Rachel Laine (The Women of Merryton Book 3) (8 page)

Andrew
way overstayed his welcome. He was determined for me to understand his
reasoning, and for me to agree to go along with it. We went back and forth
until one in the morning. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d stayed up
that late. I almost felt bad he had a long drive home. Almost. He was an idiot
to think this wasn’t going to end badly.

He
also had morons for advisors. Which explained a lot about the state of politics
in our country. The fact that people actually have jobs to spin and hide the
truth is beyond insane. What was more insane was that Andrew believed them. I did
give them this, at least they told Andrew he should stay away from Drew until
this was all over. It was Andrew who said he couldn’t stay away. Apparently
this past week had been one of the happiest of his life. He’d mentioned he
found his thoughts drifting toward Drew all the time and that he couldn’t imagine
life without him now. He almost didn’t go to Chicago because he had wanted to
be here with us.

I
tried over and over to get him to see how fraught with peril this situation
was, but he was so confident it would all work out. We just needed to be
careful, he said. It was only one to five months, after all. Didn’t he realize how
life could change in a second? We weren’t talking baseball odds and stats, we
were talking about a living, breathing boy who I loved more than my own life. We
were talking about deceiving him and keeping him from the answer he’d wanted to
know since he was four years old. I did warn Andrew, though, that if Drew asked
me who his father was, as he had from time to time, I wouldn’t lie to him. I
already felt like I was lying to him. I cursed my sister for leaving Andrew that
note with my name on it.

I
cursed her more as I sat at my desk with a pounding headache, living off of Dr.
Pepper because of the late night I’d had with her one-night stand. I had a business
to run and a son to raise. I didn’t have time for all of this worry that Andrew
Turner was introducing into my life. This whole situation totally validated my “no
men while raising Drew” policy.

I
was trying my best not to think of Andrew as I went over our list of unpaid
accounts, but Liza walked in carrying a large bouquet filled with orange roses
and gerberas. It was beautiful.

Liza
wore a huge grin as she placed them on my desk. “These just arrived for you.”

“Who
are they from?”

Her
face lit up. “I don’t know. Alan from the floral shop dropped them off. Why
don’t you check the card?” She was salivating to know.

I
grabbed the tiny sealed envelope that was sticking out from the flowers.
Don’t
take these the wrong way. I just wanted to say thank you and I think you’re
amazing.

He
didn’t sign it, which didn’t surprise me. I wondered whose credit card he’d
used to place the order. I hoped he wasn’t dumb enough to use his own since he
wanted to keep this all below the radar. But I had to admire his taste. The
flowers were stunning, and I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had given me
flowers … except for the last time he’d brought me flowers on Friday. Hmm...

I
looked up to an expectant Liza. “It doesn’t say who they’re from.”

She
snatched the card out of my hand and read it. “What does ‘don’t take these the
wrong way’ mean?”

I
smiled at her.

She
gave me an impish grin. “You know who these are from, don’t you?”

“Thank
you, Liza.”

“Oh,
come on,” she roared. “You finally have a man and you won’t tell me who?”

“I
don’t have a man, and these aren’t those kind of flowers.”

“Whatever,”
she said. “Men don’t send anything but
those
kind of flowers.”

“How
do you even know it’s a man who sent them?”

“Oh,
please, Rachel Laine, I noticed the way your eyes beamed when you read the
card. And women don’t say things like that to other women.”

I
don’t know why my eyes would beam, other than the flowers were gorgeous and
thoughtful.

My
smile told her I was done talking about the matter. She shook her head and walked
out the door. She knew I wouldn’t be giving up the name.

I
did wonder if I should call and thank him. I didn’t want to. I was trying to forget
he existed, even if it was only for the next couple of days. The Bears were
playing the third and fourth game in the series over the next couple of nights at
Denver’s ball field, so he wouldn’t be coming over until Saturday, after Drew’s
game. I told him not to come over at all, but he wouldn’t listen to reason. He
wanted to spend as much time with Drew as he could before the whole political
process really started. He was even willing to skip the games, but his advisors
told him it was too important for him to be seen at them. He was driving me
crazy, but he did send me flowers. I should at least be polite and call to
thank him. No, I’ll text him.
That way I wouldn’t have to talk to him.
He’d already called enough, and I was too tired from last night to deal with
his lunacy.

