Still Here: A Secret Baby Romance (7 page)

“
S
o
, where are we going?” she asked as she looked me over. Her ice queen persona melted the longer she was in the car with me.

She was still just as pretty when she wasn’t mad.

“I thought we’d take it slow this time. Something easy. Something public.”

She raised her eyebrow. “You figured I wouldn’t be charmed so easily, huh?” she asked.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it was part of it. My original goal was to make her regret leaving in the first place. Leaving me, leaving here.

But I’d failed miserably at that, so I decided to take it slow.

Let her see the man I really was.

“
A
festival
?” she asked as she looked at the sign on Parkville’s banner across main street.

“Founder’s Day.” I confirmed as I pulled into the little parking lot. The strung lights framed the idyllic small town setting. It was a little town, even smaller than Laurel, but the charm of it had me every time.

“And you want to do this?” she asked.

I nodded. “I want to do this.”

“It doesn’t seem like your style.” She said. I knew Rose didn’t mean it as an insult, but it couldn’t be anything but.

“You seem to have a lot of assumptions about me.” Seemed like she’d already decided I was no good.

“Have you really changed that much?” she asked, a coy smile looking up at me.

I dodged the question. I didn’t want to answer it. I didn’t want to think about it. I just wanted to look into her eyes and see her. The whole world wasn’t out to get me. She was.

And I was trying to figure out a way to make her see me for what I was. For who I was.

“Let’s go,” I said as I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the festival. It was an excuse, really. A chance to grab her by the hand and touch her. A chance for the feel of my skin against hers to give her that little shock of electricity. That reminder that we worked together. Hell, that we were pretty darn good together.

In her eyes I was just a bad boy, a player. Someone who turn and ran as soon as things got hard, and hell, she was right. At least for the most part. But Rose was the one girl I didn’t want to run from. She was all kinds of crazy complicated, but when she was there I knew that I wanted her near me.

We were forced together, opposite charges that couldn’t tear each other away.

I had to prove to her that I was worth it. That I wasn’t just some bad decision that she’d made. Not just once, but twice.

I had to show her that I wasn’t just that guilty walk of shame after a night of partying. That I was more.

That I could be more.

I was so caught up in thinking about how I was going to impress her that I didn’t see the car coming, I didn’t see the giant puddle we were approaching, and I didn’t expect it to splash up into her face.

And above all I probably should not have laughed after it happened.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I wiped the mud off her face. It was all over her coat, her shirt, and up onto her cheek.

She just glared at me, frozen in anger. Damn, this wasn’t going very well.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, you can wear the plaid shirt I have in the car, it’ll go well with those jeans.” At least they were unscathed.

A slow smile spread across her face and she laughed, then she reached up and wiped the mud off her cheek and smeared it right on to my face.

“You are such a jerk,” she said. but in a way that was more endearing than anything. I wanted to capture this moment. Build on it.

I was. I could be a grade A asshole, but she didn’t mean it. Not right now. So I scooped her up and pulled her into me as we tickled and wrestled right there in the middle of the sidewalk. We were all tangled up when we paused. I looked into her eyes and watched her excitement turn into awkwardness.

“Do you want that shirt?” I asked as I looked down at her, setting her down onto the sidewalk.

“Yeah, that would be nice,” She said. I could almost hear her reminding herself that this was just a contractual obligation.

That it didn’t mean anything.

But for just a moment, it did. I’d gotten her attention. I ran back to the truck and grabbed my shirt. I wouldn’t forget that smile, or that look in her eyes. She was fighting her feelings.

“Here you go,” I said as I walked back to her. She’d already stripped down to just a tank top as she pulled on my shirt, wrapping herself up in it. She tied it up at the front. Now she looked like she belonged in Montana.

“What’s next?” she asked as she bit her lip.

“I’m thinking funnel fries,” I admitted as I pulled her towards a booth.

Maybe if I sweetened her up a little she’d sweeten up to me.

I
wrapped
his shirt around me and tried not to let the sent of it make me blush. It smelled like him, and it was all over me.

Part of me wished it was him.

Stop it,
I chided myself. This was exactly what I didn’t want to happen. Exactly what I was trying to avoid. He was working his magic on me, and I wasn’t immune to it.

No matter how much I told myself I didn’t want anything to do with him, he weaseled his way into my thoughts and set up shop there. Next thing I knew I’d have to evict him just to have space in my own mind.

The smell of funnel cake pulled me out of my imaginary argument. The one where I tried desperately to convince myself I didn’t want to feel more than just his shirt around my body.

“Hey Marcy, can I get two?” he asked as he leaned into the booth.

“Do you know everyone this side of the state?” I asked as she greeted him.

“Wyatt? Everyone here knows Wyatt. He’s a hit over at the Twisted Pony,” she said. I watched her wink.

“Twisted Pony?” I asked.

“You don’t need to-“ he started but she grinned and interrupted him.

“He’s a hit on open mic night. Sings and plays some of the best guitar I’ve ever heard.”

“Guitar? You play guitar?” I asked, grinning. I couldn’t imagine a man like him crooning over an acoustic.

And then I remembered how much tail those guys usually got. I could totally picture it. I grinned and looked up at him. “Well, wonders never cease.”

“I was in a band in high school, but you probably don’t remember that,” he said as he reached up for the two paper plates filled with confectionary bigger than I had imagined.

“Oh my god, that’s huge!” I exclaimed as I grabbed the cake from him and take a deep breath as the smell wafts up into my face. Sugar and fried dough overwhelm me. I tried not to giggle.

