Stranded in Paradise (The Blake Boys Book 13) (13 page)

Autumn stepped back. “I answered your phone today. It was Taylor. We had a rather unfriendly conversation, but I was surprised she apparently still thinks operation stork is a go,” Autumn said.

They stood there for a moment just looking at one another. His heart sank. The look on her face was one of hurt and disappointment.

“She was out of line for talking to you about that. I apologize for that.”

“Why haven’t you told her you’ve changed your mind? We’ve been back from the island two months now.”

“I was just waiting for the right time. We kept getting our wires crossed.” Jared reached out for her, but she backed away.

“It’s a fairly short conversation to have. Was there another reason you didn’t tell her?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are we just a fling?”

“What?”

“Maybe you wanted to keep your options open in case we didn’t work out.”

“That’s not true. We’ve been taking things slow because you wanted to see how it all developed.”

“So is this the part where I’m supposed to double down and tell you that I want to have your babies? So you won’t consider Taylor’s crazy proposal?”

“I wouldn’t ask you to do that. We both know you’re not ready for that.”

“But if I don’t say something, you’re going to run off and give Taylor what she wants.”

“Don’t read too much into this.” Jared cupped her face between his hands.

“One of us has to. Your actions speak volumes.” She pulled away. “Go have a baby with Taylor. You’ll get to be a dad. I know that’s what you want. I think this relationship has run its course.”

Jared felt like someone had knocked the wind right out of him. “Can’t we talk about this? Skip the restaurant, let’s go back to your place and talk this through.”

“Like you said, I’m good at ending things before they get too involved. And having a relationship with a man who is secretly thinking about having a baby with his ex-wife is too involved for me. Please leave.” Autumn opened her office door.

* * *

Jared opened the door to the guesthouse and went straight for the fridge. He needed a beer. Scratch that. He needed some vodka. Maybe the whole bottle. But that would have to wait because Taylor was calling his phone.

He stabbed at the button, anxious to talk to her. “Taylor.”

“Thank goodness you got your phone back. You shouldn’t leave your phone with just anyone. Whoever that was, she needs a lesson in manners. She was rude to me.”

“I can only imagine what you said.”

“What? Why? She started it. I just put her in her place.”

“And by that you mean insinuating I said we’d have a child together?”

“You seemed open to having a baby before you went on vacation.”

“I met someone there. She’s really great and—”

“You’re throwing away a chance to become a father for some random tart you just met on vacation? Please tell me you’re not serious?”

“She’s not a tart. Her name is Autumn and she’s great. I haven’t felt this way about someone in a long time.” There. He said it. And despite what Autumn thought of him right now, he meant it.

“How can you know you’ll have a future with her?”

“It’s called faith,” he said. “I knew when I met you, I would have a future with you…but I was a little off on the forever part. I didn’t factor in you being obsessed with your career. It wasn’t you trying to best your snooty med school friends, it was the incessant need to please your father and top his medical feats.”

“When you have a parent who’s at the top of his profession, there are things that are expected of you. I could never get you to understand that, coming from a middle class family where the expectations aren’t the same.”

“You’re really following in your old man’s footsteps. Now you’re sounding elitist, just like him. I’m proud that I come from a family of hard-working people. I may not have been born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I was never a snob either. And by the way, Autumn is worth millions, but that doesn’t matter to me.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it. That just came out.”

“You want to know why I didn’t call you when I won the Iconic Architecture Award? Because I knew deep down you wouldn’t be happy for me. You’d be more impressed with the prestige than with it being an acknowledgment of how I’d grown in my craft.”

“This sounds like one of our old fights, and I don’t want to argue with you. We have history. We loved each other deeply at one time. I’m not asking to reconcile. I just want—”

“My sperm?” he balked. “You do know it’s middle-class sperm?”

“Again, I regret making the comment. Please don’t hold that against me.”

“I won’t hold that against you, Taylor. Like it or not, you’ve always been an intoxicating mix of personality traits that I both loved and hated. And I do love you, but not enough to rob myself of the chance to be happy.”