Thank
you for the flowers. They’re lovely, but unnecessary,
I texted. Maybe that wasn’t the politest, but really, he didn’t need to keep giving
me flowers. Besides, no amount of flowers or compliments were going to make this
okay for me.

I
set my phone down and took a deep breath. I went back to the unpleasant task of
dealing with overdue accounts. It was the least favorite part of my job, and my
head was already pounding.

Thirty
minutes later my cell phone rang. I answered it in resignation, but not before
I lay my head down on my desk and put him on speaker. “Yes?” I grumbled.

“If
I didn’t know better, I would say you’re not happy to hear from me.”

“So,
maybe you’re smarter than I thought.”

“Hey,
I sent you flowers.”

“I
said thank you.”

“But
you didn’t call and thank me for them personally.”

“Is
that required?”

“Maybe
not required, but definitely warranted. I don’t think anyone has ever texted me
a thank you when I’ve sent flowers, or told me they were unnecessary.”

“Do
you regularly send women flowers?”

“Define
regularly.” I could hear the laughter in his voice.

“You
know what? I don’t even want to know.”

“That’s
probably for the best.”

“Great,
now that we agree on something, thank you again. I should probably get back to
work.”

“I
know you don’t have to go so soon. Tell me how your day is going.”

If
anyone could see me with my head on my desk, they wouldn’t have had to ask.
“Well, let’s see. For starters, I’m living off caffeine since someone kept me
up way too late. And to top it off, I have the unpleasant task of contacting
people to let them know I will be canceling their policies unless they pay.”

“Sounds
like maybe I should come up there.”

I
popped up. “Why in the world would you think that?”

“Well,
that way I can make dinner and take care of Drew for you.”

“Andrew,
believe it or not, we’ve functioned just fine without you for a very long time.
I’ve even spent my fair share of sleepless nights taking care of Drew, only to
have to be up the whole next day, too.”

“That’s
why you’re amazing, but you don’t have to do it all alone now.”

But
what if I wanted to?
“Go to your game, Andrew, and be seen.”

He
thought for a moment. “I wish you guys could come with me.”

“Drew
could if you would tell him the truth.”

“Rachel
Laine, please, can’t you understand how important this is to me? I want to
continue my father’s legacy of serving the people in my district.”

“I
didn’t know your dad, but from the sounds of it, I think he would say being a father
was his legacy. And now you have the same opportunity, so please let’s tell
Drew the truth.”

“Rachel,
I plan on doing both. I’m going to be the father Drew deserves. That includes
protecting my son and his mother.” It was the first time I had ever heard any
edge in his voice. “I’ll make it work. You’ll see. You worry too much”

I
wanted to say that he didn’t worry enough, but I knew he wouldn’t listen. I had
spent the previous night trying to get him to see all the dangers involved with
going this route. “That’s my job, Andrew.”

“Are
you sure you don’t want me to come up there tonight?”

I
didn’t even need to think about it. “Positive.”

He
laughed at my abrasiveness. “Well, at least watch the game and look for me.”

“I
wouldn’t dream of doing anything else with my valuable time.”

“Have
a good day, Rachel Laine.” There was too much merriment in his voice.

I
lay my head back down on my desk and groaned. I had only known the man two
weeks, just two measly weeks. I felt like Dorothy in
The
Wizard of Oz
—I
was no longer in Kansas, and boy, did I miss it.

In
the midst of my pity party for one, my dad walked in. I didn’t even bother
raising my head for him.

“Are
you sick?” My dad hated germs and sickness of any kind. He made each of our
employees wipe down their desks and phones with Clorox wipes daily. If Drew was
ever sick, my dad wouldn’t come to our house or apartment for days, just to be
sure. And I wouldn’t even think of bringing him over to their house until he
was completely better. I had trained Drew not to sneeze in front of him if he
could help it. It was one of the many nuisances of my dad that drove my mother
crazy. She told me when my sister and I were born, we were practically
quarantined. My grandparents were barely allowed to touch us.

I
slowly lifted my head up. “Not with anything contagious, Dad.”

It
was only then he walked fully in. “Who are the flowers from?”

He
sat on my couch and I joined him. Forgetting we were at work, I rested my head
on his strong shoulder. “You don’t want to know.”

He
reached over and placed his rough hand on my cheek. “He’s not coming on to you,
is he?”

“No,
Dad.”

“Then
why is he sending you flowers?”

