Chapter 14
GRACE
“Don’t worry.” Grace rubbed a hand reassuringly over her small baby bump. “I’m going to protect you. I’m always going to keep you safe. This is the right thing to do.”
She wasn’t sure if the last sentence was directed toward the baby or herself.
She was walking across the San Valentino boardwalk to the Sea Foam Café, a little spot that served ice cream and coffee out of a small shop with a blue-and-white striped awning and a smattering of metal tables and chairs.
It was a public place, so Alex would have to behave himself.
So would she. With people watching, she couldn’t break down in tears or yell at Alex for everything he’d done, both of which were tempting options.
Right now, she still couldn’t believe she’d agreed to the meeting at all.
Alex had been manipulative since day one.
And just yesterday, she’d gotten a message through her lawyer that they had proof she’d been the one to steal the laptop, which must be fake, since she hadn’t.
Today, Grace was going to push back against Alex’s legal and professional manipulations.
She’d explain, in no uncertain terms, that Alex didn’t have a place in her life, much less in the baby’s.
The best thing he could do was settle out of court with enough money for her and the baby to live on for a few years and then leave them alone.
Grace approached the café and spotted Alex already at one of the tables.
A banana split covered in chocolate shavings sat on the metal table in front of him, but he was just staring at it, as if he’d never seen such a monstrosity before.
Grace slid into the chair across from him, and he looked up at her.
“Hi, Grace.”
“Hi, Alex.”
Everything she’d wanted to say vacated her head when she looked at him. Suddenly, she didn’t want to be professional. She wanted to ask why—why he’d used her and then fired her, why he’d hurt her.
“Thank you for meeting with me,” Alex said calmly.
“I…” Grace bit her lip. “You wanted to talk about a settlement?”
“Yes, of sorts,” Alex agreed. He leaned a little closer, resting his elbows on the table. “Grace, I know you’re angry with me, although it’s difficult for me to understand why.”
Grace’s eyes narrowed. He couldn’t understand why she was mad when he’d slept with her and then fired her? He was a bright man. That much was clear. So, why was he playing dumb?
“I am angry,” Grace said. “And you know why.”
“I…” Alex sighed. “We don’t need to get into our situation.
We shouldn’t. What I want to talk about is the baby.
I know I have no right to demand a place in our child’s life, but I’m here today to ask you to give me one.
I can be a good father to our child. I can make sure you and the baby want for nothing.
What’s going on between you and me is far less important than giving our child the best life we can. ”
Grace met his blue eyes and sighed, too. “For the first time in a while, you’re saying something I can agree with.” The wind caught her hair, and she tucked it behind her ear.
“Good!” Alex smiled, though his expression quickly returned to businesslike indifference. “I’m glad to hear that. Maybe I can start attending your doctor’s appointments with you? How many weeks along are you?”
“Whoa, whoa.” Grace held up a hand. “I agree that our child is more important than our disagreements, but that doesn’t mean this is going to be easy. What kind of relationship with our child are you hoping for?”
“I’d like to be a present father, as much as I can,” Alex said. “I’d like to be there for big moments and spend time with our child whenever possible. And I want to give you enough money that you won’t have to worry about work or anything else.”
“Okay.” Grace drummed her fingertips on the table.
She was glad to hear that Alex wanted to be an involved father.
Even with Alex being the way he was, it was better that their child got to know him in some capacity.
Otherwise, the child would wonder about Alex all their life—and might blame Grace for keeping them apart.
Still, she was a little disappointed that Alex hadn’t mentioned their relationship or how that could be repaired.
And he hadn’t apologized for what had happened at work—or even acknowledged it.
He would need to regain her trust before he could be part of her or the baby’s lives in any real capacity.
“Okay?” Alex asked.
“Okay,” Grace repeated. “I understand what you’re asking for and why. But I’m hesitant to trust you after what happened.”
“The feeling is mutual,” Alex muttered. Grace narrowed her eyes at him, and he coughed unconvincingly. “I mean, we can start small.”
“I’m willing to try that. But we need ground rules.”
“Agreed. First, I’ll send you money every month. The first deposit will arrive in your account today. Just let me know if it isn’t enough.”
Grace would have liked to turn down the financial offer, not wanting to owe Alex anything, but the promise of enough money to pay her rent for the next few months was too strong. She nodded slowly.
“Okay. And we don’t talk about the lawsuit or what happened at MatchupNow.” Alex clearly wasn’t going to apologize, and Grace didn’t want to hear his lousy excuses or misplaced self-righteousness.
“Right. We keep our focus on the baby as much as possible.”
