Proving Paul's Promise (24 page)

“Friday and I used to spend a lot of time alone together in the shop.” He shrugs. “We talked.”

“About that?” I can’t believe she told him.

“When Pete did her tattoo,” he says. He looks at me sheepishly. “We both knew. We didn’t and still don’t know details, but we knew she had a kid.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” I’m irked. I can’t help it.

He shrugs. “Wasn’t my story to tell.”

I wish someone had fucking told me.

“You were so busy trying to get into her pants that you didn’t really get to know her. Not the real her.”

“That’s not true,” I sputter.

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes. It. Is.” He glares at me. “You saw the glam girl that everyone else sees.”

“There’s so much more to her than just that.”

“You were fucking Kelly, so you didn’t really have room for anyone else.”

He’s right. I scrub a hand down my face. He’s so right. “Okay,” I say.

“He’s cute,” Matt says. He nods toward the audience. “Her son. He looks like her.”

“He’s a lot like her. In a lot of ways.”

“Is he the reason she stopped talking to you?” Matt asks.

“Sort of.” I scratch my head.

“You think she’ll talk to you today?”

“I’m not going to give her a choice.”

He squeezes my shoulder. “Good.” He looks at me for a minute, blinking those blue eyes at me. “Anything worth having is worth fighting for.”

I fake a punch to his shoulder. “I’m coming out swinging,” I say.

He grins.

The music starts, and the curtain opens. Matt and I step back and out of the way. Pete, Sam, and Logan are helping, too. We’re all waiting on the stage so we can move props around between sets. Seth is in charge of the music, and he’s standing there with headphones on and his sound mixer in front of him.

Matt watches the dancing closely because Mellie is in the first number. She dances, but it’s more like jerky running around than dancing.

“I think my kid is the best one out there,” he says. He’s smiling so broadly that I can see every tooth in his mouth.

“Until one of your other ones gets out there. Then that one will be the best.” I chuck his shoulder.

“Damn straight,” he says.

Matt’s the best dad I’ve ever seen. So much better than ours ever was. Ours couldn’t even tell Pete and Sam apart most days.

“Where’d you learn to be such a great dad?” I ask.

His gaze jerks to meet mine, and he doesn’t look away. “From watching you, dumbass.”

Friday

I sit with Reagan and Emily, and Kelly and her boyfriend are right in front of us. She introduces me, and I like him. I like him a lot. I don’t particularly like that she was fucking both him and Paul at the same time, and I can’t help but wonder if he is aware of that little fact. Not my business, I guess. But he probably deserves better.

Jacob is being really good, and he sits on the edge of his chair when the recital starts. “I can’t see,” he complains.

Next thing I know, he’s crawling into my lap. He sits his skinny little body right on top of mine and leans back so that his head is resting on my shoulder, and he snuggles in. He still smells like the outdoors and purple shampoo, and I want to hold him like this forever. Tears fill my eyes, and I blink them back furiously. Henry reaches into his pocket and hands me his cotton handkerchief. I wave him off. I’m going to keep it together, I promise myself.

“Can you see now?” I ask Jacob. He nods, and his cheek brushes mine. I close my eyes and drink in the feeling.

I see one of Matt’s girls, the older one, and she dances with the second group. I point her out to Jacob and tell him who she is, and he claps for her when I do. God, she’s so adorable. She trips over her own feet a couple of times, and one time, she lands on her face in the middle of the floor.

I gasp and Jacob sits up. She looks like she’s about to cry. But Matt dashes out onto the stage, picks her up, dusts her bottom, and he starts to do the routine with the little girls, and Mellie jumps up and gets back into it quickly. He looks ridiculous, this great big tatted-up guy dancing with all the pink little girls. But he does it, just because she needs him to. He backs away as soon as she gets moving again and fades off the stage.

Sky claps and shakes her head. She loves every second of it, I’m sure.

Hayley and Joey, Matt’s oldest daughter, are in the same class, since they’re the same age, so they dance at the same time during the next dance. I can see Paul lingering by the curtain, and just the sight of him makes my heart thump in my chest. I’ve missed him. I’ve missed all this. I’ve missed having a family.

