Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (179 page)

“I’m gonna kill him,” Krista said, her voice filled with fire and venom.

“No,” Haley sniffed as she pulled away from her sister. “It’s not him. He didn’t do anything.”

Krista’s brow furrowed. “Then what’s with the waterworks?”

Haley sucked in a shaky breath. “Lacey’s back.”

Krista’s eyes widened so big it looked like they were going to pop right out of her head. “Oh, shit,” her sister breathed.

“Yeah. Oh shit,” Haley repeated.

“When did she…? What happened?”

Haley gave her sister the
Cliffs Notes
version of the sordid tale. “We were in the kitchen. Heard a knock on the door. Eddie opened it. And there she was.”

“What did she want?”

“To see Emily. She said she was here for her birthday.”

“Her birthday was yesterday,” Krista replied, pointing out the obvious.

“I know. She also thought Em was seven.”

Krista shook her head in disgust. “Stupid bitch.”

Normally Haley hated it when Krista called people bitches, but in this case, she made an exception.

“What did Eddie say?”

“He said she didn’t have any rights to her and Lacey couldn’t just walk back into Emily’s life like the last eight years never happened.”

“Damn straight,” her sister voiced in agreement.

“Then she told him that, rights or no rights, she was still Emily’s mother and that one way or another she would know her daughter. If she didn’t hear from him within three days, he would be hearing from her attorney. Then she drove off in her brand-new Mercedes.”

“Dang. Like that?”

“Yep.”

“What’s Eddie going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Haley wished she had an answer to that question.

“Well, what did he say to you after she left?”

“Nothing.” Tears once again began forming in Haley’s eyes. Because
that
was the crux of what was really upsetting her, the part that had broken her heart into a million pieces. “He just slammed the door and ran upstairs. When I heard him come back down, he looked right through me. It was almost like he was a wild animal. Then he just said he was going to get Emily and for me to lock the door when I left.”

“Oh.” Krista’s face fell. When she saw the tears slipping down Haley’s cheeks, she said brightly. “Look, I’m sure he was in shock. He probably just needs some time to work his stuff out. I saw the way he was looking at you last night Hales. He loves you.”

It was a sweet thing for Krista to say. And Haley knew that her sister meant it because Krista
never
said things just to be nice. But even if it were true, Haley knew everything was different now.

The door to the bathroom opened and Jessie walked out in a puff of steam. She looked down, and the moment her eyes landed on Haley, she said in a deadly calm voice, “I’m going to kill him.”

Haley and Krista both looked at each other for a beat before they burst out laughing. Haley wasn’t sure if she was hysterical or had officially lost her mind, but she did know that she was lucky. Lucky to have sisters who loved her and had her back no matter what.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“ALL RIGHT, SQUIRT. Time for bed.” Eddie came around the corner from the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe.

“Okay,” Emily said quietly as she scooted off the couch.

“Goodnight, princess. I hope I get to see you soon.” Lacey pulled their daughter in for a hug.

“It was nice to meet you,” Emily politely said.

Eddie’s heart was breaking for his little girl. He knew that she had no idea how to handle all of this. Hell, most of the adults he knew wouldn’t know how to handle this situation. It was fucked up.

He was so proud of his daughter for being polite even though he could see how awkward she felt. After they’d eaten dinner, he’d given Lacey and Emily privacy—or at least the illusion of privacy—leaving them alone in the family room while he did the dishes. From what he’d overheard, their conversation had been very one-sided—Lacey talking about how great she was, all the things she’d accomplished, the men she’d married, and Emily listening. As he sat at dinner silently listening while Lacey told story after story, all centered around the theme that Lacey was incredible, it blew Eddie’s mind that he had not heard Lacey ask their daughter even one question about herself. Not one.

As Emily came around the back of the couch, he leaned down to give her a hug goodnight and she melted into his arms. When he picked her up, she whispered in a small voice, “Will you tuck me in tonight, Daddy?”

“Yep,” he said as he patted her back and carried her up the stairs, holding her tightly in his arms.

