Chapter 30
CHAPTER 30
Devyn
“Hi, dear. I’m afraid I have some bad news,” Rose, Nathan’s sitter, says in a hoarse voice.
“What’s wrong?” I hold the phone up with my shoulder as I’m pulling Nate’s shirt over his head.
“I won’t be able to sit with your boy today. I’m afraid I’ve come down with food poisoning.”
“Really?” Ugh! My big pitch is today. This couldn’t have happened on a worse day. I clear my throat. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Rose. Thanks for letting me know.”
“I’m sorry, dear,” she moans.
“Feel better,” I say. “Let me know if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Devyn. You’re a sweet girl.”
I end the call and glance at the time. I only have an hour before I have to leave, and no clue what to do. Nate’s preschool isn’t in session on Tuesdays, Drew can’t just walk away from his shift, and Rainey is in some training thing for work. I suppose I could call Jackson.
“Crap!” I say.
“What’s wrong, Momma?”
I brush Nathan’s hair down. “Rose is sick, honey. She’s not going to be able to watch you today.”
Nathan pumps his little fist in the air. “Yes! That means you get to stay home and play with me today!”
A lump of guilt settles in my stomach from his excitement. “No, baby, I can’t. I have a really important meeting at work today. I’m going to call Jackson and see if he can come over.”
“Moooooommm,” Nathan whines. “I don’t wanna play with Jackson all day. He doesn’t like my Legos or my dinosaurs! He’s boooor-ing!”
Jackson is really kind to Nathan, but he’s definitely not into playtime. “I’m sorry, buddy, but I don’t really have a choice.”
“What about Riley?” he asks.
“What about him?”
“He can come over and play with me!” Nathan suggests excitedly.
I bite my lip. “Oh, I don’t know. Riley’s probably really busy with work.”
He tugs on my suit jacket. “Pweaaase, Momma! Just call him!”
I think about it for a moment. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
I kiss Nathan on the forehead. “Go brush your teeth, and I’ll give him a call. ”
“Sweet!” he says.
I laugh as I walk down the hall. I scroll through my contacts until I reach Riley’s number, hit the call button, and take a deep breath.
He answers after two rings. “Good morning. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you until tonight.”
“Hi,” I say. “I have a huge favor to ask.”
I hear him moving around. “Anything. What’s up?”
“Rose, Nate’s sitter, has food poisoning, so she can’t watch him. He only has preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Drew is on shift at the firehouse until Thursday, and Rainey has an annual training thing at work. I’d hate to ask so last minute, but would you by chance be able to take the day off? As you know, my pitch is today. I can’t miss it. If it’s too much for you, I can call?—”
“I’ll do it,” he interrupts.
“Really? You don’t mind babysitting a crazy four-year-old all day?”
“Devyn, he’s my son. It’s not called babysitting when it’s your own kid. I’d be happy to stay with him. It’ll be nice to finally have one-on-one time with him.”
I smile, picturing them playing together. “Are you sure it’s not too much?”
“I’m positive. I’m looking forward to it. When do you need me?”
I look at the clock. “I need to leave by eight at the latest. Do you think you can make it in time?”
“I can be there by quarter ’til. ”
“That’s perfect, Rye. Thank you so much. You’re really saving my butt here.”
“Devyn, I mean it. It’s my pleasure. I just got out of the shower, so I can leave as soon as I throw some clothes on.”
“You’re naked right now?” I squeak.
I swear I can see his cocky smirk through the phone. “Well, technically I’m wearing a towel, but I can lose it, if you need me to improve the visual.”
I gulp. “Nope. The towel’s good.”
He laughs. “I’ll see you soon, Dev.”
“See you soon,” I echo.
Riley
“Okay all the important phone numbers are on the fridge. Pediatrician, Poison Control, my office, etcetera.” Devyn’s been rattling off instructions for the past ten minutes. “Plus you can always call my cell if there’s an emergency.”
I grin. “We’ll be fine, Dev.”
She offers me a small smile. “Thank you again, Riley.”
“Again, it’s my pleasure. Now go kick ass with your presentation.” I give her a little scoot toward the door.
She looks over her shoulder. “Okay, his booster seat is in the closet if you need it, and?—”
“I got it the first two times,” I say. “Now go. Don’t worry about us.”
She pauses at the threshold. “I’ll try to be home by five. I’ll text you if I’m running late.”
I can’t help myself. I pull her into me and kiss the little crinkle between her brows. “Go. To. Work. And good luck.”
She pulls back and blinks a few times. “Uh…okay. Thanks.”
I shake my head and close the door behind her. I turn around to find Nathan bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Hey, buddy,” I say. “Are you ready to have a fun day?”
He gestures to the toys in his hands. “You wanna play Transformers?”
I nod. “Sure. But only if I get to be Optimus Prime.”
He frowns. “SUCK MY BALLS! I get to be Optimus Pwime!”
I hold my hands up and laugh. “Okay, okay. No need to get so testy.” Yep, I went there. “I’ll be Bumble Bee.”
After Transformers, we moved on to G.I. Joe, and now we’re building with Legos. I had almost forgot how fun playing with all this stuff is.
“Hey, Riley?”
“Yeah, dude?”
“Are you my daddy?”
I raise my eyebrows, impressed by his intuitiveness. “Why would you think that?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. Aunt Wainey was telling Momma that I look just like you.”
Shit, how am I supposed to answer this? I don’t want to lie to the kid, but I don’t think Devyn would be happy with me if I told him without her.
“How would you feel if I was your daddy?”
He scrunches his nose in concentration. “I think you’d be a good daddy.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask. “Why’s that?”
“You’re funner than Jackson. I think he has a stick up his ath-hole.”
