Once Written, Twice Shy (The Broken Men Chronicles) (4 page)

“Damn that’s cold,” she said shivering with her
lips gaining a blue tint.

“A white t-shirt would have made this whole
experience that much better,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows.

She snagged the hose from me, smirked and said,
“Oh, it’s about to get better alright.”   Taking aim at me, she fired.

She soaked me good and proper as I used my t-shirt
to scrub as much of the mud off as I could.  I grabbed a few towels from the
house, left a note letting my parents know what had happened to the ATV and we
headed home.  I’d have to go back with the old man at some later time and get it
out.

***

In an attempt to avoid the debacle of what was
last night’s dinner, I made Alissa sit at the kitchen island while I cooked.

The dishwasher handled the aftermath as we made
our way to the living room.

She walked up to the built-in library and grabbed
the frame that held a photo of Jasper and I.

“He looks so much like you.”  She graced me with a
sweet smile and I could have sworn I had seen a look of longing cross her face
but as quick as it had appeared, it vanished.

She put the frame back where it had been and I
found myself envisioning a day where Jasper and her would meet and wondered if
he would like her.  Almost immediately, I was convinced that he would. 
However, my son getting used to her would take time as it had with Julie’s man.

“Uh oh, you’ve got that pensive look again. 
What’s on your mind?” she asked as she sat down beside me.

Before I had the chance to answer, there was a
knock at the door.  “Hold that thought,” I said and got up to see who could be
calling on me.  I hadn’t the faintest idea nor did I expect to find the person
that stood there before me.

I drew my front door inward and cursed when I saw
her—Julie.

She pushed past me.  “Can I come in?”

Do I really have a choice?

Panic set in.  I didn’t know what to expect when
Julie noticed Alissa’s presence in my house.  I turned to do some damage
control and noticed that Alissa wasn’t in the room.  A slight shuffling noise
from the kitchen told me that that’s where she was.

I huffed and ran my hands through my hair.  Her
visit was the last thing that I needed.  “What are you doing here, Julie?”

Within seconds, tiny arms tangled themselves
around my legs.  “Daddy!” Jasper cheered.

I bent down and picked him up for a big hug and
said, “Hey, buddy.”  I turned to Julie.  “What’s going on?”

She never showed up unannounced.  Since she’d left
me, the extent of our interactions had been while exchanging our son or over
the phone.  It sounds bad, I know—
exchange
.  In essence, that’s what it
was.

Somewhere between
trades
, we’d manage to
discuss everything pertaining to our son with the very few occasions where we’d—meaning
I
—discussed our pending divorce.  The times when I’d bring up the topic had
always led to countless excuses, from losing the papers, to forgetting them,
which meant no resolution.  Needless to say, I was still a married man and
slowly losing my battle at remaining sane where she was concerned.

“Can you give Mommy and me a minute, champ?” I asked
and set him down.

“Okay, Daddy.  I’ll go get me a juice,” he said
before running off.

“You know where they are.”  And then I realized
that I had inadvertently caused a meeting that I now hoped wouldn’t blow up in
my face.

I waited, willing Julie for a response to my
earlier question but all I got was a sniffle and then I noticed her eyes.  They
were bloodshot.  “We need to talk,” she said.

My mind gravitated toward the worst.  “Julie,
what’s going on?”  She couldn’t answer me fast enough and after several
seconds, I pushed.  “Julie!”

“I’m pregnant.”

I heard the crash of broken glass which caused my
head to snap in the sound’s direction. 
Shit!
  Alissa stood in the
kitchen’s entrance, looking pale.  Jasper was there holding her hand, looking
down at the mess.

My son tugged on Alissa’s hand and handed her his
juice box when she looked at him.  “I know where the broom is, Allie.  I’ll go
get it,” he said and rushed off.

I stepped toward her when Jasper was well out of
earshot.  “Alissa,” I said but the shake of her head told me she didn’t want me
near her and I halted all forward progress.  “It’s not-”

“Who’s this?” Julie nodded in Alissa’s direction. 
“You freaked out about Todd but you have a slut?”

“Excuse me?” Alissa said from her crouched down
position as she had started to gather up the larger pieces of glass.

