When I saw him walk around the truck, my insides did a little flutter, to the point I found it necessary to tell it all to shut the hell up already. Last thing I needed was to come off like a school-girl crush. I made my way toward him, wrapping myself up to protect against the chill of the wind. He was casually dressed in jeans and a short-sleeved t-shirt, the cool weather not even an issue for him. His cap and sunglasses covered up my favorite features, but that was probably a good thing right about now. No need to turn me on even more than I’d already been these past fourteen hours.
“So did you have fun sleeping in without me?” he jested, coming to a halt just a few feet away, making no attempt at connecting our bodies in any way.
I chuckled lightly, my smile feeling completely free and natural. “I’m sure you recovered just fine.”
“Not in the slightest.” He scanned the park with his eyes, closing in on Jake and his new sand box buddy, the only two kids in the park right now. “So…why are we meeting here?”
All we could really see right now was the back of Jake’s body, which suited me just fine, because he wouldn’t be tempted to run over here to see who my new friend was, totally blowing my news before I got to spit it out. Having to admit to Shane that I had a kid was hardly going to be easy, but I figured it was best to just get it out. Rip the Band-Aid, you know?
“The main reason I didn’t want to…you know…was because I hadn’t told you something that I think you should know first.”
He looked to me suspiciously. “Okay…”
I exhaled a quick breath. “I hadn’t gotten around to telling you about Jake yet.”
“Jake?” he repeated loudly. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. How many guys out there wanted to date a woman with a kid? It was exactly why I hadn’t bothered to put myself out there since he was born.
Maybe both of us wearing sunglasses was a good thing after all, because I could feel myself losing my nerve. If I had to look him directly in the eyes, I wasn’t sure I could do it.
“My son,” I said softly.
“Your son?” he said even more loudly.
I didn’t like the way he was saying that, aggressive almost, and I completely fumbled for words, totally confused by it. “I…What?”
8
I inhaled a breath so deep it stung my chest. I heard her wrong. I had to have. I found myself shaking my head and turning away from her, all the while saying no again and again.
“What do you mean no?” she asked hotly. “You know, if you have a problem with me having a kid, you know where the door is. Or in this case, the exit to the park.
“Have a nice day,” she added with a hint of venom.
But I didn’t go anywhere, the inside of my head feeling like it was suddenly heavy and flooded, my thoughts drowning so badly I couldn’t think straight. Eventually, I managed to release the bite I held on my tongue. “I don’t care that you have a son. What’s bothering me is that you’ve given him Brad’s last name.”
That seemed to silence her, and I finally turned back to her. Her face was scrunched as she analyzed me, her arms now tightly crossed in front of her. “How do you know that? Why do you know that?” After pausing for a moment, it dawned on her. “What are you really doing here, Shane?”
I minimized the gap between us and she stood her ground, letting me stop when our faces had just a one foot berth. “I came here to find out why Brad didn’t receive any type of inheritance when his grandmother passed away.”
Her mouth fell open and her eyes moved to the playground behind me. Finally, her stiffened body rocked enough that she had to step back and balance herself.
“Her attorney told me it went to a Jake Montgomery. I thought it was just some older relation we just hadn’t ever heard of before.” I took the step to bring us closer again, my eyes dead set on hers even though she refused to look my way again. “Imagine my surprise when I found out Jake was only a few years old. And now you’re telling me that you have a son named Jake? Please tell me you’re not the woman I’m looking for. That there’s some other woman out there trying to claim Brad as the father of another boy named Jake.”
She opened her mouth to breathe deep, then let it out so slowly her cheeks puffed to capacity.
“Answer me, Mel. Are you the one who got her life insurance payout?”
Something was firing in her head, making her mouth continually move around as her monologue decided on what to say. When she finally turned to me, her eyes were set harder than I’d ever seen before. “So what if I am? If you think I’m giving a cent of it to Brad, then you’re... No. My answer’s no to whatever it is you’re thinking. You keep that son of a bitch away from me.”
“That’s kind of hard now that you’re trying to pass him off as the father!” I yelled in a hushed voice. “Jesus, Mel! Why would you do this?”
Confused or annoyed, I had no idea, but the look she gave me was solid. “Do what exactly?” she bit back.
“Maybe you didn’t know this, but Brad can’t have kids! So why’d you do it? Why did you claim him as the father? Was it just to get your hands on some of his grandmother’s money? Because if it was, that was just f**king low.”
“Are you f**king kidding me? He told you he can’t have kids and you just believed him?”
“Of course I believed him. Why wouldn’t I? He’s never lied to me.”
“Have I?” she snapped. I pressed my lips together. In truth, she hadn’t, but I didn’t know her nearly as well as Brad, nor for nearly as long. She huffed and shook her head. “You see, that right there. That’s why I’m walking away from this conversation. It doesn’t matter what I say because you’re going to side with him regardless.”
“Then give me the proof I need to believe you. Let’s go get a paternity test done.”
“Screw you,” she replied. She turned on me and began walking away, but I refused to just stay behind.
“Sounds awfully guilty, Mel. Why wouldn’t you submit to one if Brad’s really the father?”
She turned on me so quickly I nearly ran into her. “Because you’re not really here for that. You don’t give a shit about Jake and what’s best for him. All you f**king care about is the money. And I’ve got news for you. Whether or not Jake’s related to Brad won’t change the fact that Joyce gave that money to Jake. It’s irrefutable.”
“Joyce, huh? So you were on a first name basis with her then?”
“Yeah, I was. You’ve got a problem with that?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Because it’s seeming more and more like you inserted yourself into her life as it came to a close. You’re not even related. She was your ex’s grandmother who you knew treated Brad like shit. Who the hell gets to know someone like that other than to profit from them in some way?”