I bark in laughter before composing myself. “That’s not nice, buddy. And don’t say asshole.”
“Put a dollar in the jar!”
“What?” I ask. “I was just repeating what you said!”
“Doesn’t matter. Momma says you have to put a dollar in the jar when you say a bad word.”
I stand up and offer my hand. “Come on, bud. Why don’t you show me where the jar is, and then I’ll make you some lunch.”
“I want peanut butter jelly!”
I smile. “My favorite.”
Thankfully, Nate dropped the subject during lunch. Later in the day, we’re sitting on the couch watching cartoons. He lets out a big yawn about twenty minutes in and snuggles into me.
“Hey, Riley?”
“Yeah, bud?”
“It’s okay if you wanna be my daddy, but you have to wuv my mommy because mommies and daddies are ’posta be in wuv. Do you wuv my mommy?”
I wrap my arm around him. “Yeah, big guy, I do.”
Nate falls asleep in my arms, and I just sit there watching him for who knows how long? He’s so fucking perfect I want to cry. He looks really uncomfortable sleeping in such a weird position, so I scoop him up and bring him into his bedroom. I don’t know if he should be napping this late in the day, but I can’t bring myself to wake him. The little guy wore me out. I can’t imagine how tired he must be. I hear the door opening right as I’m leaving his room. I look down at my watch and see that Devyn’s a half hour early. I walk down the hall to greet her, but pause when I enter the living room.
Jackson sets his keys on the side table. “Hey. Where’s the kid?”
I nod my head toward the hallway. “He fell asleep. I put him down for a nap.”
We stand there in some sort of silent showdown. Neither one of us seems willing to talk to the other. Fuck, this is awkward.
I decide to be the bigger man. “Devyn’s not home. But I’m guessing you knew that already.”
He smirks. “I did. But she’ll be home soon. I was hoping to talk to you before she gets here.”
I stare at his keys. “You have a key to her place, huh?”
“Of course,” he says dismissively.
“What’d you want to talk about?” I snap.
He walks across the room and takes a seat at the small dining table. “I wanted to clear the air—man to man.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Clear the air about what exactly?”
He sits back and crosses his ankle over his knee. “ Look…I know you’re going to stick around, so I figured we should get this out of the way. I know the real story between you and Devyn. I feel bad you’ve missed out on being a dad when you clearly want to be involved. What she did may not have been right, but she wasn’t exactly thinking clearly at the time.”
I lean against the wall. “Devyn doesn’t need you to defend her. I’m not mad about it. We both made shitty decisions. What’s important is that I’m here now, and I plan to stay.”
“Right,” he nods. “Well, I just thought you should know the guilt has been plaguing her for years. She thought about finding you several times, but she was afraid you’d reject the kid. He means everything to her, and she was terrified you wouldn’t react how she wanted you to.”
“It’s a moot point now,” I say. “I love Nathan. And she knows that. She also knows that I’m going to be the best damn father I can possibly be.”
“I understand,” he says. “That’s why I wanted to make sure there wasn’t any animosity between us. Let’s face it, this could be very awkward.”
“ Could be?” I scoff.
Jackson is oblivious to my sarcasm. “Anyway, I wanted to thank you.”
“Thank me for what?”
“For the way things panned out,” he replies. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I wanted Devyn to go through the heartbreak, but everything she endured has led her to me. She and Nathan are in my world because you screwed up once upon a time. I helped her move on, and we forged a strong bond because of it. I know you’re going to be around since the whole paternity thing is bound to surface sooner or later, so we need to figure out a way to co-exist peacefully. For Devyn and Nathan’s sakes.”
“How mature of you,” I mutter.
He assesses me with a cold glare. “I guess being polite isn’t going to get my point across, so I’ll just come out and say it.”
I gesture for him to continue. “By all means.”
Jackson sneers. “Look, I can tell you have… feelings for Devyn. But the fact is, she and I will be married soon. Which means I will officially be Nathan’s stepfather. I’ll be the one warming Devyn’s bed at night and the one who will hopefully give Nate a little brother or sister.”
I bite my tongue and clench my fists. “Married, huh? What makes you think that?”
He looks genuinely confused. “I proposed the other night. She didn’t tell you?”
“No, she failed to mention it,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Huh,” he ponders. “She must’ve wanted to break it to you gently. I guess I beat her to it.”
I nod toward the front door. “Yeah, well, I’ll be sure to bring it up when she comes home. I’ll let her know you stopped by.”
He chuckles. “I’m not going anywhere, Riley. Devyn asked me to come relieve you from kid duty. She’ll be home soon, and we’d like some alone time, if you catch my drift.”
“Well, as nice as it was of you to offer your services , I’m fine staying here until she gets home. Besides, I think Devyn would’ve called if she wanted me to leave.”
He eyes my cell phone that’s sitting on the breakfast bar. “Have you checked your phone lately? She said she was going to text you.”
I frown as I walk over to my phone. I pull up the messages and sure enough, there’s one from her.
Devyn
Hey, I’m running behind. The presentation went great. I can’t wait to tell you about it! Jackson should be there soon to take over for you. Thanks again for saving me.
“Well? Is there a message from her?” Jackson asks.
I shove my phone in my back pocket and grab my keys off the counter. “Yep.”
He stands and walks over to the door, opening it for me. “Thanks for babysitting. I’ll take it from here.”
I step into the hallway. “Tell Nathan I said goodbye when he wakes up.”
Jackson gives me a smug grin. “Will do. Have a good night, Riley. I know Devyn and I will.”
He shuts the door, and it’s a good thing because I was just about to punch that superior expression off his face. I can’t believe that asshole! He clearly thinks he’s won, but he has no idea who he’s fucking with. I’m not giving up without one helluva fight. If he wants to play dirty, game on.