I
told him of our whole convoluted conversation the night before and even the
extension of it today.

“And
you’re going to let him get away with that? I think you should talk to a lawyer,
Rachel Laine.”

“Dad,
I’m not getting a lawyer involved. That would only make the situation worse.”

“How
do you think Drew is going to take it when he finds out you’ve both been lying
to him?”

“Dad,
don’t you think I want to tell him? No, better yet, don’t you think I wish he
never showed up? I’m trying my best, okay? My son thinks his dad is the
greatest thing since sliced bread, and Andrew feels the same way about him, and
I’m just left … left in the middle, or left out, or however you want to look at
it.” I turned into my dad and cried like I hadn’t in years. All of the stress
and worry had bubbled up.

My
dad wrapped his arms around me and let me have it out. Living in a house full
of women, I think he had learned long ago that sometimes the best course of
action was to remain silent while he offered the comfort of his arms. I
appreciated that more than anything right now.

When
my crying ceased, my dad held my face in his hands. “I love you, Rachel Laine,
to the moon and back and back again. You’ve always done the right thing, and
I’m sure you will now, too.”

His
confidence in me was misplaced. In my heart and my mind, I knew going along
with Andrew’s course of action was wrong, but I didn’t see what choice I had.
If I kept Drew away from Andrew, he could very well get the courts involved. And
how could I tell the truth to Drew now, when Andrew was unwilling to own it
himself? I couldn’t count on Drew to keep it a secret if I told him that Andrew
was his dad. It was going to be horrible enough when Andrew told him at the end
of all this nonsense. Andrew was so convinced that Drew would be okay with it once
he knew why.

I
also worried about what would happen if it did get out and my sister’s name was
dragged through the mud. My parents would be mortified, and then they would
never accept Andrew as Drew’s father. It all made for a messy situation.

I
looked up to the ceiling.
Sydney, did you have any idea what a mess you were
leaving me?

My
dad didn’t stay much longer, but on his way out, he paused, looked at the large
bouquet of flowers, and then at me. “Rachel Laine, be careful.”

“About
what?”

“I
don’t think you’ve ever fully appreciated how beautiful you are, or how
attractive innocence is.”

I
shook my head in confusion.

“Don’t
be so naïve to think that Andrew Turner is only interested in Drew,” he
clarified, and walked off without another word.

My
dad’s parting thought bounced around in my head for the rest of the day, and
even after Drew and I got home. I didn’t believe it was true, but part of me
thought,
What if it was? How would I feel about it?
It had been so long
since a man had
those
kinds of feelings for me; I wasn’t sure how I
would react. But Andrew wasn’t just any man. He slept with my sister, which should
have automatically eliminated him. And did I mention the havoc he was wreaking
on my life? It wasn’t true anyway. How many times did the guy say he didn’t
want me to think he was interested in me? And if I had any doubts at all about
how he felt, they were all cleared up later that night as Drew and I watched
the third game in the series.

The
game started off like any other baseball game for me—blah. It was such a boring
sport. The only thing it had going for it was the way some of the players
looked in baseball pants. I knew my girlfriends would agree with me. I thought
of Cheyenne and her “Official Baseball Butt Inspector” shirt. My friends were
all huge fans of the sport. Jessie even sponsored one of the men’s summer
league teams. She tried to convince me to sponsor one, too. The answer was a
definite
no
.

As
I sat there watching some of the more attractive men on TV, I stupidly thought,
I bet Andrew would look great in those pants. I hated that he was starting to consume
my thoughts.

It
didn’t take long for things to get interesting. It shouldn’t have surprised me
that the cameras would pan over to the box seats and show Andrew. He was kind
of a legend in Denver. It probably shouldn’t have surprised me that he was
sandwiched between two blonde bombshells, either, but for some reason it did.
It also shouldn’t have shocked me or annoyed me when he kissed them both on
their cheeks or pecked their lips. My annoyance only flared because he had a
son that was watching and I thought he could have shown a little decorum. It
had nothing to do with what my dad had said earlier. Right?

Drew’s
eyes bulged as he watched Andrew make a spectacle of himself. The commentators
were also having fun with it. They remarked how he had found a great way to
deal with retirement. Andrew certainly looked to be enjoying himself as he took
turns kissing each young woman, and I do mean young.

“He’s
kissing those girls!” Drew exclaimed.

