Ripe: A Stepbrother Pregnancy Romance (6 page)

The scenario had played out in Elise’s head at least a dozen times over the year, and it was always exactly the same. She would pass Jesse in a crowd of people, he’d do a double take, and then they’d continue going their separate ways as if they'd never seen each other at all.

This was nothing like that.

Elise's eyes darted up to her rearview mirror as she sought out a way to avoid Jesse’s vehicle. When she found no viable out, she stepped onto the concrete and faced him with a scalding look of distaste.

“Elise,” Jesse said, taking a hesitant step towards her.

He hadn’t expected to find her here, but by the time he pulled into the driveway he was sure she'd seen him and he wasn't going to make matters any worse by peeling off like some kind of pussy.

“I just…uh…is Deanna here?” Jesse managed.

Smooth.

Deanna walked out of the house at the sound of her name. When saw Jesse standing in her driveway, she gripped the door and looked over at Elise.

“I thought you said he didn’t come here,” Elise said, narrowing her eyes at her friend.

“He hasn’t.” Deanna turned to Jesse. “At least...he’s never been
invited
.”

Sensing that something was wrong, Isaiah began to pound his small fists against the window in order to get his mother’s attention. When Elise finally opened his door, he pouted and announced that he wanted to go home.

“I need you to move your car,” Elise demanded, directing her words at Jesse without looking at him.

Jesse hesitated and looked up at Deanna for help, but it was obvious that there was no way she was about to intercept Elise to come to his rescue.

“Elise. I just…”

“Are you here to tell me you’re dying?”

“No.”

“Do you have some kind of incurable STD?”

“Elise.” Jesse sighed and held up his hands. “Look I didn’t come here to give you a hard time okay? I just wanted to see—”

“We don’t need
or
want
anything from you.”

Jesse didn’t say anything and Elise immediately turned her attention to his car. It was expensive looking, and her rusted out Toyota paled in comparison.

“Deanna,” Elise managed, feeling dizzy as her past hit her like a brick to the face. “I don't feel very—”

The last thing Elise remembered before it all faded into black was Jesse eyes—an all too familiar flash of blue as he leapt forward to catch her in mid-fall. Within seconds, she was out like the lights.

Chapter Ten

A thick fog weighted Elise down as she began to slowly regain consciousness, and a pounding headache kept her from sitting up too quickly. She squinted, rubbing her eyes as her surroundings came into focus. She recognized the couch she was lying on as Deanna’s and heard a door click shut somewhere in the distance.

Elise jumped when a damp towel was draped over her forehead. When she looked up, she saw that Deanna was lingering above her.

“Easy,” Deanna said, rubbing her friend’s shoulder. “You fainted.”

Elise pressed the towel over her eyes as the whole thing came flooding back to her. “Where’s Isaiah?” she questioned, tossing it aside as she searched the room for him.

“He’s in the backyard. I told him you were resting.”

“What about—”

“He’s not here,” Deanna interrupted. She already knew what Elise was about to ask.

“How long was I out?”

“About five minutes,” Deanna explained. “But you should probably go see a doctor. You might have a concussion. “

“I’m fine.” Elise sat up and waved a hand in the air. “I’m just exhausted, that’s all.”

Deanna nodded, but deep down she couldn’t help but wonder how the mere sight of Jesse was enough to make her friend faint. “Why don’t you and Isaiah stay here tonight?” she suggested. “I’ll keep an eye on him and you can take it easy. Besides, you really shouldn’t be driving in your condition.”

“Like I said, I’m fine.” Elise started to stand up, but Deanna placed a hand on her arm to stop her.

“Elise, I’m sorry, alright? I didn’t mean to betray your trust. I just didn’t know what to do about Jesse.”

“I know,” Elise said, exhaling a deep breath. “I don’t blame you. He’s convincing…I’ll give him that. I guess I just went into panic mode when he showed up here. I hate to admit it, but you might’ve had a point the other day. What if he tried to get custody of Isaiah? I mean…did you see that car he was driving? He must make at least ten times what I—”

“Elise, come on,” Deanna interrupted, squeezing her friend’s hand in an attempt at getting her to slow down. “They’re not going to just hand Isaiah over to him because he has money. Not after he abandoned the two of you.”

“Yeah, but what about visitation? Weekends? What if he were to file for joint custody? Oh god. I wouldn’t be able to handle that…”

“Don’t do this to yourself,” Deanna insisted. She was feeling increasingly worse about ever giving Jesse the time of day. If she hadn’t, they wouldn’t be having this discussion right now. “None of that’s going to happen, and you know why? Because you’re an amazing mother, and at the end of the day, he’s still just the guy that left.”

Deanna held out Jesse’s contact information to Elise. “But if you’re really worried…call him. At least see what he has to say. Like I said, it might end up working out better than you think.”

Chapter Eleven

Elise pretended to forget about her encounter with Jesse, but as soon as she told herself that she was over it, a nagging voice in the back of her head reminded her that it just wasn’t so.

