Chapter 28

Autumn

My meeting had gone later than I intended, and I dreaded having to tell Emmett about Jason’s visit to my office. As I dialed his number, I decided not to tell him anything until after dinner, when we would have some time alone.

“Please tell me you’re on your way home.” He sounded a little stressed, and I wondered if Pen had given him any problems.

I let out a long breath and raked my hand through my hair, which I’d pulled down from its clip. “I’m on the way now. How’s Penelope?”

“She’s standing on the step stool at the bar, tossing a salad. Was everything okay with the meeting?” I figured he could tell that I was a bit shaken by my voice.

“Yeah, everything’s great.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I probably shouldn’t have made it sound like I was feeling well, but I hated for him to worry. He’d already helped me enough with Pen and dinner.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m almost there.”

“See you soon, then. Dinner will be on the table.” The phone went dead, and I didn’t think anything of it. He was probably feeling overwhelmed because of cooking and having a kid to deal with.

I hurried home and was surprised when I got home and found Emmett in the kitchen alone. “Where’s Pen?”

“She’s upstairs. She wanted to change into her princess dress for dinner. I didn’t think you’d mind.” He turned back to the stove where he had just pulled the bread from the oven. “Everything else is on the table.”

I stepped up behind him and put my arms around his waist, resting my cheek on his back. “This smells great. Did you fix up the formal dining table?”

His back stiffened. “Yeah, I figure this should be a special dinner, being my last one here and all.”

I let go, and he turned and walked over to the opposite counter.

“Last one? What do you mean? Did you find another place to live already?” This had to be the source of the tension.

“No, but I will. The shelter still has room for me, but I might just go help Paul with the house and stay there. The faster we get it cleaned up, the faster we can sell it.”

“I thought you were going to do that and stay here with me until you found a permanent place.” My heart sank, and I realized I should have done more to solidify what we had.

He turned, his eyes narrow as he looked at me. “Did anything happen at work today?”

I’d forgotten how well he knew me. It was hard to hide anything from him when he was tuned into me. But before I could tell him, Penelope came down the stairs, her plastic high heels clomping on the floor. “We’ll talk later.”

He shook his head. “Yeah, we will.”

I grabbed the bread plate, but he took it. “Just go sit and let me do this. It’s the least I can do to repay you.”

Before I could tell him it was no problem, Pen finally made it around the counter and took my hand. “Come on, Mama. Let’s go to the table.” She tugged my arm, and I went to the dining room to sit with her while Emmett lingered in the kitchen.

“I wish Daddy could have come to eat with us,” she said, as she pulled out my chair.

Thinking of Jason and his nasty temper gave me chills. I was glad I didn’t have to deal with him at the moment. “I don’t think he’d want to eat with Mommy and Emmett, Penelope.”

Pen got a look of confusion, her little eyes narrowed, and she curled her lip. “He’s Emmett’s friend.”

“That was a long time ago.” I didn’t want her to think that Jason was going to start coming around more, and even though I thought he might show up for his next visitation weekend, I didn’t want to tell her that and get her hopes up.

“No, Mama. They talked today. Daddy came to see us at school.” Chills went down my spine as I realized what she was saying and that Jason must have left my office and went to see them at the school. He must have overheard me telling my father that Emmett was getting Penelope from school as he was leaving my office.

Emmett’s footsteps sounded behind me, and he came in with the bread and sat across from me, putting Pen at the head of the table.

“Jason was at the school today?” I didn’t know why he hadn’t mentioned it, but then, it explained his foul mood and I was sure he didn’t want Penelope to see him upset.

Emmett pulled his chair up to the table. “Yeah, he and I had a talk.”

“I’m sure the two of you had a lot of catching up to do.” I turned my eyes to Pen, who was sitting up on her knees and unfolding her napkin.

“I told you, Mama. But then he left, and I didn’t even get to ask him to dinner.” She made a sad face.

“I’m sure he understood, baby. We’ll call Daddy later, okay?” I gave her a forced smile, and it took everything I had to make the corners of my mouth turn up.

Emmett reached over and cut a piece of roast for Penelope. Then he picked up her plate and gave her some mashed potatoes with gravy on the side. “Do you want green beans, too?”

“Yes, please.” She looked back and forth between us, and I could tell that she wasn’t sure everything was okay.

Whatever had been said, Emmett was cold to me. I had an idea that Jason had said some horrible things, but most of all, I was sure he had threatened Emmett or worse.

“The roast looks good, Emmett. Thank you for cooking such a lovely dinner and for your help with Pen. You outdid yourself.” I hoped to lighten the mood a little, if only for Pen.

“It’s okay. It’s the least I could do for staying.”

“You don’t owe me anything for that. I’m glad you came to stay with us.” I never wanted him to feel like he owed me anything.

We sat and made small talk as we finished up the dinner, and while Pen went up to take her bath and get ready for bed, we cleared the table and stood at the sink together.

Emmett carried our dirty plates to the sink, and I placed my hand on his as he put them in the water. “Are we going to talk about this?”

“Talk about what exactly?” He shrugged. “Your ex, or the fact that I’m leaving?”

