Summer Kisses (7 page)

His gaze fell back to Ryan, who was now asleep. “Looks like we wore the little guy out. Should I put him in his crib?”

“I’ll take him.” She stood, and then leaned low and scooped Ryan up and off of his chest. Her baby smelled like Derrick, musky and masculine. “I’ll be right back.”

By the time she returned, Derrick was at the door ready to go. She was glad. The man made her nervous. He was handsome and too charming for his own good. This entire afternoon had probably been a sham. He was probably just kissing up to her, befriending her and then when she least suspected, he’d bring in the lawyers and find a way to take Ryan away from her. Men could not be counted on, she reminded herself.

“I was wondering if it would be okay if I stopped by tomorrow.”

“No,” she said a little too quickly. “I mean, I don’t think it would be a good idea.” She felt vulnerable and she didn’t like the feeling. There was no way she could be his friend and remain strong at the same time. Her plans were quickly dissolving into a pile of mush. She opened the door and after he stepped outside she said, “Maybe it would be better if the next time we see each other it’s in the mediation room.”

He rubbed his chin, clearly confused. “I know this can’t be easy for you, but we’re not meeting with the mediator for another month. My parents live less than an hour from here and my family is already on my back to meet Ryan. Let me pick you and Ryan up at, say, ten on Saturday and—”

“No. I’m sorry. I can’t.” She shut the door, and then leaned against it, her eyes closed tight until she heard him walk away. Everything was happening too fast. She had a magazine to run, a small magazine, but a magazine all the same.
Food For All
was chock full of everything from quick-to-fix recipes to restaurant reviews. The idea for her magazine had come to her five years ago as a hobby when she lived back East, but quickly grew into much more. She’d found a buyer for the New York edition and they agreed that she would start another edition once she moved to California. Finding a readership took time, though. Her savings was dwindling fast. If she didn’t find a way to get subscribers, she would be forced to find a job outside of her apartment.

She had an article to finish, emails to read, and a phone to answer. She walked into the kitchen and picked up the receiver. “Hello.”

“Jill. It’s so good to hear your voice. It’s me, Thomas.”

~~~

On the way to his car, Derrick found it difficult to wrap his mind around the fact that he had a son. The last few days had been a wild ride of emotions. Before finding Jill, he’d thought a lot about what he would do if he found the woman who had selected him as a donor, and what he would do if she were pregnant.

He certainly never thought he’d feel what he was feeling right now—happy. Spending time with Ryan today had been exhilarating. Even little Lexi had calmed his fears about whether or not he could handle children.

Maybe, he thought, if Maggie could see that he’d changed, that he took his responsibilities seriously, she would see that he was the man for her—not Aaron.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a sign: “Apartments for Rent.” Turning about, he followed the direction of the arrows, which took him back upstairs. Directly across from Jill’s apartment was a FOR RENT sign.

With a smile on his face, he headed for the main office.

~~~

Three days had passed since Maggie and Derrick met in the courtroom. Aaron had insisted she not go, but Maggie went anyhow and now her fiancé was barely talking to her.

Although they had kept their relationship private until recently, she and Aaron had been living together for a few months now. Aaron sat at the kitchen table, his laptop open in front of him—all ten fingers clacking away on the keyboard.

Maggie stood a few feet away, watching him. He was a pharmacist during the day and a law student at night. She loved the way his hair curled around his ears and the way his nose curved just a smidgeon to the left, something nobody else would notice at first or second glance. She hated to disturb Aaron, but he’d been quiet for days and it had to stop. “Aaron,” she said.

“Hmm.”

“We need to talk about Derrick.”

He didn’t respond, didn’t miss a beat as his fingers continued to hammer away at his keyboard.

“You need to talk to your brother,” Maggie tried again, “before he takes that woman to court and embarrasses his family in the process.”

“He’s not my brother,” Aaron said.

Biologically speaking that was the truth, but Aaron had been unofficially adopted by Derrick’s family when he was twelve—after Aaron’s mother ran off with another man and his father began spending more time in the bar than at home.

