Chapter 13

Liza

 

 

“That smells so good!” Vanessa said, stepping out onto the balcony.

“Thank you. I hope it tastes as good as it smells,” I said, flipping one of the jumbo shrimps over.

It was one of my favorite meals. There had been a sale at the market so I splurged and bought a few pounds. I called Vanessa and asked her to come over and share a feast with us. She never took any money for babysitting, so I had to find other ways to pay her back.

Vanessa was my best friend. My only friend, really. She had battled breast cancer last year and had yet to go back to work. She claimed to be healthy enough, but I could tell she was still weak. She was a single mom, and I knew from experience how exhausting that could be, even in good health.

“I’ll finish up that salad,” she said, walking back into the kitchen.

I looked in on Ainsley to see her busying herself with her dolls—and cars. The girl was not one to be restricted to social norms. Chuckling, I turned my attention back to the shrimp. I couldn’t afford to burn the things—literally. Shrimp was a rare treat on my budget. The doorbell rang and I dropped the tongs. No one ever came to my house. Ever. Well, Vanessa, but I could see her standing in the kitchen. My dad would be at practice. It was days before an away game, which meant the man was submerged in all things football.

Please, God, I muttered to myself before heading inside to answer the door. With every heavy step I took, I dreaded what I would find on the other side of the door. I took a deep breath and silently pleaded with fate to be kind.

She wasn’t.

“What do you want?” I hissed, stepping into the hall and closing the door behind me without completely closing it.

“I want to talk.”

“No.”

He glared at me and reached over my shoulder and pushed the door open. “You talk to me, or I go in there and tell that little girl who I really am.”

“Milo, don’t you dare,” I whispered.

With the door open, he could see Ainsley playing in the living room. It was obvious the second he saw her, as his features visibly softened as he watched her play.

Ainsley looked up and grinned. “Hey, it’s you again.”

Milo looked at me defiantly and pushed past me. “It is.”

“You have my same color hair,” she said, pointing at his head.

He nodded. “Yep, I do. I keep it short, but when it’s longer, it looks just like yours.”

“Do you want to see my cars?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said, dropping down to the floor. “Show me what you got.”

I stood there open-mouthed, watching Ainsley give Milo specific details about each of her cars. He politely listened and asked real questions. I loved that. I hated when people did the baby talk thing to her. She was a smart girl and could carry a conversation. She didn’t need anyone to talk to her like she was an infant. It drove me crazy when people did that. I didn’t know if he knew a lot about kids or nothing at all, but his approach with Ainsley was just right. Instinctive perhaps. Either way, it was a point in his favor.

I closed the door, realizing that he wasn’t going anywhere. Vanessa was standing in the kitchen, a large spoon in her hand.

“What the hell?” she mouthed.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, telling her without words I would explain later.

Clearing my throat, I spoke. “Vanessa, can you keep an eye on Ainsley while I have a chat with Milo.”

“Of course,” she said, a little too cheerily.

“Milo?”

He looked up at me and at first, I thought he would tell me no, but he finally got to his feet. “Hey, I’ll see you later, Ainsley.”

She smiled and went back to playing with her toys.

“In here,” I gestured towards my bedroom. It wasn’t a very big apartment, and there was nowhere else I could go for privacy. The irony of meeting in my bedroom to have a talk about the daughter we accidentally conceived in his bedroom five years ago was not lost on me.

“Now, what are you doing here, Milo?”

“I already told you. I’m here to see her.”

I shook my head. “That’s not an option.”

He looked down at his feet. “Actually, it is.”

“Excuse me?”

“I talked with a lawyer, Liza. I do have the option.”

I gasped. “Shit. You did what?”

He shrugged a shoulder and looked me straight in the eye. “I didn’t know what else to do. You kind of took me by surprise with those papers, Liza.”

“Why would you do that?” I asked, my legs felt weak. My world was just thrown into a tailspin. I’d been certain that once he saw I wouldn’t ask for any money, he would sign the papers, drop it and just go away.

“Liza, she’s my daughter. You didn’t even tell me about her. My lawyer said I needed to get a DNA test to prove she’s mine. I don’t want to make this messy. That is not my intention at all.”

I guffawed. “Yeah, lawyers are notorious for keeping things clean.”

“Listen, I do want to see my kid. I want her in my life and vice versa. If this gets dragged into court, the press is going to be all over it. It’s going to be the scandal of the month. My reputation is already pretty sullied, but you and Ainsley, well, I don’t want to do that to you or her.”

I groaned, realizing he was right. This could get very ugly. The uglier it was, the more the press would eat it up. I had seen plenty of sports professionals have their lives ruined by something relatively fixable that had been blown apart in the press. The press had a way of making victims and villains with a few words. I couldn’t let that happen to Ainsley.

“I don’t want her to get dragged into this,” I said in a low voice.

“Neither do I. We can work this out without going to court. We’re two adults who both have our daughter’s best interest in mind.”

