Underestimated (70 page)

fishing,” he said, excited.

I couldn’t help but smile too. I could just see the

three of us walking along the beach with a brown haired

little boy riding on Dawson’s shoulders.

“Have you thought about names?” he asked.

“Not really. The only thing that I knew for sure

was if it was a girl, her middle name was going to be

Joyce like mine and Caroline’s”

“Wait. I thought your middle name was Michelle,”

he stated, confused.

I smiled an uncertain smile.” Riley’s middle name

is Michelle. Morgan’s middle name is Joyce.”

Dawson didn’t reply right away. He contemplated

what I had just said, briefly before responding. “I can’t

call you Morgan, Ry.”

I kind of giggled. “I don’t want you to call me

Morgan.” I didn’t. I wasn’t Morgan with him. I was

Morgan with Drew, and I wanted to keep the two

separated.

We stopped at Star’s on the way through town and

had one of her new club sandwiches. She now had two

girls working for her plus the one that I had l already met.

The place was hopping. Of course she had to let her new

help know that they were working there because of me. I

believed that myself though. I know that it wouldn’t have

been any more than the run down coffee shop, had I not

taken it up on myself to turn it into something unique.

By the time we made it back, I was tired and ready

for my daily nap. I never realized how much being

pregnant took out of you. I was tired all the time.

Dawson stopped me just in the door. He kissed me

and told me that he loved me. He was as proud as an

Olympian wearing a gold medal.

“I love you too,” I smiled up at him kissing him.

“I suppose you are heading straight to the couch,”

he mused.

“That is exactly where I am heading,” I assured

him. What I really wanted to do was call Drew. I told him

that I would call as soon as I found out. I wondered if he

even remembered. Maybe I wouldn’t call him. Yes. I

would. The bastard asked if he could call and hadn’t

called one time in almost a week.

I sat on the sofa and started to call my mom.

“Who are you calling?” Dawson asked.

“My mom. I told her I would call after we found

out.”

Dawson knelt in front of me and kissed me again.

“I’m going to my house for a bit and then to work. I’ll see

you tonight,” he said.

“Okay, I’m going to lie on this couch and fall

asleep to some tacky soap opera.”

He smiled and kissed me. “I’ll call you later. I

love you.”

“I love you too.”

I had just gotten on the phone with my mom when I

had a beep from Drew. Of course I had to take it right that

second.

“I’ll call you back in a few minutes, mom. Drew is

beeping.”

“Why? I thought you and Dawson were an item

now. Have you filed for divorce?”

Okay. My mom and I hadn’t talked for years. I

didn’t think she had the right to go there.

“We are. I will call you back,” I said. I wanted to

get to Drew before he hung up.

“Hello,” I answered Drew.

“I’m having a boy aren’t I?”

“You’re an ass. I thought you were going to call

me.”

“You told me I had to call during the day while

Columbo was at work.”

“Who?”

“Never mind. You’re too young to know who that

is.”

“I’m four years younger than you,” I reminded him,

“and you didn’t call at all.”

“That’s because I don’t work that way. I have to

have everything under my terms.”

“That’s why you’re an ass.”

Drew laughed. God I missed him.

“Are you going to tell me what I am having or not.”

“It’s a boy.”

“YES!” he exclaimed. “I knew it.”

I smiled. He was just as excited as Dawson was. I

couldn’t help but wonder which one was going to be

disappointed.

“Would you like a picture of him?”

“You mean an ultra sound picture?”

“Yes. It’s 3D and neat as hell. You can actually

see his little tongue sticking out.”

“Hell yeah, I want to see. Do it now,” he

demanded.

I laughed and went into the small office, scanned

the picture, and sent it to his email.

“I just sent it,” I said.

“Got it. Holy shit, Morgan. That’s a real baby in

there,” he stated the obvious.

“Um, yeah. What did you think was in there?” I

asked, entertained by him.

“You can’t tell me that this kid isn’t mine. He

looks just like me.”

I laughed. Although the picture was very vivid, you

really couldn’t tell that yet. I tried.

“Fly home and spend a couple of days with me,”

Drew requested.

“I am home,” I assured him.

“No. No, you’re not home. This is your home. I

wish you would hurry up and realize that so that I could

stop missing you.”

I smiled. I would love to jump on a plane and go

spend a few days with him, but I couldn’t do that. I had

already had sex with him on two different occasions while

Dawson patiently waited on me to come back to him.

I liked the fact that he missed me. Why? I didn’t

know. I was just weaving tangled webs for myself. I

seemed to be an expert at that.

“I’m sure that Celeste is keeping you occupied,” I

stated.

“It really bothers you to think that I am having sex

with Celeste, doesn’t it? What bothers you Morgan? Is it

the image of her bent over my knee or is it the thought of

me giving it to her up the ass?”

“You’re a son of a bitch. Are you doing those

things with her?” I had to ask.

He laughed. “Are you doing those things with

Dawson?” he answered my question with a question.

I had to laugh at that. “Um…No. Dawson isn’t that

type.”

“So you still just have a boring sex life. I thought

for sure you would have taught him a thing or two by now.

What do you do, just the plain old missionary position?”

“This baby doesn’t quite let us do that,” I stated. I

didn’t want to talk about my sex life with Dawson. I

wanted to know what he was doing with Celeste. “Answer

my question.”

