Ripe: A Stepbrother Pregnancy Romance (9 page)

“This seat taken?”

Deanna was jolted away from her thoughts by a deep voice. When she looked up and saw Jesse hovering over her, she narrowed her eyes, feeling her distaste for him bubble to the surface. He had a lot of nerve showing up here.

“Actually, it is,” Deanna said, moving her bag so that he couldn’t sit down. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Come on. Don’t be like that. It’s a big beach. It’s not like you have any control over who comes here.”

“True,” Deanna countered, refusing to meet his gaze. “But you don’t need to sit here. Like you said—it’s a big beach. Find somewhere else to plant your ass.”

Jesse smirked and ignored her, moving her bag aside to take a seat despite her protests. “I see Elise talked to you.”

“You have a lot of nerve,” Deanna hissed, keeping her voice low so as not to catch Isaiah’s attention. “And you’re a fool if you think you’ve got even a chance in hell of taking Isaiah away from her.”

“What?” Jesse frowned and shook his head. “What are you talking about? I’m not trying to take him away from her. That’s ridiculous. All I want is the chance to get to know him.”

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter. That’s what Elise thinks you’re after, and I’m a whole lot more inclined to believe her than I am you.”

“I know she thinks that,” Jesse admitted, looking more than a little guilty. “But I can’t tell her that’s not my intention. It’s the only way she’ll cooperate and you know it.”

Deanna couldn’t fight him on that point. “Still,” she said. “There are better ways to go about it.”

“Oh really?” Jesse questioned. “Like what? Because trust me, I’m open to suggestions. Look, Deanna, no disrespect, but I know Elise pretty well. Right now she’s pissed at me, and she’s hell bent on making me pay for what I did to her. She’s not going to back down without a fight. It isn’t who she is.”

“Well, can you really blame her? I mean, look what you’re doing here. You show up out of the blue making all these demands, and then you expect her to just let bygones be bygones? That isn’t how the world works, Jesse. And what’s this about your involvement with her job? She’s no fool, you know. She knows you know something you’re not telling her.”

“I’m not at liberty to tell you anything about that,” Jesse said. “I’m sorry, but it’s confidential.”

“I don’t care how ‘confidential’ it is. What are you up to? You might as well tell me, because I’m going to find out anyway, and Elise is too. If it’s bad, she’s just going to hate you even more. Is that really what you want?”

“I’m not ‘up’ to anything!” Jesse sighed in exasperation. “Jesus, why is it so hard for you and Elise to believe that all I want is a relationship with my son?”

“Fine. So you wouldn’t mind answering a few questions for me, then, would you?”

“As long as they don’t have anything to do with my job, I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

“Fine,” Deanna said, agreeing to his terms. “Why didn’t you ever come back for Elise at the end of that summer the way you said you would? Her parents had completely turned their backs on her. The only person she had was you, and you just took off like it was nothing. How could you be so cruel?”

The expression on Jesse’s face made it clear that he knew the question was coming. “I was scared,” he admitted after awhile, studying his hands. “I don’t have a good excuse for my actions. I wish I did, but I don’t. I was running away from my responsibilities, and my father was all too willing to help me run.”

“Why?” Deanna questioned. “He didn’t like Elise?”

It seemed impossible. Everyone who met Elise loved her.

“Well, she
was
my stepsister,” Jesse said. “When he found out I’d gotten her pregnant, he was livid. He filled my head with all these bullshit stories about how ‘girls like her’ like to try and trap ‘guys like me’.”

“And you believed him?” Deanna was visibly disgusted. “That’s a load of misogynistic bullshit if I’ve ever heard it. You were just as much at fault as she was. You knew how a baby was made. Every guy does. No one forced you to lay down and do the deed.”

“I never said I believed any of it,” Jesse interrupted. “I didn’t, but it doesn’t matter because I stayed. He offered me an excuse to bum out and I took it. By the time I finally got my head on straight and left, she was long gone and I was completely alone. It fucked me up. I felt like the biggest jackass on earth. When I couldn’t find her, I started hanging around with these lowlifes I knew in high school, and it wasn’t long before I got myself into trouble…”

“What kind of trouble?”

“I…I’m not proud of this, alright? But I dabbled in selling pharmaceuticals for a while in order to make ends meet. Uppers mostly. I don’t have a good excuse as to why. I was just an idiot. Both my parents had cut me off, and I had this crazy idea that if I made a little money, I’d be able to magically track Elise down and support her and our son. That didn’t happen, obviously. I got busted, and I ended up doing time.”

“Jesus.” Deanna exhaled a deep breath. “I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume Elise doesn’t know about any of this?”

Jesse shook his head. “I can’t tell her.”

“Why not?” Deanna questioned. “I mean, she’d probably be a whole lot more understanding if she knew, don’t you think?”

“I’m too ashamed of that period of my life. I don’t want her to think that’s still the kind of man that I am. I mean, how much worse could I look? First I got my stepsister pregnant, then I ran off, then I got locked up for distributing. I was so depressed that I started using myself while I was in there. I was a mess. Elise deserved better than that.”

“Wait, you started using while you were in jail?”

“Oh yeah.” Jesse laughed at the irony of it all. “That’s not to say I didn’t get caught though. Every time I did, they’d throw me into detox and extend my sentence by a couple months. It wasn’t until the third or fourth time that I finally learned my lesson.”

