Heavy: A Contemporary Romance (13 page)

Thatch

One week later…

I stood waiting by the carousel
designated to receive the luggage from my flight, when I heard Thaddeus’ voice above the busy airport sounds.

“Daddy
! Daddy! Daddy!”

I turned and my little boy grabbed me hard around the knees
. I bent down and scooped him up for a hug as my dad walked up behind him.

“How you doing, little man?” I laughed,
lifting the hat off his head and mussing his hair with my free hand.

“Pop-Pop and me just saw a man in a skirt,” he giggled.

“It’s called a kilt, Thad,” my dad smiled. “How was your flight, son?”

“Short, but I’m still real glad to be home,” I answered him, keeping an eye on the carousel for my suitcase.

“I’ll bet you are.”

Twenty
minutes later and we were in the car and headed to Downtown Las Vegas. My dad drove and Thaddeus, who had worn himself out from thirty minutes of non-stop chatter, now sat quietly in the back seat engrossed in a kid’s hand-held computer game. It had taken a year of hard work to get him to be comfortable in a car again. As I watched him, I felt the familiar jolt of utter amazement at how much my kid had progressed since we came to Vegas. It was the best thing I could’ve ever done for him. It was also the best thing I could’ve done for me, too.

“How are things at the shop?” I asked my father as he weaved in and out of traffic along the I-15.

“Busy. Not so much from tattoo work as with fielding calls from females looking to congratulate you for your success on that show,” he chuckled.

I rolled my eyes at him.

“How’s the new shop manager working out? I know Thaddeus likes her. I’ve never seen him so into someone so quickly before. I heard she’s been over for dinner a few times,” I arched an eyebrow in his direction teasingly. “Could it be that
you
like her a little bit too, Pops?”

My father gave a snort
. “I
do
like her. I like her very much, as it happens. But her position at the shop is just temporary. You can be the one to decide whether she stays or not.”

“Why is that
? You like her, but she’s another Lisa? Completely incompetent at the job? Why do I have to make the decision?”

“It’s your business as much as mine now, Thatcher
. You have a say in who we hire and fire now. She’s fully aware she’s only temporary – and hell, she might not want to stay even if we ask her to. She’s thinking about going to college.”

“Sounds a little young for you, Pops,” I laughed
. “But yeah, I’ll see how she does and if she’s good, maybe we can keep her on part-time after classes start.”

“If she stays in Vegas that is.”

“Damn, she sounds like a flake, Dad. You sure can pick ‘em.”

“Son, you have no idea.”

***

We parked the car in the small private lot around back that belonged to our building, and I took my small suitcase out of the trunk.

I was dumbfounded at how
not
clingy Thaddeus was right now. It was the first time we’d been apart for this length of time in years. While I knew it was a good thing – the kid had to grow up after all – I still couldn’t help but feel a little… less needed, maybe?

“Come on, Daddy,” he called back to me at the corner ahead
. “You’re walking too slow.”

I laughed at him and picked up my pace
. I might feel less needed, but seeing Thaddeus actually smiling warmed my heart.

“He’s been smiling a lot this past week,” my dad said, as if reading my mind
. “Just remember that when you get in there.”

“What do you mean,
Pops?” I queried.

But my dad was already opening the door for Thaddeus to run inside and didn’t answer.

I stepped into the shop behind him.

“Welcome back,
man!” Rufus called out from his station at the back where he was working on one of his regular clients.

“Long time no see,” Mo added from the couch
. He was obviously between clients and taking a lunch break. “How was boot camp?”

“Long and tiring,” I grimaced
. “It’s good to be back, I can tell you that. I’m going to run upstairs and dump this bag, then come back and catch up, okay?”

“Copy that.”

It took me less than a minute to run up the stairs. I was already on my way back down when I heard the sound of someone entering the shop. The voice that accompanied it rooted me to the spot.

“Okay then, café macchiato with extra caramel for you, Mo-Mo, and a turkey club, no mayo.”

“If I wasn’t already happily married with four kids, I’d snatch you up in a heartbeat, girl.”

“A simple ‘thank you’ would suffice,” the voice replied to Mo, laughing
. “Ruf, I got you a ham and cheese, no tomato, and an iced mocha.”

“Love you, beautiful,” Rufus called back.

“Can’t anyone in this place just say ‘thanks’?” She laughed again.

I heard the sound of the bathroom door opening, where my dad had obviously just taken Thaddeus
in to pee.

This was swiftly followed by a
delighted screech as my son ran the length of the shop towards the person who’d just come in.

“Thaddeus!” she cried out in surprise
. “You guys are back already?”

“Hey
, Heavy,” my father’s voice sounded affectionately from near the bathroom door.

“Oh my God
… you guys are back already,” she repeated, this time with panic in her voice.

I knew exactly who it was, but I had to see it to believe it
. I finished descending the stairs and stepped into view.

California Huntington
. California Huntington was in my shop. California Huntington was in my shop hugging my son. California Huntington was in my shop, hugging my son, and my dad had a nickname for her. My dad had a nickname for everyone… but for California Huntington? What the fuck was going on?

“Hi,” she waved nervously at me, from her crouched position, the other arm around Thaddeus who was hugging her tightly
. “Surprise?”