“You don’t mean that. I know you don’t.”

“I hope you find what you’re looking for. I think you’d make a great mother.”

“But I want you.”

“Take care of yourself, Taylor.” Jared hung up before he could hear anything else. There was so much to say and there was no more to be said.

He needed to talk to someone so he went to Morgan’s. She was in the sitting room watching television and munching on popcorn, but Seth and the kids were nowhere in sight.

He sank down on the couch next to his sister. “Where is everybody?”

“Seth’s helping the kids clean up the playroom. What are you doing home? I thought you had a date with Autumn.”

“I did. But now I don’t. Taylor called while Autumn had my phone. They had it out. I tried to tell her that Taylor was lying, but she didn’t want to listen.”

“So, you hadn’t told Taylor that you weren’t going through with her sperm donor ploy?”

“No.” He ran a hand over his face. “Looking back with 20/20, it was stupid and foolish to put it off until the perfect time. There would never be a perfect time to say no to Taylor.”

“Were you afraid of Taylor being out of your life for good if you turned her down?”

He hadn’t thought about that. What would his life mean if she no longer dropped in whenever she wanted? Although, he was now pretty certain the periodic check-ins in the past before she appeared in his loft that night were to make sure he hadn’t found anyone. “I suppose it’s possible.”

“It’s not a crime to have a soft spot for the woman you were once married to, but it’s awful if you’re using it as some excuse not to get on with your life. Heaven knows I could never fathom what you saw in her. She pranced around with her nose in the air, trying to one-up everyone. I remember I wasn’t too keen on Sydney back then, but I recall when she put her in her place that time at Sunday dinner when Taylor made some remark about me being a spoiled brat.”

“You two never did get a long.”

“That’s because she wanted you all to herself, and I think she felt the attention you gave me was robbing her in some way. I figured it wasn’t my place to judge who you loved. I was there. There was no man more loving and committed than you. Witnessing how you and Robert and Charles treated your spouses helped me cling to my convictions that somewhere there was a man out there who would treat me the same. I learned to love by your example.”

Jared was so taken aback, he didn’t know what to say. He’d always thought Morgan was toiling away in her own little world, not paying attention to them.

Morgan continued. “I can see why Autumn would be upset. Learning the guy you’ve been dating is too afraid to break some bad news to an ex, an ex-wife, no less, has caution written all over it. It seems like you were hedging your bets, and I know no brother of mine would make a woman feel that way, even if it were accidentally. Autumn is an amazing woman, that’s why the family rallied so hard to get you two together. I haven’t seen you this happy, ever.” Morgan gave his hand a good squeeze.

Jared sat there with his sister, trying to get his thoughts together. How would he feel if Autumn decided to do something as intimate and life-affirming as having a child with another man? It pissed him off to think of anyone sharing something that special with her. He could see cute versions of her running around the house, getting into trouble like his nieces and nephews. He could also see himself going into the laundry room to sneak a kiss or two before the kids found them.

He could see a future with her and he’d blown it.

“Morgan, I screwed up big time,” he said softly.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Aren’t you going to yell at me and tell me I blew it with Autumn?”

“No. I’m going to tell you that I’m sorry Taylor popped up like a weasel out of a hole and decided to play ‘let’s make a baby.’ And that if you give Autumn some time, maybe she’ll be receptive to talking to you again. But you better know your intentions when you do talk to her or she won’t want to trust you again.” She offered him some popcorn.

The ruckus coming from upstairs meant Seth and the kids were doing more playing than they were cleaning.

“I better go upstairs and see what’s going on. If you count Seth, I have five children.” Morgan sat her popcorn bowl on the coffee table and stood. “Every toy better be in its place when I get up there!” Morgan yelled toward the stairs.

“Kill joy!” Seth yelled down.

“Let me go up. It will give me something to do.” He stood up.

“Better yet. I’ll go up, and you and Seth can go commiserate at Tate’s cabin. His music studio is soundproof if you want to let out a good cry.” She poked him in the ribs.

