By the end of August, Taylor and Reed had gotten closer than he ever thought was possible.
He still hadn’t met Angie yet, but he’d been hearing all about her. There was some lingering hope that he’d get his chance soon to meet her.
Taylor and he continued to have a standing night together every other Saturday. It was normally at his house since she was reluctant to let him stay at hers. He wasn’t sure the reason and had been afraid to ask.
He was pulling into the parking lot at Chapman Construction and noticed a new Mercedes in front of the building. Nothing new there, except for the man that stepped out of the driver’s door. Jack Jamison.
“Something I can help you with?” he asked when he got to the front door, holding it open for the man that he’d love to kick off his property on principle alone.
“Tay’s boss,” Jack said, looking him up and down. “I just need to speak with Tay. Don’t worry, it won’t be long.”
Reed snorted over the shortened name that Taylor had told him she’d always detested and wanted to be an ass and tell him no, but knew he couldn’t do that. He had no cause and it was Angie’s father. It might be important, though he had a feeling it wasn’t.
“Why don’t you wait here and I’ll go get Taylor for you?” Jack looked like he wanted to argue, but Reed added, “She’s pretty private about her life.”
“Yet you’re aware of who I am,” Jack said, smirking.
“I was in the parking lot when you gave your reason for having your hand on her arm,” Reed said, squaring his shoulders and narrowing his eyes.
“Whatever you want to do,” Jack said, shaking his head. Reed knew when he was being humored, but this was his property and some slick-talking lawyer wasn’t going to come in here and push him around.
“Yep, it’s what I want. You can have a seat over there and cool your jets.”
Reed walked away and took his damn time. He walked upstairs first, popped his head into his father’s office to drop something off, then sent a text to Taylor to meet him in the small conference room upstairs and take the back steps.
It wasn’t long before she walked in. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“Man, you look sexy right now,” he said quietly.
She narrowed her eyes. “You better not have called me up here for that.”
“Relax.” He moved to shut the door. “I met Jack in the parking lot. He’s down in the waiting room. He’s looking for you and I took a gamble that no one in the building knows you have a child, so I told him I’d get you rather than someone showing him to your office where a conversation could be overheard.”
Her shoulders dropped. “Yeah. Thanks. I’ll go down and we’ll talk outside.”
“Or I can bring him up and then stay in the room for moral support and usher him back out.”
He held his breath while he waited for her answer. “I don’t know. It might set him off to have you in here.”
“And your point would be?” he asked.
“True. Oh what the hell. He shouldn’t always get his way. Bring him up. I can only imagine what his problem is this time. He didn’t even bother to call me.”
“Just wait here,” Reed said, then went downstairs. Jack was sitting there thumbing through his phone, his leather loafer on the knee of his designer jeans. He was the image of a trust fund baby for sure. If Reed wasn’t mistaken there was a Rolex at his wrist. “She’s in the conference room. I’ll just bring you up.”
“So she needs a guard,” Jack said. “Is this special treatment for your employees or is it something more?”
“Don’t push your luck. I could easily throw your ass out and make you wait until after hours to deal with this.”
Jack just laughed and Reed decided to let it go. For Taylor’s sake, he’d try to keep the peace.
“What’s going on, Jack, that you had to show up at my job and couldn’t call me? It’s not like you even tried.”
Jack waited and turned to address him, “Tay and I can take it from here. We’d like some privacy.”
Reed looked at Taylor and got her nod, then left the room, pulling the door closed, but not clicking it shut. He wanted to hear what was going on.
“Well, Jack. Why are you here now?”
“I want Angela for a week. I want to take her on vacation.”
“No,” she said. “That isn’t part of the custody agreement. You can go back to court if you want that.”
“I can. And if I do that, I might just ask for joint custody while I’m at it.”
Reed wanted to rush in the door as he imagined Taylor’s face just paled at that comment. “You wouldn’t,” Taylor said. “You don’t even spend half the time with her as it is.”
“It’s none of your concern what Angela and I do when we have our time together.”
“The hell it isn’t,” she argued.
“One week, Tay. That’s all I’m asking. If you must know, my parents will be there.”
“I figured as much. You wouldn’t know what to do with her for more than five hours if she was awake,” Taylor said sarcastically.
“We’ve been over this before,” Jack said, his voice firm. “I didn’t want this. It was forced on me and you know it. I still think you did it on purpose regardless of what you say.” Reed fought his face from paling. He didn’t want to believe that Taylor had gotten pregnant on purpose, but she’d said a few times now that Jack’s parents called her a gold digger.
Didn’t she say she didn’t have the best of lives? That money was tight?
Was she really trying to better herself this way? Sometimes it was so hard when doubts crept in.
“Believe whatever the hell you want,” she said, her voice terse. “Where did you plan on going?”
“Not far. Just the Hamptons. My parents rented a house there. A few hours drive. If Angela wants to come home, you can come get her.”
She snorted. “When?”
Reed was shocked she was even considering this, but then wondered if there was the worry that Jack might go for joint custody if he decided to follow through with the threat. “Labor Day week.”
“That’s next week,” she said, her voice rising.
“Yes. Saturday is my day. We’re leaving then. I want to take her with me.”
“I need to prepare for something like this. I need to prepare her. The most you’ve had her is two nights. Hell, Jack, I had to come get her early because you let her eat three boxes of candy and a full bag of popcorn and she threw up on your white sofa. What are you going to do with her for a week?”
Reed rolled his eyes. He’d never been around kids much, but even he wouldn’t have done something that stupid.
“That’s not your concern.”
“I need to think on this,” Taylor said.
“There’s nothing to think about. I’m her father. I’m not taking her out of state,” he threw out there and Reed realized that Jack wasn’t stupid at all.
“Let me talk to Angie tonight.”
“You’re going to leave this up to a three-year-old to decide? You’re still throwing it in my face about the food she ate that night because I let her pick it out, yet she can decide about a vacation?” Jack said sarcastically.
“She isn’t making the decision, but I need to feel her out. I want to talk to your mother too to get more facts. I’m sure you can’t answer any questions I’ve got.”
“Probably not,” Jack said. “I’ll tell my mother you’ll be calling her tonight.”
Reed moved to the end of the hall, so it wasn’t like he was standing with his ear to the door. He could tell by Jack’s tone he was done talking and was right when the door opened a minute later.
“I’ll walk you out,” Reed said to Taylor’s ex.
“Whatever floats your boat,” Jack said, strutting forward. When they got to the parking lot, Jack said, “I’m not stupid. She’s a hot piece of ass. I tapped the shit out of it myself, but from one dude to the next, protect yourself. She got herself one hell of a meal ticket out of me for eighteen years and I wouldn’t put it past her to try to get another one.”
Reed took a step forward. “Get the hell off my property before I wipe the pavement with your skinny ass.”
Jack laughed. “You’re smart enough to not put your hands on me. I was wondering about what might be going on with you and Tay and now I know.”
“I’m not doing it for any reason other than I don’t want to make things worse for Taylor.”
“Watch your wallet around her,” Jack said again, smiling. “Just some friendly advice.”