by Erin Bevan
Alex’s stomach lurched. His wife.
And quick? How would they discuss this child’s future quickly?
“Umm…yeah, right. Okay. Well, I’m almost eight weeks pregnant.”
“Eight?” Barry whispered. “But we weren’t together eight weeks ago. It’s only been five or six.” His eyes widened. “So the baby can’t be mine.”
This man wanted any excuse to not be a part of this child’s life. She was torn between feeling sad and elated. Truthfully, she didn’t want him as part of their life either but seeing how Max had been torn up about not really knowing his ancestry, she didn’t want that for this baby.
“It’s based on the day of my last period. The baby is yours Barry.” At least that much she was certain of. “I understand this has come as a shock to you, and I’m not here to ask for help.”
“Then why am I here?” he asked.
Why was he here? Was he serious?
“Because, I thought you’d like to know you’re having a child.”
“Listen.” Barry leaned closer. “I appreciate you telling me, but I already have children, and a wife who makes great money and allows me to work my dream job as a musician.”
A musician? Seriously?
“I don’t need anything screwing that up. So, if you need me to sign something giving you full rights, I can.”
Wow.
“Oh…okay.” A part of her—a huge part of her—was relieved, but another part of her was confused. Very confused, and a little mad. Her baby deserved better than this.
“You don’t want to have anything to do with your baby?” Alex asked.
“Listen.” Barry scooted closer, resting his forearms on the table between them. “I know I sound callous, and I’m sorry it’s coming out that way.”
He didn’t sound callous, he was callous.
“If you need some money to get you started, I’ll do what I can, but my life is full. I have my children, my wife, my family. And I know I made a mistake in sleeping with you.”
Ouch.
“But, I don’t want this baby.”
Double Ouch.
Alex felt her blood pressure rise, for her child and for Max. Her fiancé had two men who rejected him. How could someone not want their own child?
“Could you at least give me your medical history? In case something comes up in the future with the baby. I can know and the baby can know.”
“Sure. I can send you that. And I can even write a statement saying I give all rights of this child to you. On the birth certificate, put some other man as the father if you wish, but please, not mine. I do not want to have this baby in my life.” Barry reached for her hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry, Alex. You deserve better than a guy like me treating you this way.”
She stared down at Barry’s large hand covering hers. So much different than Max’s. But Barry was right. She did deserve a guy who would treat her better than this, and she’d found him, and she was never letting him go.
23
Max stepped out of his meeting with Stan Harper, his newest wholesale client to Hot Sauce King. The cool, fall morning had turned into a warmer afternoon. He walked down the sidewalk of the large shopping center where Stan’s restaurant was located. The same shopping center where he’d picked Alex up at the coffee shop. The morning he’d come to rescue her seemed like a lifetime ago, when it was really only a few weeks ago. So much had happened between then.
While he’d been in his meeting with Stan, Bennett the PI had gotten back to him with a hit on Barry. Alex remembering the man’s name had opened up a new world of possibilities for Bennett, and in just a few hours, he’d found the man.
Barry Barts, thirty-four years old, married with two kids. A picture of the man popped up on Max’s phone. His nose nearly took over his face. What a winner. But at least now, Alex could know who the child’s father was, and Max could pray the baby didn’t have the biological father’s nose.
He checked his watch. It was time for Alex’s lunch break. He called, but no answer. Excited to tell her the news, he called the school, hoping someone could give her the message to call him back.
“Serendipity Falls Hope Christian, Ashley speaking.” The woman’s deep voice didn’t match the feminine name.
“Ashley, it’s Max Buchanan, I’m trying to reach Alex. Is she in the break room by any chance?”
“Oh, hi Max.” Ashley said in what he would assume to be a flirty tone, but with her deep baritone it was hard to tell. “Alex never came in today. She requested a personal day sometime last week.”
A personal day? Last week?
She never mentioned that.
“Oh, that’s right. It slipped my mind. Thanks, Ashley.” Max hung up and stared at his phone as he walked down the sidewalk. Where was she? Surely if she had an appointment for the baby she would have let him know. Head down, he flipped through his text messages when he plowed into something, the force knocking him back.
“What the—”
“Agh!” A lady screamed.
He looked up and gripped the arms of the woman he’d clobbered before she took a tumble. Wearing a suit and heels, the lady’s long blonde hair tousled, covering her face.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, miss. Are you okay?” How long had he been staring down at his phone in order to miss this long-legged lady?
“Yeah. I’m fine.” The woman moved her hair from her eyes.
Shock didn’t even describe his emotion. The last person on earth he expected to see stared back at him. “Shelby?”
“Max?” She asked as if she was as surprised to see him as he was her.
“What are you—” they both started at the same time and then stopped.
Max placed his hands on his hips and took a deep sigh.
“Please.” Shelby waved a hand toward him. “You go first. What are you doing here?”
“I was here for a meeting with a client. What are you doing here?”
“Same. Sort of.” She fidgeted with her purse strap; her expression nervous, antsy. “I came shopping for a client.”
“Okay.” He eyed her suspiciously. “I’m looking for Alex. Do you know where she is by any chance?” Max asked. “School said she took a personal day, and I can’t get a hold of her. I want to make sure she’s alright.”
