Ripe: A Stepbrother Pregnancy Romance (8 page)

“Yes,” Elise said after awhile, resisting the urge to snap on him. “I’ve had a chance to think since our last conversation, and I’ve changed my mind. I mean, what did you expect from me? You showed up here out of the blue, after years without even so much as a phone call. Did you really think I’d just greet you with open arms?

Elise was met with silence as she awaited his response. When one didn’t come, she thought he hung up and was about to do the same when she heard him clear his throat.

“What time should I come by?”

Elise’s heart skipped a beat. “I get off work at six. So does seven work for you?”

“Fine by me.”

“Great.”

Elise rushed to her car as soon as she got off work the next day. She’d been up half the night making sure her apartment was presentable, assessing each room not as someone trying to impress an old flame, but as someone who was trying to locate any signs of weakness. The last thing she wanted was for Jesse to look down on her humble lifestyle anymore than he already did.

Deanna and Isaiah were out in the backyard playing when Elise arrived. “Sorry I’m late,” she apologized. “I had to made a quick stop at this place by my job to pick up dinner. How’s he doing?”

“Well, he refused to nap,” Deanna said, looking visibly exhausted.

Elise knew the feeling all too well, but she was secretly glad that Jesse would get to see Isaiah in his less charming state. “Sorry,” she said. “Looks like it’ll be an early night for him then.”

“Tell me about it. The poor boy is exhausted. I bet you won’t even make it through dinner before he starts begging for sleep.”

Elise watched Isaiah run around the yard like a wild man. He was delirious with fatigue. She could tell that much just by looking at him.

“Well I’d better get him home,” Elise said, glancing down at the time on her cell phone. At this rate she would barely even have enough time to change out of her work clothes and into something more suitable before Jesse was due to arrive.

On the drive home from Deanna’s house, Elise played Isaiah’s favorite CD in order to keep him awake. It did the trick, and by the time she pulled into a parking spot, he was up and ready to go.

Elise got Isaiah out of the car, and when she looked up, she was shocked to find Jesse walking his way towards them.

“I’m a little early,” Jesse explained. “I got off work sooner than expected.”

Isaiah plastered his face to the glass to get a better glimpse at what was going on, and Jesse couldn’t help but smirk.

“Mommy, who’s that man?”

Elise avoided answering the question, but only because she had no idea how to introduce Jesse to Isaiah. Why hadn’t she thought of that ahead of time?

“Need some help?” Jesse nodded at the heavy load of stuff she was carrying.

Elise started to refuse his assistance, but he took the bag with the food in it from her before she could. “Thanks,” she said, following Isaiah up the concrete steps that led to their apartment building. She called out for him to wait, but he didn’t stop moving until he reached the front door.

Elsie unlocked her apartment and entered the kitchen, taking the food from Jesse and putting it in the oven to reheat while she went to change into something more comfortable.

“Dinner’s ready,” she called out about fifteen minutes later.

“That was fast,” Jesse noted, looking up from the cartoon he was watching with Isaiah.

Elise didn’t say anything to him. Instead, she instructed Isaiah to wash his hands before turning on her heels and heading for the table.

A few seconds later, Isaiah tore down the hall and into the kitchen.

“He’s a ball of energy,” Jesse noted, taking a seat across from Elise and unfolding his napkin.

Elise smirked and made brief eye contact with him. “That he is.”

Chapter Fourteen

Isaiah dominated the conversation at the table during dinner. He listed off all the things he’d done with Deanna earlier that day, and Elise sat back and remained quiet, allowing Jesse to converse with him as she stood watch.

“What’s your name?” Isaiah questioned, locking eyes with Jesse as he awaited his response.

Elise gave Jesse a look that told him not to say anything damming.

“Jesse.”

“Oh.” Isaiah crinkled his nose and thought it over. “Are you my mom’s new boyfriend?”

“Isaiah!” Elise admonished, feeling her face flush.

“That’s okay,” Jesse said with a brief smirk. “Nah, your mom and I are just friends from work, that’s all.”

Isaiah seemed skeptical but he quickly became distracted by his food and fell silent.

After dinner, Elise avoided speaking to Jesse aside from comments relating directly to Isaiah. For a willing audience, he put on quite the show, bringing all his favorite books and toys out of his room to show off.

To her surprise, Elise noticed that Jesse didn’t seem bored in the least. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying every minute of it.

“I’m going to be seven on my next birthday,” Isaiah spoke up, tossing his toys to the side and switching topics.

“I know,” Jesse said. He glanced briefly up at Elise. She gave him a look that said not to say too much, but he was already one step ahead of her. “Your mom told me.”

Isaiah seemed to buy it, and he went on to tell Jesse about his birthday party.

Elise felt bad that she had yet to even plan it.

“I’ll be right back,” Elise said as she sprinted down the hall to the bathroom. She was hoping to hold off her urge to pee until Jesse left, but it was easier said than done.

When Elise returned to the living room a few minutes later, the sight that awaited her made her breath hitch in her throat.

