“I told you that’s not my priority.”
“Then what is? We could be good together. With me in your life, you wouldn’t have to teach. Hell, you could go back to acting! Wouldn’t that be better than what you’re doing?”
It would.
I can’t deny that.
“Serena?”
“I’m not sure what you want me to say. I have a good life. And I don’t want to be with a guy who turns tail and runs the minute things get complicated.” Especially a guy like you.
“I told you, that won’t happen again. Just tell me what you want.”
I almost roll my eyes but merely shake my head instead. “I want what’s best for Joey, and I don’t think that’s you.”
He sighs heavily.
Like I’m the problem.
He’s still a pain in the ass. He’s just a rich, powerful pain in the ass who could potentially cause a lot of trouble for us. That’s the only reason I agreed to this in the first place.
“Mommy!” Joey comes running over holding a muddy, dirty, leftover chunk of ice. “A snowball!”
“That’s too hard. Don’t throw—” I grimace as he throws the makeshift snowball in our direction and dirt and ice explode all over Tony’s pristine khakis.
“What the—” He starts to bellow as he jumps up but then catches himself. I watch as he pulls in a deep breath. Then he sits down again.
“Joey, that wasn’t nice,” I say quickly. “Tell Tony you’re sorry.”
Joey’s eyes immediately fill with tears. “I sowwy.”
“Yeah, uh, it’s okay, kid.” Tony starts brushing the pieces of ice and dirt off his pants with a huff.
“He’s still learning impulse control,” I say gently.
“I see that.” He nods. “Look, we have to come to some sort of understanding.”
“Why? It’s obvious you don’t know the first thing about kids and don’t really have the patience for them either. Why not leave it alone? I’m sure you’ll have no problem finding a pretty girl to make more babies with.”
He stares off in the distance. “I could make you happy, Serena. We had fun together.”
“It was a two-day fuck fest. You have no idea how to make me happy.”
“You’re a small-town teacher living in a dump.”
He didn’t even bother to get the details of my life right so I’m not going to correct him. “It’s not a dump. It’s clean, safe, and affordable.”
“You’d have so much more with me in your life. But we can do this the hard way if you prefer.”
“So, we’re back to threats? That shows me exactly who you are and how much of a damn you give about Joey.”
“Don’t twist my words.”
“I don’t have to. You do that all on your own.”
“I’m going to have my accountant send you a check,” he saysfinally, slowly getting to his feet and peering down at me. “It’ll be a lot. You’ll cash it. And once you come to your senses, we’ll talk. Bye, Joey!”
He waves and then strides back to his rental car before I have time to react.