Shelby’s face fell, and she stared at the coffee shop behind her. “Yes, Max I do, but…”
“But what?” He shrugged. “What’s going on?”
Shelby pointed a thumb toward the shop window.
He stepped around Shelby and stared through the glass. Alex sat across from a man. The guy’s back was toward the window, so Max couldn’t get a good view, but what he saw was enough. The man had Alex’s hand in his as she smiled at him and nodded, leaning in to hear what her date had to say.
Stars dotted his vision as he watched the woman he loved flirt with another man. His conscious told him to slow down, stop and process. But his anger got the best of him. She’d been lying to him, keeping secrets from him, after she’d promised. Promised to be honest with him, promised that while they were together, she wouldn’t see anyone else…and she’d been lying to him. The whole time.
“What’s…what’s going on? Who is that?”
“Max.” Shelby placed her hand to his shoulder. “I promise, it’s not what it looks like.”
“Yeah? What is it then? Because it looks to me like she’s seeing someone behind my back. After she drug me through the coals about Tawana…she was doing the same thing.” Max paced the sidewalk, trying to decide his next move. Should he charge in there and demand she explain herself? Should he just leave…let her figure out how to solve her own problems? No answer seemed good, no matter which way he chose.
“Max calm down. Please.” Shelby followed his pacing, her heels clicking on the sidewalk. “Max.” She grabbed his arms to still him.
“What?” His voice must have sounded scarier to her than him because Shelby took a step away from him.
“If you w
ould just calm down a minute.”
“I said what Shelby. What lie are you going to make up for your friend?”
“It’s not a lie. That’s the baby’s father, Barry. She’s having a meeting with him to see if he wants to have anything to do with his baby.”
Have anything to do with the baby. Didn’t he lose that right the moment he took her to bed as a one-night stand?
“Why? This baby doesn’t need a man like that.” Max pointed toward the window. “And couldn’t she have told me she was meeting him?” he asked. “Why keep it from me?”
His anger had started to gain stares from passersby.
“I don’t know.” Shelby shook her head. “I mentioned to her she should tell you, but she didn’t want to hurt you.”
Hurt him.
“But keeping secrets from me, lying to me, that doesn’t hurt me?” he asked as he stared at her through the window.
“I can’t tell you her exact reasoning. She’ll have to.”
So this is what it felt like when someone you love lied to you. This is exactly how she felt when she’d found out about Tawana.
Max sighed and straightened his jacket before he turned back to Shelby. “When you get home, tell her I need to talk to her, but please wait until you get home. I don’t want her worrying the entire drive.”
Shelby gave him a consoling smile. “You know, you could just wait for her yourself.”
“No. I can’t.” He shook his head. “I have a meeting to help save the community center. The center Alex cares so much about.”
He turned on his heels and headed for his car. He couldn’t think about what her meeting with Barry would mean. He couldn’t think about how it would affect his relationship to the baby or with her. He just had to leave. Drive. Drive away and pray the man that the love of his life sat across from didn’t ruin any chances he would have of being a father to her child.
Alex gave Barry her address and hugged him goodbye for one final time. Once she’d told Barry about Max, the weight on the man’s shoulders lifted. Thank God for Max. She loved him more now than ever, and when she saw him, she would let him know.
Who she felt sorry for was Barry’s wife. Supporting him while he cheated on her, getting another woman pregnant, then not facing the facts. Alex was grateful a man like him wouldn’t be a part of her baby’s life. Her child didn’t need such a man as an example.
Alex sat in the passenger seat as Shelby drove. Shelby had listened while Alex shared the details of her meeting with Barry. She acted happy for her and said all the right encouraging things, but then grown quiet. In fact, her friend hadn’t said much of anything for twenty minutes.
Something was up. Maybe it was Elroy?
“Everything okay?” Alex asked.
“What? Yeah.” Shelby nodded. “Everything’s fine.”
“Did shopping go okay? I saw you had a bunch of bags in the trunk.”
“Oh, yeah.” Shelby kept her eyes on the road. “I got most of the things I needed for my client.”
Her friend kept her hands at ten and two and stared straight ahead, her face expressionless, which was probably for the best because Shelby didn’t have the best driving record, but something was really off. Way off.
“That’s good.” Alex nodded, waiting on Shelby to say more.
Silence.
“So…how’s Elroy?” Alex asked. If her friend wouldn’t be forthcoming with information, then she’d just have to pry it out of her.
“Who? Oh. Elroy. Guy from the bar. He’s okay I guess.” She shrugged her shoulder. “I don’t know. We only went out once and then nothing. Oh, I love this song.” Shelby reached for the volume knob, turning up some pop song Alex had never heard of before.
What was the deal? Did she do something to make her friend mad?
“And you’re okay?” Alex pried.
“Yep!” Shelby nodded. “Just peachy.”
“Okay.” Alex reached for the volume and turned the radio down as she swiveled in her seat to face Shelby completely. “What gives? Why are you acting so strange? Anytime a relationship goes sour you always tell me the details. It’s like I have to pry conversation out of you. What am I missing?”