My eyes bugged out of my head when Jasper returned
and was handing the tools over to Alissa.  I couldn’t let the kid bear witness
to this fiasco of a first meeting.

“Jasper, go to Daddy’s room, please,” I said.  He
smiled up at his new friend whose face had regained its coloring but showed a strained
smile directed at my little guy.  He grabbed his juice box from the side table
and ran off.

I reared on my son’s mother and said, “I hope that
you didn’t drop by just to grace me with that news.  We both know the kid isn’t
mine since I haven’t touched you since before you left me.  Now, get out!”

“But-”

“You know your way out unless there’s more,” I said.
 “And Julie, I don’t want to hear from you unless it concerns our son or those
divorce papers.  If you’re looking for sympathy, you’re knocking on the wrong
door.”

“Who is she?”

“I-” Alissa began.

I held my hand up to cut her off.  “It’s none of
your concern, Julie.  As for-”

Alissa came up beside me, grasped my hand and
said, “I’m his girlfriend.”

I looked over at her with a dropped jaw and she
offered me a small yet strained smile much like she had to Jasper but the small
gesture told me that she believed what I had said.

“Right,” Julie said skeptically and I caught the
tail end of an eye roll when my gaze returned to her, “the guy couldn’t keep me
satisfied, I doubt that you’re anything more than a-”

“A slut?” Alissa’s lips formed a thin line.  If
she were a cat, I would have been able to see those hackles of hers rise.

I knew that Julie’s poor choice in words not to
mention awful manners had rubbed her the wrong way.  How couldn’t they?  If the
woman was
cruisin’ for a bruisin’
, Alissa struck me as more than capable
of holding her own.  Call me crazy but the thought of seeing her in a cat
fight, defending my honor kind of turned me on.

Not the time, Paxton,
I reminded myself and
tried to focus.

“That’s right,” Julie said and crossed her arms at
her chest.

I felt the tremor of anger shake my body and knew
that Alissa had felt it just by the squeeze on my hand.

I eyed daggers at my ex.  “I’ve heard enough,” I
said.  “Where the hell do you get off…hell, you don’t even know her, Julie.  I
shouldn’t have to explain myself to you since you didn’t give me the courtesy
of being informed while you were out gallivanting with multiple others.”

“
Three
,” Julie said, “there were three, including
Todd so don’t make me out to be the village whore.”

“You certainly weren’t Mother Theresa.  Let me
make my point clear.”  I took a deep breath to make sure I didn’t say anything
I’d live to regret later.  “Alissa is not a slut nor do I sleep around.  I
suggest you get the hell out of my house and go find your boy toy.  Your
pregnancy problems are yours, not mine.”  I geared to end my rant.  “How about
you tell me why you’ve brought our son into this.  It’s clear enough that it
wasn’t to deliver your baby news.”

She took the backpack I had failed to notice and
set it beside the coffee table.  “I’m going away on business.  It’s a last
minute thing and Todd’s busy with work.  I need you to look after him,” she said. 
“I should be back by tomorrow night.”

“Next time, you might want to call ahead.  Jasper!” 
I heard his miniature feet stomping as he came barrelling downstairs and
latched on to my free hand.  “Time to say goodbye to Mommy,” I said, my icy
gaze meeting Julie’s, “she’s leaving.”

With a chaste kiss to his forehead, she stood
erect and eyed Alissa with utmost disgust.  Snorting her disapproval, the woman
spun on her heel and stomped out the door, slamming it.  I swallowed the foul
taste in my mouth.

Damn her.

Walking to the door, I turned the deadbolt to lock
it.  I was baffled at her intrusion and insulted for her callous behavior and
far from warranted comments toward Alissa.  Leaning forward on the door, I shook
my head in frustration.  I hadn’t expected both women to meet so soon and
definitely not in the manner it had happened.

What’s done is done.

I heard some hushed whispers before a tiny set of
arms wrapped themselves around my legs.  Whatever frustration that lingered,
most of it melted away in that instant.  I turned and picked my son up,
ruffling his hair with my free hand and giving him a wide grin.  I wanted to
talk to Alissa about what had transpired and I worried that her evening—our
day—had been ruined but all she gave me was a genuine warm smile and I knew
right then that it would all be okay somehow.

“I see you’ve met Alissa, huh?”

