school fountain—and went into his office just as Stu, the most senior member of their team, was coming out.

  It was Saturday and half the crew was there working because their computers had crashed yet again the day before.

  “Got an event I want you to cover,” Harvey said.

  “Political scandal? Corporate malfeasance?” She smiled facetiously because the man never put her on any such hot topics. “Since Cooper’s been out sick, I could do the background at least on that helicopter crash—”

  “No.” He looked at her over his glasses. “It’s a fundraiser for some place called Fresh Grounds.” He was obviously hunting for something on his messy desk. “A nonprofit located downtown. Merrick & Sullivan are sponsoring the shindig.”

  Shea’s stomach tightened. She should have known she wouldn’t get a break just because she’d come in to work on what was supposed to be her day off. She was being punished for not telling Pax her secret the night before. “When is it?”

  “Tonight.”

  “What if I had plans for tonight? I do have a life, you know.”

  “No, you don’t. No more ’n I do.” Harvey finally unearthed the paper he’d been hunting and pushed it across his cluttered desk toward her. “Dressy, so see if you can’t beg, borrow or steal something appropriate.”

  She flushed and picked up the press release. The dress code around the Tub’s offices was decidedly casual, and her usual jacket and jeans was more professional than some. “How dressy?” If it was black tie, she’d be in trouble.

  “I don’t know. Just don’t embarrass me, all right?” He looked even more cranky than usual, his bristle-brush gray hair standing out from his head.

  “Maybe you should send someone else,” Shea suggested tartly. “Someone you pay enough to actually own a wardrobe that wouldn’t embarrass you.”

  “Social scene and human interest,” he snapped. “Take it or walk, cupcake.”

  Since she wasn’t entirely sure he was joking, she sighed and took the press release with her back to her desk.

  “And get plenty of shots this time,” he yelled after her. “Readers love the photos.”

  She just waved her hand in response. He was always complaining that she didn’t get enough photographs when she went out. She wanted to remind him that she was a writer, not a photographer. But considering their meager budget, everyone pulled dual duty.

  According to the release, the fundraiser was a silent auction, with the proceeds benefiting Fresh Grounds, an agency that provided affordable housing for low-income families. And it was, indeed, being sponsored by Merrick & Sullivan Yachting.

  She traced her fingertip over the edge of the page. The kinds of photos that Harvey would want, she knew, would heavily feature Pax or his partner, Erik. Every time they printed either one’s image in the Tub, the free paper’s advertising spiked and their Internet traffic doubled. For Harvey, the two men behind Merrick & Sullivan were golden.

  But just thinking about seeing Pax again made Shea break out in a cold sweat. And wouldn’t that be an attractive look?

  She quickly finished the duck article and submitted it, then shut down her computer and gathered up her belongings. The auction was being held at the Olympic Hotel, and that alone was enough to tell her that the dress was definitely more black-tie than not. Which meant she had to go see her mother.

  No way could Shea afford a fancy gown. She was still paying off the repairs to her car from December.

  Her mother, however, was presently married to a cosmetic surgeon and had a closet full of fancy c
lothing.

  “Get those shots,” Harvey barked as she walked past his office on her way out.

  If there’d only been a shot to ward off Pax’s appeal, Shea wouldn’t be in the fix that she was in now.

  She dumped her stuff in the passenger seat of her car and drove out to Magnolia, the neighborhood where her mother lived with Jonathan Jones, hubby number seven. The sporty little BMW that Jon had given Gloria for her forty-eighth birthday was parked in the four-car driveway, telling Shea there was no hope of her being able to sneak in and raid her mother’s closet without having to actually see her.

  She blew out a breath, wondering if it was worth chancing her job and showing up at the event wearing her one and only black dress and deciding that it wasn’t. She went to the front door and rang the bell, nervously tapping the toe of her boot in time to the chiming she could hear from inside the house.