Jared watched his baby sister fly up the stairs to fake-scold Seth and the kids. By the time she reached the room, there was a whole lot of giggling going on. She’d grown so much over the past seven years and now she was the wise one, giving him good advice. It did his heart good that she was this happy, but he’d been idiotic enough to let the same kind of love and happiness slip through his fingers.

CHAPTER NINE

Autumn looked at the clock, wishing she had the energy to get out of bed. It had been five days since she’d kicked Jared out of her life, and she felt like hell. He’d called several times, but she’d sent his calls to voice mail, not wanting to hear any lame excuses.

Summer and Bo had been doing their best to keep her spirits up, but she was struggling. Summer filled in for her at a marketing meeting with a new client, and Bo cooked all of her favorite meals in hopes she’d eat something. Cassidy stopped by with a houseplant and an offer to go to the spa, but Autumn couldn’t muster up the energy to go. At a total loss, she decided to ride the wave and get back in bed.

There was a light knock on her bedroom door. “Autumn, can I come in?”

“Not right now.” She sniffed. She’d never said no to her sis before, but she didn’t want her to see her in this condition. This was beyond the normal breakup blues.

“I have a surprise for you.”

“I hate surprises. Remember?”

“This isn’t a clown. I promise. But you have to let me come in so I can show you.”

“OK.” Autumn sat up and leaned against her headboard.

“I thought this would cheer you up.”

Autumn didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when Summer came into her bedroom sporting a bunny ears headband and a basket filled with things that they’d dubbed the ex-boyfriend survival kit. It was filled with an assortment of chocolates, cookies, beef jerky, a box of tissues, eyedrops, a water gun, and other essentials one needed when getting over heartbreak. She saw a photo frame edge peeking out from behind a box of gourmet chocolate chip cookies, so she pulled it out. It was a picture she’d taken of Jared on the beach. He was shirtless and looked gorgeous even though her twin had gotten creative with the graphics. Summer had added devil horns, a potbelly, tail, and put a pitchfork in his hand.

“Thanks, Sis. You’re the best.” Autumn opened a bag of caramel popcorn and stuffed a handful in her mouth.

“Anything for you. I also have a bottle of wine chilling in the kitchen.”

“Isn’t it too early?”

“It’s never too early to celebrate your independence. So how about you grab a shower and change into a new sweat suit today?” Summer ran a hand over her hair. “Don’t forget to wash your hair too.”

“And here I thought I was falling apart.” She let out a dry laugh. “Where’s Bo? I thought you were having lunch with his parents today on the ranch?”

“He went by himself. He totally understands that we need this time together. He said he’s cooking something for dinner that will help cheer you up.”

“I’m going to gain ten pounds. I don’t want your plans to change. You still have time to meet him and his parents for lunch.”

“Hey. I hurt too.” Summer slid under the covers with her and picked up the picture frame. “You know it was hard finding a bad picture of Jared to cheer you up, so I got creative.”

Autumn smiled and wrapped her arms around her sister. “Thank you.”

“And I have the development team working on a new game titled Architect’s Ambush.”

“You do love me. You’re creating a revenge-themed game for me.”

“But vague enough so we don’t get sued.” Summer waggled her eyebrows. “I know this is rough on you. I could cite the twin thing, but I could tell you cared for Jared. I really thought he was the one.”

“But he ended up acting like a number two,” she murmured.

“Jared was just a bump in the road. If nothing else, you’ll have another date lined up next week. You’ll get back out there in no time.”

Autumn looked at the picture of Jared again. She was known to rebound fairly quickly from her brief relationships, but this time it felt different. He wasn’t like the typical guys she normally dated.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy this time.” She sniffed.

Summer hugged her tighter. “I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

A few minutes later there was a knock on the bedroom door. It was Bo. “Ladies, is it OK if I come in?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind the mess.” Autumn waved him in. “What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you changed your plans too?”

“It was necessary.” He shrugged. “I have a surprise for you.”