15. Hayden
Chapter fifteen
Hayden
The way in which Randall, Claire, and everybody else shamed Addie in that weird prayer circle is still grating on me.
I mean, who the hell are they to judge a fantastic woman and mother like that?
But in an attempt to somehow make things right, even for a moment, I decide to surprise her with Danny Boy’s pizza.
Although she resisted my attempts at getting more security, she has since allowed me to hire someone to install more cameras. So with the assurance that her witch of a mother won’t be there, I know she’s been frequenting the subsidiary.
Not that I can blame her. But with Rosa’s changes done away with, the place feels like Salvador reincarnated into a building.
Heck, the last time I was there, I even caught whiffs of his Jo Malone cologne as it if it was pumping though the air vents or something.
After my driver drops me off, I nod at the receptionist behind the front desk as I head into the main office.
“Knock, knock,” I announce while simultaneously tapping my hand against the door.
She was staring at her computer screen, and the sound seemed to spook her a bit.
“Oh! Sorry, Hayden.”
“That’s okay. I’m sorry I scared you.”
“No, you didn’t.” Her elbows come up onto the desk, and she takes off the glasses that she describes as “readers.”
“I’ve never seen you with glasses on.”
While rubbing her eyes, she says, “Yeah, well. It’s hell to get old.”
I chuckle and then remember the piping hot food in my hands. “Anyway, I brought you some—”
“Hayden,” she mutters with a sigh.
“Yes?” Her defeated tone caught me off guard.
“You can’t just come in here unannounced like this.”
“I can’t?” I raise an eyebrow, and I look all around me. “Because last time I checked, I’m a partner in this business. Unless you forgot about that.”
She rubs at her temples now.
“No. No, I did not. But this is what we’re paying Steven for, is it not?”
Honestly, I have no idea. She’s made the demands to only talk through him but reneged on them several times as well.
“I—I don’t know.”
I then pull out the chair and sit across from her, pushing the pizza box closer to her.
“Oh, God. Is that what I think it is?”
“You know it. Sausage, peppers, onions, and anchovies. Lots and lots of anchovies.” Personally, the fishy smell makes me want to gag, but it’s all worth it if it makes her smile.
And I get that affirming grin as soon as she opens it.
“Do you know how much I wanted to kill someone for one of these while I was pregnant with Luna?”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah. I probably would’ve just stopped shy of shivving some poor bloke,” she mumbles in a British accent before picking up a slice and admiring the cheese pull.
I laugh inside at the reminder of her alternate personality when she’s hungry.
“Well, I’m happy to deliver it to you in one piece and without the threat of murder.”
She giggles and is about to take a bite, but then she seems to have second thoughts.
“Actually.” The piece of pizza goes down, and she brushes crumbs off of her hands. “I don’t really have time for this right now.”
Oh, come on.
I check my watch and see that it’s almost eleven-thirty.
“Just one. Please, Addie.”
“Why do you care so much?”
“I—I like to know that my business partner is eating well and taking care of herself.”
Her eyes turn into slivers. “Really?”
“Yes,” I insist. “In fact, I worked with a man in the past who was so focused on the job that he forgot to eat and, well. He was dead two days later.”
She blows raspberries into the air. “Oh, please. You can survive more than two days without food.”
“Not food and water.”
With that, she exaggerates a reach for her water bottle and takes a drink. “Happy?”
“I will be once you take a bite.”
“Ugh!” she groans. “Fine. Just one slice.”
“Two. Two, and I will be out of your hair.”
“Fine!”
I never would’ve thought that getting her to eat her favorite, greasy food would feel like such a chore.
But after taking her first bite, I relax a little. “So, what are you working on? Are those plans under your arms?”
She repositions herself to cover them even more and stuffed her mouth with more bread and cheese.
“Nothing? Really?”
Her cheeks are full, and she cocks her head as if to say, “Nope.”
Ugh. Even after everything we’ve been through in the last few days, she’s still intent on keeping this bogus wall up between us. Well fine. Two may be able to play that game, but I’ll do you one better and show you my hand.
“You know, I’m not just in this to expand your family business.”
Her blank stare tells me she’s listening.
“Oh, no. I’m doing this to ultimately make it my life’s work as well. You know, to leave my own personal mark while also getting out from behind my father’s shadow.”
As soon as I say that “f” word—father—I notice her body stiffen a little. And I don’t blame her. His very presence, or lack thereof, have brought a lot of accusations into her life.
“Look. About that night. I’ve apologized, and I’m ready to do it again and again until you finally accept it.”
She finally swallows and wipes her mouth with a napkin.
“But as you know, the repercussions of that article went further than just the heart attack. They also threatened the company.”
“What was it even about? It’s been so long, I don’t remember.”