He’d been sick to his stomach since Lacey had shown up on his doorstep yesterday. After going to Chelle’s and seeing how much fun Emily was having in the backyard with Riley, his sister had convinced Eddie to leave Emily with them while he went over and talked to her best friend Katie, who was a lawyer.

His talk with Katie had not gone how he’d hoped it would. She hadn’t guaranteed him that there was no way Lacey could just waltz into Emily’s life and see her. In fact, her advice had been to cooperate with Lacey. She said that, although the likelihood of Lacey getting any kind of custody was slim, there was a significant chance that she would at least get visitation. And if this ended up going before a judge, the more it looked like Eddie was willing to work with Lacey, the better.

He’d gone back over to Chelle’s, and while Riley took Mya and Emily out for ice cream, he’d had a heart-to-heart with his sister. She’d suggested that he tell Emily that her mom wanted to meet her and leave it up to her to decide if that’s what she wanted. That way, Emily knew that she had control of the situation and it would never come back on him that he’d tried to keep her mother away from her. He hadn’t like the idea—he’d actually hated it—but he had known that his sister was right.

So, after sleeping on it—or rather tossing and turning on it all night—he’d made Emily breakfast this morning, told her about Lacey showing up, and asked her what she wanted to do. Her reaction took him by surprise. He’d thought she would have jumped at the chance to meet her mom, been more excited about it than going to Disneyland. Instead, she’d grown quiet and asked to be excused to go to her room. After an hour or so, she’d come out and told him that, yes, she would like to meet Lacey.

Now, as he laid her down in her bed, she looked up at him and asked, “Do you think she likes me?”

“Are you kidding me? She loves you,” Eddie assured his daughter. He wanted to add,
Not as much as she loves herself, but that’s to be expected,
but he held his tongue.

“Okay,” Emily nodded.

“Do you want me to read you a book?”

Emily shook her head. “No.”

“Are you okay, squirt? Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’m fine,” she said before scooting her feet beneath the covers and rolling over on her side.

Eddie hated seeing his baby like this. This wasn’t Emily. Normally, he couldn’t get her to stop talking about things. Now that he really needed to know what was going on inside her pretty little head, she had nothing to say.

He figured he might as well get used to it. This was probably a sneak peek of her teenage years. Although he thought there was a very good possibility that there would be a lot more tears, door slamming, and eye rolling that was going to occur.

Stepping over her toys, he switched the light off and was almost out the door when he heard Emily say, “I love you, Daddy.”

His heart swelled in his chest. “I love you too, squirt.”

He closed the door and made his way downstairs with renewed knowledge that they would be okay. As long as Emily knew he loved her, she would be okay. And if Emily was okay, then everything was right in the world.

As he reached the bottom of the steps, he didn’t see any sign of Lacey. Figuring she must have taken off, he checked the front door, but it was still locked from inside. Moving into the kitchen, he saw that the bottle of Merlot he kept above the fridge was sitting on the counter top, wine opener beside it, and two glasses were missing from his mahogany wine glass rack.

The screen door was open, and he saw Lacey’s black high heels lying in front of it. Feeling like he was following bread crumbs, he stepped onto the patio, and sure enough, there was Lacey, full wine glass in hand, sitting in Haley’s chair.

Seeing her there pissed him off more that it should have. It wasn’t even technically ‘Haley’s chair,’ but it sure as hell felt like it was.

“I see you made yourself at home.” He walked out farther on the deck, turned towards Lacey, and leaned casually against the wooden railing.

“Have a seat.” Lacey gestured her head as if she owned the place. “Take a load off. You deserve it.”

She had no idea what he did or didn’t deserve. “I’m good,” he said, remaining where he was.

“God, Eddie.” She shook her head. “You were always so stubborn. I guess some things never change.”

It infuriated him that Lacey was acting as if she still knew him. She didn’t know him anymore than he knew her, which was not at all.

“I’ve got an early day tomorrow, so…” He gestured his hand towards the sliding door.

“You’re not kicking me out, are you?” Lacey asked in a baby voice that had always sounded like nails on a chalkboard to Eddie.

“Yeah, I am,” he stated flatly.