Their last dance is next, and while they’re still sort of clumsy, they have so much more form than the younger group that it’s kind of artsy to watch. I need to ask them next year if I can paint their backdrops, because they need something a little more creative.

Next year? Am I really planning for next year with Hayley and Paul? I suppose I am.

Jacob seems to be pretty content sitting in my lap, and I love having him this close to me. I never dared to dream that I could have a life this wonderful. I was homeless, pregnant, lost, and fearful. Now I have Henry, an honorary grandfather figure by my side, my son in my lap, my boyfriend and his daughter on the stage, and all of his brothers and their girlfriends and wives. My fucking cup is running the fuck over. And I wouldn’t change a thing.

When Hayley is done, I set Jacob to the side so I can give her a standing ovation. I put my fingers in my teeth and whistle, and I hear a whistle from beside me. I look down and see that Jacob is doing the exact same thing. He whistles loudly. Kelly covers her ears in front of us.

“Do it again,” I whisper with a grin. He does, and Kelly scowls. “That’s enough for now,” I say.

I sit back down, and he crawls back into my lap.

The teacher comes to the microphone and makes a quick announcement, thanking the girls. After some of the older, much more talented students have danced, she tells us there’s one more performance.

She grins. “We had to convince these guys to perform, but they were easy to win over.” She points to the curtain, and it opens slowly. “I give you the Reeds, performing to Taylor Swift’s ‘You Belong with Me.’”

The curtain opens, and Paul, Matt, Logan, Sam, and Pete are all standing in a line. They’re all dressed in jeans and sleeveless T-shirts, and you can see all their tattoos and they’re so fucking handsome that I can’t even believe they’re mine. I see Hayley, Joey, and Mellie standing on the side of the stage, all waiting anxiously to watch their daddies and uncles.

Seth starts the music, and he’s underlaid some kind of hip-hop track beneath the beat, but you can still pick out the music. It’s a song about unrequited love and realizing that what you wanted was right there in front of you the whole time, but you were being too stupid to see it. It’s told from a girl’s point of view, so some of the words don’t exactly fit the boys, but it makes it all the funnier.

The Reeds have moves. Serious moves. I think everyone woman in the auditorium sits forward in her seat so she doesn’t miss seeing the shaking hips and flexing muscles. Paul even picks Matt up and spins him around one time, and Sam does the same to Pete. I can’t stop laughing. Even Logan dances, and I can imagine the kind of work it took for him to learn this routine when he can’t even hear the music the same way everyone else can. He can appreciate music, just in a different way.

As the song starts to close, Matt, Pete, Logan, and Paul all point out at the audience when the words, “You belong with me,” play. Matt points to Sky. Pete points to Reagan, and Logan points to Emily, who is holding the baby in her lap. And Paul points in my direction. Those four men jump off the stage and come toward us. They sing and dance all the way down the aisle.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Kelly get up to intercept Paul, but he doesn’t even notice her. He points past her, and sings out the last line, “You belong with me,” in my ear. He picks me up and spins me around, and I have never felt more happiness in my whole life.

The music stops, and everyone looks to the stage. Sam has sat down on the side of it, and he looks pretty dejected. He’s holding a sign above his head that says,
Available
.

After this, he won’t be available for long, because every woman there now has a crush on all the Reeds, and he’s the only one who isn’t taken.

I love that they can be so silly, and so loving, and so…them. They don’t hide it. They don’t make a game of it. They just love. They love hard.

“I love you so hard,” I say to Paul.

His eyes jerk to meet mine, and he almost looks surprised. “You do?” he asks.

I nod. “I do.”

“Will you come home tonight?” he asks quietly.

I nod.

“Good. That’s where you belong.”

Paul

I’ve missed having her in my arms so much. I swing Friday around and clutch her tightly. I want to squeeze her ass and hoist her against me, but there are too many people around. I lift up the edge of my T-shirt and wipe my brow. “You belong with me,” I tell her, as the song dies down.

She does. She belongs with me, and I never, ever want to let her go.

I reach out and give Jacob a gentle fist bump after I put Friday down.

“I have to stay and help put away the props,” I tell her.

“That’s okay. I have to take Jacob home.”