I find that hard to believe. But in any event, I tell her, “It revealed the affair he was having with his business partner’s wife. There were pictures of them in some swanky, dark club in Hollywood.”
“Oh. That’s right.”
Yeah. “And again, I’m truly sorry for the way I acted towards you the night he died. I lost a great friend because of my outburst.”
She shakes her head. “Why are we even talking about this? That was years ago—”
“No. I—I know. I just feel like . . . I don’t know.” Usually, I’m a man who is so sure of my words, but something about this topic and talking with her makes me sound like a babbling idiot.
“There,” she announces, holding her hands up and lifting her tongue to prove as if she was a contestant in an eating contest, that she downed the second slice. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have work to do.”
“Wait.” I was hoping my ploy with the pizza would buy me more time.
“Yes?”
“All I wanted to say is that I understand why you’re keeping this wall up between us. Okay?”
She glares at me suspiciously. “You do, huh?”
“I mean, I think so. Yeah. I just wish things would—” Certainly, I can’t say go back to the way they were because that would insinuate that I wanted her to be lying on this very desk and underneath me as I ravaged her beautiful, smart mouth.
“Well, they can’t,” she interrupts, her blue eyes as icy as ever.
“Oh, right.” I do my best to chuckle it off, like I think the thought is just as absurd as she does. “Of course. Of course, not.”
“We’re just too different now. Too different to be friends, at least.”
Friends, right. Then, her daughter, Luna, pops into my head, and I remember all the fun we had on the drive to the cookout the other day.
“But what about Luna?”
“What about her?” Her energy intensifies, and I can practically see her quills pop out of her skin.
Oh, shit. That was clearly the wrong thing to say, but I can’t take it back now.
“I, uh. I just really like her. That’s all. She’s a great kid.”
“Yes, she is.”
I hold my hands up in hopes of lowering her guard down a bit. “I promise, I won’t ever bring up the topic of a paternity test again. I believe you that she isn’t mine. I do.”
Slowly, I see her soften again. “Good. Because—”
“I know, I know. She’s yours, and you went to the sperm bank. I got it, and I was listening.”
“I see that. I’m surprised.”
I dodge that bullet and continue, “But mine or not, as you said, she is yours. Gosh, she reminds me so much of you, Addie.”
She rubs the back of her neck and looks to the side of the room.
“And I guess, I guess I’d just like to continue getting to know her.”
As soon as she opens her mouth, I know she’s just going to question, “Why?” So, I jump ahead to avoid that.
“She did seem to like me, didn’t she?”
“Yes.”
I knew she couldn’t deny it. “I guess I just want to be a positive male role model in her life, if that’s okay with you.”
I hope that isn’t a weird thing to say.
After mulling it over a bit, Addie actually manages to smile. “That would be great. Abuelo filled that role before he was gone. But someone is needed in his absence.”
“I would be honored if you’d consider me. Not to take his place, of course. But, as you said, just to fill the empty space.”
“And we’d continue telling her you are just my friend.”
I nod. “Absolutely. We don’t need to be those weirdos who make their children call their friends ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle.’”
She chuckles. “God, I hate that.”
“Me too.”
However, she then goes quiet. “But what about our agreement to keep Luna out of this whole mess?” Her eyes roll. “Not withstanding that disastrous barbecue, obviously.”
“This isn’t about business anymore, Adds. Like I said, I just want to get to know her.”
“. . . Okay.”
To prove that my intentions are pure, I pull out two, prepaid tickets for the San Diego Zoo, and I slide them over just like I did with the pizza box.
“What are these?” she asks, holding them up closer to her face. “Oh.” I assume she read the fine print. “Luna loves the zoo.”
I already knew that because she told me.
“Well? What do you say? Are you free Saturday?”
Before she answers, she uses the slim pieces of paper like a fan.
“Come on, Addie. It’ll just be some simple fun. Luna can see the penguins.” I would’ve just gotten tickets for the Los Angeles Zoo, but they don’t have her favorite animal.
“How did you know those are her favorite?”
Honestly, it was a happy accident. After mentioning how much she loved the zoo when her mom apparently wasn’t listening, I took a stab in the dark after she looked scared around all the strangers at the barbecue.
I bend down and whisper, “Hey, Luna. Do you know how a penguin builds its house?”
She takes a minute to think but ended up nodding.
“Igloos it together!”
Her palms raise to her mouth, and she laughs into them. “That’s really funny. Can I steal that? I want to tell my friends.”
“It’s all yours.”
When I tell the same joke to her adult mom, her reaction is milder, but she still grins at the punchline.
“Anyway,” I eventually say, standing up and buttoning my jacket again. “I’ll be waiting by the front gate around ten, I hope to see both of you there.”