Not wanting to do something she’d later regret, Elise threw herself into her work, but she realized right away that something was amiss. When she walked into the firm on Friday morning, there were a group of attorneys she didn’t recognize walking around and checking out the building, and all of her managers from corporate were huddled together talking in low voices.

Elise settled into her desk and looked over at her co-worker, Andrea, who sat in the cubicle across from hers. “What’s going on?” she questioned.

“No one knows for sure,” Andrea answered in a hushed tone. “But I
did
overhear some of the bigwigs upstairs talking about a merger in light of the recent success with the Leukemia case.”

Elise’s heart raced. This was the last thing she needed right now. “Oh god,” she said. “Are we going to lose our jobs?”

Andrea shrugged. “I have no idea, but you know how these things usually go for plebeians like us…”

“Well have you asked anyone?” Elise pressed. “What about Robert?” she asked, referring to their supervisor. “Maybe he knows something.”

“No way. They’re all super on edge, can’t you tell? Robert didn’t even make a joke about my tits when he came in this morning. Trust me, none of them are in the mood to answer our questions.”

A lump of fear formed in the pit of Elise’s throat. Of course this was happening now. Why wouldn’t it? She always did have the worst luck. Isaiah was going to be starting first grade in the fall, and he’d need school supplies, and winter clothes, and a slew of other things she already couldn’t afford. If she lost this job there would be no safety net for her to fall back on. She had no idea how they would survive without going on welfare, and the mere idea of that made her cringe.

When Elise went to retrieve Isaiah after work, Deanna noticed right away that something was wrong. “You okay?” she questioned. “You look a little…green around the gills. You
did
go in to make sure you didn’t have a concussion, right?”

“It’s not that,” Elise said, waving a hand in the air. “Something’s up at work, that’s all. I don’t really know all the details just yet but they might be consolidating and laying a bunch of people off.”

Deanna started to hammer her with questions, but Elise wasn’t in the mood. The ride home was a blur and she tried her best to think rationally. Was Jesse showing up after all these years and the fact that she was on the verge of losing the job his father had bribed her with a coincidence?  Did he know that she was financially unstable? Was he going to use it as bait to take Isaiah away from her?

Elise looked up at Isaiah in her rearview mirror. When he saw her looking at him, he gave her the most carefree smile and the gesture immediately choked her up. It took everything in her power to hide her tears from him for the rest of the ride home.

The stretch of time between dinner and Isaiah’s bedtime seemed to go on for an eternity. Elise tried her hardest not to seem distracted as she played Legos with him, bathed him, and read him his favorite book. When he was finally asleep, she walked into her bedroom and pulled Jesse’s business card from her purse. After a series of longwinded pep talks, she finally mustered up the courage to dial the number on it.

“Hello?” Jesse answered in a raspy tone, not sounding at all like himself.

“Jesse?” Elise questioned, thinking that she might have dialed the wrong number. Either that or he was extremely hung over.

“Elise?”

Elise nodded, remembering to speak only when it occurred to her that he couldn’t see her. “Sorry,” she managed. “You sound like you were sleeping. Did I call too late?”

“No, you’re fine,” Jesse said, not bothering to mask the sudden eagerness in his tone. “Sorry I sound so shitty. I’m a little under the weather.”

Elise wasn’t so sure she believed that. “Oh, well, I’m sorry to hear that…” she began, but she didn’t want to sound like she was interested in making small talk. That wasn’t why she called him. Her only mission was to find out just what it was that he had up his sleeve.

“Jesse, what are you doing here?” Elise questioned, getting right to the point.

“I just want to see Isaiah.”

“Yeah well…you shouldn’t have involved Deanna. That wasn’t right. If you wanted to see him, you should have come to me directly.”

“Oh really?” Jesse pressed. “So you’re saying that if I had come to you first, you would have let me see him? Just like that?”

“I…I don’t know.”

“Exactly,” Jesse said. “Look…I just wanted to see him, Elise. That’s not such a crime is it?”

“Why?”

“Uh…because he’s my son?”

“Yeah, well, he’s been your son for seven years. Why bother showing face now?”

“I couldn’t find you, that’s why.”

“Bullshit, Jesse.” Elise exhaled a deep sigh and rubbed her temples. “You don’t need to lie.”

“I’m not lying. I’ve been looking for you for years. I tried everything I could think of, including moving back to Maryland.”

“So your sudden reappearance in my life has nothing to do with the fact that I’m about to lose my job at Stone?”

Jesse was quiet for a long awhile. It was obvious that Elise had caught him red handed. “That’s not the only reason,” he admitted.

“Oh my god.” Elise clenched her jaw and shook her head. “I knew it. I just knew you had something to do with this. God, you’re such a liar! You even managed to have Deanna fooled!”

“Now wait a minute,” Jesse interrupted. “I’m not lying to you, Elise. The only reason I volunteered to head this branch is because I saw your name on the employee ledger.”

“What do you want out of this, Jesse?” Elise chided in. “The truth, this time.”