Shelby took a deep breath before she said, “I ran into someone while you were in the coffee shop.”
Oh, here we go. Another beau.
“Yeah? Who? Anyone I know?”
“Yeah. You could say that.”
Geez her friend was being vague today. “Okay…are you going to tell me who?”
“Max.” Shelby cringed, and her shoulders raised by her ears.
“Max? What? Where? Why was he in Newport?” Alex sat up straighter. “Did he see me? Please say he didn’t see me.”
Max had mentioned he had a meeting out of town, but she’d never thought to ask where. She’d been so wrapped up in her secret, she didn’t pay attention to him.
“We ran into each other on the sidewalk. Literally. He had a meeting with a new client, and well, yeah, he saw you guys.”
“Barry? He saw me with Barry?”
“Yeah, and I have to admit, you two looked pretty chummy the way Barry held your hand and all.”
Oh no. Could the world just swallow her whole now?
“It wasn’t what it looked like. I swear.”
“I know, Alex. I believe you. But, Max, he was…upset. He told me to tell you to call him, but I wasn’t supposed to tell you until we got home. He didn’t want you to worry the whole ride.
And he still looked out for her. Even after seeing her with another man. But that’s what she was doing, too. Looking out for him. He had to understand.
“Why didn’t you just tell him to wait? Why didn’t you tell him what was going on?”
“I did. I told him everything, but he couldn’t wait. He said he had a meeting to get back to about the community center and well…”
“Well what?”
This vagueness was irritating.
“I think he just needed some time to process seeing you with the father of the baby.”
Because Max had been dying to be the father.
“Oh, God. I have to make this right. I never should have lied to him.” Alex reached for her purse to pull out her phone.
“Wait.” Shelby reached out her hand to stop her. “What are you doing? You can’t call him now.”
“Why not?”
“Because he made me promise to wait until we got home, and besides, he’s in a meeting about the center right now.”
“Crap.” Alex tossed her phone back in her purse. “I never should have lied to him, but I didn’t want him getting upset.”
“Kind of like the way he did you about Tawana.”
“No! Not like that. Okay.” Alex nodded. “Exactly like that. Crap.” She crossed her arms. “I have to fix this.”
“You will, Alex. It’ll be okay. I’m sorry I told you early, but I knew you’d want to know.”
“Of course I want to know.” Alex’s phone chirped. “Oh, maybe that’s him.” She reached for her device and saw a text from Chris.
Of all people.
“It’s Chris.”
What? Had the stars aligned that all the men she’d ever slept with needed to confront her on the same day?
“Chris? What does he want?”
C: We have to talk. Today. I’ll meet you at your apartment in a few.
No they didn’t, and no he wouldn’t. Last thing she needed was Chris in her apartment or this mess with Max might really escalate.
“He says he has to talk.” Alex responded back.
A: I’m not home. What do you want to talk about?
C: This can’t wait. R U at the school?
Alex rolled her eyes. First he cheats on her, now he demands to talk to her.
She thought about texting Max, telling him to join her to face Chris, but the last thing she needed was Max worrying about her with more guys. Besides, he was in a meeting. And she did need to run by the school and pick up the daily p
apers she had to grade.
A: I’ll be there in twenty min. Wait in the parking lot.
“I’m going to meet him at the school parking lot to talk.” She tossed her phone back in her purse.
“You think that’s such a good idea?” Shelby asked.
“Sure. Why not? It’s a public place so if people see us together they can at least see we aren’t being intimate in anyway, and I have to get my papers to grade. I’ll give him five minutes tops to say whatever it is he has to say and then I’ll leave. Bing, bang, done.”
She’d see what he needed and send him on his merry way. She’d moved past Chris, and a sudden urge to send Tawana a thank you note overcame her. If Tawana hadn’t of swooped in and seduced her man, she’d still be considering a future with him, with a faceless husband at the end of the aisle.
“If you’re sure.” Shelby took the exit to Serendipity Falls. “Want me to join you?”
“No. Just take me to my car. I’m not worried about Chris. Besides, how much worse could this day really get?”
Max was already mad at her, and if there was one thing Max had taught her in the past few weeks, besides keeping secrets wasn’t good for a relationship, it was that she didn’t want Chris, Barry, or any other man. Nor did she want a subpar marriage. She wanted a marriage of excitement, fun, and great sex. Really, really, great sex. And she’d have it…as long as Max would forgive her.
24
Alex pulled into the back of the school parking lot and stared at her phone. Ten missed texts. Seven were from her mother showing her pictures of different flower arrangements insisting they make their final decisions today, two from Chris saying he was in the front parking lot waiting, and one from the doctor’s office reminding her to schedule her next appointment.
Would Max want to go with her? The doctor had said she would do an ultrasound the next time. They could see the baby together for the first time.
She smiled at the idea and placed her phone back in her cupholder, before she drove around to the front. Chris’s truck caught her eye and her smile vanished. Whatever he had to say he had to do it fast. She had twenty minutes to grab her papers and sneak back to her car before school was dismissed, and the very last thing she wanted was to be stuck in pickup traffic, or worse, asked to help with pickup on her day off.