Sex and the Widow Miles (The Women of Willow Bay) (13 page)

When he touched his lips to my mouth, I melted. He increased the pressure, branding me with a kiss that would leave no doubt in anyone
’s mind—particularly mine—what our relationship might be.

“
No overthinking us, Slugger,” he whispered when he released me.

Weak in the knees, I simply stared at him.
“Will… I… “

“
No.” He touched one finger to the tip of my nose. “Travel safe. Let me know you got there.”

I swallowed hard and nodded before dragging the roll-on behind me as the line moved forward. At the metal detectors, I piled my belongings on the belt and glanced back one last time.

Will was still standing right where I’d left him. He shook his head and mouthed, “No overthinking.”

With a tremulous smile and a flutter of my fingers, I nodded, then blew him a kiss.

THIRTEEN

The moment was bound to come, and indeed it did as Kevin, Meg, and I sat in the room at the birthing center, admiring my new grandson. I’d managed to avoid any mention of Charlie since I’d arrived, but his name finally came up. And in a way that I would’ve called
foul
on except that my innocent son and his sweet wife had no idea that his father was a lying, cheating snake. Plus, they’d just become a real family—a fact that was beyond important to Kevin. It was all he’d wanted from the time he and Meg had said, “I do.”

When I dropped my bags in the corner of the birthing room, Meg was nearly ready to deliver. After a quick hug for Kevin, I hurried to the other side of the bed and helped coach her through the last minutes of labor. Witnessing my grandson come into the world was an exhilarating experience. With quite a thatch of dark hair and my blue eyes, he was, well,
perfect
—almost a duplicate of his father as a newborn.

Kevin and an exhausted Meg watched as I cuddled and rocked him, their expressions tender enough to bring tears to my eyes.
“Okay,” I said, touching the baby’s tiny nose with my fingertip. “So what’s this little guy’s name?”

Rising from his seat on the bed next to Meg, my son came over to kneel by the rocking chair.
“Meg and I agreed, Mom. We’re naming him after Dad.” Kevin’s eyes filled as he said the name I’d been avoiding. “Charles Edward Miles. the Second.”

My heart sank, and I dropped my gaze back to the baby, fearful that my disappointment might show. I knew they
’d chosen the name to please me because Kevin believed it would make me happy to honor his dad. They didn’t know about Charlie’s deception or that he was anything but the perfect father and husband.

I took a deep breath that could have been interpreted in any way, even happiness. No way was I going to spoil this moment for them. Gulping, I cupped Kevin
’s cheek. “That’s wonderful. What shall we call him?”

Kevin
’s smile was worth the effort of concealing my own heartache. “We thought maybe
Eddie
. That way he’ll have his own name, even though we named him after Dad.” He leaned forward to press a quick kiss on my cheek. “What do you think?”

“
I love it.” Gazing down at the sleeping infant, I touched my lips to his forehead, and the cotton cap they’d put on him after delivery tickled my nose. Biting my lip, I vowed silently that I wouldn’t allow this precious child to be a constant reminder of Charlie’s infidelity, even if he was his namesake.

Eddie
.

I could work with that.

* * * *

Around midnight, when Meg and the baby were settled in the room at the birthing center, Kevin and I stopped for a beer and a sandwich at a pub near the hotel. Sitting in the dim bar, we faced each other across the booth, both too tired to even attempt conversation. As I gazed at him, his resemblance to his father hit me full force. I hadn
’t seen him since he’d flown by home on business right before Thanksgiving. Stubble shadowed his cheeks, his hair was awry, and his eyes were smudged with weariness but still shining. He was Charlie, but he was the impassioned, young Charlie who’d vowed eternal devotion to me, not that other guy—the one who’d made a mockery of my life.

“
Whew.” He smiled at me wanly. “I’m completely jacked, but I’m too tired to show it.”

“
I can imagine.” Reaching across the table, I took his hand. “I remember how exhausted we were when you were born.”