Girls
was right. What a pig. I turned off the TV. I didn’t want Drew to see his dad
make a spectacle of himself. I could do without it, myself, as well.

“Hey,
turn that back on,” my son cried out.

I
was holding firm on my decision. “I’ll record the rest and you can watch it
tomorrow.” That way I could fast forward through his father’s idiocy. Yeah, he
was family oriented, but it probably wouldn’t matter. He would win his stupid
election because he was handsome and popular.

Drew
wasn’t happy at all with my decision, but I was the mom and I was making an
executive decision. We spent the rest of the evening before bedtime working on
Halloween decorations for his class party at the end of the following week.
Drew kept commenting about Andrew and those girls.

“Are
those girls his girlfriends?”

“I
don’t know, bud. But it’s not right for a man to have two girlfriends at one time.”

His
expression indicated I was speaking a different language. I don’t think he
really cared about girls yet, except Emmy, but that was innocent. Thank
goodness. But this was an excellent time to have a talk about respecting girls
and women.

“Eww,
I don’t kiss girls, Mom!” I was told after my spiel.

I
winked. “Let’s keep it that way for a long time.”

He
smiled at me.

I
loved that smile.

As
I sat in bed that night, I stewed some more. I also began to worry. What if
those
were
his girlfriends? What if Andrew married one of them? I didn’t
want some silicone Barbie doll to be my son’s stepmother. This added a whole
new layer to the Andrew problem. I hadn’t thought about stepmothers before. And
from the looks of Andrew’s tastes, my son would be getting an unrealistic view of
what real women looked like. I was suddenly worried about Drew liking his new
stepmother more than me, or wanting to live with them because Andrew could
provide a mom and a dad. And Andrew was more fun than me.

Any
nice feelings I’d had toward Andrew went out the door. I was so tempted to tell
him not to come over anymore, and that if he wanted to see Drew, he would have
to sue me. Instead, I lay there on my bed, curled up in a ball, with tears welling
up in my eyes, cursing him and Sydney. It was at that point the idiot decided
to call me. It was eleven o’clock, for crying out loud. I didn’t answer it. I
wasn’t at his beck and call.

He
left a message. “I know it’s late. I wanted to say goodnight and see if you
caught the game and the stellar last inning. I’ll call you tomorrow to talk
about it.”

He
sounded happy. I was anything but.

I
woke up with the same headache from the previous day, but I pushed through it.
I would have liked to lay in bed all day, but that was never an option for a
mom, and besides, I knew it would only make me feel worse. I knew I would sit
there and fret over things that were out of my control while cursing Andrew all
day long. Work would be a much needed diversion.

On
the way out the door, Andrew called. I ignored it again. I had no desire to
talk to him. It was bad enough he was coming over here tomorrow. My head began
to pound more.

My
head and my heart only felt worse when Drew talked about Andrew all the way to
school. He was so excited to see him the next day.

We
pulled up in the car line and we had a moment where we weren’t moving. I turned
back to him. “I love you infinity.” I tried not to choke the words out.

“I
love you infinity plus one”

I
smiled and breathed deep. That was all that really mattered.

I
kept trying to tell myself that all the way to work, even though my phone went
off two more times. I felt the impulse to chuck it out the window. Why did he
have to be so persistent? When I pulled into the office, I listened to the
messages he left. They basically said he had wanted to talk to Drew before he
went to school and he wanted to see how our night was last night. He also
wanted to know what he should bring to make for dinner on Saturday. He was so
presumptuous.

I
tried my best not to think about him during our weekly staff meeting, but I
found myself losing my train of thought a few times as I went over some of our
new life insurance policy features. By the time I made it back to my office, I
felt even more out of sorts. It left me in no mood to hear his new message and
to read his text messages.

If
I don’t hear back from you, I’m driving up there to check on you
.
He was an idiot.

We’re
fine,
I texted him.

My
phone rang almost immediately.

I
gave up. “Hello.”

“I
was so worried about you and Drew. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“I
don’t have to answer to you, you know.”

“Rachel
Laine, what’s wrong?”

“I
need to get back to work.”

“Come
on, talk to me. What’s going on?”

“Nothing.
We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’m
going to keep calling you or better yet, I’m coming up there.”

“No!”

“Rachel,
please tell me what’s wrong.”

