Chapter Twenty
Andrew
Ice cream might not have been the best decision, I reflected as I watched Emma put her sticky hands all over the interior of the car. Not that I couldn't pay to have it cleaned. I just felt bad for whoever was going to have to clean it.
I was still baffled by how much of a mess Emma had been able to create, all while still managing to get enough of the ice cream into her mouth that she was currently on a sugar high and bouncing up and down in her seat.
When we pulled up in front of my house and I opened the door, she zoomed out, quickly followed by her laughing mother. I tumbled out after them, smiling as I watched them.
Lexi was still getting on my nerves some, but I knew that she meant well. And I knew that I must be getting on her nerves as well, so we were probably even. The thing was, even as we were bickering, I was coming to find that I liked her. She was good company for a day, and with Emma in the mix as well, I had had a lot of fun at the Children's Museum. Emma was already asking when we could go back, so I considered that a success as well.
Of course, she was also planning all of my outfits for tea parties with her stuffed animals for the next fifty years, so I had a feeling that I might just come to regret this day at the Children's Museum.
I wouldn't trade it for the world.
I hummed to myself as I walked into the house. As we walked, I tried not to stare at Lexi's ass, which admittedly looked pretty fantastic in those jeans of hers. I'd been trying the whole day not to stare, but I hadn't been able to tear my eyes away a couple times. Fortunately, I didn't think that she had noticed, preoccupied with Emma each time I might have gotten caught.
“Hey Emma, what do you want for dinner tonight?” I asked as I opened the door to the house, letting us all inside.
“Pizza!” she told me enthusiastically.
I laughed, about to agree with that plan, when I realized Janice was standing there in the front hall, a pinched look on her face. Standing at her side was none other than Renée.
Renée looked livid. She definitely wasn't the classy girlfriend who I'd been dating, at that moment, but rather some sort of ugly she-wolf ready for a fight.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her.
“You've been ignoring me for weeks now,” Renée said, sounding like she didn't know whether to be angry or tearful about it. “I came to figure out what the hell you were up to. Especially since you didn't go to work today. I thought I'd find you here, maybe with some other girl, but instead, I find this.”
She scowled at Lexi. “Who the hell is she, huh?” Renée continued, her voice rising as she took a step closer to Lexi. For a moment, I thought she was going to try to pull Lexi's hair or claw her or something. As hot as that might be, I stepped protectively between the two of them.
“Calm down,” I said to Renée, my voice low and as even as I could make it.
“Calm down?” Renée snarled. “Who is she? You have five seconds!”
Behind me, I heard Emma start to cry, no doubt frightened by this strange lady who had come into the house and started yelling. I felt a surge of anger, especially when I remembered how happy we had all been as we were climbing out of the car. For Renée to take that away from Emma was inexcusable.
I managed to keep my voice level as I glanced back at Lexi. “Lexi, can you and Emma and Janice please go upstairs while I talk to Renée?” I asked.
“Okay,” Lexi said. She was barely audible, and I spared a moment to wonder why she was so scared. Did she think I was going to take Renée's side and kick her out? Didn't she realize that I could never do that to Emma? At this point, I didn't even want to think of Lexi going without a roof overhead and food on the table. But that was something to think about at another time. Right now, I needed to focus on Renée.
“Who is she?” the woman asked one more time, her voice tight with anger.
I sighed. “Let me pour you a drink,” I suggested, leading the way into the living room. Mixing the drinks was a way for me to settle myself a little and to think through what I wanted to say. Not that I really had a choice of what to say. There was no lying about Lexi now. Renée had to know that the woman meant something to me.
Maybe Lexi was right, and honesty was the best policy.
“I had a one-night stand with Lexi, years ago,” I told Renée. “Three years and nine months ago, as a matter of fact. The girl, Emma, she's our daughter.”
“You have a daughter,” Renée said flatly.
“I have a daughter,” I agreed. I took a sip of my drink, running my hand over my face. “I didn't know that when we first started dating. Actually, I just found out about Emma right before my business trip. That's why I've been so out of touch lately. I've been trying to figure things out.”
“What's there to figure out?” Renée snapped. “Do you even know if the kid is yours?”
“She's mine,” I sighed.
“You did a paternity test?”
“No, I didn't do a paternity test.” I shook my head. “She looks just like Katherine used to, though. There's no mistaking it. Besides, I don't think Lexi would lie to me. If she says that Emma must be mine, then I believe that Emma must be mine.”
“She's probably just using you for your money,” Renée spat.
It was on the tip of my tongue to point out that I was pretty sure Renée was just using me for my money, but I managed to refrain. I shrugged. “I'm enjoying getting to know Emma,” I said simply.
Renée sneered at me. “You're not a dad. You might have fathered a child, but you're not the kind of guy to stick around while the kid grows up. You're not the kind of guy to help her with her homework or plan birthday parties or any of that.”
“I'm not,” I agreed. “But I'm trying to be.”
“Why is she here all the time anyway?” Renée asked, pouting. “She was here even when you weren't here.”
“She happens to be living here at the moment,” I said. “It's a long story, but she doesn't have anywhere else to go. It's just temporary.”
I thought Renée was going to explode. “She's living here?” she snapped. “I, your girlfriend, am only allowed to come over a couple nights a week at the most, and she's living here? What the hell!”
