The 5-Year Plan (Friends to Lovers Romance Book 1) (6 page)

He closed his eyes, trying to shut out everything. The experience of seeing his father dive into bitterness and loneliness had put him off the idea of marriage and commitment. Opening his eyes again, he glanced at Tori. “Dad once told me that women were best if they didn’t have a ring on their finger. Sexist? I know. But those words stuck with me. I couldn’t shake them off, and now…makes me wonder if he’s up in heaven laughing at me.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

Trent couldn’t help but smile at her offer. It was so like her to forget they were in the middle of trying to help her get her life back on track. Her generosity amazed and touched him.

“Tori, I don’t know what to do.”

She squeezed his hand and let go. Leaning forward, she propped her elbows on her thighs. “You have to put aside all your…other issues and focus on this for now. The baby will need you. So will Cynthia.”

He chewed on his bottom lip. It was hard to point at the elephant in the room, but someone had to do it. “What about us? What about you?”

She gulped and looked down at her hands. “There is no us. Not that way. Not now. Maybe not ever. But we’ll always be there for each other. Let’s just…forget about that other thing.”

“I can’t. But…yeah, I’ve got to put the kid first. I do need some time to…figure things out.”

He turned away. Confusion, anger and shock tumbled through him. Becoming a father hadn’t been something he’d planned on for at least another few years. Now that he was about to be a dad, that had to matter. There was no denying that.

Victoria stood. “I should go.”

“We need to work on the login tracking.” He waved a hand at the tablet lying on the kitchen counter. “Ignoring that would be foolish. If we don’t do anything about it, you’re going to be stuck with the label of thief.”

She shook her head. “Why don’t you take an evening off? I’ll take your tablet home and study the times. If anything strikes me as odd, I’ll mark it and we can talk about it tomorrow.”

His brain wasn’t working as fast as he would have liked. Trent forced himself to focus. Whatever happened in his personal life, he didn’t intend to leave Victoria in the lurch. “We need to work out how we’re going to eliminate suspects.”

“I came up with some ideas. I’m going to visit Sue and see if I can tell if she’s been making some unexpected money. It’s sleazy—but whoever did this has to be working for cash. And I’d rather know right away if she’s it the clear.”

“You won’t be able to tell that with one visit. She might be saving any paydays in her bank.”

“Which means we need to look into her finances.” She waved a vague hand as if that was the simplest thing in the world.

He raised an eyebrow. “Hacking into someone bank’s account is illegal. There’s no sense trying to clear you of a crime by committing another one.”

She laughed. “I wasn’t actually suggesting we hack her account. I can just poke around in her house—I’ll offer to babysit Liam. Most people are notoriously careless with their personal papers.”

He scratched his jaw. “How would you know that?”

She pointed at the kitchen. A smile hovered on her lips. “Three envelopes from your bank are lying on the counter over there. Want to bet at least one of them is your bank statement. How difficult would it be for me to swipe them, or take a look while you’re in the bathroom?”

Amazed, he stared at her. “You have a wicked mind.”

She grinned. “Takes one to know one.”

For a minute, she looked like the same serious but carefree girl he’d always known. He started to smile back. But now she was embroiled in an investigation to clear her name, and he was facing fatherhood—with Cynthia. Could the world get any weirder?

Victoria stood. “Guess I better go.”

“Wait!” He stood up. “What about dinner?”

She gestured to the bag on his counter. “It’ll warm up great later for you. I’ve lost my appetite.”

“Dammit, this evening hasn’t gone as I planned.”

“Never got around to the candlelight.” She smiled as she spoke, but he looked around now and realized that only the streetlights illuminated the room. It was a damn shame—he’d intended to seduce Victoria to see if that spark between them could be fanned into an even bigger fire. Now he had the setting, the food, the wine…and nothing else was right. Both of them had more problems that either of them could handle. “I don’t want you to go alone to Sue’s house. When are you planning to do it? I will come with you.”

“You don’t need to.”

“I want to. When?”

“Tomorrow evening? I’ll offer to babysit so she and Shane can go out to dinner—an adult dinner.”

“I’ll meet you there. Seven?”

She nodded. “Sure.”

Trent sighed. He felt better to have some actions to take—that was the problem with Cynthia’s news—he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. But once he had his hands on the guy who’d caused his Tori so much anguish, he could wring the bastard’s neck. That would make him feel better.

But she wasn’t his Tori. Not yet. Ah, no point thinking like that when he had other things to worry about.