“
He’s beautiful, isn’t he?”

“
He’s gorgeous, Kev.” I gave his fingers a squeeze as the waiter set our beers in front of us. “To Eddie. Welcome to the world.” I raised my glass.

“
Thanks for coming out, Mom.” Kevin swiped foam off his lip with his napkin. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“
Oh, I’m fairly sure he would have made his appearance whether I was here or not.” I took another sip of icy beer. “Once they decide they’re ready to come out, it’s pretty hard to stop them.”

“
I wish Dad were here.”

“
I know you do.” I gave him a small smile.

“
He’d have been so into this, you know?” Kevin’s wistful expression nearly crushed my heart. “Remember how he broke out the expensive champagne when we told you guys we were trying to get pregnant?”

I nodded. Charlie would
’ve been excited about becoming a grandfather. He’d talked about babies constantly after Kevin and Meg told us they were going to start a family. Odd that he’d even given it a moment’s thought, considering the double life he’d been leading. Blood pounded in my ears, so I took a long drink of beer and temporarily willed away the anger. I was going to have to deal with this. I couldn’t keep getting furious every time the man’s name was mentioned. That simply wasn’t going to work, particularly around my kids.

Our
kids.

We drank in tired silence for a few minutes until our food arrived. Kevin dove into his cheeseburger with gusto, and I was surprised at how hungry I was. The chicken sandwich tasted delicious, and the pub made killer fries.

Kevin leaned back in the booth, crossing his arms over his chest. It was a Charlie posture—I’d seen it hundreds of times when he was preparing to say something he considered important. The resemblances between my dead husband and my older son seemed so much more evident at that moment. I mused on the reasons for this phenomenon as Kevin spoke.

“
Mom, you look great.” He eyed me as I wolfed down the last of my fries. “Damn good, in fact. How are things going? I mean…
really
?”

“
I
am
good, honey.” I dabbed at my lips with my napkin. “Really,” I added when he raised one brow. “I’m busy in Chicago, volunteering at a boutique that’s associated with a women’s shelter. I love the work, and it’s a great cause. I’m having fun, and it keeps my mind occupied. I’m swimming in the pool at the apartment building, and I’m getting stronger every day. I’m seeing the therapist once a week and she’s already halved my antidepressants,” I enumerated, determined to keep a smile on my face.

“
I ran into Liam in Washington last month. I was there on business, and he was conducting the National Philharmonic at the music center at Strathmore.”

“
Did you get to go? How was it?”

“
Yeah, he left me a ticket at will-call.” Kevin popped a couple of fries into his mouth. “It was great, but afterward, we had a drink and talked about… well, about
you
.”

“
Ah, so that’s why my ears were burning a few weeks ago.” A weak attempt at humor on my part, which Kevin ignored.

“
He and Carrie think you’re better in Chicago—away from home. How long will you stay there do you think?”

I shrugged.
“Right now, it’s one day at a time.”

“
Well, Liam thinks you should stay as long as you want to.”

“
I’ll see. I know I’d miss the lake in the summer.”

Where was the kid heading?
I didn’t have to wait past his next words to find out.

“
Mom, your house is so big. Maybe you should think about putting it on the market. I know real estate’s slow right now, but things always pick up around there in the spring. I hate the idea of you rattling around there all by yourself.” He said it fast, in one breath as he fidgeted with his fries and avoided my gaze.

If I
’d been being perfectly honest with him at that moment, I would’ve told him I never wanted to go near Charlie Miles’s house again. The very thought made my blood boil. If I’d been standing in front of it, I could’ve happily set a match to the place. All the work I’d done to make it the perfect haven from his busy career, and how had it served me? He was out fucking other women.

Nice, Charlie. Real nice.

Inwardly, I seethed, suddenly remembering the little things I’d given in on when we built the place. I’d let
him
make the choices about paint and furniture. The giant leather sofa that I hated in the family room was
his
idea. Sky-fucking-blue paint everywhere in the kitchen, breakfast nook, and sun porch—again him.
“We live on a lake,”
he’d insisted.
“Blue is a lake color.”