I
closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slow and steady. “Fine, you
want to know what’s going on? You have completely turned my life upside down.
You have me lying to my son, and staying up in the middle of night worrying
about losing him and worrying about the kind of people you’re going to
introduce into his life. And—”

“Whoa,”
he interrupted, “hold up there. I would never take Drew away from you. You need
to get that thought out of your head. And I’m sorry about not being able to
tell him the truth right now, but believe me it’s for the best.”

“Maybe
for you, but not for Drew or me,” I cut in.

I
heard him sigh on the other end. “Rachel, please.”

“I
really need to get back to work.”

“Wait—”

“What?”

“What
did you mean when you said you were worried about the people I would be
introducing into his life?”

“We
saw you last night with your barely legal Barbie-doll girlfriends. Let’s just
say your son was very interested in the way you were behaving last night for
the whole world to see.”

I
had to pull the phone away from my ear, he laughed so hard.

“I’m
glad you find this so funny. I’m going back to work.”

His
laugh dulled. “Please, Rachel, wait. I’m sorry, it’s just you sound like my
mother.”

“No,
I sound like your son’s mother. I’ve tried very hard to make sure that Drew
understands what it means to respect women and girls. I want him to have a
healthy idea about what real women look and act like. Your behavior last night
is not something I want my son to have for an example. And I don’t want those
types of women influencing
my
son.”

He
cleared his throat. “First, I think you misunderstood me. My mother wasn’t
thrilled with my behavior either. I wasn’t implying you sounded like you were
trying to be my mother. And secondly, those women aren’t my girlfriends; I met
them last night. I was having a little fun.”

“Yeah,
we could tell. Are we done here?”

“Rachel,
I know I’m impulsive and sometimes the things I do are questionable, but I’m a
good guy. I wish you could see that.”

“Andrew,
I really hope you are a good guy, because you now have someone who looks up to
you. Someone who will need you to show him what it’s like to be a real man.
That’s what you’re signing up for here.”

It
got very quiet on the other end.

I
didn’t have all day to spend on the phone listening to his breathing patterns.
“Goodbye, Andrew.”

“Goodbye,”
he said.

I
was stunned there was no response from him. So stunned, I stared at my phone
for a moment after I hung up with him. I shrugged my shoulders and set my phone
down. I tried to go back to work and not think about him, but I was finding it
difficult. He had a way of getting under my skin.

I
needed a break, so I left for an early lunch.

Jessie
Belle’s was packed, but there was room at her counter. I parked myself next to
Easton Cole, husband of Taylor, luckiest man alive, and respected doctor.

“Hey,
Easton.”

He
smiled pleasantly. “Hi, Rachel Laine. How are you and that son of yours?” He
was getting ready to leave.

I
plastered a fake smile on. “We’re good, thanks for asking.”

Jessie
walked out with some freshly baked orange rolls. Those were her signature item,
and she sold them all day long. One was definitely in order.

Jessie
set down her sinful rolls in front of me. She didn’t look like she ever ate any
of them. Jessie was as beautiful as anyone I’d ever known, inside and out. Her
title of town sweetheart fit her perfectly. Everyone in this town loved her,
and her baked goods. “Rachel, how are you?”

“Hand
over one of those rolls.”

She
laughed. “Bad day?”

I
only ate those when I was not in my happy place.

“Better
make it two.”

“That
bad, huh?”

I
sighed and took the roll from her. Like a good friend, she only handed over
one. She saved me from later regret.

She
leaned on the counter. “So, what’s going on with you?”

“What
do you mean?”

She
wickedly grinned. “Well, for starters, you failed to mention that you had an
admirer.”

I
choked on my roll and coughed.

“So
you do have an admirer.”

“No.
Why would you say that?” My heart was racing like crazy.

“Oh,
no reason. Alan just mentioned he delivered a very lovely and expensive bouquet
of flowers to you this week.”

“Isn’t
there some kind of floral delivery man customer confidentiality policy?”

Jessie
was trying to be coy, but I could tell she wanted the skinny. “So, spill.”

“I
don’t have an admirer.”

“So
are you having an affair with a Yukon?”

Oh
crap. There were some days I despised living in a smallish town with observant
neighbors. “Yes—best relationship of my life.” I rolled my eyes at her.

She
busted out laughing.

I
took her hand and tried to convey with my eyes that this wasn’t a funny
situation at all. I couldn’t say what I really wanted to say. “Really, I’m not
seeing anyone, but—” I hesitated.

She
was no longer smiling. She now looked worried.