“Sorry, but you’re pregnant with my baby and I’m not going to let you walk back to your house alone,” he said. “I can call someone to pick you up if you’d prefer.”
She debated it. If she stayed any longer, it was only going to make this worse on both of them. The car ride would be over in minutes. She nodded.
“I’d appreciate the ride,” she said.
“No problem. I was raised to be a gentleman,” he said through clenched teeth as he walked past her and held open the French doors that led to his living room. She walked into his house and straight to the front door. She heard his footsteps behind her and then the rattle of his keys as he took them from the bowl on the foyer table. He reached around her to open the door and his arm brushed her shoulder.
She felt that delicious shiver of desire go through her and she turned to step away at the same time as he did. They bumped into each other, and when their eyes met, her heart broke. She knew that she was making the right choice for the baby but also for Alec. Everyone in her family had a major self-destruct mode when it came to love, and she knew she wasn’t any different. She hated to see the pain on his face, hated to feel this heaviness in her own heart, but there was no other way.
This was bigger than herself. This was the only thing she could do to make sure her child didn’t grow up like her. And that was the important thing. The pain would pass and fade despite what Alec had said.
“I hope...” She trailed off. What could she say? There weren’t words to express what she wanted to say because the truth was, she hoped he could find happiness without her and she was pretty sure he would.
“Yeah, whatever,” he said.
She realized that was his way of hiding his hurt. She also noticed as they walked to his car in the driveway that he’d never lashed out at her. He’d been angry but the meanest thing he’d ever said was that their bond was strong, and she might not get over it. Which was hardly mean. He was a great guy. The kind of man she wanted for her own but was too afraid to claim.
That just made her love him more.
Damn. She did love him.
Which made it all the more important that she get away from him. For both of their sakes. Whenever she wanted something she turned destructive. He drove her home in silence and when he pulled up to her house, she opened her car door herself, putting her hand on his arm to stop him from coming around to help her out.
“Goodbye, then,” she said.
“Yeah, goodbye,” he replied. She closed the car door as she got out and then stepped away as he gunned the engine and disappeared into the night.
Alec knewhe wasn’t in the best shape to be attending a family dinner. It had been six weeks since Scarlet had left Cole’s Hill. She’d instructed her attorney to contact his attorney, Ethan Caruthers, to keep him informed of the baby’s progress. She had also conveyed via letter that she hoped he’d reconsider and raise the baby on his own, or she’d have to consider other options like adoption. Ethan had counseled him to think of the child but Alec was convinced. Hewasn’t the kind of man who could raise a child on his own. Other options worried him and he didn’t want to give up his child any more than he thought that Scarlet did.
But his mom wasn’t happy with that decision and so he wasn’t surprised that his dad was waiting for him on the front porch in one of the rockers when he arrived at his childhood home. His father had a bottle of tequila sitting on the table between the two chairs on a bar tray that also had salt, wedges of lime and shot glasses.
“Dad,” Alec said by way of greeting.
“Son, take a seat.”
“I really don’t want to,” he said. In fact, he should leave. He wasn’t ready to talk to his family or anyone else. He wished he could say he was mad because that at least would make sense. But instead he was hurt and he still woke up every night reaching for Scarlet even knowing she’d never be next to him in his bed again.
“Tough shit,” his father said. “Take a seat, Alejandro.”
“Dad—”
“I’m not asking,” he replied.
Alec sat down in the empty chair and refused to look at his father. Over the course of his life, he’d had exactly five conversations with his father on this porch. Three of them had occurred when he was under the age of eighteen. One of them took place after he’d screwed up royally in college, and then there was this one today. He knew his father saved the porch talks for stuff that he didn’t want to bring into the house. The messy stuff that needed to be said.
“I’m not ready to talk about this,” Alec said.
“That’s fine. You just need to listen. But first, pour us both a shot,” his father said.
Alec opened the bottle of tequila and poured two shots. His father licked his hand at the same time that Alec did. They took turns with the saltshaker, then picked up a wedge of limeeach and then their shots. Alec licked the salt off his hand, downed his shot and then chased it with the lime. He put his glass down and then sat back in the Kennedy rocker.
“I don’t know what’s going on with you and Scarlet,” his father said. “But your mom told me she’s pregnant and you told me you were going to ask her to marry you. And she’s gone so I’m guessing something happened.”
“Yeah, she doesn’t want this. She said she’s not cut out for this kind of life and she wants me to raise the child on my own. That’s why she came here.”
“To check you out?” his father asked.
“Yes,” he said, turning to face his father. He felt overcome with emotions and blinked because he really didn’t want to lose it. Not now. “And we passed her test. She thinks our extended family would be great to raise the child. Yay for us. But I didn’t pass her test.”