I
’d wanted a red and yellow kitchen, something French and kitschy, and maybe soft sage green on the bead board walls in the sun porch. But we did it Charlie’s way. We
always
did it Charlie’s way.

At the time, I was glad to do it because it made him happy and that was
all I ever wanted—for Charlie to be happy.

Only the master bedroom was me—soft English chintzes, painted furniture, and pale green walls—Charlie
gave
me that room to decorate as I pleased because he said it made him feel like he was sneaking into a boudoir whenever he came into it. I bought it, hook, line, and sinker.

B
astard. You still won, even when you made it seem like you were doing me a big favor.

“
Mom?” Kevin’s foot brushed my leg under the table.

“
What?”

“
Are you even listening to me?” A frown furrowed his brow.

I nodded.
“I was just thinking about what you were saying.”

“
What was I saying?”

“
You think I should sell the house. That it’s too big for me to live there alone.”

“
Yes, but what else did I say?”

“
Um…” He had me.

“
Meg and I want you to move here.” He gave me the little coaxing smile he’d undoubtedly learned at my knee.

“
Honey, I don’t know—”

“
No, listen, okay? It makes perfect sense.” Elbows on the table, he leaned in to explain. “You can sell the house and use the money to buy an apartment near us. They’re not nearly as expensive as they used to be. Prices have come down in the Bay, too, you know. Then you’ll be close to us and to Eddie. Ryan and Renee aren’t settled yet and if you’re with us, maybe they’ll decide to come out here instead of moving back to Michigan. We can be together again.”

I could see how badly he wanted me to say
yes
, but it would never work. Maybe I was ready to sell Charlie’s dream house on the shore, but I had no desire to move to California.

“
Kevin, slow down.” Reaching across the table, I covered his hand with mine. “I love you. You and Ryan and Renee are my heart. I miss you every day, but I can’t move out to California.”

“
Mom—”

I stopped him with one raised finger.
“This is
your
life. My life’s in Michigan. My friends are there. If I moved at all, it’d be to Carrie’s old apartment.”

I had no
idea where that had come from, but it was brilliant. I’d love to live in Carrie’s apartment above the boathouse at Dixon’s Marina. Then another possibility occurred to me.

“
Or maybe I’ll move to Chicago, but it’s too soon to even think about that.”

His chin dropped and I tilted my head to stare into his eyes. Disappointment turned them darker blue.
“Can’t you at least consider it?”

“
I don’t need to consider it.” I patted his hand. “But I’ll be out here so often, you’ll be sick to death of me. I’ve got a new grandson to spoil and I intend to be a world-class spoiler.”

The look he gave me told me he didn
’t intend to give up. “You should check Dad’s frequent flyer miles and see if they’re transferrable to you. I bet they would be.”

“
Yeah, I’ll check into that.” Suddenly a huge yawn consumed me. “I’m tired. Are you ready to go?”

“
Yep, I feel like I could sleep for a week.” He caught the waiter’s eye and air-scribbled, indicating he wanted our check. “Hey, have you seen Will Brody? Liam said he was in Chicago, setting up the summer tour. Glad there’s somebody there you kinda know.”

“
I do see Will now and then. He lives in the same building.” No need to expand since I had no idea how Kevin would react to the news that his mother had slept with the man in question. Except for the shiver of sensation the memory inspired, I still hadn’t decided how
I
was reacting to it.

At first, my initial response to finding Charlie
’s secret life was to do the same thing to him—find someone else and fuck his brains out. It was simply about revenge. In that moment of insanity, I believed sleeping with Will would somehow hurt Charlie. But revenge got lost almost from the second Will’s lips touched mine. And now, longing for Will was jumbled in my head with anger at Charlie. The two things had gotten connected in my brain—and in my heart—and I had to disconnect them before Will and I went any further.