Tempting Love - Haley & Eddie (28 page)

Then and only then did the obnoxious pounding penetrate through his lust-fogged conscious. Dropping his head and cursing under his breath, he stalked to the front door.

Opening it up, he was locked and loaded, ready to give whoever was on the other side of it a piece of his mind. But when the door swung open, Eddie froze. He went completely numb. He couldn’t feel his legs beneath him, his arms at his sides, or even his head on his shoulders.

Eddie blinked several times. His head spun with dizziness. He was pretty sure his lightheadedness had to do with the fact that, as quickly as all the blood in his body had traveled to his groin moments ago, it had just as quickly drained from his body now.

“Hi, Eddie. Long time no see.” The woman standing on his porch removed her oversized sunglasses.

“Lacey?” Eddie’s voice sounded foreign even to his own ears. He felt disconnected from himself, like he was outside of his body looking in.

“I came for Emily’s birthday,” Lacey said cheerily as she lifted a stack of presents he hadn’t noticed sitting beside her on the porch.

At the sound of his daughter’s name, all of his senses and faculties returned to him at once. He was no longer in shock or disbelief. Hearing Emily’s name on Lacey’s lips was like being dunked in a tank of ice water.

“Her birthday was yesterday,” Eddie corrected her, his tone flat and cold.

“Are you sure?” Lacey narrowed her almond-shaped eyes in a questioning glare.

“Yes. I’m sure,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “What do you want, Lacey?”

Standing up a little straighter, she rolled her shoulders back. A flicker of challenge sparked in her brown eyes. “I want to see my baby.”

“She’s not a baby anymore,” Eddie pointed out.

“I know. She’s seven now—”

“Eight,” he interrupted.

Lacey shook her head the way she always did when she was irritated, her light brown hair flicking over her shoulders. Her hands flew up in exasperation. “Okay, she’s
eight
now. That’s my point. I’ve missed so much and I want to be a part of her life.”

“It’s not that easy.”

An overconfident smile lifted on her face. “I know. That’s why I thought it would be good to come on her birthday. I thought it would make it a fun event. You know, like meeting me could be her present.”

Eddie let out a forced laugh. He had to give Lacey credit for being consistent. She always had thought the world revolved around her, and it looked like the years had not changed that one bit.

“Can I come in?” she asked. “These are heavy.”

“No,” he barked.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

Setting the boxes down, she stood and placed her hands on her hips. The moment she did that, Eddie recognized it as the same pose he’d seen Emily make a thousand times.

“This is ridiculous, Eddie. It’s me.”

So many emotions were flooding through Eddie. Anger. Sadness. Fear. He didn’t know which one was stronger. They were all rising up so fast he felt as though they were choking him.

“I’m her mother. Nothing you can do can change that.” The determined tone in Lacey’s voice caused Eddie’s blood to run cold.

“You have no rights to her. You can’t just walk back into her life like the past eight years never happened.”

“Maybe. We’ll see. But rights or no rights, I am her mother. And, believe me, a little girl always wants to know her mother.” With that statement, Lacey turned on her heels and started down the walkway.

“You forgot your presents,” he called after her.

“Those are Emily’s. Not mine.” She placed her sunglasses back on her head as she walked around a brand-new Mercedes and opened the door. “I’m staying at the Lighthouse B&B. I’ll give you a few days to get used to the idea, but believe me, Eddie. One way or another, I will know my daughter. Call when you’re ready to talk. If I don’t hear from you by midweek, you will be hearing from my attorney.”

Eddie watched as the silver luxury car pulled away from his house and sped down the street.

Lacey was back.

He had to go get Emily.

* * *

Haley watched from the doorway of the kitchen as Eddie slammed the front door and took the steps two at a time. She had no idea what to do.

Should she follow him upstairs? Give him space? Leave?

At a complete loss, she walked like a Zombie over to the stove and picked up the pan, dumping the eggs down the garbage disposal. Her appetite was gone and she really didn’t think Eddie was in the mood for eggs. As she began rinsing off the frying pan, she heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

“Eddie,” she called as he headed towards the door.

When he turned around and looked at her, it felt as if he didn’t even see her at first. He had a wild, panicked look in his eye. After a moment, his vision cleared and he shook his head. “I have to go get Emily. Lock the door when you leave.”

Without another word, he was out the door, slamming it in his wake.

Haley stood completely still, staring at the door. For how long, she had no idea. Then she turned and walked up the steps—the same steps she’d walked up hundreds of times, the same steps Eddie had carried her up after they’d made love against the wall. This time though, with each step she took, she felt like she was walking through quicksand.

When she finally made it upstairs, she walked into Eddie’s bedroom and picked her dress up off the floor. As she put it on, she turned away from the bed. She didn’t want to look at the place where she’d slept in Eddie’s arms, where he’d cradled her and told her he didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her, where he’d made love to her so slowly, so thoroughly, so sweetly, that tears had fallen down her face.

She slipped on her shoes and quickly left the room before tears once again overwhelmed her. As she hurried past Emily’s room, the tears that had been threatening to fall, slipped down her cheeks.

As she made her way down the steps and out of the house, Haley tried to be rational. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe everything was going to be okay. Maybe Lacey showing up wouldn’t completely devastate not only her life, but Eddie’s and Emily’s as well.

