by Leslie North
“What do you think?”
Charlie had appeared by the door while she had her back turned, and he looked as mouthwatering as the day she’d met him.
“It’s a good space,” she said. “It would probably be better than staying in the rental. If you think…”
“If I think what?”
“If you think we can…you know.” She waved a hand in the air between them, as nonchalant as she could make the gesture. “Keep this…platonic.” The word stuck in her throat, but she forced it out, nonetheless.
His eyes flared with a light she recognized, but then Stephanie blinked, and it was gone. “I wouldn’t want anything else.”
She tasted the lie on the air and wished for a single searing instant that he’d say it out loud: they still had something between them. But that wasn’t right. They were working together. They had a project to do together, and more than that, she had just introduced him to the son they shared. This time would have to be about Jasper more than anything else. “Good.”
“Sarah’s out in the living room.” Charlie pointed over his shoulder. “Would you like to meet her? She and Jasper seem to have hit it off, so that’s a good sign.” His voice turned tentative, and her throat ached at how hard he was trying. If he were anyone else, she might have brushed off his opinion entirely. But the hope in his eyes…
“Yes. I’d love that.”
Sarah, it turned out, was wonderful. She had already engaged Jasper in a conversation about his favorite books and promised to bring some that she had at home the next time she came over. When it was time for her to leave, all three of them walked her to the door.
“It was wonderful to meet you,” Stephanie told her, and she meant it.
“You too.” A twinkle in Sarah’s eyes caught Stephanie’s attention. “I’ll be back tomorrow, Jasper. I hope you’re ready to read!”
“I’m ready,” he called after her as she made her way toward the private elevator. “I’m ready, Miss Sarah!”
Charlie closed the door and turned to Stephanie with a cautious smile. “I like her, but I’m biased.”
“I think she’s great,” said Stephane, relief like sparkles in her veins. “If she’s around to help, then we’ll be able to get the work done faster and get out of here.”
Charlie blinked and looked away. “Exactly.”
“And we’ll be in a safe place.” She rushed through the next words, hoping to cover the pain she’d seen in his face. “You and Jasper will get more time together, too.”
“It’s the silver lining of it all,” Charlie said. “But I have to tell you…I can’t rush.” He moved a step closer.
Stephanie met his eyes, breath catching. “Can’t rush what?”
“I can’t rush our work.” Ah. Right. “I want to do right by you and Jasper. I want you to have your vacation, if it can still be arranged. But I have an obligation to my brothers, too. I can’t hurry through the job if it means risking the company.”
“No,” she said. “I wouldn’t want you to risk the company.”
All the same, the meaning behind his words echoed through her mind like the beating of a drum. He couldn’t hurry. He had to take his time. And that meant there was no telling how long they’d be living just down the hall from where this man went to sleep at night and kicked off the covers to expose the glorious body beneath, because of course he slept shirtless…
Charlie clapped his hands, and Stephanie started. “What do you say? Should we go and get your things?”
4
Charlie didn’t waste any time. He came back to the rental to help move their things to his place, dealt with the rental reservation himself, and had them settled into the guest suite inside of three hours. Every time Stephanie blinked, he had a new plan. It would be easy to get swept away by him. Almost too easy. That thought occurred to her in full force two days later as they walked into the local baseball stadium a full hour before game time.
The baseball game had been Charlie’s idea—an outing to have a little fun and show her what the town had to offer. That’s what he’d told Stephanie. But something about the set of his shoulders and the intensely excited expression on his face told her he was shooting for the moon.
She didn’t know how to remind him that shooting for the moon by impressing a five-year-old was as hit or miss as actually shooting something toward the moon. When Jasper was four, he’d played on a T-ball team for a couple of weeks. That was his only experience with team sports. It had been fun, and then it had been over.
And now they stood in the center of the field, shaking hands with all the players on the minor league team.
One of them, a muscled man with a dark beard, shook hands with Charlie as if the two were old friends. “Preston,” he said. “It’s been a long time since you came to a game.”
“I’ve been busy. Glad to see you didn’t forget about me.”
“How could we forget? You’re our biggest fan.”
Charlie laughed. “It was one sponsorship, Luke.”
“This guy.” Luke slapped Charlie on the back and winked at Stephanie. “This guy acts like buying a new scoreboard is no big deal.”
Stephanie looked over their heads at the massive scoreboard flanked by two large screens, the name of his company across the top. She raised her eyebrows at Charlie. His cheeks darkened. “What? It was hard for people to see the gameplay from certain seats in the stadium.”
It was impressive, but it also gave her a prickle of fear. This was a man who changed stadiums to have things in his preferred order. How long would it be before he tried to change things with Jasper?
She pushed that fear to the back of her mind and focused on the moment. Jasper blinked up at the baseball players. One by one, they signed the ball that Charlie had bought for her little boy. When the meet and greet was over, the team jogged toward the dugout, leaving the three of them alone in the center of the field.
“You want to run the bases, Jasper?” Charlie asked, eyes bright. “Now’s your chance.”
