When You Make It Home (23 page)

Dad talked about the structure of The Tavern, and lunch was served. I absentmindedly sipped on my Sprite-tini and kept one hand on Theo’s thigh. Just as we were leaving, Hazel pointed at my plate. There were six little plastic swords scattered on it. “I thought you might like those olives,” she said with a gleam in her eye.

I looked at her questioningly.

“I have a way of diagnosing cravings,” Hazel said, reminding me that she called herself the Mistress of Mystery for a reason. “Oh, and I knew you were having a girl because you’re carrying that baby so high.”

“Hazel, we work in a bookstore. Let’s not get carried away with old wives’ tales.”

“Never mind, back to work.” She grabbed her big purse and made a direct path to the door.

“What was that about?” I asked Dad.

He shrugged. “Ask her.”

Theo blocked me in my office the minute we got back from lunch.

“What’s on your mind?”

“What do you mean? I’m happy.” Even I heard the unsaid
but
…

“Let it out. There’s something rolling around up there, knocking up against you.”

“I called Jason.”

Theo’s face got tight. “And?”

“He thanked me for letting him know.”

“That’s it?” he growled. “Why did you bother calling him?”

“Because he’s the father,” I said too quickly, and regretted my defensiveness. “Jason should know. I told him because that’s the right thing to do.”

“Don’t talk about that guy and rightness in the same sentence. He’s an ass for missing one minute of this with you. He hasn’t checked in with you at all, has he?”

“No, and I wish he cared,
for her sake
.”

Theo pulled me to him. As he hugged me, his hand drifted to my belly. “This little girl will have everything she’ll ever need without him.”

“Will you be home when I get back?”

“Yeah, Cortez is going to stop by so we can finish up her room. Would you like to see the results tonight?”

“Yes!”

“We’ll make tonight a night to remember,” he promised, with a goodbye kiss.

Chapter Twenty

T
hat night I came home to find Theo and Cortez watching TV.

“You guys watch
Brooke and Bella
?” I asked when I recognized the reality show about two beautiful rich girls that go off to college, drop out, and end up in a halfway house battling addiction. At least that was the original premise of the show, but then Brooke got pregnant in rehab, and shortly after that, Bella did too. The show took off and became a megahit, with the draw of the grisliest train wreck. Millions of viewers tuned in each week as the girls’ lives unraveled.

“We’re hosting a book signing for them soon. Probably will be one of our biggest events this year.”

Theo shot me a look. “Those dimwits wrote a book?”

“They had a ghost writer. Their management team had the idea they could put out self-help books, and the first one was an instant best seller. And actually, they have a second book coming out.”

“Self-help? Seriously?” Theo shook his head, unable to take his eyes off the screen.

Cortez gave Theo the evil eye. “This isn’t crap. Brooke and Bella are a couple of sophisticated babes. I don’t care if they didn’t actually write the book. I have to meet them,” Cortez pleaded with me. “Will you introduce me?”

“Sure, come to the signing,” I said.

Cortez glanced away while Brooke and Bella debated the merits of Manolos versus Louboutins. “Hey, wait! I almost forgot. The word on the street is our girl is having a girl.” Theo’s elbow shot out and jabbed him in the side. Cortez leaped away from him on the couch. “Hey man, watch it!”

Theo kept his eyes on the screen. “She’s not our girl, and she’s not your anything. She’s my girl.”

“No need to get in a pissing contest, man.” Cortez looked back to me. “Congratulations on the good news. Sincerely.”

“Thank you.”

There came a sharp knock on the door, and Theo’s eyes snapped up as if he could sense trouble on the other side.

Cortez laughed at the TV. “What’s not to like about these two?”

I walked to the door, and opened it.

Jason.

He stepped in, eyes wide, mouth open, and put his hands on either side of my belly. “Would you look at that!” He slipped one arm around my neck, while the other hand continued to explore my stomach. Then he planted a kiss on my cheek.

I registered the rage in Theo’s eyes. He pulled himself up on his crutches and made his way to us.

“Theo,” I said calmly. “This is Jason.”

“Get your hands off of her.”

“Theo, it’s okay.”

Jason let go of me and extended his hand to Theo. Jason’s smile froze as his eyes shifted down to take in Theo’s leg situation, then Jason looked past Theo and cocked his head to the side, staring at Cortez’s hook prosthetic, lying on the coffee table next to a beer.

“What’s up?” Cortez stood and grinned.

Jason turned back to Theo just as Theo slammed a fist into his face. Stunned and reeling, Jason hit the floor, and I screamed. Blood splashed like scattered rose petals; brilliant drops of crimson arched out along the profile of his crumpled body. Jason cupped his nose gingerly, as blood continued to seep through his fingers. “You fucking animal,” he said, his voice quivering.

Theo pressed the end of his crutch into Jason’s chest.

“You don’t come in here and put your hands on her.”

“Okay, okay.” Jason tried to push the crutch away, but it didn’t budge.

“Theo, stop it.” I went down on my knees to Jason. “Are you okay?”

“Call him off of me,” he wailed. “Oh, you crushed my nose!”

I stood and put my hand on Theo’s chest. “I said stop it. Get back from him.”

Cortez moved to Theo. “Come on, man. Relax.”

Theo took a step back, but his nostrils flared, and his breath hissed through his teeth.

“He’s the
father
,” I said to Theo, completely exasperated. “He has a
right
to check on her.”

“He told you not to count on him, and that’s the only promise he’s kept.”

“Hey, I’m here now.” Jason shrugged. He looked at the blood on his hands. To Theo, he added, “I have a wife… and a family.”

“Well, go take care of them. Meg doesn’t need you.”

