Starting Over (19 page)

“Like hell you
will.” He grabbed the door, refusing to let her close it. “I want a
paternity test.” He glared at her as she slid into the driver’s
seat. “If this kid is mine, you can bet I’m going to be a part of
his or her life whether you like it or not.”

“I should have
divorced you a long time ago,” she whispered and wrenched the door
out of his hand.

“Why the hell
didn’t you?” he asked, throwing up his hands.

“Because I
loved you.” She slid off her glasses so he could see the shattered
look in her eyes. “But you cured me of that today. Thank you for
that.” Starting the car, she set her foot on the break and put the
car in reverse.

“Wait a
minute,” Alex said, fearing he’d made the second biggest mistake of
his life. “Don’t—” He had to jump back to avoid getting run over
when she stomped on the gas. He watched her tail lights disappear
as he wrestled the urge to jump on his bike and go after her. He
remembered her saying she’d driven through the night. She was
probably exhausted, and one error in judgement from trying to avoid
him could wind up hurting her… or his unborn baby. Running his
hands through his hair, he paced back and forth over the driveway
and tried to process the fact he was going to be a father…

***

Eve could
barely see through her tears as she navigated the deserted small
town streets until she pulled into the bed and breakfast she’d
passed a few hours earlier. She couldn’t drive any farther. If not
for the baby, she would have toughed it out with a gallon of coffee
and greasy drive-thru, just to get as far away from Alex as
possible, but she couldn’t put herself first.

Even in her
nightmares, she hadn’t imagined Alex reacting that way. She hadn’t
expected him to be thrilled, but his reaction seemed over the top
for a man who had claimed to be in love with her only a few weeks
ago. Dropping her head to the steering wheel, she cursed herself
for bringing Dan into the equation. That’s when things had gone
from bad to worse. Alex’s accusations filtered through her mind,
making her question how they would learn to co-exist as parents.
Just a few weeks ago, she’d thought Alex would always be someone
she could count on. Instead, she feared anger and resentment may be
the foundation of their future relationship, and she didn’t want
that for herself or her child.

Reaching for
the door handle, Eve sighed and prayed the silver-haired lady
sitting on the front porch knitting would agree to give her a hot
meal and a place to sleep for a few hours. Eve smiled as she walked
tentatively up the steps. “Hello, ma’am, I hope I’m not disturbing
you. I was just wondering whether you might have a room for
rent.”

The woman, who
Eve guessed to be in her mid-seventies, sized her up thoroughly
before her eyes drifted to Eve’s car. “You’re not from around here,
are you?”

“No, I’m from
Vermont. I… uh… just came to see a friend.” Once, she wouldn’t have
hesitated to call Alex a friend, but she wasn’t so sure
anymore.

Setting the
pastel baby blanket in her lap, she said, “Can’t be much of a
friend if she can’t offer you a place to stay after you came all
this way to see her.”

Eve didn’t want
to divulge her whole life story, but she suspected she wouldn’t get
anywhere with the woman unless she gave a little. “Actually, I came
to see my ex-husband. We… uh… had some unfinished business to
discuss, and let’s just say it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped.”

“Name’s Vera
Morrison, by the way.”

“It’s a
pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Morrison,” Eve said, offering her hand.
“Eve Bolton.”

“What do you
do, Eve?”

Eve didn’t see
how that was relevant. She was just asking a place to stay for one
night. “I just inherited an inn from my aunt.” Hoping to score
points, she added, “I have a lot to learn, but I’m looking forward
to the challenge.”

Vera pointed to
the swing next to her rocking chair. “Take a load off. Looks like
you’re about ready to drop.”

“Thanks.” Eve
hadn’t seen any other accommodations in the area, so she could
either befriend Vera or sleep in her car. She took the seat her
host offered and smiled as Vera resumed work on her baby blanket.
“That’s so pretty.” Eve leaned forward to have a closer look. “I’ve
always wondered how to create that pattern.”

“You knit?”
Vera asked, peering at her as her knitting needles stopped
moving.

“A little,” Eve
said, feeling self-conscious. “Quilting is more my thing, but…”

“Hmm, I should
show you the quilts upstairs. Did them all myself.”

