Susan Mallery - Not Quite Over You

“I went off to college.” He hesitated. “Silver insisted we break up before I left. I didn’t want to, but she was determined.”

“She can be stubborn that way,” Cade told him.

“She can. Then I left.” There was more. So much more. Before he could decide what he should and shouldn’t say, he found himself blurting, “She was pregnant.”

Both Cade and Jasper stared at him.

“Seriously?” Cade asked. “What happened?”

“She came to visit me at college. I was well into my freshman year and had moved on. I didn’t want to believe her, but I knew what we’d been doing. I proposed, she said no. We agreed to give up the baby for adoption.”

Jasper and Cade exchanged a look.

“So you have a kid out there,” Jasper said. “How old is he? Or she?”

“Nearly twelve. I never asked what she had. I assumed a boy.” He’d always pictured a son, one who looked just like him. Ego, he supposed. And a lack of any other input. Of course, if they’d had a girl, he would have assumed she looked exactly like Silver.

“A kid,” Cade said quietly. “Bethany and I want kids. The sooner the better, but you beat us all.”

“We were young and foolish.” They’d been passionately in love, he thought. That part had been about as real as it got.

“Is the baby why you want to go into business with her?” Jasper asked. “Out of guilt?”

“I don’t feel guilty.” Drew paused. “We were kids ourselves. We couldn’t have been decent parents. I want to invest in Silver’s company because I think it’s the smart thing to do. I’ve run the numbers. She works hard, makes a good profit and is turning business away every week. It’s a sound business decision.”

“Uh-huh.” Jasper didn’t look convinced. “What did she say?”

“I think the real question is what did she hit you with when you told her what you’d done?” Cade chuckled.

“She’s thinking about it.” Drew grinned. “She was fine with it.”

“Liar.”

“Okay, but she really did listen.”

Jasper finished his water and tossed the bottle into the recycling bin in the corner. “So you’re going to invest in Silver’s company, and then what? Are you going to help her manage the other trailers?”

“We’re still discussing the details.”

“The bank getting to you?” Cade sounded sympathetic. “I don’t know how you stand it, being there all day. It’s like a big, brick trap.”

Drew knew the bank wasn’t a trap—it was a living, breathing creature tied to the community. The bank was possibilities and he had a million ideas about how he was going to make it better.

“The bank is the least of it,” he said, avoiding the question.

Cade shook his head. “Your folks still on you?” He turned to Jasper. “Drew’s parents are...unusual. Happily Inc was never big enough for them. They always wanted to be somewhere else, doing something else. Howard, Drew’s dad, got involved politically and got an ambassadorship when Drew was still in school. Where was it again?”

“Andorra,” Drew said, remembering the thrill of having his parents leave town while he was in high school. He’d moved in with Grandpa Frank and life had gotten a whole lot easier. “It’s near Spain.”

“Never heard of it,” Jasper said. “Maybe I should do some research and set a book there.”

Cade grinned. “You should. Anyway, Howard had a couple more ambassadorships after that, then left the diplomatic corps to join a lobbying firm.”

“They’re still there,” Drew admitted grimly. “Growing the company and making room for their firstborn.”

Their only born, he added silently. Nothing would make his parents—mostly his mother—happier than having him take over the family bank for a couple of years, and then join his parents’ lobbying firm. While he was all over the first half, he had no interest in being a lobbyist.

“Not your dream job?” Jasper asked.

“Not even close.”

Jasper grinned at Cade. “Too bad they’re not your parents. Imagine how happy they’d be to know their son was marrying a genuine princess.”

“I don’t know where to start with that,” Cade admitted, then looked at Drew. “Have you told your mom about the engagement?”

“No, and I don’t plan to. The last thing any of us want is my mother camping out in town so she can go to your wedding or whatever it turns out to be.”

Cade had bought a stallion from the king of El Bahar. The “stable girl” who had delivered the stallion had turned out to be a royal princess in disguise. Cade and Bethany had fallen in love and were getting married. While the details hadn’t been worked out, there would be some kind of event or celebration locally, complete with the royal family attending.

“Your mom is going to find out.”

“Not from me.” Drew wouldn’t do that to someone he didn’t like, let alone a cousin.

“Have you two decided on your wedding plans?” Jasper asked. “You could always elope.”

Cade grimaced. “We’ve talked about it, but Bethany doesn’t want to disappoint her parents. We’re definitely holding the ceremony in El Bahar, but we’re going to do something here, too. The details are being worked out.”

Drew supposed that the logistics of marrying into a royal family put his life questions in perspective.

“Let me know if there’s going to be a party,” Jasper told him. “I’m heading to New York in a couple of weeks. I can rearrange things if it means hanging out with royals.”

Cade didn’t look convinced. “You’re like Drew. You don’t care anything about someone being royal or important.”

Jasper grinned. “That is true, but I’m always looking for ideas for the next book. Plus, you’re a friend. Someone has to be around to keep the crazies off your back.”

Drew nodded. “Jasper will handle them and I’ll run interference with my mother if she shows up.”

Cade winced. “Thanks, Drew. You’re a good friend.”

“You know it.”

CHAPTER THREE

SILVER LAY ON the carpet, her feet propped up on the sofa. She rested her cell phone on her stomach and adjusted her earbuds.

Leigh was due to call in about three minutes and her friend was nothing if not prompt. While she waited, Silver thought about all that had happened in the past few days and wondered if she had an answer to the obvious question—what was she going to do about the trailers?

She was tempted. Very tempted. They were exactly what she wanted and with them she would have a chance to expand her business. Between the extra twenty grand Drew was throwing in on top of her own savings, she could refurbish both of them, buy the trucks needed to pull them, have enough left over for an emergency fund and have some work done downstairs.

Her second-floor loft apartment sat above retail space. Currently, Silver used the downstairs as a showroom, with large posters showing her trailer at a variety of venues and a couple of tables set up like a party. There was a place to go over drinks menus and discuss specifics. But she kept thinking she should do something to monetize the square footage. Right now it was just deadweight.

Again, with Drew’s help, all that could change. The price would be both working with him and having to share the profits. He wasn’t buying into her business for the thrill of it. She had so much to think about.

She picked up her phone and smiled. One minute to go. While she was waiting, she touched the screen to display her photos. She went right to the folder that held the pictures of Autumn, then scrolled through a half dozen.

Autumn was eleven, with dark hair and deep blue eyes and looked a lot like her dad. She was smart, pretty and kind. Okay, and yes, she had a bit of the devil in her, but she wasn’t mean—just adventurous.