Isaiah had climbed into Jesse’s lap. His eyes were closed, and Jesse was studying his small fingers as he slept.

Jesse looked up when he took notice of Elise’s presence in the doorway. “He just stopped talking and said he was tired,” he explained, crossing his fingers that she wouldn’t chew him out.

Elise swallowed hard in an attempt to regain her composure. “That’s just how he is. He’s always been an affectionate kid. I…I should probably get him to bed. Deanna said he didn’t nap today.”

“I can take him,” Jesse volunteered, situating Isaiah so that he could stand up with him in his arms. “Where’s his room?”

Elise could tell by the look on his face that any protesting on her part would be futile. She got to put Isaiah to bed every night, and if the rest of this meeting went the way she intended it to, Jesse would probably never do it again.

Elise led the way to Isaiah’s room and stood watch as Jesse gently laid him down on his bed. As soon as he did, she stepped forward to remove his socks and slipped off his t-shirt, exchanging it with a clean one.

“Wow he’s a hard sleeper,” Jesse spoke up in a low voice. “He really doesn’t wake up when you do that?”

Elise shook her head and exited Isaiah’s bedroom a few seconds later, Her standoffish body language made it clear to Jesse that she had no intention on visiting with him any longer.

“Look,” Jesse spoke up, clearing his throat. “I just wanted to say that I—”

“Don’t worry,” Elise interrupted. “I’ll tell Isaiah you said goodbye.”

“Elise,” Jesse said. The expression on his face was one laced with guilt. “I want you to let me support the two of you. I want to pay child support.”

“Well we don’t need it,” Elise said.

This wasn’t good. If he was offering to give her money, that meant he pitied her, and the last thing she needed was anyone’s pity. Especially
his.

“I just want to see him, Elise,” Jesse continued, stressing his point. “This can’t be the last time. It would kill me.”

Elise felt an uncharted rage burn its way through her. “I knew it,” she said, shaking her head. “I knew you wouldn’t stick to your word. But guess what? You can’t buy our affection, Jesse. That’s not how this works.”

“That’s not what I’m asking and you know it. All I’m asking is for the chance to know my son.”

“No,” Elise corrected. “You said you wanted to see him, once, and I let you, didn’t I? I adhered to my part of the bargain, so why can’t you ever just adhere to yours?”

“Elise, he’s my flesh and blood. Regardless of what happened between us, I have a right to be in his life and you know it. I’m sorry but if you won’t willingly take my money, I’ll have to draw up the order myself. I’m not going to back down on this. You want to talk about me never keeping my promises? Well just you watch, because I fully intend on keeping this one.”

Elise stared at him for a few seconds in quiet disbelief. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why do you keep asking me that? How many times do I have to spell it out for you? I want to have a relationship with my son. Why can’t you just accept that for what it is?”

“Because I know you, Jesse! I’ve known you practically my entire life! Everything you do comes with some ulterior motive. It’s just the way you operate.”

Jesse and Elise stared each other down for what felt like an eternity. When the moment finally passed, he didn’t bother waiting for her to kick him out of her apartment. He opened the door and showed himself out before she could.

Much to Elise’s chagrin, Isaiah mentioned Jesse on several occasions over the course of the next few days. Lucky for her, her short and uninformative answers to his questions were sufficient and eventually he forgot about him and focused on other things.

Elise, however, didn’t forget. She knew it would only be a matter of time before she heard from Jesse again, and the fear of not knowing when or where he’d strike next began to slowly take its toll on her. She wasn’t sleeping well, and as a result, she looked horrible, and she felt about ten times worse.

When Elise showed up at Deanna’s to drop Isaiah off one morning, Deanna noticed right away that something was wrong with her.

It took too much energy for Elise to lie to her, and she quickly found herself pouring her heart out over a cup of lukewarm coffee. “He’s going to take Isaiah away,” she choked out, beginning to cry as she broke down. “I thought that if I let him see him once, like he wanted, that he wouldn’t, but he’s going to. I can feel it.”

“He told you that?”

“Not in so many words, but yes.” Elise sniffed and shook her head. “And he knows something about my job that he’s not telling me. He’s such an asshole!”

“Elise, just slow down,” Deanna said, handing her a tissue. “Don’t get yourself all worked up. Look…when you get off work today, we’re going to sit down and get to the bottom of this. Just don’t worry yourself sick, all right? No one is going to take Isaiah away from you. That’ll never happen in a million years. You’re way too good of a mother.”

Elise nodded and wiped her face. Even though they were just words, they were soothing, and they did their part in making her feel at least a little bit better.

Chapter Fifteen

Isaiah was completely oblivious to the situation unfolding between his parents. He played the morning away, and when Deanna told him it was time for them to head to the beach, he was in his swim trunks and out the door in a flash.

Deanna took her normal spot away from all the mothers as she thought about the level of anguish in Elise’s voice that morning. In all the years Deanna had known her, she’d never seen her so shook up about something.