Chapter Thirteen

 

Neal

 

The community center looks closed when I go to pick up Bailey. The only cars in the lot belong to Noble and Veronica. It’s strange considering there are usually a lot of kids anytime the center offers an activity.

The place is as quiet as a graveyard, and my footsteps echo down the long, dim hallway as I make my way down to the gym. “Bailey?”

Jani pops her head out of the gym door and beckons me before retreating back inside. What the hell?

When I step into the gym, Jani and Bailey stand there, Jani with a wide grin, and Bailey gnawing her lip. “Bails? What’s going on?”

“I-I need to tell you something,” she mumbles.

Jani pats her on the shoulder and says, “I’ll be right out in the hall.”

Fear filters in as I wonder what she could be so fearful of telling me. If her mother has been contacting her without my knowledge…

“I’m so sorry,” Bailey says, and her tears well over. “I screwed everything up.”

“Bailey, whatever it is, it’ll be okay.” We take a few steps until we can take a seat on the stairs leading to the stage. “Just tell me. Are you in some kind of trouble?”

She shakes her head and wipes her eyes. “It’s my fault you and Veronica aren’t friends anymore.”

Damn it all. This type of thing was exactly what we were trying to keep from happening. “No, honey, it’s not. And we are friends. We just…”

“Can’t stand to be around each other,” she scoffs, giving me a look filled with wisdom beyond her age. “But it’s my fault.” She takes a deep breath. “I lied.”

“You lied about what?”

“I lied when I said Veronica was seeing a firefighter. I overheard her talking to Emily. She was telling her a firefighter asked her out, but that she said no. And Emily asked her why. She said it was because of you. Because she could only think about you, but that you didn’t want to be together.”

She wasn’t seeing anyone else. All the anger and jealousy I’ve been trying to tamp down was for nothing. Relief fills me, but I know it may not matter now. It suddenly clicks into place what that weird comment Veronica made about crotch rot from a dollar store might have been about. I just chalked it up to drunk talk. When she said she needed space, I assumed she’d decided to give it a go with the firefighter.

My instinct was to put a stop to it. To inform her she’s mine and drag her back to my place like a Neanderthal. My reaction when she returned from the bar that night scared the shit out of me because I don’t lose control like that. It’s not who I am. I left her alone for both our sakes, because I’ve been teetering on the edge of crazy at the thought of her with anyone else.

“Did you tell Veronica I was seeing someone?”

Looking at the floor, Bailey nods. “I told her there was a lady you talked on the phone to all night. I thought if you both got jealous, you’d change your mind and get married. She could be my mom and Aiden could be my little brother.”

Bailey is usually so mature for her age, that there are times I forget she’s not even twelve years old. It takes something like this to let me see how naive and innocent she really is. What has really caught me off guard is her wish for a mother. She’s never said anything, and I’ve avoided relationships to spare her feelings.

“Bailey, do you remember when I took my wedding ring off?”

“Yes.”

“You remember how upset you were?”

She looks up at me. “That was years ago. I just wanted Mom to come home. When you took off the ring, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I was nine. I didn’t understand.”

She leans against me when I put my arm around her. “I know that, honey. I’m not scolding you over it. It was understandable. But I don’t want to do anything to hurt you. You’re the most important girl in my life, no matter what. You know that, don’t you?”

She hugs me. “I know, but I don’t want to be the only one. I want you to be happy too. And I love Veronica.”

Sighing, I squeeze her back. “So do I, Bails, but love doesn’t always lead to marriage. Even if I started seeing Veronica again, or another woman in the future, it doesn’t mean we’ll get married.”

“I know.”

I look down at her, making sure she’s looking me in the eye. “You can’t manipulate people, Bailey. Especially not by using their feelings against them. It’s wrong, and you aren’t going to get the outcome you want.”

Nodding, tears streak down her face again. “I know that now. I’m sorry.”

“I know. Some lessons we have to learn the hard way, kid, but those are the ones that stick with us.”

Bailey sits up and fidgets with her hands. “So, um…would having Noble and Jani set up a romantic dinner for you and Veronica in the lunchroom, then getting you both to show up be considered manipulating? Because if so, I swear, this is the last time.”

“Wait, what?”

Noble steps in, dressed in a tuxedo with a towel draped over his arm like a waiter in a fancy restaurant. “Your lady awaits, sir,” he announces, biting back a laugh.

Bailey looks up at me with a combination of hope and caution. “She’s waiting for you. Well, sort of. She’s waiting for something. Aiden just told her she had a surprise.”

Surreal isn’t a sufficient word as I follow Noble down the hall and peek into the lunchroom that has been decked out like a restaurant. White tablecloths, candles, the whole shebang.

