4. Chapter Four
Chapter Four
Tyler
A surge of triumph followed by barely disguised panic welled up. I was going to be a dad. For better or worse, I just agreed to become a single parent in seven short months. I also agreed to tour around the world with Mia for three months, altering her outfits and helping her conceal our baby.
Jesus.
It was an idiotic plan. The worst plan.
I couldn’t pull this off. How could I pull off this insanity?
What was I going to do about my store? Would I tell my family right away? Maggie already knew. I rubbed my face.
“Oh, for God’s sake. Are you already having regrets?” Mia popped the lollipop out of her mouth and pointed it at me. “You talked me into this.”
I wanted to say I never really expected her to say yes, but then she’d probably keep the appointment in the morning. Beyond all reason, I’d talked myself into wanting this baby, into thinking it was some sort of sign from Dad that it was time to invest in another person more than I had in a long time—more than I ever had before. I was going to put everything I had into this baby, into Mia.
“No. No.” I met her gaze. “I need to go so I can prepare to come with you.”
“You can’t go anywhere until we’ve got an actual plan. We need ground rules and shit.” Mia flopped back onto the bed.
“Ground rules?”
“You have a girlfriend.”
“You keep coming back to that.”
“It’s a big deal.”
“Yeah, if I’d been dating her longer than a couple weeks. I wasn’t with her when I slept with you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
She eyed me for a moment, lips pursed.
I took in the skepticism on her face. Interesting. She thought I cheated on my girlfriend. Maybe she still thought that. She wasn’t giving me much credit. Not a great starting place.
“Okay, but you and I aren’t together. We’re not going to be together. I don’t do relationships. They’re too much work.”
“Yeah, I heard you the first time you said that.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes. I didn’t know where to start with building the lies. Cover stories. We would need those.
“My mother is going to be very suspicious that I’ve hired you. I never hire anyone.”
“So, what are we telling her?”
“You know Sarah Telling?”
“The singer? Doesn’t she judge Center Stage ?”
“Yep. I’ll tell my mom you worked with Sarah, and she recommended you.”
I wanted to ask who I’d replace, but knew that wouldn’t make my job easier. Better to pretend the position was new, that someone wouldn’t be fired. “Three months on the road should be fine. We gotta figure out how to get you the time off from everything else once that’s done. ”
“Have you ever toured before? Musicians? Theater? Anything?” Mia sat up, the lollipop still lodged in her cheek.
“Once. It didn’t work out.” I had no desire to get into that story.
“That’s it? Why didn’t you ever do something with your costume design degree?”
“I am doing something with it.” I rubbed my cheeks. Frustration stirred. “Local theater. My shop.”
“Don’t you want more?” Doubt clouded her expression. “Didn’t you go to school thinking you’d do more? I mean, you only live a few hours from New York City.”
“Just an FYI, but these are the kinds of questions relationships are built on. Exchanges of personal information. You know, in case you wanted to avoid that.” Mostly, I wanted to avoid talking about the choices that had led me back to Little Falls and to owning the shop. I didn’t regret it anymore, but she was right. The life I was leading hadn’t been the one I dreamed about when I went to college, when I graduated.
“Hmm.” Curiosity coated her. Would she push? I didn’t know her well enough yet.
“We need your schedule cleared long enough for you to have the baby and recover. Ideas? I don’t know your life, so they all have to come from you.”
She flopped down again. “Can I call Grady?”
“Grady?”
“Yeah. You told your sister, right? That’s how you found out I was here. Grady will know. She’ll have told him.”
“Maggie is good at keeping secrets.”
“He’ll know.” She sighed. “Can I call him or not? I trust his opinion, and he knows my life. He gets it. ”
If we were together, her comment would have stung. I liked being the one who got it, the one who understood. “Whatever it takes to figure this out.”
Mia grabbed her phone from the nightstand and disappeared before I could think to ask why she was leaving the room to call Grady. I unwrapped the lollipop in my hand and stuck it into my cheek. Taking out my phone, I made a list of all the people I had to contact. As the list grew, I stared out the window. What excuse would I use? Little Falls stretched out through the top floor window. I’d grown up here, but I’d never expected to live here forever.
Seven months.
Seven months and I’d be a dad.
My phone buzzed. A text from Danai about making plans for tomorrow night. I didn’t even know what city I’d be in. Not Little Falls, that was for sure.