“And she certainly doesn’t need someone like you.” Jason managed to put on an air of superiority, even sprawled out on the floor with blood dripping off his chin. Cortez sauntered back from the kitchen, tossing a dishtowel at Jason.

“What do you know about what she needs?” Theo snarled, lunging forward, only stopping when Cortez put his hand on Theo’s shoulder.

“You’re out of control,” Jason said. “Meg’s got a soft heart, but you can’t be worth it.”

“I would never hurt Meg. Damn you for suggesting she’s not safe with me.” He lunged at Jason again, and Cortez stepped between them.

“Stop, Theo,” I snapped. “Cortez, get him out of here.”

“Let’s go, man,” Cortez said.

“Meg!” Theo said in disbelief.

“I need to take Jason to the hospital,” I said.

Theo’s eyes darkened with anger. “I’ll take him.”

“No thanks, brother. I’m not getting in a car with you.” Jason sneered at Theo. “Meg can take care of me.”

“Unbelievable!” Theo roared with anger, but he moved when Cortez pushed him toward the door. Cortez gave me a slight nod and pulled it shut behind him.

Jason and I sat in the waiting room of the Emergency Room and watched as people a lot worse off rolled through.

“Has it been hard?” he asked me. The words came out nasally, and he couldn’t keep his hands off his nose. He had an ice pack in his lap, but instead of using it, he was busy poking at his nose and checking out his two black eyes with my Mac compact.

“Not as hard as I thought it would be.”

“You think it’s wise to have those guys hanging around? I know I don’t have much to offer, but I still don’t want to think of someone taking advantage of you. You said you’d call if you needed me.”

“I don’t need you, and those guys have been here for me. They’ve never wavered.”

“Meg, I wish I didn’t get you pregnant.” He’d finally put the compact down and was watching me with a look that took me back to our shared youth.

“Don’t say that now.” Without a thought, my arms curved around our child, hidden under a curtain of fabric, protected by the layers of my flesh, thriving on the blood of my body. “I can’t regret this anymore. This baby is wanted. I love her, Jason. I know this wasn’t a plan, but I won’t regret any of it. She is
not
a mistake in my life.” I thought of Theo and all he’d done, all his excitement. I didn’t need Jason. His friendly ways and charm kept me from getting angry with him, but the fact was, Jason never considered how his actions affected anyone but him. I had let him get away with everything, because he validated my secret fear that I didn’t deserve to have someone love me with all his heart. Jason’s actions gave proof that what I had to offer was not enough to make someone stick around.

“I’m glad. I’m glad for you. A part of me wants to go home and never come back. I know you don’t need me. But that baby is mine.” He shifted in his seat and stared at his shoes. Jason was better at leaving than staying. “I was hoping you’d be okay if I stopped in from time to time. You can tell the baby whatever you want. But I can’t ignore that she came from me.”

He was thinking of himself, not the baby. His ego kept him focused on what his needs might be and how he could fulfill them. The reality left a bitter taste. But I wouldn’t erase Jason’s existence from our child’s life. She could form her own opinions of her father. Maybe she would deem him selfish, or possibly she would find him captivating, like I once did. But that would be her choice. For with every beat of my heart, knowing that the woman who brought me into the world was out there cultivating her own life with no desire to be a part of mine… It’d been devastating.

“We’ll figure something out.” I sighed, worn out from the highs and lows of my week. I forced optimism into my voice. “I don’t want her to lose the chance to know you. Look, I’m sorry about your nose, but Theo’s not going anywhere. You have no say in the matter.”

Jason whipped his head up to glare at me, and his lip curled. “What could you possibly see in that guy?”

“He’s amazing. He shouldn’t have hit you, but you walked in, and you had your hands all over me. Imagine how you would feel.” Even in the chill of the hospital waiting room, heat prickled my cheeks. I grabbed a battered copy of
Time
from the seat next to me and fanned my face.

“I didn’t mean anything.” Jason spoke in an insolent tone.

“When your wife was pregnant, how would you have reacted if an ex-lover came up and rubbed her belly?”

“Okay, you got me there. I’d want to kick his ass, but I wouldn’t. We can’t pretend we don’t have a past.”

“Doesn’t mean anything.”

“Really?”

“Come on, Jason. How many times have we walked away from each other? I want you to be a part of the baby’s life. But when you come into
my
life you’re a guest and nothing more.”

“Ouch.”

“Really. I’ve moved on. Cancun was as much my fault as yours. I shouldn’t have slept with you, but I was still searching for answers from so long ago. I never got any closure, not with the way you left. I don’t know why I still searched after all that time. It was stupid, stupid on my part.”

“I’m sorry, Meg.” He cradled his head in his hands and stared at the floor. He groaned. “My wife is going to kill me when she finds out about the baby.”

“You haven’t told her?”

“No, and I don’t want to face it tonight. Can I crash at your place?”

“I’ll be here when you get out,” I promised, as the nurse came to take him back.

While Jason was getting fixed up, I called Steve and told him what happened.

“How do you always get yourself in a mess with that guy?” Steve asked.

“I don’t know.” And I really didn’t. Was it Jason, or was I a magnet for trouble? As with every time before, I was certain I could make everything right for everyone. “So can he stay the night with you?” I asked. No way was I bringing him back with me.

“That’s not a good idea, Meg.”

“Please? I’ll make it up to you.”

“I do this, and you owe me, big time,” Steve said.

“Fine. I have Theo at the condo, and Jason can’t drive back to Houston tonight. Once upon a time, you and Dad loved Jason. Just tap into that reservoir.”

“Whatever.” He covered the phone and mumbled to someone. At first I was surprised Dad would still be up so late, but then I heard the rustle of sheets and a woman’s voice. Mystery girl was in his bed.

He came back on the line. “Sure, bring him by. But if you give me any attitude about anything when you get here, I’ll kick you both out.”