“That’s what she said!” Some random teenage voice behind me shouted, and I turned to look, but it was too late. He was just another voice in the crowd.

But Wyatt’s chuckle was unmistakeable. I turned and shot him a look, but he just shrugged.

“I didn’t say it,” he grinned. He might not have, but I still smacked him on the shoulder.

“So, what else do you have planned?” I asked we wandered through the booths, looking at the art work, the self-produced CDs, and other things the townspeople of Parkville had for sale. It was all so quaint. Nothing fancy or high brow, nothing like the old Wyatt. But somehow this scene fit. He just belonged here among all these people. Most of whom waved at him or said hello.

This was a part of who he was now.

“I was thinking maybe we could check out the-“ he started, but he stopped his sentence right in the middle. I didn’t see why, at first, but as soon as I realized what he was looking at I understood.

A big man was towering over a small child next to the ring toss, his hand raised up high as he screamed at her. “I told you not to drop that ice cream! I just paid for it. I told you to keep it in both hands.”

He was going to hit her. Right there. In the middle of all those people. I didn’t even notice it until after Wyatt did. I didn’t even realize it was happening. He was going to hit her, and hard too, I could tell by the way he had his hand cocked back.

How had I not seen it?

“Come on now, man. Why don’t you give the kid a break, she’s little,” Wyatt interjected as he walked right between them. He put his body between the large man and the child’s. “Here, I’ll even buy her an ice cream, put it in a cup instead of a cone so she won’t drop it.”

“Please, Hank?” The little girl’s voice was so small, so fragile, it sounded like it was about to break.

“Here, sweetie, let me go take you to get a new ice cream,” I said as I swooped in and grabbed her hand, we were right next to the line for ice cream. She’d probably had her own cone for a few seconds, if that.

“Ungrateful little brat. I took her and her momma in and all she does is waste my money. And you, who the hell do you think you are?” The large man turned his attention on Wyatt, but I had the girl and I wasn’t about to let her go. From the slur of his voice made me wince.

“Calm down, sir. I’m only trying to help. She’s small, and it’s clear she didn’t mean it. It was just an accident.” Wyatt was calm, his face completely unchanged, like he was talking to just anyone.

Not a total monster who was about to hit a girl for something anyone could have done. Heck, I probably could’ve done it.

“Don’t you tell me to calm down. Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but you don’t tell me how to parent.” I could tell by his stagger and the way his words smashed together that he was drunk.

“I’m not trying to tell you anything,” Wyatt said. He was starting to get defensive and I was afraid a fight would break out.

Not because I was afraid that Wyatt couldn’t handle himself, but because I was worried about this little girl being exposed to more violence than she already was.

“What’s your name, sweetie?” I asked as we got up to the counter. “Would you like a piece of my funnel cake?”

“Ella.” She said then she added, “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”

“My name is Rose. Ella, is your momma here?”

She nodded.

“Okay, what kind of ice cream do you like? We’ll get you an ice cream then find your mom.” I couldn’t make out what Wyatt and the big man were saying, I could just tell from the sound of their voices that it was getting worse.

“Bubblegum flavor!” Ella said as she walked up to the counter. At least she was innocently oblivious. As I was paying I caught a woman coming towards us with a fierce look in her eyes.

Ah, must’ve been the mother.

“Hi there, is this your daughter? She dropped her ice cream and was scared. I got her a new one and then said I would come find you,” I explained, a sweet smile on my face. I’d casually skipped the part where her shitty boyfriend was about to smack this poor little girl right across the mouth.

“Ella, what did I tell you?” she said as she grabbed her and pulled her away from me.

I caught my frown and made sure not to flinch.

“Where is Hank?” she asked.

Ella just pointed, we all looked.

Hank was being escorted away by a couple of police officers and Wyatt was standing there talking to one of them.

I walked up to the two of them while the lady and her daughter scurried off after him.

“Thank you, he’s been known to cause a scene now and again.” Her eyes softened and I saw how scared she really was. I couldn’t blame her. the man made me scared.

But Wyatt had protected us.

“It’s not a problem. But you should really look in on them, I’m scared for that little girl,” Wyatt said. I caught the tail-end of the conversation.

“Are you okay?” I asked as soon as I found my way to him. “Did he hit you?”

He clearly had, right smack in the eye, too. I guess even a drunk asshole could get a good shot in once in a while.

“I’m fine. Is the kid safe?” he asked. I noticed that he didn’t answer my question.

“She will be,” the police offer said as he walked away.

It was not what I was expecting when it came to outings, but it had excitement, at least.

I grabbed his chin and turned his face, looking at what I was certain was going to be a shiner. Damn.

“Did you get a good one in?” I asked.

“Got him to back up, the cops broke it up, pulled him away.” He looked up at me through smoldering eyes, my hand still on his chin.

Why was my hand still on his chin?

A kiss. It would be so easy to just grant him one little kiss. Right there. He’d been brave, he deserved it, after all, and heaven knew I wanted to taste him just one more time

You’ll get burned. Back away.

I pulled back, but it was too late. I’d lingered too long. My thoughts were all but revealed.

“I-“ I didn’t know how to finish that sentence, I was too busy searching in his eyes, hoping for a reason to back away.

Convincing myself it wasn’t a good idea.

“Do you want to try and win me a teddy bear?” I asked, finally.

I’d broken the spell. A sigh of relief escaped my lips, or was it regret? I wasn’t sure.

“Sure,” he said as resignation set into his eyes.

It was a close one.