“Thatch,” my father said coming up behind me
. “Meet our new temp. I think you already know her name.”

Cali

He just stood there staring at me, not saying a word
. I didn’t know if it was a good thing, or a bad thing.

“Cali, Cali, Cali
…” Thaddeus interrupted my thoughts and, placing a hand either side of my head, turned my face away from his father and onto him. “I made something for you. Can you come upstairs so I can give it to you?”

Anything to get out from under that silent gaze bearing down on me now.

“I sure can, angel. Lead the way.”

Thaddeus wait
ed until I was standing upright again, then he took my hand and pulled me towards the stairs. I avoided eye contact with Thatch as we both walked past him.

I breathed a small sigh of relief as we entered the upstairs apartment
. That had so
not
gone as I imagined it would. I thought I had another hour or so to prepare. Seeing him so unexpectedly had thrown me for a loop.

Thaddeus led me into the kitchen where there were crayons and paper lying out on the table.

“This is for you,” he said proudly. He handed me a drawing he made that had four stick figures on it – all standing next to a messily colored in square of blue that I recognized to be a pool.

“This is me,” Thaddeus continued pointing at the shortest one in the row with
yellow crayon marking his blond hair. “This is Daddy. He has big muscles, see?”

“He certainly does, angel.”
The stick-figure of his dad was the tallest and there were circles drawn in for muscles.

“This is Pop-Pop.” He pointed to the figure next to the pool
. “And, this one on the end is you,” he smiled.

I was the one who got a triangle for a body and a lot of red-crayon
scribbles around my head.”

“Oh my goodness, Thaddeus, it’s absolutely amazing
. I love it! Thank you so much, angel. I’m going to put it on my fridge when I get home.”

Thaddeus beamed
. Then he looked behind me and his smile got even wider.

“Look
, Daddy! I drew this for Cali!”

Thatch was standing in the doorway to the kitchen watching us.

“I can see that, little man. You did a really good job. Now, why don’t you head downstairs and see Pop-pop for a bit while I talk to California. Okay?”

“Okay, Daddy.”
As he got off his chair to head out, Thaddeus turned and whispered to me. “It wasn’t me that told him your real name, Cali.” He looked concerned.

Not as concerned as I was feeling inside right now at the thought of being left alone with Thatch.

“I know you didn’t, baby. He already knew it from before. It’s all good.” I gave him a wink that made him giggle.

“Don’t forget to ask him ab
out the pool,” he whispered again as he left the room.

Thatch and I locked eyes as soon as we were alone.

The silence was so heavy I could almost feel it coating my skin.

If I’d had any doubts about the sparks I felt between us back at the hotel when I was high, they were gone now.
The doubts that is. The sparks were definitely still there. At least from my end. I broke the eye connection just so I could take in everything – every gorgeous part – of the man standing before me now.

Low slung jeans, form-fitting black T-shirt, combat boots, all covering the body of an Adonis – slim, but toned
. My eyes devoured him from head to toe, as if it were the last time I was ever going to see him in person. Because it actually might be. Stone-faced as he was now, I couldn’t get a hard read on him at all.

“Well
, are you going to say something?” he finally asked. “Or are you just going to sit there and eye-fuck me all day?”

I stood up and leaned my ass back against the table
. I looked him straight in the eye.

God
, he had the most mesmerizing eyes. I’d
love
to do a couple of laps in those pools.

“I don’t know where to start
…” I stammered. Damn, I sure needed my former drug-fueled confidence right about now.

“How about you start with how you’ve somehow managed to worm your way into my personal life while I was out of town
. How you’ve endeared yourself to, not only my father, but my five-year-old son, too. How you’re somehow working as a receptionist for my tattoo shop. Or, maybe let’s just start with why the fuck you’re in Vegas at all.”

Okay, so he was mad then.

“It happened accidentally.”

“You accidentally came to Vegas?”

“No,” I snapped, my defenses rising as I matched his tone. “It’s an accident that I’m working in your shop. I’m just helping out. I never meant to fall in love with your kid and your dad. It just happened.”

Thatch moved towards me suddenly
. I could feel the waves of heated anger flowing from him as he stopped inches from my body.

“Are you fucking him?”
His voice was low and his tone hushed and laden with barely disguised rage.

Wait…
what?

“What?”
My head was spinning as I tried to understand his question.

“I said
– are you fucking my father? I won’t have drugs in this house or around my son, do you understand?”

“Wait a minute
. You think I’m sleeping with Bellamy?” I asked incredulously. “You think that little of me to assume I would do something like that after what happened between us?” I pushed him away from me, my misplaced confidence found and back with bells on.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, Thatch Reston
? Accusing me of something like that! I’ll have you know that your father is standing in as my sponsor while I’m in Vegas. He’s been taking me with him to his AA meetings and honestly, I don’t know what I would’ve done without him this last week. So fuck you!” I turned away from him and stormed towards the door.

I felt him come up behind me and strong arms grabbed me by my waist and spun me around to face him again.

I instinctively slapped his face, struggling wildly to break free from his grasp. He didn’t even blink as he pinned me against the wall using his body, and taking control of my flailing limbs easily. He caught hold of my wrists and held them up high above my head. With my chest heaving from the short but energetic exertion, I had nowhere else to look except directly into his dark eyes.