I brush a lock of hair from her temple and tuck it behind her ear.

“Then I have to go get my suitcase from Henry’s.”

“Then you’re coming home.” I say it again because I like the way it sounds on my lips. Home. Our home.

“Yes, I’m coming home.” Her face colors, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s thinking what I’m thinking.

I feel a squeeze on my arm and look up. Kelly is standing there, and she doesn’t look very happy. “Can I talk to you?” she asks. She taps her foot and blows out a breath. Her fiancé has left, apparently, because I don’t see him anywhere.

“Can it wait?” I ask.

“Wait?” she asks, her voice growing louder. People turn to look at us. “I’m the mother of your child, and you want me to wait?” She points to her chest and looks like I just struck her across the face.

“God, Kelly, can you cut the theatrics? Just give me a minute.” I tip Friday’s face up and kiss her really quickly, and when I raise my head, Kelly is rushing toward the stage where Hayley is standing. She’s not even waiting for me.

“You better go and deal with that,” Friday says.

I heave a sigh. “What do you think that’s about?”

She pinches her lips together so hard that a white line forms around it. “She’s nearly green with envy,” she tells me.

“No, not Kelly,” I protest. Kelly doesn’t get jealous. We’ve both been fucking other people for years and that never even bothered her. But she did have her jealous meltdown at the apartment the other day. Maybe?

Friday points her finger in Kelly’s direction. “She’s jealous. Mark my words.”

“Fuck,” I say.

“Go talk to her and get your props done. I’ll see you at home.” She steps up on tiptoe and kisses me again, and it feels so good that I never want to stop. But at least I have her to look forward to. Now and forever. She leaves hand in hand with Jacob. Henry goes with them.

I can’t find Kelly so I go and start loading the props into the storage room, and my brothers help me. I’m alone in the storage room, bent over picking up a piece of paper when I feel a hand on my back. I immediately hope it’s Friday and that she’s come to find me because she can’t be without me. But when I stand up, Kelly is suddenly in my face. Her lips touch mine. Actually, her lips crush mine, and I grab for her shoulders and push her back.

“What the fuck, Kells?” I say. I push her back again, and she looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. “What the fuck was that for?” I really want to wash my mouth out and spit because all my kisses are reserved for Friday now, and I feel like she just fucking spoiled my kisser. “Why did you do that?”

“I think I made a mistake, Paul,” she says. “I know I probably caused this when I agreed to marry my boyfriend and told you about it and it pushed you away, but I ended that tonight.” She wrings her hands in front of me.

“You ended what?”

“The engagement, silly,” she says. She laughs like I should have a chance in hell of knowing what the fuck she’s talking about. “I ended it.”

“Why would you do a stupid thing like that?”

“I saw the way you were looking at me during that song,” she says.

“I wasn’t looking at you.”

She puts her hands on her hips. “You looked me right in the eye. You were singing directly into my heart, and it made me realize what a fool I have been. I can tolerate your brothers. I can. I will.”

“I wasn’t singing to you, Kells,” I say. “I was singing to Friday. All that was for her.”

“No,” she whispers. She points to her chest. “It was for me.”

“No,” I say strongly. “You and I are done. That was all for Friday. I’m sorry you misunderstood.”

She steps back. And this time, she does look like I slapped her. “Why her?” she asks.

I shrug. “Because she’s Friday.” I don’t know more than that.

“But what’s special about her?”

“Everything.”

She glares at me. “Give me a list.”

“I don’t need to give you a list.”

“Give me reasons.”

“Why are you jealous?” I finally ask.

“We were good together,” she says quietly.

“Yeah, we were good until we weren’t. You really should go and catch up with your boyfriend.”

She shakes her head. “That’s over.”

“Good,” I say.

“What do you mean?”

“The whole time you were sleeping with him, you were telling him you love him and then sleeping with me, Kells. He deserves better than that. He should have a woman who loves him so fucking much that she would never think about sleeping with another man. And if she did think about someone else, it better be a fucking fantasy she comes home and lets him play out with her.” I shake my head. I don’t even know how to give voice to my thoughts. “I’m sorry you misunderstood.”