Chapter 10
Ten
“ S o that’s why you’re selling out?” Jordan said, bringing Rodney’s focus back to the present.
“No. I didn’t even know about that. But there are some other things. Nothing major, just life changes, you know? And Ford Hansen really, really wanted that deal. So, it didn’t take much convincing on either of our parts to go through with it.”
“I see,” Jordan said, nodding. It really wasn’t a satisfactory explanation, but it was all Jordan was going to get, and he seemed to realize that.
“Well, I’ll see you around,” Jordan said.
Rodney nodded and watched as his friend saw himself out.
He wasn’t a drinking man, but he kind of wished he were right now, because he could use something to steady his nerves. He…wasn’t expecting this turn of events.
Still, it was Thursday, and he wanted to go see Rita before she went to the hospital.
She said she had to be there early in the morning.
He hadn’t questioned her too hard about it, but he wanted to go see her the night before, just because…
he didn’t know how the surgery was going to go, and he wasn’t entirely sure he would ever be able to have a full conversation with her again.
He offered to meet her at a fancy restaurant, figuring he would take her out for a nice meal and treat her the way he wanted to treat Becky. After all, Becky loved Rita like she was her own daughter, and him being kind to Rita was basically him being kind to Becky.
She was the one who had his heart, after all.
Always had. From the time she broke into his bedroom and crawled into his bed.
The downtown traffic was terrible, rush hour and all that, and he was almost late for his meeting with Rita.
Still, he arrived at the restaurant before she did, and stood outside, waiting on her.
She texted him that she was going to be a few minutes, and while it was cold and the wind from the lake whipped down the street, he welcomed the uncomfortable feeling.
It helped cool some of the burning fire in his chest. The fire that came from the knowledge that he screwed up his life more than he thought.
Meeting with Rita, and helping her, would maybe make it right a little bit, but…he might have a child that he never met.
That made him angry. How dare Stella keep the child away from him?
But most of him thought that she was lying. Especially if it was a baby. Still, that child needed a father. Someone needed to step up and claim it. Or maybe Stella just wanted the richest guy to step up, even if she had to force him.
What if he didn’t fight her? What if he just accepted the child and became a father to it?
He had no idea where that idea came from.
That certainly wasn’t on his radar. He wasn’t interested in being a father to anyone’s child except for Becky’s, and being how infatuated she was with her horses, he used to wonder if she would ever want to have children.
Her horses were her babies. They always had been.
And he’d seen those Clydesdales. They were her dream come true.
He would be willing to bet that in the summer, she would be sleeping in the stable with her horses, rather than in her bed, just because she loved them that much.
She’d probably do it in the winter too if she didn’t think she’d freeze to death.
A shot of fear went through him when he figured she was stubborn and gritty enough to attempt it anyway.
The crazy girl. It was amazing that she had made it this far in life without any kind of major catastrophe happening to her, as much as she rushed headlong into things, with a bulldog stubbornness that was absolutely unmatched.
He shouldn’t have left her alone so long without his protection. Who knew what she could have gotten herself into.
And then he thought about himself and the possibility that he had a child, and he thought that maybe he was the one who shouldn’t have been left alone.
Not that she had a choice.
“Hey there. My goodness, it’s cold out,” Rita said, walking up to him.
He had to do a double take. It had been a while since he had seen her, but he wouldn’t have recognized her. Her eyes were sunken, her face sallow, her stomach sticking out, and the rest of her looked like a stick.
“I’m supposed to be on bed rest, but I was not going to say no to a fancy restaurant. I’ve never eaten here.” She looked up at the big, shiny window and smiled an eager smile.
He had not realized she was on bed rest. “You should have told me you were on bed rest.”
“And then we wouldn’t be here, going to eat at a restaurant I never even knew existed. And can I say I am so excited? Although, I would feel bad if I didn’t know you could afford it.”
“Yeah. I can afford it. You don’t need to feel bad.
I also know people who know people, and while this restaurant usually does not do takeout, they would do it for me.
We could have met at your bedside with the delicious food, and you would still be obeying your doctor’s orders, and I would not feel terrified right now that something is going to happen and it’s going to be my fault. ”
“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to terrify you,” she said, not looking the slightest bit sorry. But she patted his arm and then nodded at the door. “Are we going in? I’m freezing.”
She looked like it too. And he wondered if that was the sickness. The cancer or whatever. She looked terrible. As she walked, she hunched over a little, as though she were in some kind of pain.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” he said, leaning down so he could speak into her ear.
“I’m fine.”
“You look like you’re hurting.”
“I am. But to eat here is worth it.”
He could have told her that of all the places that he’d eaten, this was not the best. That the diner in Blueberry Beach had just as good food, and the atmosphere was much better.
The company was even better than that. That here they would be eating with a bunch of people who thought that they were better than what they were and who looked down their noses on anyone who didn’t have as much money or weren’t what they considered sophisticated.