Yeah, and maybe she’d win the lottery.

Taking a moment Haley inhaled deeply breathing in the warm summer day. The birds were chirping, the sun was beating down brightly on the pavement, the air smelled of freshly cut grass. People were out washing their cars, kids were riding their bikes, and there was a garage sale at Mrs. Archer’s house.

Tears continued to flow down Haley’s face as she made her way across the street and up the drive. For some reason, the fact that the world was still spinning, completely unaffected by her devastation, bothered her much more than it logically should. All Haley wanted to do was take a shower, crawl into her bed, throw the comforter over her head, and sleep.

She didn’t want to face the cruel, unforgiving, uncaring world today. She wanted to hide. Hide from it all.

As she turned the corner on the landing of her stairs, she heard the shower already running. Great. Just what she needed.

She plopped down in the hallway to wait her turn and slipped her heels off. She couldn’t believe that it was just yesterday she’d sat in the same spot, feeling optimistic and hopeful for the future. Oh, how much could change in a span of twenty-four hours.

Her sister’s bedroom door creaked open and Chris stepped out, shoes in hand and shirt unbuttoned. He nodded to Haley in greeting, and she lifted her hand to wave. Then she watched as he did what she had just done—took the dreaded walk of shame.

Krista appeared in the doorway and stretched her hands up over her head, yawning loudly. When she noticed Haley sitting against the wall, a small smile appeared in on her face.

“Same clothes as yesterday. You dirty gir—” Her sister stopped when she noticed the tears running down Haley’s face. “What did he do?” she asked, rushing over and sitting beside Haley, pulling her into her arms. Haley cried against her sister’s shoulder, unable to talk.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Krista said, her voice filled with fire and venom.

“No,” Haley sniffed as she pulled away from her sister. “It’s not him. He didn’t do anything.”

Krista’s brow furrowed. “Then what’s with the waterworks?”

Haley sucked in a shaky breath. “Lacey’s back.”

Krista’s eyes widened so big it looked like they were going to pop right out of her head. “Oh, shit,” her sister breathed.

“Yeah. Oh shit,” Haley repeated.

“When did she…? What happened?”

Haley gave her sister the
Cliffs Notes
version of the sordid tale. “We were in the kitchen. Heard a knock on the door. Eddie opened it. And there she was.”

“What did she want?”

“To see Emily. She said she was here for her birthday.”

“Her birthday was yesterday,” Krista replied, pointing out the obvious.

“I know. She also thought Em was seven.”

Krista shook her head in disgust. “Stupid bitch.”

Normally Haley hated it when Krista called people bitches, but in this case, she made an exception.

“What did Eddie say?”

“He said she didn’t have any rights to her and Lacey couldn’t just walk back into Emily’s life like the last eight years never happened.”

“Damn straight,” her sister voiced in agreement.

“Then she told him that, rights or no rights, she was still Emily’s mother and that one way or another she would know her daughter. If she didn’t hear from him within three days, he would be hearing from her attorney. Then she drove off in her brand-new Mercedes.”

“Dang. Like that?”

“Yep.”

“What’s Eddie going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Haley wished she had an answer to that question.

“Well, what did he say to you after she left?”

“Nothing.” Tears once again began forming in Haley’s eyes. Because
that
was the crux of what was really upsetting her, the part that had broken her heart into a million pieces. “He just slammed the door and ran upstairs. When I heard him come back down, he looked right through me. It was almost like he was a wild animal. Then he just said he was going to get Emily and for me to lock the door when I left.”

“Oh.” Krista’s face fell. When she saw the tears slipping down Haley’s cheeks, she said brightly. “Look, I’m sure he was in shock. He probably just needs some time to work his stuff out. I saw the way he was looking at you last night Hales. He loves you.”

It was a sweet thing for Krista to say. And Haley knew that her sister meant it because Krista
never
said things just to be nice. But even if it were true, Haley knew everything was different now.

The door to the bathroom opened and Jessie walked out in a puff of steam. She looked down, and the moment her eyes landed on Haley, she said in a deadly calm voice, “I’m going to kill him.”

Haley and Krista both looked at each other for a beat before they burst out laughing. Haley wasn’t sure if she was hysterical or had officially lost her mind, but she did know that she was lucky. Lucky to have sisters who loved her and had her back no matter what.

“A
ll right, squirt. Time for bed.” Eddie came around the corner from the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe.

“Okay,” Emily said quietly as she scooted off the couch.

“Goodnight, princess. I hope I get to see you soon.” Lacey pulled their daughter in for a hug.

“It was nice to meet you,” Emily politely said.

Eddie’s heart was breaking for his little girl. He knew that she had no idea how to handle all of this. Hell, most of the adults he knew wouldn’t know how to handle this situation. It was fucked up.

He was so proud of his daughter for being polite even though he could see how awkward she felt. After they’d eaten dinner, he’d given Lacey and Emily privacy—or at least the illusion of privacy—leaving them alone in the family room while he did the dishes. From what he’d overheard, their conversation had been very one-sided—Lacey talking about how great she was, all the things she’d accomplished, the men she’d married, and Emily listening. As he sat at dinner silently listening while Lacey told story after story, all centered around the theme that Lacey was incredible, it blew Eddie’s mind that he had not heard Lacey ask their daughter even one question about herself. Not one.