Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Zander
T he lunch rush just ended, and we’ve begun to make burgers for Brittney and Hawk. Dad starts her songbird milkshake. And Gabby walks through the swinging kitchen doors and then glances at me. “There’s a woman out here asking for you. Scarlett?” Her tone almost encroaches on asking who this woman is like Gabby has some sort of claim over me. Or am I imagining it because Brittney told me Gabby has a thing for me?
Dad’s brows shoot up and he grins. I shake my head while washing my hands. “I’ll be right there. Thanks, Gabby.”
She flutters her lashes at me. “Sure thing, boss.”
I’m still drying my hands on a towel when I walk out to the bar where Scarlett sits. Her dark hair is pulled away from her face. She seems nervous as I approach her. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. I don’t have the pictures with me, they’re at my house.”
She smiles. “That’s okay. I’m not here for them. We uh, we need to talk. Is there somewhere we can go for a few minutes?” she asks.
“Uh, sure. We can talk in my office.” I’m a bit shaken by the worried look in her wide eyes. Maybe she needs help with something, although I’m not sure why she’d be coming to me for anything other than the pictures I took of her.
She gets up and follows me down the hall that leads to my private office. I notice Gabby staring at her as we move from view. When we reach my door, I step aside to let her in. She definitely seems nervous about something. She’s chewing her bottom lip.
I sit in my desk chair opposite where she now sits. She’s still silent and tugging on her bottom lip with her teeth. “Listen, I haven’t told anyone about that night if you’re here to ask me to stay quiet. I don’t kiss and tell. I usually don’t even kiss these days,” I say a little gruffly. And it’s true. My time with any woman has been very limited for a long time. I don’t allow myself to get twisted up anymore.
But thinking about kissing her again does things to me I’d rather not analyze.
She blushes. “Well, I didn’t come here to ask you for your discretion, but I’m here to tell you people will find out what we did.”
My brows draw together in confusion. “I don’t understand. What are you trying to say?”
She works her lip some more before taking a deep breath and I can’t help but remember nibbling it the night we spent together. My jeans seem to feel a bit tighter, making me reposition. “I’m saying people will know what we did because I’m pregnant. I found out right before you saw me at the hospital yesterday.”
My mouth opens to speak, but nothing comes out. I blink a few times, finally registering what she’s saying. “You’re pregnant? I don’t see how that can be, we used protection.”
“Trust me, I know. I said the same thing, but as you know, there’s a small percent that still get pregnant even with protection. An expired condom, a puncture, it simply broke. Who knows?” she says.
Any other time I might think her rambling is cute, but what I’m hearing is she thinks she’s pregnant with my baby.
“Are you sure it’s mine?” I blurt out, not thinking, and I instantly regret how that sounds.
Her face turns red, and her jaw tightens. She pierces me with a stare that might make a lesser man wither. “I thought I made myself clear that night. I hadn’t been with Eric for six months prior.”
“And no one since?” I ask, digging myself a deeper hole.
She looks as though I slapped her. She slowly rises from her seat. Her fair skin now filled with red blotchy spots, probably from her rising anger at me. “No. I don’t sleep around—contrary to how that night must’ve seemed to you. You know, don’t worry about it. I don’t need you to do this with me. And I sure as hell don’t need to stick around for your accusations. You don’t know me, and I certainly don’t know you. Have a nice life, Zander Bailey.”
She exits my office quickly, and by the time I get myself together enough to go after her, she’s back in the bar for all to see. I reach her and gently grab her wrist. She pulls out of my hold instantly and turns on me. “Don’t. Just let me go,” she pleads angrily. But her eyes betray her hurt. Hurt that I put there. Damn it.
Tears shimmer in her pretty blue eyes and I feel regret at having caused them. “Please come back so we can talk.”
I notice the audience we’ve attracted, especially Gabby. Dad stands at the door to the kitchen too. Scarlett swallows and follows me back to my office. This time I shut the door and prop myself against the desk behind me.
“Are you and the baby okay? The hospital?—”
She cuts me off. “I was there because apparently morning sickness is a lie. It’s all-day sickness. I got really dehydrated but otherwise we’re fine.”
