Taylor was walking down the stairs in the front of the building when Reed walked back in the front door. “Can we talk?” she asked.
“Yeah. Where do you want to go?”
“Outside,” she said. “I need some air. You heard everything, didn’t you?”
“I did. I wasn’t going to leave you alone.”
She wanted to say that was sweet but held her tongue. “He wouldn’t have done anything.”
“He had his hand on your arm a few months ago.”
“He did. He’s not a violent person. Not physically.” Jack was a lot of things, but he’d never pushed her around. She’d rip him to shreds before he’d ever lay a hand on her.
“Just verbally?” he asked.
“Yeah. He never used to be that way either. He was actually fun to be around. We had a blast. I saw myself falling in love with him,” she said, surprised she was voicing those words.
Reed stopped and then pulled her over to a picnic table in the shade that staff sat at on break. It was empty, thankfully. She couldn’t get a read on him right now and wasn’t sure if she should continue talking. Lately it seemed like Reed wanted to know so much more about her.
They were less like friends and lovers and more like two people trying to start a relationship, but neither of them was sure of it. Or more like she wasn’t sure but he was throwing out all the signs. It was time to explain things more.
“What happened?” he asked after a minute of silence.
“I found out I was pregnant.”
“And he didn’t believe it was his, you’d said.”
“Nope. We met in a club. We did a lot of partying, but we did spend time talking. He knew about my family. I knew a little about his. I didn’t realize the extent of his wealth until I went for child support. I was shocked at what I’d be getting.”
She knew she was entitled to a percentage of his income, which was much higher than she thought because she had no clue of his trust fund that he drew off of each month. She’d gotten a better lawyer than she realized.
Or maybe it was the woman she’d hired was pretty sour on men too and was out for blood with Jack. Either way, it probably made matters worse for the situation.
“So he wasn’t happy with that?”
“Nope. I told you his family thinks I’m a gold digger. You heard him—he thinks I got pregnant on purpose so I could get a free ticket. There is no free ticket when you’re a single parent. I’ve got a good job and I get a nice amount of money in child support, but I’m not rich. It’s not like my child support is equal to having a second income from having a spouse or significant other with a good job. He doesn’t see that.”
“He wouldn’t,” Reed said.
“He sees that I took something from him and that I was out to get him. What he doesn’t see is that being a parent is hard work. He has no clue because his mother does most of the work when they’ve got Angie.”
She wanted Reed to understand that it wasn’t anything like Jack just said.
“I wouldn’t know. I don’t know much about kids and haven’t met Angie.”
“And you want to,” she said.
“I’d like to,” he said.
“What’s going on with us right now?” she asked. “I’ve got to know. I just don’t have it in me for games in my life.”
“I don’t play games. I know how our relationship started out, but I’d like to take it another step. Why can’t we? Are we really just friends with benefits? I think we’ve been more all along. Why can’t we acknowledge that?”
Her shoulders dropped. “Because it’s safer to keep it in the other category.”
“You’re not wrong. But safe for who? For us, or for Angie?”
“Both,” she said, giving him credit for asking that.
“Why do we have to be safe? I have no intentions of hurting you and I promise I won’t feed Angie three boxes of candy in one sitting.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Jack’s such an idiot. That happened the first night we went out, by the way. I had to rush and get her that next morning when I heard her throwing up when he called me.”
“And here I thought you were spending time at the spa relaxing.”
“The spa?” she said. “I’ve never been to a spa.”
“Maybe I should take you some time.”
“No,” she said. “We’re getting off topic. I just wanted you to know what was going on with us. Things have changed. I’ve seen it myself. I just don’t want any surprises.”
“Same here,” he said.
“Let’s see how things go next week. I probably don’t have much of a choice in letting Angie go away with them. I can say no, but I can’t afford the lawyer to fight him if he wants to challenge the custody arrangement. He’d do it just to spite me. That’s why I moved here. It’s a threat, but one I can’t risk.”
“I understand. Then for everyone’s sake, I hope it works out well next week and then I’ll get to meet Angie sometime soon.”
“Me too.”
***
So here he was two weeks later meeting Angie for the first time. To say he was stressed was putting it mildly.
Angie had gone to the Hamptons. She’d even lasted the whole week but ended up having to call Taylor every night after a few days. She’d wanted to come home, but Jack’s mother had managed to smooth it over. How did he know these things? Because Taylor had confided in him.
She was doing that more lately. The week that Angie was gone, Taylor ended up spending a few nights at his house with Mutt, then bringing the dog home for the day. He didn’t think she’d agree to it, but he figured it kept her mind off the fact she was in her house alone for more than one night.
And that week they’d spent together, they’d gotten closer. They’d cooked some meals together. They watched TV. And they snuggled into bed.
It was like a relationship he’d always envisioned he’d have one day and had always thought he would have at one point.
That is until it blew up in his face.
Then he had to remind himself it wasn’t as sudden as he remembered it. That the signs and signals had all been present with what Whitney had been doing, but he was blinded by love. Or so he thought.
Now he realized he’d been in love with the idea of getting the hot chick that he’d spent four years of high school having a crush on.
That he loved the idea he’d gotten the girl in the end.
But in the end, he’d gotten nothing at all.
When he heard a knock on his front door, he went to open it, surprised Taylor wasn’t letting herself in. Maybe she didn’t want to push it too much with Angie.
“Hi,” he said. The urge to lean in and kiss her was massive, but the stink eye she was sending him said to hang back.
“Hi,” she said back. “Reed. This is Angie. Angie, this is my friend Reed. Can you say hi?”
“Hi,” Angie said, her smile bright, her long brown hair in a ponytail, with her brown eyes wandering everywhere. She was like a mini version of her mother with her father’s coloring.
Reed squatted down. “I’m happy to finally meet you,” he said.
“Mommy said you gave me coloring books.”
“I did,” he said. “I might have a few more here for you too.”
“Yay,” Angie said, running past him into the house. “Where? I like them. Oh. You’ve got trucks. I love trucks!”
It didn’t seem to take much more than that to win the little girl over. When he looked up and saw the soft look in Taylor’s eyes, he imagined he’d won her mother over too.
“That’s bribery,” Taylor said.
“And it works,” Reed said, pulling her in for a hug while Angie was distracted by the toys he’d bought this week.