She was breathing hard, her chest falling and rising quickly, but she refused to answer me.
“What kind of lies did you fill her head with, huh?”
Very slowly, she said, “You need to leave. If you’re going to side with that drunk bastard, then you’re not the guy I thought you were.”
“You want to know who I am? I’m the guy who’s pre-law, and you know what I see right now? I see a woman who won’t submit to a DNA test because she already knows Brad isn’t the biological father. I see a woman who probably lied to an old woman about Jake being her relation, and who managed to get herself a pretty good payout in return. That’s called fraud.
“I am your friend, Mel, but right now I’m not the one in the wrong. And I won’t let Brad be taken advantage of, even by you. And if you won’t willingly do a DNA test, then you’re forcing my hand. You’re the one who gave him the Montgomery name. You’re the one who told Joyce he was Brad’s. There’s enough probable cause to get the courts to make you do the test.”
“It’s never going to end, is it?” The weakness of her voice surprised me so much that it stilled me, not to mention the fact that I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. “Just. Leave.”
This time when she walked off, I let her. She crossed the playground and called to a boy to follow along with her. The shorter of the two did, but with his hoodie up over his head, all I saw was the back side of him as they made their way to her car. I sighed and meandered my way toward the truck. By the time I got there, Mel was pulling out and driving off in the opposite direction.
I stood there leaning against my driver’s side door. What the hell was I supposed to do now? Ten minutes ago I was giddy – fucking giddy – that I was on my way to meet Mel, to find a way to make her mine on a permanent basis. It kept me up all night, just thinking about her, imagining that I could actually have the kind of life with her I’d always dreamed about. I knew that I had to do whatever was necessary to make her mine. Just ten minutes ago that was the plan.
How the hell did Mel end up being the one who screwed over Brad? Mel? Sweet, kind-hearted, wouldn’t swat a fly on purpose, Mel? And how could she seriously even think I could just walk away and not do anything about it? There was a difference between right and wrong, and if I couldn’t uphold my own convictions right now, what chance in hell did I have to do it through the years to come? In the future, I was going to have to put away a lot of people who had others depending on them the way Jake did on his mother. I was just going to have to harden my heart to it, not let the guilt keep me up at night.
But how the hell was I supposed to do that with the woman I’d wanted for years now?
And why the hell did she have to force me into the position to do so?
In less than fifteen minutes, I was sitting in front of the sheriff’s desk. Because in small towns like this, the police department was rarely busy and the head honcho was always available to see you in person. I knew this guy. His name was Hank Litskin, father of Petey, who went to high school with me, and who also got stuck playing baseball, football and basketball because there just weren’t enough guys not to. Unlike me, he preferred football, and Petey was another one that I hadn’t seen since I moved away.
“Sheriff Litskin,” I said in way of greeting. “How’s Petey doing?”
“He’s doing alright. Getting married for some dumb reason.” Spoken like a true divorcee’. “When are you youngin’s going to learn not to get married so young?”
I shrugged and threw my hands up, playing along like I didn’t understand it either, but truthfully, I did. Most of us just wanted to find someone we could trust who would stand beside us forever, and as fast as possible. If I hadn’t been so busy comparing all those girls to Mel through the years, I might’ve actually found one myself by now. “I’m still single,” I threw in for a suck-up vote. It worked, as he told me good boy and nodded his head.
“What can I do for you, Shane? Haven’t seen you in town in forever. Are you moving back?”
Hell. Fucking. No.
“No, sir. I’m just here on business.”
“Business?” the middle-aged man gruffed.
“Bradley Montgomery asked me to look into where his grandmother’s money went after she died and I discovered something a little unsettling.”
He angled his head and narrowed his eyes at me. “It didn’t seem like Joyce had any money left to give by the end.”
“She had a life insurance policy and the beneficiary was Melanie Peterson’s son.”
“Okay. I can understand that since they became close before her passing. There’s nothing illegal about a person choosing to give money to someone other than a family member. Happens all the time when relatives aren’t getting along.”
“True. But Mel lied. She claimed her son was Brad’s, but he’s not. Mrs. Montgomery would’ve never gotten close to Mel in the end and felt obligated to leave her money if she hadn’t been told that Jake was her great-grandson.”
“Well, maybe, but it’ll be difficult to prove. I’d hate to break it to you, but there’s a paternity division that deals with this at the Attorney General’s office. It’s not really something we handle here at the station. The courts do.”
“I know. But in all honesty, I’d rather avoid the court system. I was hoping maybe you’d be willing to go over there and convince Mel it’s in her best interest to agree to give us Jake’s DNA sample all on her own.”
“I see,” he said slowly, his chair creaking as he leaned back in it. “Let me ask you this. Is this what Brad really wants? Because if he proves to be the father of that child, not only does he not have a leg to stand on for getting that money, he’s going to owe Melanie for a backlog of child support.”
“The kid’s not his,” I said firmly. “He can’t even have them. She cheated and pinned it on him to scam some money. She probably figured with as bad as Brad’s relationship was with his grandmother, no one would ever figure it out.” I felt for her, I really did. She was obviously a single mom trying to make it on her own. But what she did was wrong. That money wasn’t for her to take.
9
I startled when I heard the knock at my front door. Jake didn’t even notice, too engrossed in the show. Lucky for him, he didn’t realize the proverbial shit had hit the fan and a whole lot of bad was about to rain down on us. I peeked through the window curtains before opening the door, trying to contain my sigh. Sheriff Litskin was on the other side, his hat in his hands before him.