How to Have Your Boss's Secret Baby - London Casey Page 0,68

a little red.

I gently touched her arms. “I’m kidding. I just wanted to see you. I know it’s probably not easy being here. I didn’t want you to do it alone.”

Her mouth moved but no words came out.

“So how about that coffee?” I asked and nodded to her mother’s house.

“My mother… Cole… what are we going to say?” Maya asked.

I moved my hands to her hands. “Whatever you want to say to her.”

Maya smiled and then pulled her hands away from mine.

A few seconds ticked by before she threw her arms around me and hugged me.

I felt her pregnant stomach between us.

Our child…

“You have no idea how much I needed to see you, Cole,” she said. “And if you repeat that, I will cut you.”

I laughed.

I liked laughing with Maya…

Maya opened the creaky door and stepped into the house.

“Mom?” she called out in almost a girlish voice. “Mom, are you home?”

Directly to my right was a set of carpeted steps that turned two times. Halfway up the steps there was a diamond shaped stained glass window with a rose in the middle.

The house smelled like dust and leftover dinner.

The floors were original hardwood but they were covered in area rugs.

In the corner of the foyer where we stood I noticed a fish tank.

There were a few small, neon colored fish swimming around the water.

“Fish tank,” I said.

“Yeah,” Maya said.

I reached for her hand and held it as we walked through the house.

“You lived here?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said.

To the left of the foyer was the living room. That room connected with what looked like a formal type dining room, but with the dark paneling on the walls, it had the appeal of an office.

Maya walked and we moved through the informal dining room, which opened up into the kitchen.

The kitchen was blue.

Two tones of blue.

A dark blue around the edges and trim of the cabinets and a baby blue on the cabinets and walls themselves.

“It’s bright,” I said with a grin.

“It’s horrible,” Maya said. “I always…”

I looked where she was looking.

There was a cabinet dangling by one or two screws. And the door next to that was missing completely.

“Shit,” Maya said.

“What?”

“This house…”

Her eyes moved again and she groaned.

She hurried away from me and went to the fridge.

“The handle is taped on,” she said. “Do you see this?”

“Yeah,” I said. “So what?”

Maya spun around. “It’s the whole house. There are certain ways to open and shut doors. The bathroom vent doesn’t work so you have to shower with the window open. There are soft spots in the floors which is why she has so many stupid carpets down. The place hasn’t been cleaned in forever. All she does is work to just get by. Like everyone else in this fucking town.”

“Maya… it’s okay…”

“It’s not okay!” Maya yelled.

There was a door next to the fridge and she threw it open and disappeared.

I caught up to her on a small porch.

It smelled like moldy wood and the outside air.

She stood at the back door.

“Maya…”

“Look out there, Cole,” she said. “See that big circle? On the ground?”

“Yeah,” I said as I noticed halfway down the long yard there was a perfect circle of weeds and sand.

“There was a pool,” she said. “And one year it kind of popped. It leaked and then it had to get taken down. My mother told me she was going to get a new one. She never did. I don’t hate her for it. It’s just what this town is. It traps you. It eats you alive. It’s why I left. And now look at me…”

I spun Maya around. “Yeah, look at you. You’re beautiful, Maya. You’re smart, strong, a pain in the ass, and you’re brave enough to leave here and move to the city and deal with an asshole like me.”

“I got pregnant,” she said. “I’m screwed.”

“Not even close. You’re not going to live like this if you don’t want to.”

“I hate this place, Cole,” she said. Tears filled her eyes. “Save me from it…”

I lowered my lips down to hers.

I knew just where to go.

I knew the way her eyes lit up over the shower in the hotel room, she was going to want to try it out.

Which was fine by me.

I had her bags brought up, along with mine.

The two cars and drivers were going to wait for us.

They each got their own hotel room.

The excursion was costing a small fortune, but it was worth it.

Just seeing Maya get that scared and emotional over her