“You actually hired a lawyer?” I asked in disbelief.

“I did.”

“You ass.”

“No need to call names. You started this. And you apparently hired a lawyer to drop up those papers.”

“Fine,” I muttered. I was beat. I knew defeat when I saw it. Milo had just signed a multimillion-dollar deal. He could hire the best lawyers and tie me up in court for years. I wouldn’t have a penny to my name, and I didn’t want my dad involved in this.

What a mess!

“Fine, you’ll let me see her? Or fine, you want to go to court?”

“Fine, you can see her, but on one condition.”

“Liza,” he growled.

She sighed. “Let me tell my dad first. He doesn’t know, and I don’t want him to find out the wrong way,” I explained.

The moment he put it all together was evident on his face. “Oh.”

I nodded and smirked. “Yeah, oh. How do you think your coach is going to feel when finds out you knocked up his only daughter five years ago?”

“It wasn’t like that!” he protested.

“I know. And I will make sure my dad knows as well but give me some time. I can’t drop this on him right before a big game. You can understand that, right?”

“Yes, I agree, but I’m not going to wait forever. I’ve already lost too much time,” he pleaded.

That stung a little. I felt guilty, but I honestly didn’t think he would have wanted anything to do with a baby. At the time, I’d been pissed. I could admit that, but I stuck by my decision.

“Fine. I’ll tell him soon, but please, you can’t keep dropping by like this. If you want this to work, we have to agree on certain things, and this is one of them. I’m sure your lawyer told you custody agreements take some time to work out. There are rules and stuff,” I stumbled out.

“Actually, he told me I could sue for full custody because of the extreme circumstances. Don’t make me be a dick, Liza. That’s not good for anybody. But if you push me, I’ll push back,” he said in a low, dangerous voice that said he wasn’t playing.

“Don’t threaten me, Milo. You push me, and I will slam you against the damn wall.”

His eyes immediately dropped closed and I knew exactly what he was thinking. My mind went to the same place. I took a step back, needing to put some distance between our bodies. The night in his dorm involved a wall and our bodies pressed very close together. The image had been forever burned into my brain.

“Monday, Liza. I’ll wait until Monday. If you don’t call me and set up a time to start some kind of regular meetings, I will call my lawyer and go the legal route.”

I turned my back and yanked the door open.

“Leave, now.”

He glared at me but did as I asked. He walked out into the living room, turned back to look at me and shot me another dirty look.

“Bye, Ainsley,” he said, waving to her.

She smiled and waved back.

“Bye.”

I shut the door behind him and locked it, leaning my head against it, still in disbelief that it had come to this.

“I took the shrimp off the grill,” Vanessa said.

I took a deep breath, then, steeling my nerves, I turned to look at her.

“Thanks, Vanessa. I forgot all about them.”

“So, Milo Pastek? You have some serious explaining to do, and don’t even tell me you know him because he plays ball for your dad. Those fireworks said otherwise.”

With a groan, I buried my face in my hands.

“Uh oh, that bad?” she asked.

I looked at her and groaned again.

“Worse. Much worse.”

Her eyes widened, and she looked at Ainsley, then back at me.

“No!”

“We’re gonna need wine,” I muttered and headed for the kitchen.

“Definitely. You have some explaining to do, young lady.”

I laughed. “Boy, do I ever. My dad is gonna be so disappointed.”

“Nah, not even. Your dad loves you to death, and he definitely loves that little girl in there. He doesn’t care how she got here, only that she is here.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I am, but you’re not getting off that easy. Your dad may not want or need all the dirty details, but I certainly do. Come on, let me live vicariously through you. Your baby daddy is Milo Pastek. That is some serious gossip. Spill!”

I laughed. “It is not nearly as juicy as you might think, trust me.”

“Tell me, anyway,” she said, pouring us each a glass of wine.

I turned up the television a bit so there was no chance Ainsley would overhear my sordid tale.

Vanessa sat down at the small table, patted the seat closest her and waited not so patiently. I looked at her and blurted out the whole story.

When I was finished, she was going back and forth between disbelief and a case of the giggles. “I can’t believe your one night of living carefree brought you to this point.”

I shrugged. “Yep, that’s my story. I’ve never been irresponsible a day in my life, and the one time I was, well, I was given a stern reminder why I shouldn’t be. Ironic, huh?”

“I think it’s sweet. You’re like star-crossed lovers. I get first row seats to your happily ever after. I’m so excited,” she clapped her hands.

“Wait, hold on,” I said, as I held up a hand. “This is definitely not that. It was one time.”

“Sure. Keep telling yourself that. I saw the way the two of you looked at each other. I could feel the sexual energy from the kitchen. You guys are destined for each other. This is your second chance.”

The woman was out of her damn mind. Milo and I hadn’t even had an actual conversation, much less a romance. Happily ever after was a joke.