At least she
was one step closer to a bedroom. “I’d love to see them.”

“So, what
happened with this ex of yours?”

Vera was
direct, like her Aunt Sharon. Eve had a feeling the two women would
have gotten along famously. Twisting her hands in her lap, Eve
struggled with how much she should tell her. Alex had obviously
decided to call the small town home, and she didn’t think it would
help their already tenuous situation if she started telling the
locals their personal business. “He’s going through a rough time
trying to sort some things out. I thought I could help, but I was
wrong.”

“You must still
love him to come all this way.” Vera resumed knitting, but Eve knew
she was expecting a response. She wasn’t the kind of woman to let a
subject rest.

“He was an
important part of my life for a long time,” Eve said, fixating on
the handmade, woven rug covering the white porch. “Some habits are
hard to break.”

“Why’d y’all
break up?”

If there was
another hotel, motel, cottage, or room for rent in a fifty-mile
radius, Eve would have politely excused herself. But she couldn’t
trust herself to keep her eyes open if she got behind the wheel
again. “We just drifted apart. He was working a lot, I was home
alone…”

“If you ask me,
young people today don’t try hard enough. My Melvin and I didn’t
always have it easy. There were a lot of tough times, but we sure
didn’t consider divorce an option.”

Eve wasn’t
interested in being judged by a stranger, but she smiled politely.
Listening was the fastest route to a bed.

“You got any
kids with this fella?”

“Um…” Eve’s
hands drifted to her stomach. “We…”

“Ah, I see.
You’re expecting.”

“Yes,” Eve said
quietly.

“You want this
baby?”

Eve was taken
aback by the question. “Of course I do. I’ve been trying to get
pregnant for a long time. The fact that it happened now was
unexpected, but that doesn’t mean I’m not thrilled.” She hadn’t
planned to divulge so much, but she was too tired to lie.

“But your man
isn’t too happy about it. Is that right?”

Eve looked
around, needing a moment to collect herself. The white colonial was
meticulously maintained, as were the shrubs and flowers lining the
cobblestone walkway. The grass was freshly cut, and the mature
trees dotting the large property provided a perfect backdrop.
Either Vera was a very active woman and maintained the property
herself, or she had help.

“You don’t have
to answer that,” Vera said when she didn’t respond. “I can tell
he’s not.”

“Mrs. Morrison,
I don’t mean to be rude, but if you don’t have a room available, I
should be on my way.” She was praying Vera wouldn’t send her away,
but sitting through another minute of her cross-examination was
almost as distressing as the prospect of sleeping in her car. Her
stomach rumbled loud enough for Vera to hear. Eve crossed her arms
and blushed. “Sorry, I kind of skipped breakfast.”

Vera frowned as
she set her knitting back in the basket beside her chair. “You
can’t be skipping meals. You’ve got a baby to think about. Come on
inside. We’ll get you set up, and you can help yourself to the
leftovers from lunch.”

“Thank you,”
Eve said, thinking she could kiss the old woman. “I won’t be a
bother. I just need a place to stay for tonight, and then I’ll be
on my way.”

Vera held the
screen door open as she turned to face Eve. “You sure you don’t
wanna stick around a while? Maybe try to talk to your man again
tomorrow, when he’s had a chance to think things through?”

“No, the sooner
I get home, the better.”

Alex cursed silently
when Dan picked up the phone at the inn. Alex had been trying to
reach Eve for days. She was obviously screening her calls and
hadn’t responded to his text or voice mail messages. Not being able
to reach her, to know that she and his baby were safe, was making
him crazy. He needed to talk to her, to apologize for overreacting,
but he didn’t want to have to go through his enemy to get to
Eve.

“Hello? Is
anyone there?” Dan asked after a moment of silence.

“I need to talk
to Eve,” Alex said, smiling his thanks when Glo refilled his coffee
mug. The diner was crowded, but he didn’t think anyone would be too
interested in his conversation. Except maybe his waitress. She’d
been hovering a little too closely every time he picked up his
phone, trying to work up the courage to call the inn.

“She’s
busy.”

Alex could tell
by Dan’s tone that he was just stonewalling him. “Put her on.
Now.”