“I just want to say…”

To his surprise, she reached out and took both his hands in hers. She planted a soft kiss on his cheek. “Whatever you decide regarding the baby, Trent, I’ll be with you a hundred percent. But before you make any promises to Cynthia, make sure that she…well…that she’s telling the truth about the baby. And that it’s yours.”

He blinked. “Why would she tell a lie?”

She let go of his hands. “I am not saying she is, but a DNA test wouldn’t hurt. For once, will you please think ahead to more than tomorrow? It’s a lifetime of work to have a kid of your own.”

He frowned. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.”

She headed into the kitchen and came back with her purse and the tablet. “You know, Trent, I actually think you’ll make a good father. I wouldn’t have said that before tonight, but now…I’ve got to admit, you’ll make a damn fine father. That kid would be lucky to have you.”

He started to grin, but her words made him realize he was heading for a very different life than he’d ever thought about—not that he’d ever thought too far ahead. He was just glad she was on his side. But for now at least, his romantic plans were about as warm as the Indian food sitting on his kitchen counter.

On the subway ride back to her apartment, Victoria thought about Cynthia’s bombshell. The idea of that woman pregnant with Trent’s child dug into her like needles under her skin. How could it be possible? She rolled her eyes at her own naively. Of course, the woman could be pregnant, but she hadn’t missed the gleam in Cynthia’s eyes when she’d given Trent the news. There was something else going on. And why had Cynthia waited so long to tell Trent if she’d know this for weeks already? Why not call Trent in advance, too, and set up a private meeting with him? Cynthia had seemed like she was in a hurry to deliver the announcement and then get out, almost as if she didn’t want to answer too many questions.

Or maybe because she had something to hide.

Victoria let out a sigh and slumped in her seat. The subway car rattled and swayed. Maybe she just wanted to think the worst of Cynthia—maybe she was jealous of Trent’s ex-girlfriend. Chilled now, she rubbed her arms. She should have brought a jacket with her, but it had been warm today. And she had to face the truth—jealous was too inadequate a word to describe her feelings. She was bummed-out and angry and eaten up with envy. She’d thought maybe…just maybe Trent might be serious about what he really felt for her. Of course, a relationship with Trent was out. He simply wasn’t reliable or dependable. But she’d like the idea that he wasn’t just there for her—and that kiss…okay, she had to admit that kiss they’d shared had been the best she’d ever shared with any guy. She’d felt safe in Trent’s arm—and happy. But she needed to stuff all of that away now—Trent was on an emotional roller coaster and if he reached out to anyone right now who knew if it was because he was just looking for a quick diversion or something more.

Victoria let out a low growl. The subway train eased to a stop, air brakes hissing, and the doors slid open. Pulling herself up with the railing, Victoria headed for the doors.

Cynthia couldn’t have chosen a worse time to come back into Trent’s life. If she’d come by yesterday, at least Victoria would have been spared the humiliation of knowing that Trent was aware of her feelings for him. Her face heated again.
Like—I said I liked him.
Cheeks burning, she wanted to plant her face into her palm at the memory of that. How lame was that?

Emotions churning in her stomach, knotting her insides, she headed up the stairs and out on to the street. Cool evening air brushed her face and arms. Sucking in a deep breath, she strode to her apartment. One good thing had certainly emerged out of this whole mess—she’d finally seen a different side of Trent. She’d never expected him to be so firm about being a good father. Frankly, she’d been a little thrilled to hear him talk about making sure that he was there for any kid that was his. If he could be that focused and worried about the baby just minutes after knowing he was going to have a kid, she knew he’d be totally dedicated to the child after the baby was born. She’d been wrong to think he wouldn’t be a responsible father. And if she was wrong about that, what other beliefs about him was she clinging to out of habit? Or maybe she didn’t want to let go of the Trent she’d known since childhood—the goofy guy who could make her laugh and who always brought fun into her life.

She knew she’d grown up a little too rigid—too many years in a military household. Sure her father had spoiled her and her sister—but they’d also had rules to follow.
And,
she thought,
I was the big older sister—the good girl who had to set a good example.
There’d been times she’d wanted to have as much fun as Jillian always seemed to have. Jillian had been the party girl. Looking back, Victoria realized Trent had been the only one who could shake her out of walking the path of duty so she could stop and enjoy some of the scenery along the way.