“You used to talk about Derrick with pride,” she reminded him. “You always bragged about his hard-earned place in the NFL, proudly calling him your brother as you recalled one childhood story or another.”

“That was a long time ago—before I found you again. Things are different now.”

Ouch. That hurt
. Maggie continued to watch him. He had yet to look away from the computer. Ever since he’d punched Derrick in the face, he’d been treating her as if she was the one who did something wrong. “Aaron. Look at me, please.”

Finally, he looked up, his eyes cold and unseeing.

“Why are you blaming me for Derrick’s actions?”

“The truth?”

“Nothing but.”

“I think you
wanted
Derrick to kiss you.”

Aaron might as well have punched her in the gut because that’s how she felt—sucker punched and sick to her stomach. “Is there more?”

“Yeah. I think you’re in love with Derrick. I think you always have been. I think you agreed to marry me to get closer to him.”

She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was hard to believe he could be so dense. “You don’t think I would have approached Derrick if I thought he was the man for me?”

“No. You’re a stickler for pride and your pride never would have allowed you to go after him.”

Wow. He had it all figured out
. She watched him as he set his attention back on his work. She’d grown up with a gaggle of boys, including Derrick and Aaron. They all did everything together. They rode bikes and played football, shot hoops and hiked around town. They joked together, laughed together, played silly pranks on one another. Until she reached puberty, she’d been one of the boys: Connor, Derrick, Aaron, Lucas, Brad, Cliff, Jake, a few neighborhood boys, and Maggie. They were all great friends, at least until her body changed and their voices dropped an octave. For a short time, she’d thought she had feelings for Derrick, but then she’d given him a football for his fourteenth birthday and he’d kissed her. By the time they shared their third and last kiss in the principal’s office during their senior year, she’d known her heart wasn’t in it.

Derrick was fun and carefree, but he didn’t take life seriously. Aaron, on the other hand, had grown up to become a responsible and caring man who wore his emotions like a badge for all to see. She and Aaron had always been great friends. They talked for hours on end and it had only taken one kiss for her to know that he was the one who had her heart, the one she loved.

Yes, she’d heard from Aaron and Derrick’s sisters about the ridiculous vow all the boys made back then, a pledge stating that if one of them couldn’t have her, then none of them could.

Crazy talk—childhood silliness.

Maggie watched her fiancé and inwardly smiled as she thought about all the lonely nights she’d spent during her college years, dreaming about Aaron someday coming for her. It had taken him a few years longer than she’d thought it would, but he’d come all the same. And she’d been waiting.

“Where are you going?” Aaron asked after she sighed and headed for the other room.

She stopped and looked around the house they’d been sharing for months now. She looked at the roll-top desk Aaron had bought for her before she moved in, to the handmade cushions on the chairs where Aaron sat, the cushions she’d made when they first moved into the house. “I’m going to get my laptop,” she said. “I have clients who need me.”

“You’re not leaving?”

She raised her eyebrows, shocked by his question. “This is my home,” she said, tired of his moping. “If anyone’s leaving this house, it’s going to have to be you. I’m not going anywhere.”

“And you have nothing to say on the matter?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat, determined to keep from falling apart, firm in her decision to help Derrick in his time of need. “I’m going to help Derrick to the best of my ability. He’s your brother. He’s family.”

“What did you do to Aaron?”

Derrick grimaced at the front console of his car where the radio frequency miraculously turned magnetic waves into his mother’s voice. The wireless phone system in his Chevy Tahoe was supposed to make for a safer ride, but he wondered how safe it was to drive while being lectured by his mother. Keeping his eyes on the road, he said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Aaron said he couldn’t come to the get-together I’m planning if you were going to be there. He said to ask you about it if I wanted details.”

“Not now, Mom. I’m pulling up to my new apartment building as we speak. Jake and the twins are meeting me to help move a few things.”

“Why are you moving into an apartment when you have a beautiful home already.”

He turned into the parking lot. “It’s only temporary. I’m hoping I can make Jill see that Ryan’s life will be better with me in it.”