Her face crumbled as if his words had somehow hurt her. Eddie had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

“Haven’t you missed me? Even a little?” Standing, she crossed the deck and stopped in front of him. Lifting her hands, she ran them up his chest. “I know I’ve missed you,” she purred.

He grasped her wrists and leaned down, speaking deliberately. “I don’t know what you thought was going to happen here. But this isn’t it.” Removing her hands from his chest, he walked to the screen door. “Time to go, Lacey.”

She planted her feet where she was and placed her hands on her hips. “I know you’re mad at me, Eddie. So just yell at me, scream, tell me off. Get it over with so we can move past this.”

Eddie could not believe what he was hearing. Was she honestly so delusional that she thought there was even a shot that the two of them could get back together? “I don’t have anything to say to you except it’s time to go.”

“Fine. But I want to see Emily tomorrow,” she said, her voice sounding aloof and detached as she brushed past him and slipped on her designer heels.

“How long are you planning on being in town?” Eddie hoped she would hop in her car, make a left on Maple Drive, and keep driving right past the city limits…but he knew he wasn’t that lucky.

“I don’t know.” Looking over her shoulder as she opened the front door, she said, a sly smile crossing her face. “As long as it takes, I guess.”

The door shut, and Eddie wanted to bang his head against the wall. Her cryptic parting shot gave him a bad feeling. He had hoped that Lacey’s intentions were good and she was really just here to connect with Emily. But Eddie had a sneaking suspicion that that wasn’t the case at all.

Nope. Lacey was here to connect with someone…but Emily wasn’t that person.

* * * * *

“HAVE YOU SEEN her over there?” Chelle asked as she shredded cheese, seated at the kitchen table.

“Yeah. A few times,” Haley answered, glad that she’d chosen dicing onions as her task now that the ‘Lacey’ subject had been brought up. She’d shed more than one tear over Lacey’s arrival this week. At least now she’d have a scapegoat if a few decided to make an appearance.

She’d almost bailed on her mom’s family fiesta dinner tonight. Haley was exhausted. This past week had been emotionally and physically draining. Haley had been working night and day to get ready for the grand opening at Tempting. The party was tomorrow night. And then the store officially opened on Monday. Haley didn’t know what she would have done if she hadn’t had the store to keep her mind occupied this past week. Well…mostly occupied. Actually, occupied just enough that she hadn’t gone crazy.

The truth was that her mind had still been on Eddie and Emily even when she’d been setting up the computer system, pricing all the merchandise, going over her advertising budget, setting up her social media sites.

“I haven’t seen her yet.” Amber seemed frustrated by this fact. “What does she look like?”

“Kate Beckinsale,” Katie, Chelle, and Haley all answered in unison.

Amber looked around the kitchen at the three girls with an assessing gaze. “Did you guys plan that?”

“No.” Katie shook her head, “She just
really
looks like Kate Beckinsale.”

Haley hadn’t remembered Lacey being as pretty as she was. She’d only gotten a brief glance at her the first day that Eddie opened the door, but since then, she’d seen her when she’d been walking out to her car. Not that Haley was spying or anything. She just happened to be sitting at her window for an extended period of time. That’s all. So she might have caught a few glimpses of her here and there.

From what Haley had seen, Lacey was even more stunning now than she had been in high school. And in high school, she’d been voted best hair, best eyes, best smile, and prom queen. So it’s not like this was an ugly-duckling-turned-swan situation. Nope, this would be more like Mila Kunis turning into Angelina Jolie.

“What’s she like?” Amber asked.

Not only did they not answer in unison, but none of them answered at all.

After a few moments of silence, Amber said, “Oookay. I forgot. You three are the ‘nice’ ones. I’ll ask Sophie or Krista for the dirt.”

Katie stood at the stove heating the tortillas and asked, “Jason said that Eddie’s been working from home this week so he hasn’t seen him. Has Riley? Or have either of you talked to him?”

Thank God for onions. Haley felt tears welling in her eyes. She shook her head no.

“I’ve talked to him a couple times. He sounds, I don’t know, not like himself…” Chelle’s voice drifted off as she made the last statement.