“Then let me escort you, my dear,” he said, holding out his arm, which she looked at and then grinned up at him before tucking her arm in the crook of his elbow, grinning like she was on a date for prom.
If this was going to make her happy, then he was happy to do it. It was that verse about giving again. Sometimes giving wasn’t necessarily money or things. Sometimes giving was time or an experience that another person couldn’t have on their own.
The host found their reservation and then instructed them to be taken to their seats.
He’d asked for the best one in the house and expected to get it, since he’d made the reservation earlier in the week and had added a little bit of money to go along with his request. Typically the place was booked out for months.
It was interesting what wealth could do. How it could grease the wheels and make life easier and, some would say, better.
“Wow. This is so amazing,” she said, looking around. “Better than pictures, for sure.”
“Better than the video they have on Facebook too,” he said.
“Yeah, much better than any I’ve seen. Wow. The ambience.” She sighed.
“You should have told me that you wanted to eat at a fancy restaurant sometime. You know it wouldn’t have been a problem.”
“I also knew that you were not talking to my sister, and I wasn’t sure if that was a family thing, or if that was just a Becky thing. And I was afraid to reach out and find out, until I absolutely had to.”
Guilt surged through him, and he didn’t even try to tamp it down. After all, he deserved that.
“I’m sorry. I owe Becky a huge apology. But I’m not sure she’s going to stand still and listen to it for me.”
“I’m not so sure either. She was…not very happy when I told her that I wanted the two of you to co-parent.
She…got angry with me, which she hasn’t done for a really long time, and it was right after I told her that I had cancer.
So, you know how angry she was.” Rita laughed like cancer was a funny thing.
“Why are you laughing? You have cancer.” He wanted to shake her. Didn’t she know this was serious?
“I know. But I have my two favorite people in the entire world taking care of my babies, and there’s a part of me,” she tilted her head and looked at the ceiling, as though she were thinking, “a big part of me, that thinks that the two of you are going to do a better job of raising my kids than I ever could. I find the Lord’s timing interesting. ”
“Well, it might be even more interesting than you think, because I just found out before I came here that there might be another kid involved.”
“What do you mean?” Her brows furrowed. “I know I’m just having twins.”
“A long time ago, right after I quit talking to Becky, which, by the way, was because I had lost everything. As in, everything. And I owed money. I was in a hole I didn’t know how I was ever going to get out of, and I just couldn’t face her. But that’s not part of the story really.”
“Oh my goodness. I didn’t know. Maybe you can’t afford this.” She looked like she was ready to get up and run out of the restaurant.
“I assure you, Rita. I can. And far, far more. If you can believe that. If I had two more years, I would have been a billionaire if things had gone well. I had no reason to think that I wouldn’t be since things were going to go very, very well.
But that’s neither here nor there. The point is, I quit talking to Becky because I lost everything.
I was embarrassed, and I didn’t want her to see me at such a low point.
I couldn’t even afford the rent for my apartment.
I lost my lease, got kicked out, and a woman took me in. ”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. So she’s the one with the kid.”
“Oh my goodness. You cheated on Becky!” Her eyes were wide, and she looked horrified, and again, she looked like she was ready to run out of the restaurant, only this time it was because of him.
If he thought her reaction was bad, it wasn’t anything compared to what Becky’s was going to be.
“I was easy to take advantage of, because I had zero experience with anyone except for Becky, and I’ve never even kissed her.”
“Oh my goodness,” Rita said, and her tone was completely different. Appalled in a different way.
He lifted his shoulder. He was used to that. It wasn’t exactly normal. “But I had no place to stay, so I was staying at this woman’s apartment. It was a one-bedroom. She…was not shy about the fact that I slept on the couch while different men came to spend the night…”
“She was a hooker!” Rita’s eyes got extremely large, and she really did start to stand up.
He reached across the table and put his hand over hers.
“No. She wasn’t a hooker. I think that’s just what people do nowadays.
They hook up, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be the same person, even on the same night, although Stella wasn’t like that.
” He tilted his head. “At least not while I was there. But anyway, suffice it to say that I only stayed for a few months. I got my own apartment. It was a cheap, dumpy place, complete with rats and leaking pipes, and in the seediest part of town you can imagine. It was not safe for anyone to be living there, I guarantee it. But it got me out of a bad situation.”
He didn’t bother to tell Rita that he only slept with Stella three times. It was relative, and even once was too much. It was a breakdown of the character of the man he thought he was and the man he wanted to be. He was someone at that time that he didn’t even know.
But he couldn’t take it back. He could only try to build back better. Himself, and his business.
“I suppose it’s better to live in a place like that than to be having sex with someone that you’re not married to, and with someone who’s not Becky most of all.”
“Yeah. It was a low point in my life. The lowest I’ve ever been for sure. I…would have told Becky about it eventually, but apparently there’s a kid involved.”