“What the hell
gives you the right to issue orders? She’s done with you. Get over
it.”

“Yeah, well now
that we’re going to have a kid together, we have a lot more to talk
about. You better get used to having me around.”

“So she told
you about that, huh?”

“Yeah,” Alex
said, shifting so his back was to the other patrons. He lowered his
voice to little more than a fierce whisper. “You’re pathetic, you
know that? The fact that you would try to—”

“I love her.
There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect her and that baby she’s
carrying.”

Alex clenched
his fist, knowing if they were toe-to-toe, only one of them would
walk away. “She’s carrying
my
baby. She’s the mother of
my
child. You need to back the hell off and give us some
space to work this out.”

“You really
think I’m gonna leave her alone to deal with you and your over-paid
legal team? Think again, buddy.”

So Eve had
taken his threats seriously enough to go home and tell her
protector? Alex had been afraid of that. “Put Eve on the goddamn
phone right now, or I’m gonna be on your doorstep so fast—”

“Do we need to
a get a restraining order, Bolton?”

Alex’s heart
hammered. He knew judges commonly ordered restraining orders in
cases like his, which meant his hands would be tied. He wouldn’t be
able to contact Eve… to tell her how sorry he was. To beg her for a
chance to set things right. “I don’t want to upset her. Just let me
talk to her.”

“If she wanted
to talk to you, she would have returned your calls. Leave her the
hell alone.”

Alex closed his
eyes, took a deep breath, and prayed for patience when the line
went dead.

“Wow, looks
like that didn’t go well,” Gloria said, sliding into the bench seat
across from him. “What happened?”

Alex hadn’t
told Gloria, or anyone, about the baby. He was still getting used
to the idea himself.
He was going to be a daddy.
Every baby
he saw on the street made him do a double-take. With every day that
passed, he felt more fiercely protective of his unborn child and
more determined than ever to set things right with his baby’s mama.
He reached for his coffee mug. “That was Eve’s ex-boyfriend. The
bane of my existence.”

“How come you
were talking to him?”

Alex looked
around the busy diner. “Don’t you have work to do?” He knew he was
being grumpy, but he wanted to be alone.

“Lucky for you,
I’m on my lunch break, so you can tell me all about why you’ve been
in such a pissy mood ever since your wife’s visit.”

“What if I
don’t want to tell you?” he asked, sounding like an insolent
five-year-old. He couldn’t even summon the energy to care when
Gloria laughed in his face. “I don’t wanna talk about it, so let’s
just drop it, okay?”

“Is she hooking
up with her ex? Is that why you’re so pissed?”

“No, she’s not
hooking up with her ex.” Alex would have to kill Dan with his bare
hands if he laid one hand on Eve while she carried his baby. She
may not be his wife anymore, but they had a bond no judge could
sever.

“So, what is
it?” She nudged Alex with her foot. “Come on, I’m dying here. Tell
me already.”

Alex glared at
her, but it had little effect. Tonya always reacted the same way
when he tried to get her to back off. “She’s pregnant, okay?”

“Oh, wow.”
Gloria leaned forward, her eyes wide. “And she doesn’t know if the
kid is yours? Is that what’s got you so bent out of shape?”

Alex rolled his
eyes. “Girl, you watch too much TV. Of course the baby is mine. I’m
the only man she’s been with for the past twelve years.”

“Are you sure
about that?”

Alex knew she
was baiting him, but he didn’t know why. “What kind of question is
that?”

“I think it’s a
reasonable one, since you’re divorced and all.”

Gloria didn’t
know Eve the way he did, so he supposed it was a fair question.
Dropping his head in his hands, he thought back to their last
conversation. He cringed when he remembered throwing the same
accusation at her, making her believe he thought she was capable of
cheating. “The baby is mine, Glo. There’s no doubt in my mind about
that.”

“Then what the
hell are you still doing here? You should be back there, trying to
work things out with your wife.”

“My ex-wife,”
he reminded her. He wished that word didn’t leave such a bitter
taste in his mouth. He should get used to saying it, but that was
like hoping he’d get used to the pain of an abscessed tooth. Not
gonna happen.