“Yup,” he said.  “Daddy, can we watch a movie
before bedtime?  It was Allie’s idea.”

“What do you think,
Daddy
, can we watch a
movie?” Alissa asked with a teasing smirk.

My lips quirked up at her and when Jasper grabbed
my face in his hands for my undivided attention, I nodded.  “Go change into
your jammies while Allie and I set everything up,” I said and handed him his
bag.

“Yay!”

***

I left Alissa and Jasper to watch the movie in my
room while I got the pull-out couch ready for my son.

I had brought us a small plate of cookies and three
glasses of milk when I finished, and joined them.  Alissa looked like she was
having about as much fun as Jasper was what with the giggling I had heard.

When the movie ended, I turned to find Jasper
sound asleep with his head on Alissa’s lap and her fingers playing with his
hair.

“You look like you’re enjoying that,” I said.  She
grinned and nodded.  I picked him up and turned to face her.  “Let me get him
settled then we can talk.”

I brought him downstairs where his bed lay ready, set
him down and pulled the blankets up to his chin, grabbing the stuffed puppy my
mother had given him the day he was born.  It was the only thing he could never
part with and my heart clenched as he clutched it to his chest.

“Night night, Daddy,” he said in his sleepy little
voice.

I bent down, kissed his forehead.  “Goodnight,
son.”

I returned to my room to find Alissa still sitting
in the same spot I had left her in, with the TV turned off.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

She shook her head.  “Don’t,” she said.  “Don’t do
that.”

“
Don’t do
what?”  I stood at the side of
the bed and watched her face.

“Don’t apologize for being you.  You’re a dad and
you have obligations, routines, all sorts of special things you do with
Jasper.”

“It’s not that,” I sat down next to her, pulling
her into my side for a cuddle.

She lifted her head off my shoulder and looked at
me.  “I really don’t mind, Jasper’s a fun kid,” she said and laughed at my
are
you for real
expression.  “Why so shocked?  I love kids.”

“It’s just the fact that this was so spur of the
moment.  I never planned on having you two meet this way or for Julie to have
said those things to you,” I said.

“I’m fine.  I’m a big girl, Paxton,” she said.  “So…what
to do tomorrow, Daddy?”  I laughed but didn’t give her an answer.  “I have an
idea,” she said before I could come up with anything.

“Really.”  I turned my body to face her.  “Do tell.”

Her eyes shone with excitement.  “I say we let
Jasper decide what we do,” she said as I nuzzled the side of her neck then
kissed it.

She straddled my lap, my hands rubbed over her
bare legs as our eyes connected.

I captured her lips in a chaste kiss.  “You don’t
know what you’re in for, Allie.”

She giggled.  “He’s a three-year-old, not a group
of monsters.  And about Julie...”

“What about her?” I asked.

“Let her talk.  It doesn’t mean I’ll listen.”

I smiled and pulled her in for a kiss.  “You’ve
got it, babe.”

***

We were in the middle of a nice make out session
but as I got
handy
, Alissa pulled away, her breathing heavy.  She
blushed.  “I don’t think I can do it with your son in the other room.”

I grabbed her face and gave her a soft peck.  “I
understand.”

We got ready for bed.

My lips found the skin on the back of her shoulder
as we said goodnight in the spooning position.  I smiled when I felt her shiver
of delight against my bare chest.  I did it again.  She whimpered.

I trailed my fingers down the side of her arm.  “I
love the feel of your skin,” I whispered against the back of her neck.  I
groaned with her act of retaliation which was in the form of thrusting her butt
into my crotch.  Her shoulders shook with silent laughs.  “Let’s get one thing
straight, I have no problems taking you with my son in the house.”

She rolled onto her back and I kissed her before
nipping at her bottom lip.  She let out a soft moan.  I nestled myself between
her legs and kissed her harder, wrapping her legs around my waist.

“Pax,” she said against my lips.

I kissed her quick and backed off.  “I know,
sweetie, can’t blame a guy for tryin’.  I just needed a little more to hold me
over.”  I winked at her and rolled onto my back, pulling a snickering Alissa
with me to cradle her head into the crook of my neck.  “Goodnight, gorgeous.”

“Sweet dreams, handsome.”