Wishing for a Cowboy (Wishing River #3) - Victoria James Page 0,4
I’m not sure what this sudden concern over your son is, but I’m not buying it.”
He gripped the armrests of his chair, forcing himself to stay calm. This wasn’t Janie’s fault. He had to focus on who was really to blame here. “Maxi never told me she was pregnant. She never contacted me after she left. Ever.”
Something flickered across her green eyes. “Why would she lie about that?”
He almost laughed. “You can’t honestly tell me that it’s such a shock to you.”
“What makes you think it shouldn’t be?”
“Because she’s Maxi.”
She shook her head, and he realized how weak that sounded, even though it was the best explanation he had.
He racked his brain for something to help his case, and it didn’t take long. He remembered very clearly why they’d ended things. Why he’d ended things. “Maxi left town because of Mike. If I’d known she was—” He shook his head. “I would never in a million years send away a woman who was pregnant with my kid. Not even at eighteen.”
Janie frowned at him, and for a second he thought she was going to believe him. But then she said, “My sister wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t lie to me or hurt her own son just to try and keep Mike.” She blinked rapidly, eyes cast down at her lap. “Why should I believe you?”
“Why would I lie? If I’m that big of an ass, then wouldn’t I just kick you out?”
She looked back up at him with those big, tortured green eyes, and his gut churned with self-loathing. It bothered him that this stranger thought so poorly of him. “I don’t know,” she said softly, that bite to her tone gone. “Maybe you’ve matured and want a second chance.”
“Then wouldn’t I have reached out?”
“I… This wasn’t what I expected.” Janie took off her jacket, and his gaze drifted over her quickly. She seemed flushed.
If circumstances had been different, he’d probably take the time to appreciate how gorgeous she was. Her eyes were a rich shade of green and wide, expressive, behind the dark-rimmed glasses she wore. Her skin was pale but flawless, a striking contrast to her almost-black hair. She was petite, on the curvier side. And she looked nothing like her sister.
“There were probably better ways to go about this introduction,” she said, “but I didn’t have the luxury of time. And I couldn’t risk calling you, in case you’d just hang up the phone.”
He clenched down hard on his teeth. He wasn’t angry at her, but it was insulting, even though he knew she didn’t intend it to be. “I wouldn’t do that,” he said thickly, resting his forearms on the table and leaning forward slightly.
She gave him a nod, clasping her hands together. “I also want you to know that I wouldn’t have come here on just a hope and a prayer. Maxi told me you might help financially, assuming this bar was still as successful as she remembered it.”
Aiden swallowed down the acid in his throat and ran his hands down his face. The fact Maxi was so sure he would still be here, still working at the same place, felt like a nail in his coffin. One he’d hammered into it himself.
And there was too much else in what Janie was saying. Too much hidden information. Too much he needed to know. He’d known Maxi was even more screwed up than him, and when he’d finally realized that, he’d ended things. That had been rock bottom. After that, he’d dealt with the crap from his childhood and accepted the life he’d been given, taking over the bar from his father. He hadn’t looked back.
But now, finding out she may have kept knowledge of his kid from him…for so many years…this was unbelievable. He thought of the kid sitting in his bar—how much he looked like him, how he felt like he knew him. Then he focused on the woman in front of him, the one who for some reason had taken care of the boy, the one who assumed he didn’t want his kid, that he was only capable of providing a bit of money to get them out of a bind.
“I know you don’t know me and everything you think you know about me is probably wrong,” he said, “but I can’t just hand you a pile of cash and let you leave Wishing River. Hell, if he’s my kid, I want him in my life.”