“No. I’m going to let you think whatever you want,

and I will continue to think whatever I want about you

having boring sex with Dawson, and don’t call me an ass

or a son of a bitch either,” he added. He wasn’t going to

tell me. That told me that he was doing it with Celeste.

Bitch.

I stayed on the phone for over an hour with Drew.

It soon became the norm. He would call every day around

ten in the morning. I would email or text him when I knew

that Dawson was off and would be at my house. Believe it

or not, he didn’t call when he was there. This went on for

almost a month until I couldn’t take it a second longer. I

had to see him. I did feel bad for betraying Dawson, but in

all honesty I had been illuminating him all along. He

wouldn’t have liked my daily conversations with Drew.

My plan almost didn’t work. I told him that I was

going to visit my mom for a few days. He wanted to come

with me.

“I want you there,” I lied. “I just don’t think I

should give that impression to Caroline. She has already

met Drew, and she knows that he is my husband,” I

explained.

“Are you ever going to divorce him, Ry?” he

asked. I could tell that he was getting annoyed with the

whole concept of me not filing for divorce yet. I was

getting annoyed with him for constantly bringing it up.

I rolled my eyes and removed my legs strung

across his on the sofa.

“I take that as a no,” he called to my back as I

walked away.

“We have this same conversation over and over.

I’ve told you that I intend to divorce him. I don’t see what

the big deal is. I’m here with you, aren’t I?”

“The big deal is, I don’t want to continue to go to

bed with someone that has another man’s name, and I sure

as hell don’t want that son of bitch’s name on my son’s

birth certificate.”

“You know, Daw, he might not be your son.” Shit.

I didn’t want to say that out loud.

“Is that what you’re waiting on, Ry? Do you need

to see if he comes out looking like him before you commit

to me?”

“No. I didn’t mean it that way. Can we just go to

bed?” I asked, not wanting to discuss this for the one

hundredth time.

“Yeah, sure,” he unemotionally replied.

***

up. I didn’t want Dawson to run by my house, which he

often did during the day, just to check on me. I was

terrified that he was going to show up while Gary was

picking me up. I had told him that Star was driving me to

the airport. She agreed to go along with me if Dawson

asked, but refused to listen to any of the details. She didn’t

want to know what I was doing, but at least she didn’t

judge me the way Lauren did. Lauren and I had an

understanding. She didn’t like the fact that I kept Drew at

arm’s length, and I didn’t give her any unneeded

information. I would have loved to have been able to talk

to her, but I knew how she felt. She felt the same way that

everyone felt. I had no one to talk to about it, so I kept my

little secret a secret.

I slept most of the flight. I was doing that quite a

bit it seemed.

The warm weather was refreshing. I loved this

time of year in Vegas. Unlike Maine, November in Las

Vegas was comfortable. It had been forty one degrees

when I got on the plane. The seventy four degree

temperature when I got off felt like a breath of fresh air.

I was a little mad that Drew wasn’t there to pick

me up himself, after begging me for a month to come and

see him. Gary drove me to the house. I was even madder

when he wasn’t at the house either. Marta had a snack

waiting for me when I arrived. I ate about half of my

sandwich and text him.

“Where the hell are you?”

“Calm down. I’m almost there. I had an unexpected

meeting. Don’t go upstairs until I get there.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

I couldn’t even finish my sandwich. For one thing I

wanted to know why I couldn’t go upstairs, and I could

hardly wait to see him. I walked out to the front and sat

down on the concrete step. I know that I only waited for

about five minutes, but it seemed like at least an hour.

Drew got out wearing the grin that I loved. He was

wearing his customary expensive suit and tie, but damn

did he ever look hot. We weren’t even supposed to be

together. I was in a relationship with Dawson, and I

presumed that he was doing Celeste. I didn’t care at that

moment. I wanted in his arms.

“Hey gorgeous,” He said, taking me in his arms.

“Hi. Why can’t I go upstairs?”

Drew laughed. I lost my happy smile when I saw

Celeste standing behind the car carrying a stack of folders.

She smiled at me, and I gave her a fake smile back.

“Why is she here?” I quietly asked.

“She’s got work to do. Stop it,” he demanded,

kissing me on my forehead. I grumbled a quiet throat

noise.

Drew pulled me inside. We went into his office

with Celeste first. I sat there with my arms crossed while

he went over some numbers that were throwing a red flag

or something. I was trying not to pay attention. I didn’t

care. He was explaining what he wanted her to do when I

got up to walk out. I didn’t come all that way to listen to

him conduct business. Drew grabbed my arm before I had

a chance to escape, giving me a look to be still. He stood

behind Celeste and pointed to some sort of graph on the

computer. His eyes were boring into me. I wanted her to

leave so that I could get him naked. He was already

driving me crazy, and I had just gotten there.

“I’ve got it. Go spend some time with your wife,”

Celeste animatedly told him, waving him out.

“Okay. Show me what you bought me,” I

demanded once he had shut the office door.

“I didn’t buy you anything,” he assured me as he

turned me to the wall. He held my hands above my head

and kissed me like he really did miss me.

“Damn. What was that for?” I panted.

“That was for making me miss you like crazy.”

He took my hand and I followed him upstairs. I