  Two more rings and the door swung open and Gloria Weatherby Garcia Monroe Nelson Garcia Frasier Jones stood there. Surprise filled her blue eyes, though there was no hope of it showing otherwise in her expression because Botox had been her best friend since Shea was sixteen.

  “Shea!” Gloria stepped back, pulling the door wide. “You know you don’t have to ring the bell,” she chided.

  Shea stepped inside and gave her mother a quick kiss on her perfectly smooth cheek. “Last time I didn’t ring the bell, I walked in on you and the pool boy doing it on the living room rug,” she reminded.

  Gloria waved her bejeweled hand in dismissal. “That was years ago. Jonathan keeps me interested enough that I don’t need a pool boy anymore.” She pushed the door shut and padded barefoot into the living room, leaving Shea to follow. “You just missed your brother.” She grabbed two empty glasses from an ornate marble-topped cocktail table and carried them into the kitchen. “He stopped by to get my signature on a few things.”

  “I don’t have a brother.” But she knew her mother was referring to her former stepbrother Marco Garcia, who still acted as Gloria’s attorney even though she and his father, Ruben, hadn’t been together for more than a decade. In fact, they’d been married and divorced twice, but Marco hadn’t lived with them during either marriage period. Shea’s contact with Marco had been limited to a handful of holidays that had always been short on celebration and long on awkwardness. It was the same with the rest of her stepsiblings, too. Seventeen of them in all, and that was just from her mother’s revolving door of husbands. “You’re not even married to Ruben anymore.”

  Gloria huffed. “Details,” she dismissed. Then she narrowed her eyes and studied Shea. “You look terrible,” she said bluntly. “Jonathan could take care of those lines you’re getting around the eyes. All you have to do is say the word.”

  Shea ignored her and dumped her purse on the overstuffed white couch. Her mother loved all things white because it left her to provide the only color around. “I came to borrow a dress. I’m covering a deal at the Olympic tonight. It’s black tie.”

  “Work?” Gloria pouted her bee-stung lips. “That’s disappointing. You’re never going to find yourself a husband if you’re always working. Didn’t you learn anything from that mess with Bruce?”

  “I’m not looking for a husband!” She clamped down on the pang inside her chest. “Just a dress suitable for tonight,” she managed in a reasonable tone.

  Gloria sighed dramatically. “Fine.” She led the way out of the kitchen and up the carpeted stairs to the master bedroom that she’d remodeled just as soon as she and Jonathan had moved into the house a year ago. She crossed the white carpet and threw open the double doors to a walk-in closet that was bigger than Shea’s living room. “You can thank your lucky stars that we’re still the same size,” Gloria was saying as she disappeared into the closet. “Although if your boobs get any bigger you’re going to pop out of anything of mine. Be glad I’m married to Jon. He’ll be able to keep those girls looking good for you.”

  Shea dropped her arms, which she’d folded self-consciously over her chest. “I don’t want anything that sparkles,” she warned, stepping to the closet doorway.

  Gloria pouted again and placed two of the plastic-protected hangers back on the rack. “Here.” She thrust three choices at Shea. “Try those.”

  Shea took the gowns into the en suite bathroom and closed the door. She rapidly undressed, avoiding her own reflection in the mirrors that surrounded the room until she’d pulled on the first of the gowns. It was scarlet, cut up to here and down to there, and Shea couldn’t even get the zipper under her arm all the way up thanks to the tight fit across her bust. She quickly tried the second, a brilliant pink strapless satin that clung revealingly like a second skin, making her wonder what on earth her mother was able to wear underneath it. The third was a slight improvement, but only because it had narrow straps and was a simple black. The skirt had a deep slit up the back, but Shea could zip it up and her chest didn’t pop out of the top, so she figured it would do for the hour or so that she’d have to spend at the fundraiser getting what she needed to satisfy Harvey.

  She pulled it off, put on her jeans and long-sleeved T-shirt again and carried the dresses out of the bathroom.

  Her mother was sitting on the wide bed, studying her nails. “I thought you’d at least show me,” she scolded without much conviction.