She thought back to how he’d snuck her out of the off-base house her family had in Kuwait to take her for her first camel ride. That had been smelly and fun. He’d always dared her to step out of the mold of the colonel’s oldest daughter and just be herself. Back in the states, when they’d met up at the same college, she’d been the one who wanted to compete with him—to be better than anyone. But he’d been the one who could get her to laugh with some stunt—like the time he filled her dorm room with helium balloons.

Victoria shook her head.
Don’t go there!
She reminded herself. Trent really had to make his unborn baby his first priority—and if there wasn’t a kid on the way, if Cynthia had lied, then he needed to figure that out and sort that out. She could only be there for whatever he needed once he had his head on straight. Of course, it was nice to see that despite this upheaval in his life, he was still willing to concentrate on her problem.

Someone was out to get her—and Trent was the only help she had.

At least she felt better with a job she could tackle. Getting into Sue’s house would be easy, but doing that with the idea that she was there to snoop wasn’t going to be fun. The guilt already twisted inside her, and she knew she’d want to spill everything the second she saw Sue. Would she be able to go through with this? She shook her head.

She really had no other choice. She’d just have to buy Sue lunch later at her favorite restaurant and confess everything once she cleared Sue of any involvement. Sue would probably give her what for—but she also knew that Sue would forgive her.

At home, Victoria spent a few hours with Trent’s tablet, comparing login times to the list she’d made of what she’d been doing over the past few weeks. She kept a calendar, so she had a list of when she’d met friends after work, and she’d only gone out that once for lunch with Sue. It was actually a shock to see how much time she’d spent at her desk and logged into the company network. Victoria rummaged through her memory and made notes. At last she spotted a couple of discrepancies in the records.

“Ah ha—got you!” she muttered.

This confirmed someone had been logging on using her name and password. She jotted down the times—both of them were late night or early morning, on days she’d knew she’d gone to bed early. She generally came home and crashed with wine, a hot bath, and a chick flick on Fridays—and both of these logins had happened after midnight on a Friday. Both also showed that her account had been active for hours—just what Trent had said they should expect. Someone really did have to go looking for the files they’d wanted. But this wasn’t enough evidence to convict someone else.

Staring at the tablet screen, she chewed on a thumbnail. It really didn’t seem likely that Sue would be up so late on any Friday night—not with a husband and baby to wear her out during the day. However, it was time to be methodical about this—the first step was still to eliminate Sue as a suspect. Victoria didn’t like this uncertainty that a friend might have betrayed her—if she started getting her friends in the clear that would go a long way to making the world start to seem normal again, too.

Heading off to bed, Victoria tried to put all of her worries away. They came back in dreams with Cynthia riding a merry-go-round. Trent was on it, too, jumping from carousel horse to carousel horse. Victoria stood beside the spinning mechanism, watching the horses pass, trying to reach out and grab Trent’s hand, but never connecting. She woke heavy eyed and tired. A shower helped. So did some eggs, toast and coffee. Then she went back to the logs.

At noon, she took a break and called Sue to make the offer of babysitting that evening. Sue jumped on the offer, and that only increased the guilt that clamped down inside Victoria.

Sue’s concern came over the phone, loud and clear. “Is something wrong?”

“No. Nothing.” Victoria winced. She sounded too chipper. “Look, I’ll tell you more later—this night is all about you having a night off.”
And me doing some snooping.

“You’re the best!” Sue said.

Victoria flinched again. It was going to have to be two lunches, and maybe a girl’s day at the spa, too.

By five, she knew she needed to get ready to head over to Sue’s. She knew she was dragging her heels. She wanted to be sure, but she didn’t want to find out her friend had framed her. Her empty stomach churned, but she couldn’t eat anything. She settled for half a glass of wine, cheeks and crackers. Dressed in jeans, a flowered blouse, and a pair of flats, she headed out. 

By the time she pushed the bell on Sue’s apartment, her throat had tightened to the point that she felt like someone was strangling her. She kept fussing with her purse strap and she had the urge to blurt out everything as soon as the door opened. Warmth suddenly flooded over her back and arms. She turned and saw Trent.

She frowned. “I thought you were going to wait for my call?”

Leaning close, he smiled. “Take it easy. And breathe.”

The tremors inside her had a new reason to keep going. Trent brushed a fingertip down her arm. She shivered.

And Sue opened the door. She glanced from Victoria to Trent and then hugged Victoria. “Hey! How are you doing?”