Jasper took one look at the bases and shook his head.
Charlie frowned. “You sure?”
Jasper shook his head again. “What now? Are we done?”
“No, buddy. The game’s starting soon.” Stephanie tried to calm her own nerves. There was really nothing to be nervous about. It was just a baseball game, and if Jasper didn’t like it, then it was nothing for Charlie to take personally.
“You could take one loop around the outfield,” Charlie pressed.
Jasper looked at his shoes, clearly pretending not to hear.
Charlie’s forehead wrinkled.
“Should we find our seats?” Stephanie said, flooding her tone with as much optimism as she could muster. “Are we sitting close to the action?” Jasper took her hand, and she gave it a squeeze.
Charlie’s frown deepened. “Not exactly.”
They weren’t close to the action because Charlie had a luxury box. Jasper took one look at the snack table and sprinted over, eyes wide. He came back to the sofa at the center of the box with his arms full of cookies and snacks, all in single-serving packages. He’d eaten his way through one batch before the game even started, and Stephanie knew they were headed for a train wreck if she didn’t intervene.
She swept up the wrappers from Jasper’s lap and tipped them into a nearby wastebasket. “All right. All done.”
“There’s plenty more,” Charlie said from his spot on the end of the sofa. “And even if we run out—”
“No,” she said firmly. “Jasper, that’s it for now. Have some water.”
“But they have soda.” Jasper pointed.
“I know they do, but we’re not going to have soda.” Stephanie grabbed a miniature bottle of water from the fridge at the back of the box and twisted the top open. “Here you go.”
Jasper stared her down, eyes narrowed. She didn’t let her nerves show on her face. That was a sure way to invite an argument. Instead, she kept her expression mild, with a h
int of steel.
Finally, Jasper sighed. “Okay.” He took the water bottle, perched on the edge of the sofa, and drained it. “I want more cookies.”
“Not now. Let’s watch the game.”
Stephanie did her best to draw his attention to the game, with Charlie pitching in, but Jasper wasn’t having it. They made it through one inning and then another. By the third, he was swinging his legs sulkily over the side of the couch. By the fourth, he was lying flat on the sofa with his head in Stephanie’s lap. Charlie said less and less, his frustration sucking the air out of the room.
She didn’t know what to say. They’d spent all of two days together, and already they were coming up against the more complicated aspects of…
Being a family. That’s what it was, but Stephanie couldn’t count on that. Not yet, if ever.
Charlie stood up at the end of the fourth inning. “Time to head out.”
She kept stroking Jasper’s hair. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ve got the car waiting for us outside.”
It was obviously the right move, but Stephanie wished he’d at least consulted her about it. She pressed her lips together, hoisted Jasper into her arms, and followed Charlie out to the car.
In the back of the limo Charlie had hired to bring them to the game, Jasper leaned his head back and fell asleep. Charlie looked out the window, fingertips drumming on the armrest.
“Hey.”
He turned to face her, a smile dancing across his lips and disappearing. “Hi.”
“I’m sorry Jasper wasn’t into the game,” she said. “He’s a little young for it yet, and he doesn’t know all the rules.”
Charlie’s eyes fixed on hers with an intensity she hadn’t expected. “It’s not Jasper I’m frustrated with. I couldn’t sit through the games when I was a kid, either. It’s me.”
“You?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know how to be a father. I don’t know…I don’t know enough about him to make sure he has a great time. And it frustrates me.”
“It’ll take time,” she said gently. “It takes time to get to know a person for who they are.”
“I know. And I guess…” He put a hand to his forehead. “I’m angry in retrospect for missing out on so much. That’s not how I would have planned things.” He took a deep breath. “I believe in making the best possible plans with the best information available to me. I want to help plan Jasper’s life so he has the best shot at being happy.”
Stephanie couldn’t help but chuckle. “You can’t plan kids’ lives, Charlie. Today of all things should have been proof of that.”
“I know. Maybe if I’d had more of a chance, in the beginning…I’d know more about being a dad. And you’d know more about who I am.”
“You’re right. It’s hard to get the real measure of a person when you only know them for one night.” Stephanie felt like she was skating slowly across thin ice. “And if we’re going to have anything to do with each other, we should be sure about the other person.”
“I’m sure that I want you to stay in my life.” Charlie’s voice rang with a confidence that made her eyes fly open and lock on his. “That’s what I wanted to ask you. If you’ll let me spend more time with you and Jasper. Let me learn to be a dad.”
Stephanie thought about this. Jasper shifted in the booster seat next to her, his head tilted back, obviously dreaming. “We can spend more time together if you agree to take things slow with Jasper.” If there was ever a time for honesty, now was it. “There were times today when you came on too strong. You’ve got to take your cues from him. And from me.”
Charlie nodded solemnly. “Of course I agree to that.”
“I’m glad.”