Just then, the lock beeped on the door, and Mia stormed back in. “Grady is a genius. I swear to God, if he wasn’t so desperately in love with your sister—” She stopped when she caught the look on my face.
Seven months of this .
With a sigh, I said, “What’d Grady tell you?”
“He knew about the baby. He tried to pretend he didn’t, but he knew.”
“And?” It took a lot for my temper to bubble over, but I didn’t want another lecture about how people couldn’t be trusted. Grady and Maggie might not be married, but given the way they looked at each other, they were in it for the long-term. They were family.
“And nothing.” She gave me a wary look and tapped the keycard on the top of the desk. “I just thought I should mention that he knew. ”
“What’d he tell you?”
“I should let my tiredness show. Which isn’t hard, because I’m fucking exhausted. All the time. He also gave me the only excuse my mom might believe for canceling stuff after the tour. Time off to write. I haven’t written in forever. I miss it. It’s a good excuse. She’ll buy it. She knows how much I used to love writing.”
“Have you been to a doctor?”
“No.” A flush rose to her cheeks. “I just took fifty-six pregnancy tests when I was at Sarah’s place for the night.”
“Fifty-six?”
“Yeah, well, maybe not that many, but a lot. I couldn’t fucking believe it.” She rubbed her forehead. “My regular doctor is friends with my mom. I couldn’t go to her.”
“I know someone. My dad used to be a doctor in Little Falls. One of his friends scaled back his practice. I can probably talk him into helping us out.” I snuffed out the pang of longing that always accompanied any mention of my father.
“Sure, let’s bring more people into this.” Her fingers pressed into her forehead in a circular motion.
“He’s a family friend.”
“You have all this faith in people. I’ve got none and about a thousand awful stories. What have you got?”
“A desire to make this work.” My voice was tighter than I wanted. She probably did have a thousand stories of betrayal. But it didn’t mean everyone I knew was suddenly going to turn evil. “We have to trust some people. Picking them carefully is all we’ve got. Okay? I trust David Rigilotto. He was my dad’s best friend. There won’t be a leak from him. ”
Mia shook her head, but didn’t contradict me. It was possible we’d never see eye-to-eye about this. Did I have too much faith? I’d never had a secret this big with consequences this widespread.
“What time are we leaving tomorrow?”
“You can’t come with me.”
“Mia.” I stared at her.
She examined her nails and avoided looking at me. “I need a couple days to fire Bonita and then pretend Sarah suggested you. My mom, Laura, will probably be the one to call you. She loves Sarah, so her word should be good enough.”
“If I can arrange it, do you have time to see David before you leave? Make sure everything is okay?”
Her jaw tightened. “I guess I do since my other doctor’s appointment will be canceled.” With a sigh, she met my gaze, shoulders slumped. “Can you leave?”
“Yeah.” I picked up my phone from beside me on the bed. “Are you okay?”
“No.” She laughed. “I hate that I’m in this situation. That being careful still fucked me over. I’m just so angry and sad and frustrated and so, so tired.”
I watched her for a minute, torn between respecting her wishes and trying to help her navigate all those feelings I was struggling to grasp, too. Not that I’d admit any of that to her. I’d asked for her to take this path, and it was up to me to carry all three of us if I had to. “I can stay.”
“That’s not going to help. I kinda never want to see you again.” She ran a frustrated hand through her hair, piling it over one shoulder. “Instead, I’ve agreed to be tied to you forever. One stupid decision after another. ”
On my way to the door, I took a lollipop out of my pocket and slid it onto the dresser. “I’ll just leave this here in case you need a reminder.”
“A reminder of what?”
“That I’m here. That I give a shit. That you’re not in this alone.”
Her features softened, and she flipped her hair around again. “What flavor?”
“Lemon ginger, which my degree assures me is good for morning sickness. Stumbled across a doctor’s degree on the internet while I was researching. Surprisingly easy to get that MD certificate. I don’t know why it takes other people so long.”
She laughed and crossed her arms. “I’ll let you know tomorrow if your degree is legit.”
“Has to be. The internet doesn’t lie.” We grinned at each other for a beat before Mia broke eye contact.
“Text me when you know what’s happening with Doctor David. The guy who didn’t get his degree off the internet.”
“I will.” I opened the door and glanced over my shoulder. She looked so tiny standing in the middle of the oversized room. A surge of protectiveness rushed through me. She and the baby growing inside of her were my priorities now. I would do everything I could to keep them safe. “Get some sleep.”