I cross my arms, and my gaze falls to her stomach still trying to wrap my head around the news she just dropped on me.
She pins me under her stare. “Look, I wanted you to know. You have every right to be a part of our child’s life if you want to. But I don’t expect anything from you.”
I stay silent. I don’t know what to say or even think. “Scarlett, I don’t know how to be with someone anymore on a meaningful level much less be a dad. I’m sorry, I’m just processing,” I say while shaking my head at the turn of events.
“I know it’s a lot to wrap your head around. Take some time and think about what you do and don’t want. The only thing I won’t allow where the baby is concerned is inconsistency. You’re either in this as the dad, or you’re not in it at all.” She pauses and pulls out a business card. “Here’s my contact information. I’ll probably stay in town for a few more days. When you’re ready to talk, call me.”
I stare at her a few heartbeats longer, still stunned. I want to say something…I know I should but I’m at a loss for words. She returns my stare with something akin to being speechless herself and then she steps closer.
Once she places her card in my palm, she leaves my office again, but this time I don’t follow. A dad? Me? It would seem I did a lot more than trash a dress that night.
I walk around my desk and drop into the chair with my gaze fixed on her name from the business card she pressed into my palm. It says she’s an interior designer. Despite the bomb she’s dropped on me, the corner of my lip turns up. The career suits her, the same way her name does.
I’m in the middle of programming her number in my phone when Gabby comes through my wide-open office door. Scarlett didn’t close it when she whirled out of here. “Hey. Is everything okay?” she asks. I clench my jaw as she stares at me. I’m not sure what she overheard.
“Uh, sure. Can you send my dad back here?”
She nods and turns on her heel.
A few minutes later, Dad comes in. “What’s going on, son? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he says.
“Close the door and I think you should sit,” I tell him.
His brows come together but he does as I ask. Once the noise of the bar is shut out, he sits in the chair across from me and waits for an explanation.
“I uh…” I trail off unsure where to begin. This is harder than I thought. I feel like a teenager again who’s about to be reprimanded by his dad. “It looks like I’m going to be a father.”
Dad gapes at me before he bursts out laughing. When I sit in deathly silence, he goes quiet. “You’re serious?” he asks.
“As a heart attack.” My jaw clenches as I wait for him to absorb this news.
“So let me get this straight. You got the bride of a wedding you photographed pregnant? I mean, that was her, wasn’t it? Scarlett isn’t the most common name.” He points toward the now closed door she left through moments ago.
“Yes, that was her. But you remember me telling you she didn’t go through with it because he cheated on her,” I explain.
“I do remember, son. And I remember it was my buddy’s son that was supposed to marry her.” He shakes his head. I’m not sure if his disappointment is with me or Eric the cheater. Finally, he raises his hands up.
“That doesn’t matter, I don’t know his son, but he sounds like a tool if he cheated on her and let her find out on their wedding day. What are you going to do?” he asks.
I inhale deeply and look him straight in the eye. “I don’t know. She wants me to think long and hard about what I want. Having kids was never in my plans…even before my life spiraled. But I won’t be the kind of man that leaves a woman to take care of the child we created together all by herself. I mean, people co-parent every day.”
Dad is quiet for a moment. “I know you’ll make the right choice,” he says and stands.
“What do you mean?”
“I know you. And you won’t walk away from your child…or this woman. Life is about to get good for you. There’s nothing like the love for your child, or the mother of your child for that matter. You may not see it now, but your life is about to change for the better. Just don’t overthink everything and mess it up,” he says.
He leaves me then to my thoughts and now I’m wondering…am I worthy of being someone’s dad?
I guess only time will tell. But I don’t even begin to know what to do about Scarlett and me. I know lots of people who co-parent with no issues. But I don’t know if what’s left of my heart could handle sharing my child with someone Scarlett may or may not get involved with later. Once I let someone in, it doesn’t let go until I’m left bleeding. Can I risk it again? Can I soften my stone-like heart? Even for my child?
I run a hand through my hair. She’s right…I have a lot to think about.