I rubbed at my temples, feeling a migraine start to form behind my eyes. “Like I said, it's a long story. It's all an unusual situation, but I didn't know what else to do. It's not as though I've ever had to deal with this situation before.”
“I can't believe this,” Renée said. “I don't even know where to begin: with the fact that you lied to me, or the fact that that good-for-nothing, gold-digging whore is living here with you. Or the fact that you never seem to be able to find time for me, and yet today, you had no problem blowing off work to spend a whole day with her and her little brat!”
“Let's not resort to name-calling,” I suggested icily. I was livid at the fact that she would call Lexi a good-for-nothing, gold-digging whore. I was even more upset by her calling Emma a brat, especially after she had scared the poor kid out in the hallway. But I was trying my best not to yell at her. I didn't want Emma to possibly overhear. I knew the place was reasonably soundproof, but all the same, I didn't want to stoop to that level.
“Some defense that is,” Renée snarled. “You've been putting off dating me all week so that you can hang out with them, and you aren't sorry at all. Not yet, anyway. But you will be. I should dump you. I deserve better than this, and you know it. I could really make you sorry.”
It was her threatening to break up with me that did it. I started laughing. “You're right, we should break up,” I said, enjoying that brief look of horror that I saw flash in her eyes.
“You're not serious,” she said, tossing her head and letting her hair swirl down behind her.
“I'm totally serious,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her. “Renée, I'm done with you.”
“You're going to choose some one-night stand over me, the woman who you've been dating for months?” Renée scoffed. “Come on. She clearly wasn't worth hanging on to three years ago. Why would you want to have her back in your life now? Sure, she had a kid, and she says the kid is yours. But who knows what the real story is. And even if that is your kid, you don't have any responsibility towards it. Just pay your child support check every month, and no one will complain. She definitely doesn't have to be living here!”
“She's a guest in my house,” I said simply, shrugging.
“She isn't welcome here,” Renée sniffed.
“You're not welcome here,” I corrected. “I'm not in love with you, Renée. I never was in love with you, and I don't think I ever will be in love with you. I wanted to be in love with you, but to be honest, at the moment, I'm having a hard time remembering why. You're selfish, and you're jealous, and you're a bitch. I don't want to see you anymore. I'm done with you.”
In retrospect, giving her a drink was a stupid decision to make. The next thing I knew, she had thrown it in my face and slammed the glass down on the wooden coffee table with enough force to shatter the glass.
“Do you really think you can get away with choosing that bitch over me?” Renée asked, apparently still not finished with the theatrics, even as I sputtered and wiped the alcohol off my face with the hand towel from behind the bar.
“I'm not choosing any woman over any other woman,” I told her, trying to be reasonable, despite the fact that she had very nearly just blinded me with her gin and tonic. “I've decided that I need to take a break from dating for a while. I'm so tied up with work at the moment, and then there's everything with Emma to think about, as well. I still need to get my head wrapped around all of these changes. I'm not choosing Lexi over you. I'm just choosing not to be in a relationship with anyone at this time.”
Renée laughed, sounding almost manic. “And how long do you think you can make that last, Andrew?” she snapped. “You never were the celibate type. Bet it takes you one week before you come crawling back to me, begging me to get you off. But I'm not going to let you do that. Once you break up with me, you are never going to get a minute of my time, ever again. Do you understand me?”
“I understand you,” I said quietly. I felt a pang at that. I really did want to somehow make things work with her. In some way. I was definitely attracted to her, and I liked her spirit. I liked that she knew what she wanted from life and wasn't willing to put up with any bullshit.
But I wasn't going to try to make things work with her over making things work with Lexi and Emma.
“You're going to regret this,” she told me, still lingering. “I'll make sure you pay for this.”
At that, I felt the last bit of attraction that I had for her seep out of me. I stared coldly at her. “You come from a wealthy family,” I acknowledged. “But you know that I have far more power and money than you do. Don't try anything stupid.”
Renée glared at me and then finally stomped off, leaving the house blessedly silent.
For a moment, I just stood there, wondering if I should be upset. But as I'd told her, I had never loved her. I hadn't wanted to lose her, but I really only felt numb to the thought of never seeing her again.
I glanced towards the coffee table, where the remnants of her glass glittered in the overhead lights. I'd need to clean that up before Emma came downstairs. I wouldn't want her to get hurt.
Mindlessly, I moved towards the table, using the towel from before to sweep the fragments into the small trash can from behind the bar.
“Andrew?” Lexi said from the doorway, her voice quiet but pitched to carry. “Are you all right?”
I only grunted in response. I wasn't ready to talk to her yet, not about this. I was still trying to wrap my own head around it. And even though I knew it wasn't Lexi's fault that Renée and I had broken up, even though I knew that Renée and I were probably both better off this way, I didn't exactly want to tell Lexi all about that.
Lexi was silent for a minute, but I could feel her gaze still boring into my back.
“Thank you,” she finally said, and this time, I could barely hear her. “Emma and I both had such a good time today at the Children's Museum, and just… Thank you. Thank you for letting us stay here. I know it hasn't been easy on you, and I'm sorry.”
I stared down at the sparkling shards of glass. “Don't be sorry,” I finally sighed. “It's not your fault.”