At the center table, Veronica sits, looking casually beautiful as she glances around like something might explode. “You’d better go in before she leaves. She’s not very patient,” Noble says. “I’ll be bringing your food.”

“Did you set this up?”

“Dude, I don’t have a vagina. Bailey came to me, and I owed her one after she helped me get Jani back. The whole neighborhood knows you two should be together, so I got Jani to help. Now get in there and don’t fuck this up. Jani and I are taking Aiden and Bailey back to Jani’s apartment tonight. We’ll send them home in the morning.”

This is crazy. Completely and totally insane. But there’s not an inch of me that doesn’t want her, so I step into the lunchroom slash impromptu fancy restaurant.

“Neal?” Her jaw tenses and the little I’m pissed lines pop up around her mouth. “What’s going on? Did you do this?”

Sighing, I sit across from her. “Nope, we’ve been parent trapped.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Bailey got Noble and Jani to lure us together.”

She rubs her forehead. “Shit. Is Bailey upset?”

Noble appears, still carrying the towel over his arm and walking stiffly. Is that how he thinks waiters walk? He shuffles over to fill our wine glasses and starts speaking in a horrible accent. It’s like a mix of Italian and French and probably borderline offensive to both nationalities.

“Ciao, welcome to Little Italy. It’s-uh me, Noble. We are appy to ave you and your usband. We will start with the wine and then-uh the pasta, no?”

“Dude, stop, you sound like Mario. Give us a minute, okay?”

“Very well. I-uh know when I’m a not-uh wanted.” He keeps mumbling in the horrible accent as he leaves, but I’m focused on Veronica.

“Bailey is okay. V, I want to apologize for the way I acted. Bailey told me you were dating a firefighter and—”

“I’m not dating anyone!” she interrupts. “Why would she say that?”

“For the same reason she told you I was talking to some woman on the phone all night. She wanted to make us jealous because she thought it would push us together.”

Veronica sits back, her mouth slightly open as the realization sinks in. “There was no dollar store whore?”

“No. And you haven’t been seeing anyone?”

“No.”

She picks up her wine and takes a few gulps. We stare at one another for a few seconds until a smile cracks her lips, followed by a giggle. It is funny in a way, and my laughter fills the room along with hers.

“She set us up, and it backfired,” she clarifies.

“Then she had Noble and Jani help her try to fix it. By doing this.” I gesture around the room.

“And they agreed. They all think if you just put us in the same room…”

“Like two pandas,” I snort. “Just lock us together and we’ll be all over each other.”

When our laughter dies down, I reach across and lay my hand on hers. “I’ve missed you. I’m sorry. It doesn’t matter what I thought or what I was told. I should’ve talked to you. I was an asshole.”

She squeezes my hand. “You tried to talk to me. I’m sorry too. I knew I had no right to be angry that you were talking to someone else, but it tore me up. It made me realize we’ve been fooling ourselves, thinking we could just be friends.”

She sighs and pulls her hand back. “I know it’s hard on us, but we need to make sure the kids aren’t suffering because we made a mistake. Bailey can always come to see me. I’ve come to love her like my own.”

She still thinks this isn’t going to happen.

“Do you love me?”

Tears fill her eyes and she nods. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry for loving me?”

She nods. “I know that wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“V, I love you too, and damn what we thought was supposed to happen. This.” I point back and forth between us. “Us. We happened. And I don’t regret a second of it. I’m also not ready for it to end.”

“But…we said…the kids…”

“I love Aiden. He’s the son I didn’t have.”

“He loves you too, but—”

“But what? They might suffer if we broke up? They’d be right where we are now. We can’t be afraid of the if’s anymore. What if things work out and we make a family? What if we get to spend the rest of our lives with the people we love? A clean start for both of us.”

Swallowing hard, she grins through her tears. “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, Neal?”

“No, I’m asking you to move in with me and be my everything. And one day soon, when I’m sure you won’t run away screaming, I’ll be asking for you to be my wife. Because that’s how this story ends, V. With you and me.”

She gets to her feet, and I meet her halfway around the table.

My arms wrap around her as she adds, “And hours of dirty, sweaty fucking.”

Our mouths clash together in a kiss that displays the desperation we’ve both felt. Her hands grip my hair and she throws her legs around my waist as I back her against the wall, losing myself in her the way I’ve dreamed of every night she’s been gone.

Everything around us disappears. I don’t care that she’s ten years younger, that we’ll have to make adjustments for the kids, or that we’re in the middle of a lunchroom in a damn community center. All I can see and feel is her.

Until Noble’s voice echoes around us.

“You couldn’t even wait until after the spaghetti?” He grumbles and puts two plates on the table before heading toward the door mumbling, “Like freaking rabbits.”

Veronica laughs and calls out, “More like pandas, actually.”