It was a relief, even in the midst of this stress, to have another adult in Jasper’s life. There had been many times during his babyhood and toddlerhood that she’d wished for a partner to bounce things off of—and not just strangers on Internet forums, which was where she found most of her comfort. A real person, who was there day to day.
Charlie wasn’t there yet. It was too soon, and he had yet to prove himself. But she was glad he was there anyway.
That night Stephanie pulled up the covers in the guest bed and stared at the ceiling. It had been a Saturday—the kind of Saturday she could expect if Charlie was in her life.
On the one hand, it had been a welcome break from planning every hour of the day by herself. On the other hand, his expectations had been too high—and some of his ideas about parenting were obviously those of a person who didn’t have children. Charlie, she could tell, would have let Jasper eat the entire snack table.
And then there was the way he’d wanted to do better.
She turned onto her side. It was too soon to make any decisions, though Stephanie was used to making decisions quickly and then forging ahead, for better or for worse. She had always steered her own ship.
Would it be so bad to let Charlie steer sometimes?
5
One week.
One week they’d been in his life, and it was like they’d never been there and had always been there. Charlie’s opinion changed by the hour. The minute. Sometimes he would look across the makeshift office at Stephanie and wonder how he’d ever survived a single day without her in arm’s reach. Other times, when Jasper ran wild through his apartment, all his silliness at the surface, Charlie wondered how he’d ever learn to roll with the high-octane energy of a young boy.
It only seemed natural to invite them to the family beach day at Charlie’s mother’s house the next weekend…even if it meant jostling the family peace a bit.
They made their way across the sand to the beach deck, which had been built around a massive stone firepit.
“I’m not sure about this,” said Stephanie through a brilliant smile.
“I’m sure about it. You’re staying with me.” He hesitated to say living with me, even though Stephanie and Jasper had already left their mark on his home. “And it’s time they knew.”
“Are you sure about that?” They’d talked about it every day since Wednesday, when his mother had called with the invitation.
“I’m ashamed of how my mother reacted to the information,” he said firmly. “Not that I have a son.”
Other shames kept him awake at night. Turning his back on Stephanie, for one. The way he’d acted at the conference in the first place, for another. The fact that he hadn’t gone down the hall and confessed his lingering feelings for her, for a third. His mind went around that familiar track as they approached the deck.
Drew was the first to spot them and wave them over, his wife Penny by his side. “Charlie!” he called from his place by the firepit. “Come introduce your guests!”
Charlie’s heart bounced into his throat and rattled around, the beat painful. He had a plan for this, even if he didn’t want to follow it. They stepped up onto the deck.
He ran through the introductions. “Stephanie is working with me on the acquisition.” The truth pulsed at his temples while the three of them shook hands. “And here comes my nephew Logan. He’s almost your age, Jasper.”
Logan tore across the deck from the sand, a big smile on his face. He made a beeline for Jasper. “Hi, I’m Logan,” he said. “Do you want to come play?”
Jasper rocked back on his heels, hesitant, and Charlie could feel Stephanie tensing beside him. She wouldn’t press him on playing with another kid. It would be rude for Jasper not to play with Logan, but Charlie had no say in that. He bit his tongue.
“Sure,” said Jasper at last, and the two of them ran off toward a collection of beach toys at the edge of the deck. Charlie felt, rather than heard, Stephanie’s sigh of relief.
“Rude,” said his youngest brother Archer, who sauntered up with his arm around a petite woman in a yellow sundress. “You haven’t said anything about your best brother.”
“My mistake,” Charlie said dryly. “Stephanie, this is my younger brother Archer.”
“His
favorite brother.” Archer stuck his hand out for Stephanie to shake. “And this is Lauren.” Charlie knew well enough that Lauren probably wouldn’t be around for the next beach day, but he shook her hand all the same.
One person was still missing. They couldn’t get this show on the road until he had a talk with his mother, Collette.
“Oh, finally,” Archer said, and Charlie realized he hadn’t been listening to the conversation. “Mom’s leading the caterers out from the house.”
“Are you all right?” he said into Stephanie’s ear, keeping his voice low. “I have something to take care of.”
She gave him a firm nod. “Go. I can hold my own with your brothers.”
Attraction jolted through him, pure and strong, and more than anything, Charlie wanted to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close. Instead he turned on his heel and went to face his mother.
He met her halfway across the beach, a train of five caterers in dark outfits behind her. “We need to talk.”
She lifted her eyebrows. “Not here, Charlie. I have guests.”
“Then we’ll step inside. And stop, Mom. It’s our own family.”
Collette pursed her lips but didn’t argue with him. She wouldn’t want to make a scene. He didn’t feel bad about taking advantage of that. His mother signaled to the caterers. “Go ahead and set up—I’m sure everyone will be hungry soon. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
Charlie waited until he’d closed the patio door to say a word, and then he cut right to the chase.
“You didn’t answer my questions on the phone.”
Collette breathed in deep through her nose. “I answered the pertinent question, I thought.”
“You told me what you did. I want to know why.”
She arched one eyebrow. “Honestly, Charles, the answer should be obvious.”