Deanna had to keep reminding herself that Jesse had brought all of this on himself in order to keep from feeling sorry for him.

“Anyway…by the time I finally got out, I was clean and determined to make something of myself. When my pops died in 09’, I inherited his firm and all of his assets, and I put all of my energy into looking for Elise. Her parents still weren’t willing to help though. They already didn’t like me, but they when they found out about the trouble I got in, then they really refused to tell me anything. I didn’t even know Isaiah’s name until I got to talking with one of her friend’s from high school.”

“So you just dropped it?”

“No, I kept looking, but I didn’t make any leeway until I found out that she worked at my father’s firm here. It’s like she fell right into my lap. Then I found out that the only reason he gave her the job was under the condition that she didn’t come looking for me, and it pissed me off in a way nothing has since.”

Deanna was quiet as she thought it over. From Jesse’s story, she was able to gather that he’d learned the hard way what was really important in life, and that he was now willing to go to any lengths to right his wrongs.

It was just a pity that he’d never get the chance.

Chapter Sixteen

Elise stared down at her cell phone as Isaiah played at her feet. Today was one of her rare days off, and she was enjoying being able to spend the extra time with him.

“I can’t handle this right now,” she said out loud, shoving her cell phone back inside her purse.

“Handle what mommy?” Isaiah questioned.

“Nothing honey,” Elise answered, rubbing his head. “Mommy is just thinking out loud, that’s all.”

Isaiah turned his attention back to his action figures. “I decided that I want to have a Superman cake at my birthday party,” he announced after awhile. “Can I?”

Elise was only half-heartedly listening to him. “Sure,” she said.

“And can I invite Ava from the beach?”

Elise smirked at the reminder of her son’s latest crush. “Sure you can.”

“What about Michael?”

“Of course.”

“And Jesse?”

“Sure,” Elise muttered. When it occurred to her just what Isaiah had said, she was quick to inquire further. “Sorry, what was that buddy?”

“I was just talking about my birthday party.”

“What about it?”

Isaiah looked up at his mother and shrugged. “Nothing,” he said, giving her a sly smile.

Elise sighed and turned her attention back to the painstaking task that awaited her. Deanna had informed her of Jesse’s whirlwind tale of what he’d been through during his absence, and there was really only one surefire way for her to confirm whether or not he was telling the truth.

“Can we go to the beach?” Isaiah questioned, interrupting Elise’s train of though. “
Pleaaase?
I wanna go to the spot where Aunt Deanna takes me! That’s where all my friends are!”

Elise groaned inwardly. Of course the spot Isaiah was referring to just
had
to be clear across town. She didn’t feel like driving all the way over there just so he could run around in the water for a few minutes before getting bored, but she also felt guilty. There weren’t that many children for him to play with in their apartment complex, and if it weren’t for Deanna and the consistent outings that she took him on, he most likely wouldn’t have any friends at all.

“Okay,” Elise said, giving in. “And you can invite all your friends to your birthday party while we’re there. How does that sound?”

“YES!” Isaiah exclaimed, tearing down the hall to retrieve his swim trunks from his room.

The beach was more crowded than usual when they arrived. Elise looked around for a place to sit and eventually found a spot on an empty patch of sand near the boardwalk. It brought her right back to all the summers she spent with Jesse, and she had to force herself not to stare at it.

“Hi, Elise!” An attractive woman spoke up, coming towards her with an outstretched hand. “You probably don’t remember me, but I’m Ava’s mother, Jessica. We met earlier in the year, during student teacher conferences.”

“Oh, right, of course!” Elise smiled despite the fact that she only vaguely remembered the woman. “How are you?”

“I’m good, thanks. I gotta tell you, my Ava never stops talking about Isaiah. She absolutely adores him. It’s pretty adorable.”

“Well I can assure you, the feeling is mutual. In fact, I was just talking to Isaiah about his birthday party. We’d love if Ava could come. It’s in a couple weeks. I could send you an invitation if you’d like.”

“Of course! We wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Jessica pointed to a spot in the sand where a group of women were gathered with young children in their arms who were too young to play in the water. “Come on, why don’t you come sit with us?”

Elise hesitated before standing up and following her.

“Hi, I’m Maria,” one of the other mothers said, extending her hand. “You must be Isaiah’s mother. I don’t think we’ve ever met, but I do see him here a lot with another woman…”

The question tapered off into a silent assumption, and Elise immediately found herself feeling too vulnerable for her liking. She had nothing in common with these women. They had all the time and attention in the world to give to their children, and she couldn’t help but feel as though Isaiah was somehow getting shortchanged.

“Yes, I’m his mother,” Elise finally spoke up, pulling herself away from her thoughts. “That woman you’re referring to is my best friend, Deanna. She was a childhood development major in college. She watches him while I’m at work.”

“God, I wish I had a job!” Maria announced with an irritating laugh. “Most days I feel like my brain is turning into the high-carb mush my kids are always begging for.”

“I know exactly how you feel,” one of the other women spoke up. “I never thought I’d end up a stay-at-home mother, but when my catering business went under, I just didn’t have the time or energy to revive it.”

“Well, at least your husband is a lawyer. Mine is a carpenter, a
self-employed
carpenter. If it weren’t for the outrageous cost of daycare out here, I’d have gotten a job yesterday.”