“Oh, I lost my job and now I’m here to—”

Trent punched the small of her back and she gave a squeak.

“To give you a night off,” Trent said, stressing every word. “Hi, Sue—sorry about barging in on your babysitter, but I told her I’d keep her company.”

Sue glanced from Trent to Victoria. “Lost your job?”

“Long story. Can we come in?”

Sue opened the door wide. Victoria saw Liam, sitting on his highchair and eating dinner. “Hey, big guy. How are you doing?”

His face split into a grin. He threw a carrot on the floor and burst into laughter.

Hurrying over to him, Sue grabbed him out of his highchair. “Okay, you are done with that meal. He’s on strike bout carrots. Now what’s this about no job?”

“Allow me.” Trent swept Liam from Sue’s arms. “Bet you want an airplane ride, right buddy?” Holding Liam out he zoomed the baby though the air. Liam kicked, giggled and let out a shriek. Trent zoomed Liam into the living room, and Sue turned on Victoria.

“What’s this about not calling me about your job? So that’s why you sounded so weird today.”

Victoria caught Sue’s hand. “I really can’t talk about it right now—it’s…complicated.”

Sue glanced at Trent. “Just like you and him? Okay—I get it. You need time.” She glanced at her watch. “And I’m supposed to meet Shane downstairs in fifteen minutes.”

“Go—change.” Victoria turned and shoved Sue toward her bedroom. “Have fun tonight—and I swear I’ll tell you everything tomorrow.”

“You better.” Sue glanced once more at Trent, who was now sitting on the floor with Liam and discussing the merits of different toy trucks. “Wow, sure didn’t expect Trent to be so handy with anyone’s child.”

Victoria glanced at Trent. He reached out and poked a finger into Liam pudgy tummy, making Liam giggle. Her heart turned over. This is how he’d with his son—and it wouldn’t be their son. Her throat tightened. She looked away, her eyes and nose stinging.

Sue grabbed her hand and squeezed. “I think you need to have a chat with Trent.”

“His ex-girlfriend is pregnant.”

Sue’s mouth fell open. “Okay—a couple of days out of touch and I’m out of the loop on everything.”

Giving Sue another shove, Victoria shook her head. “It’s been busy, what can I say. Go—get ready. Go out. Have fun. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“We better.” Sue headed for the bedroom, calling out, “He needs his bath and bed in a half hour. If I don’t stick to a routine, he drives us crazy.”

Victoria nodded. “Sure. We’ll handle it.”

“Make yourself at home,” Sue yelled.

After she’d left, Trent glanced at Victoria. “Now?”

“Wait until she’s gone.” Victoria glanced at the stack of mail kept in an untidy heap on the kitchen counter.

He followed her stare and made a face. “I feel like we’re stuck in a bad TV show.”

Coming out in a dark blue dress, heels, and clipping on her earrings, Sue held out her arms. “Okay—sexy or still too mom?”

Standing, and scooping up Liam, Trent gave her a whistle. He bounced Liam on his hip. “You’ve got my vote for mom of the year. What do you say, kid? She look like hot stuff to you?” Liam grabbed Trent’s tie and stuck the tip of it in his mouth. Trent nodded. “I think that means his vote, too.”

Sue smiled. Turning on Victoria, she lost the smile. “We’ll chat after dinner. Wine’s in the fridge. Feel free to catch a movie.” A horn blared from outside and Sue ran for the door. “Or text me to catch me up on all the news—I can still multitask, you know.”

She slammed out the front door. Victoria let out a long breath and shook her head. “My bet is she’ll be back early. We don’t have long.”

Pulling his tie out of Liam’s mouth, Trent looked at her. “We also have a kid to wash up and put to bed.”

Holding out her arms, Victoria took Liam from him. “You start with the computer. I’ll get Liam tucked away and come back to hit the paper trail.”

It took longer than she expected to get Liam undressed, into a bath, and dry again. He splashed out most of the water she put in the tub, leaving her damp on all edges. With him dry and changed into fresh diapers and his nightclothes, she got him in his crib. He kept wanting to climb out again.

Trent’s low voice reached her from the doorway. “Let me. Come on, guy, Time for a lullaby.” Instead of singing something traditional, Trent started into a Hip-Hop rap about going to sleep. Victoria watched his moves, shaking her head. But Liam’s eyelids fell to half-mast. Trent got him on his back and kept the rap going, switching into quiet nonsense sounds. Two minutes later Liam was out.