“Jason, and the fact that he came to the school.”

“Oh, I see.” I didn’t follow what he was getting at and couldn’t believe he didn’t think it was a big deal.

“Yeah, I think we should talk about what was said. I mean, what did he say?”

Emmett turned and got the rag off the bar. Then he took the rinsed glass from the drainer and dried it. “He doesn’t like me in his daughter’s life, and he doesn’t want me to confuse her.”

That was just about right. Jason was such an asshole. “That’s total bullshit. It’s okay for him to have girlfriends in our home while I was at work when Pen was a baby, doing God knows what, and he’s worried about us?”

“Is there an us?” The look on his face told me he didn’t really care if there was an us or not. It stopped me cold. I dropped the dish I was scrubbing back into the sink and wiped my hands.

“How can you say that? What did he tell you?” My heart raced as I gritted my teeth.

“He said he’d been to your office. That the two of you had a nice, long talk.”

“Yes, he was, and we did talk, but that was it.”

“And you didn’t think to call and warn me that he had been around and might show up at the school? Pen was crying her eyes out, and I couldn’t even call you because of the meeting.”

“If I had thought he’d do that, I would’ve. Wait, what? Pen was crying? Did he say or do anything to her?”

“No, he didn’t seem too concerned with her while he put me in my place in front of the entire school. But I figure that’s your problem now.”

“I didn’t know he would show up, Emmett. Honest. I’m so sorry that happened.”

“He made me feel like a fucking homewrecker, Autumn. You should have told me he came by and that you and he were trying to reconcile for your daughter. I don’t want to get in the way of that.”

“Reconcile? Are you out of your mind? Have you not heard me? I’ve been telling you all about what happened between us.”

“He said that you agreed with him today that you two needed to work things out.”

I shook my head. “I agreed that we need to work together for our daughter, Emmett. That’s all. You have to believe me. I don’t want anyone but you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about it?” he asked.

“I was going to later. I didn’t want to ruin dinner or upset Pen.”

“Too late. In case you haven’t noticed, she’s been upset all afternoon.” He reminded me of Jason when he’d accuse me of not paying enough attention to our daughter for work.

“I’ll talk to her. Thanks for dinner, but I will finish the dishes alone.” I took the rag from his hands and tossed it on the counter.

“Fine, I need to get packing.”

“Are you leaving tonight?”

“I don’t see any reason to stay. This is never going to work with Jason in the picture.”

“He’s going to see his daughter, Emmett. You knew that was a possibility.”

“I didn’t know he still wanted you. I didn’t know he’d have a problem with me being here, and I didn’t know that I’d be in the way of Pen and him having a relationship. I’m not playing middleman. It’s not me, and it’s not worth it.”

“Noted. I’m not worth it. You’ve made your point, loud and clear.” I turned back to the sink, and he hesitated a minute.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“It doesn’t matter.” I turned on the faucet and rinsed another dish, and he stormed around the counter and out the back door. I watched out the kitchen window above the sink as he went into his house, and a moment later, the bedroom light came on.

I finished up in the kitchen and then went up to put Pen to bed. She was dressed in her princess pajamas and had already climbed into her bed, where she sat brushing her damp hair.

“Daddy said he’s coming to see me on Wednesday. I was going to ask him if he and Emmett could take me fishing since they used to like to go together.”

“They did, but that was a long time ago, and things change. People change, Pen, and I’m not sure your father and Emmett are as close as they used to be.”

“I wish they were. We’d have fun.”

“I know, baby. You lay down and get some sleep. It’s been a long day.” I felt horrible knowing I hadn’t been there while she was crying, but it wasn’t like we hadn’t been spending loads of time together. I wasn’t absent like my father. Sure, I had gone back to work as soon as I could and had Pen in daycare, pretty early, but I was home at night and on most weekends, and now I was determined to do better.

Besides, Jason had no room to talk. He’d been the one running around on us both and never at home. I got up from Pen’s bedside and went down to the back door and crossed the back patio to the guest house where the bedroom light was still on.

I knocked on the door, but when he didn’t answer, I walked in and found him in the bedroom.

“I’m almost packed.” He stood at the bed with his back to me.

“You’re really leaving tonight? This isn’t about Paul selling the house. It’s about Jason, isn’t it?”

He turned and let out a long breath before shaking his head. He couldn’t even look me in the eyes. “It’s a lot of things, Autumn, but mostly that, yeah. The guy made me feel two inches tall, and I’m not going to have Penelope resent me for the rest of her life that I got in the way of her parents.”

“This isn’t about Penelope,” I said. “In that house, there’s a little girl who is wishing you and her father could get along enough to take her fishing. That’s how much she likes you, Emmett.”

“Well, that’s not likely to happen.” He rolled up his jeans and put them in his duffle.

“No, not if we can’t work this out. But you know what? You just go ahead and run off like you did ten years ago. It’s what you do best.” I turned and hurried out to the patio, hoping he would stop me, but he didn’t. He let me keep going, so I did. I stormed up the stairs and slammed my bedroom door so hard, I was sure it woke the dead.