“Well, of course, it will be better with you in it. When are we going to be able to meet Jill and our grandson?”

“I’m working on it, Mom. Until mediation next month, I’m going to do what I can to try and see if Jill and I can work something out on our own.”

“I don’t understand. You were in the hospital room when your son was born, so why can’t she see that you’re a nice, trustworthy guy? I mean you’re not exactly Tom Hanks or Bob Barker, but you’ve got charisma. Maybe she’s wondering why you’re still single.”

“I would take that as a compliment, Mom, if Bob Barker hadn’t been sued by six women from his daytime show.”

“Ridiculous. Bob Barker was named the most popular game show host by a national poll.”

Derrick chuckled as he pulled into an empty parking slot and slid the gear into Park. “I’ll take your word for it. I’ve gotta go.”

“Tell Jake I found the rollerblades he was looking for, and tell the twins dinner will be ready at seven.”

“Rollerblades?”

“Jake has a date with Candy this weekend, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

Derrick lifted his eyes heavenward. “You still cook for the twins? Didn’t they turn twenty-five recently?”

“Everybody comes here for dinner on Wednesday. Everyone but you.”

Damn
. He’d forgotten again. “I’ll come next week, I promise.”

“I’m going to hold you to that. Don’t forget to bring a picture of Ryan.”

“I’ll do what I can. Talk to you later, Mom.” He quickly hit the Off button before she could think of another subject to broach. He climbed out of the car and shut the door.

The layer of marine clouds had disappeared earlier than usual today. The sun warmed the air along with his stiff shoulders. Blue, cloudless skies, not a bit of Los Angeles smog or June gloom in sight. Closing his eyes, he put his face to the sun and inhaled while he stretched his leg - his knee got a little stiff whenever he sat for too long.

A honk sounded as two trucks pulled into the parking lot: an old brown Ford and a newer Toyota model. Three of his brothers had arrived. The twins, Cliff and Brad, owned a construction business and they were in the new truck, while Jake followed behind in the truck he’d borrowed from Dad.

Cliff was the first to find a parking spot and head Derrick’s way. At six foot five, Cliff was the tallest of all the brothers. On the basketball court Cliff made a two-handed dunk look easy. He was also the only fair-haired child in the family, which is why they liked to tease him about how much Mom had always liked the fair-haired mailman.

Cliff gestured with his chin toward the apartment building. “So this is your new place, huh?”

“This is it.”

“A far cry from your house in Malibu.”

“It’s only temporary. I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do.”

“And what is it exactly that you have to do?”

Jake and Brad joined them in time to hear his answer.

“I plan to show Jill that I’m a decent guy, you know, make her see that I deserve to be in Ryan’s life.”

“I never realized you were so eager to be a father,” Jake chimed in.

“He didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, now did he?” Cliff argued.

“I didn’t know how I would feel about it either,” Derrick said, “but once I held my son in my arms, I knew that not only did I
need
to be there for him, I
want
to be in his life. I want to see him take his first steps and hear his voice when he says his first words. I want to help him with his homework and throw him a ball at the park. I want to coach him if he decides to play sports and I want to get to know his friends. I want it all.”

It was quiet for a long moment.

He could tell by the look in his brothers’ eyes that he’d said too much, but he didn’t care. Something about being a father had brought out a mushy side to him he hadn’t known existed.

“And if Jill sees that you’re a nice guy, then what?” Jake asked.

“I have no idea.”

Brad shook his head. “What kind of woman would keep a father from his son? So many deadbeat dads out there and then you come along, a guy who wants to be a part of his son’s life, and she turns her back on you. I don’t get it.”

“She’s confused,” Derrick told them. “From what I’ve picked up on so far, an incident in her past has left her a little bitter toward men. She didn’t plan on having her donor show up at her doorstep, which is why I need to show her that Ryan needs me in his life. I have no intention of taking him away or making her life miserable.”

“It’s a complicated situation,” Cliff agreed.

“What does Jill look like?” Jake asked.