  Shea hung the rejects on their hangers and slid them back into their plastic sheaths.

  “Ah. The black,” Gloria deduced. “Boring and safe but presentable.” She rose and went to a full-length mirror that she pulled back to reveal a hidden jewelry case. “You’ll need earrings.”

  The thought of wearing a pair of her mother’s heavy earrings all evening was vaguely nauseating.

  Earrings aren’t what’s making your stomach queasy.

  Shea ignored the annoying voice of her conscience.

  “Here.” Gloria turned and held out a pair of sparkling earrings on her outstretched palm. “I hope you’ll take time for once to put on some blush, too. You need the color. Honestly, Shea. You’d be a pretty girl if you’d just put a little effort into it.”

  “Ever helpful, Mom.” Shea took the dress and the chandelier earrings even though she knew she’d never wear them. It was easier to go along than argue. “I’d stay for more motherly advice, but I’ve got things I need to take care of.” She had to admit that her mom was generous with her clothing when the situation called for it. “Thanks for the dress. I’ll have it cleaned before I bring it back.”

  “Don’t go covering yourself up with a sweater, either.” Gloria followed her down the staircase. “The one thing you’ve got going for you is your figure.”

  “It’s February,” Shea reminded. “It’s cold.”

  “A coat!” Gloria turned on her heel and ran back up the stairs.

  Shea wished she’d kept her mouth shut.

  A moment later, Gloria returned with a long black coat. “Here.” She pushed it into Shea’s hands. “Just promise you won’t wear it once you’re at your little event. If you’re going to insist on working all the time, you might as well show yourself off while you’re walking through the hotel lobby. Maybe you’ll catch someone’s eye.”

  “Mom! What do you want me to do? Advertise that I’m open for business?”

  “Don’t be so dramatic.” Gloria put her hand on her trim hip. “I’m not suggesting you’re a prostitute. A smart woman gets a ring on her finger before she starts giving away her favors. I learned that the hard way with your father, didn’t I? But do you think I would have ever gotten Jonathan’s attention if I’d have been covered from head to toe in black wool?”

  “Jonathan was the cosmetic surgeon who did your butt lift,” Shea reminded dryly. “And I’m not looking to give away any favors to earn husband number one, much less number seven.” She knew the conversation had nowhere to go but down, and it was already low enough. She could o
nly imagine what Gloria would have to say once Shea told her she was pregnant after what was essentially a one-night stand.

  Her mother had had a lot of husbands for the simple reason that she claimed not to sleep with anyone before marriage—aside from Shea’s dad. That, and the fact that she bored easily. Jonathan had lasted eighteen months now, but Shea figured his time was probably not as limited as it might otherwise have been, considering her mother’s avid pursuit of plastic surgery to stave off any sort of natural aging process.

  “I don’t know how you ended up so judgmental,” Gloria lamented. “You’re just like your father.”

  Shea’s father lived in Europe with his fourth wife, who was younger than Shea. Last she’d heard, Number Four was trying to get pregnant. If she succeeded, the baby would be Shea’s only sibling actually related by blood. The news had come in her only communication from her father in a year—a Christmas postcard. Written and signed only by Number Four, yet she supposed it could have been worse: no postcard at all.

  “Not being judgmental, Mom, just stating facts.” Her temples pounded and she’d been with her mother for less than thirty minutes. A new record. “Thanks again for the dress.”

  Gloria brushed her lips in the air near Shea’s cheek. “You’re welcome.” Her gaze went past her to the expensive car that was pulling into the driveway next to Shea’s four-wheeled heap, and her smile widened. “Jonathan’s back from his tennis game.” As if Shea were already gone, Gloria jogged out to greet the dark-haired man who was only five years older than her daughter with a long kiss.

  Neither one of them noticed when Shea hastily got into her car and drove away.

  If Pax ever met her mother, he’d understand why she wasn’t a believer in enduring relationships.

  Right on cue, her stomach rolled.