Teresa Southwick - What Makes A Father

The doorbell rang and he swore under his breath, then checked the babies for any sign it woke them. Neither moved so he hurried to the front door, ready to chew out whoever had been stupid enough to ignore the baby sleeping sign.

He opened the door and saw a thirty-something guy standing there. He was well dressed and nice-looking. Mason wanted to strangle him. “Can you read?”

“What?”

“Did you see the sign?” He pointed. “The babies are sleeping.”

“Right. Sorry, man. I forgot.”

“How to read?” Now he really wanted to strangle this guy.

“No. That the babies are here.” He held out his hand. “Dwayne Beller.”

Mason hesitated then shook hands. “Mason Blackburne.”

“The father?”

“Of the twins? Yeah.” Now his curiosity was on high alert. “Who are you?”

“Annie’s boyfriend.” He shifted uncomfortably. “At least, I was.”

“So you’re not now?”

“No.”

Mason felt an odd sort of relief that she was no longer with this guy. “What happened?”

“Is Annie here?”

“No.” He stood feet apart, blocking the doorway.

“Do you mind telling me where she is?”

“Yes.” They were sizing each other up. “Mind telling me what happened with you and Annie?”

Dwayne shifted his stance uncomfortably. “Look, man, would you just tell her I stopped by?”

“Why?”

“Because I’d like her to know that I was here.”

Mason didn’t miss the fact that Dwayne was looking pretty irritated. It didn’t bother him at all. “I meant why don’t you want to talk about what happened?”

“Because it’s none of your business. It’s between Annie and me—”

“Dwayne?” Annie was almost at the top of the stairs and her eyes widened at the scene unfolding in front of her door.

She had several bags of groceries in her hands and didn’t look happy to see the guy. That didn’t bother Mason at all, either.

“Hi, Annie. You look good.” The ex-boyfriend had a sheepish expression on his face and glanced at Mason, who was still blocking the door. “Can I come in?”

“Why?” she asked warily.

“To talk,” he said. “I really miss talking to you.”

There was hurt and disillusionment in her eyes, proof the line wasn’t working. “I don’t think there’s anything left for us to say to each other.”

“Please just hear me out.”

“These bags are getting heavy.” She elbowed past him and Mason stepped aside to let her through. “And you said quite enough the last time I saw you. At Jessica’s memorial service. Your timing left a lot to be desired.”

Dwayne elbowed his way past Mason and followed her into the apartment, watching her set bags on the table. “Look, Annie, that wasn’t my finest hour. I admit it, but—”

“There’s no but,” she snapped. “At the worst time in my life you walked out on me. That doesn’t deserve a but.”

“No one feels worse about that than me.” The jerk held out his hand, a pleading gesture. “The thought of being a father freaked me out, okay? Two at once is a lot.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Her tone dripped sarcasm.

“You were distracted and I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to be there for me. For us. But I’ve had time to think. I miss you. I can’t forget you.”

Mason could understand that. Annie was unforgettable and this idiot had voluntarily walked out on her. The last thing he should get was a do-over.

Fortunately she appeared unmoved by his words. “Honestly, I haven’t had time to think about you at all, what with two infants to take care of. The fact is, you never cross my mind. In case that’s not clear enough, there is not a snowball’s chance in hell I would ever consider taking you back. You abandoned me once. I won’t give you a chance to do that to me again.”

“I wish you’d reconsider. We were good together. At home and at work.”

Dwayne must be desperate, Mason thought. After what she’d just said it was clear she’d made up her mind.

Annie’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, now I get it. And the verdict is official. You’re a conniving weasel dog and I don’t ever want to see you again.”

“Annie, please. I really need this—”

“Oh? I needed you,” she said. “And you couldn’t get out of here fast enough then. I’d like you to do that now. Just go.”

“Annie—”

Mason had seen enough. He moved next to her. “The lady asked you to leave.”

Dwayne’s ingratiating performance disappeared. “What are you going to do? Throw me out?”

“If I have to.” Mason stared at him and knew the exact moment the moron realized it was over.

“Your loss, Annie. Remember that.”

“In my opinion, I dodged a bullet,” she snapped back.

Without another word, the creep left and slammed the door. Hard.

Mason and Annie looked at each other and said at the same time, “The babies.”

They hurried down the hall to check on them but Charlie and Sarah were still sleeping soundly. In unison, they heaved a sigh of parental relief then quietly backed out of the room and returned to the kitchen.

She met his gaze. “So, that happened.”

“He’s determined. I’ll give him that.”

“Yeah.” She closed her eyes for a moment, as if erasing any vision of Dwayne from her mind. After letting out a long breath she said, “I could have called him much worse than a weasel dog.”

“Me, too, but that was pretty descriptive.”

“It was a compliment compared to what I was thinking. He’s lucky I didn’t throw something at him.”

Mason studied her face and realized he had never seen her furious. The cleansing breath she’d taken hadn’t cleansed anything. There was more. “What else did he do? Besides leave you at the worst possible time.”

She met his gaze. “The last thing he said before bailing on me was that raising some other guy’s brats wasn’t what he’d signed up for.”

“Son of a bitch—” Mason felt the words like a body blow. He didn’t like the guy but Annie had at one time. He couldn’t imagine the scope of betrayal she’d experienced. Now he was furious, too. “Good thing you threw him out. I’d have tossed him over the railing.”

Surprisingly, she laughed. “That’s a very satisfying image.”

“What did he mean about working well together?”

“He’s a graphic artist, too. It’s how we met, collaborating on a job.”

So they had something in common, spoke each other’s language. “And when he said he needed this? Any idea what that was about?”

“He’s employed by a rival firm. My guess is that they’re in competition for this big contract I’ve been working on. If I took him back, he’d have access to my team’s creative direction and could take steps to counter in their own presentation.”

“So he wanted to steal from you,” he said, seething with anger.

“That’s my guess.”

“Prince of a guy. Just oozing integrity. Damn right you dodged a bullet.”

“Wow,” she said. “Don’t sugarcoat it. Tell me how you really feel.”

“I don’t mean to hurt your feelings.” That was completely sincere. He would never hurt her. Not deliberately. But he couldn’t hold this back. “I just have to ask. What the hell did you ever see in that guy?”

Her hazel eyes turned more green than gold. It was a clue that he’d crossed a line. Her next words confirmed that he’d said something wrong.

High color appeared on her cheeks. “It’s really easy to be on the outside looking in and draw conclusions. I’ve known you, what? Fifteen minutes? Yes, we share the babies and you’re their father. Calling them brats makes him lower than pond scum. But I get to say that. You don’t get a say about my personal life, especially for something that happened before I met you.”