“Okay,” Grace said again. She sighed, hardly able to believe what she was about to say. “With all that in mind, let’s give this a try. You can come to the next doctor’s appointment with me. It’s the twelve-week ultrasound, so we can find out if the baby is a boy or a girl.”
“Wonderful.” Alex smiled. “I’m looking forward to it. Can we talk about what else I can do? I’d like to help out with your pregnancy as much as I can, and once the child is born, I’d like to see him or her at least a few times a week.”
“Let’s take our time with those details,” Grace said.
“First, we’ll see how the ultrasound goes.
” She wasn’t about to commit to anything long-term when she knew how much Alex could change from one day to the next.
One day he could be flirty and romantic and wonderful, and the next he could be cold and distant and ready to fire her.
Just because he was trying to work things out now didn’t mean that he’d continue to do so.
Alex didn’t look entirely happy, but he nodded. “Fair enough. I have to ask—does this change your mind about the lawsuit?”
“No,” Grace said bluntly. “How am I supposed to know that you won’t change your mind tomorrow? Or that this whole meeting isn’t just a trap to get me to drop the lawsuit? That seems like the kind of thing you’d do. And we aren’t supposed to be talking about this. That was one of the ground rules.”
“Wow.” Alex shook his head. “You really don’t trust me, which is galling considering that you were the one who—” He cut himself off. “Okay. I understand you aren’t letting the lawsuit go.”
“Good.” Grace folded her arms.
“Great.” Alex matched her gesture.
A long pause stretched between them, punctuated by the squawking of seagulls, the crash of the waves in the distance, and the sound of a child’s laughter.
Grace turned toward the sound and spotted a little girl playing with her father on the sand.
He was burying her feet, and she was giggling and kicking the sand off.
Father and daughter flashed matching smiles at each other.
They both had freckles and sandy-blond hair. The love between them was plain as day.
Grace turned back to Alex and saw that his expression had softened. She was sure hers had, too.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you at the ultrasound,” she said.
“Me too. Thank you for saying I can come.”
“Of course.” Grace looked down at his ice cream. “Are you going to eat that?”
Alex glanced at the melting banana split in surprise. “No, probably not. I just ordered something so I could sit here. I should have gotten coffee, but I was feeling a bit flustered…”
“Can I eat it?” Grace blurted.
“Yes, of course.” Alex handed her a spoon. “Be my guest.”
“Pregnancy hormones are making me crave sweets.” Grace carved off a spoonful of ice cream, chocolate, and banana. “At least now that the morning sickness is mostly gone.”
“Was it bad?” Alex asked. “The morning sickness?”
“Terrible,” Grace said. Then she shook her head.
“No, I shouldn’t say that. It wasn’t really.
Some women have it much worse. But I had a few hours every day that I just wanted to lie on the floor.
Those little tins of mints were the only thing that saved me.
I swear, I probably ate ten pounds of those mints in a few weeks. ”
Alex chuckled. “I know those. I like them too, and I don’t have the excuse of morning sickness.”
Grace took another mouthful of ice cream. “Now, I’m about to be in the second trimester, which is supposed to be the best one.”
“The best one?”
Grace nodded. “I’m supposed to have the least symptoms and feel the best. Most importantly, I’m finally supposed to be a little less tired.”
“You’ve been tired?”
“Exhausted.”
“Well, from now on, if you need anything, you can always call me.”
“Really?” Grace met his eyes.
“Really.”
For a moment, as they looked at each other, Grace could almost forget everything that had happened between them. It was all too easy to imagine Alex as an ally. A mental image of him assembling nursery furniture and rocking an infant to sleep popped into her mind.
“I’ll even come from work if you need me,” Alex said. “Even though work has been a real mess since…”
He trailed off, but Grace knew what he meant to say. Her warm feelings toward him dissipated like a balloon snatched from a child’s hand by the seaside wind and carried into the sky.
“Right. Well, I guess you’re anxious to get back to work now.” She stood.
“No, it’s okay. I have time,” Alex protested, but Grace pushed away the remainder of the banana split and shouldered her bag.
“I have things to do, too. Even though I’m currently unemployed.”
“Grace…” Alex looked up at her from his chair.
“Yes?” She paused and looked back at him.
“See you at the doctor’s.”
“Yeah. See you then.”
And with that, Grace left, taking the route along the boardwalk back to her car. Alex could pay for the ice cream if he hadn’t already.
He owed her a lot more than ice cream after everything that had happened. Already, she regretted allowing him to come to the doctor’s appointment. This was going to be a real mess.