Sheri WhiteFeather - The Billion Dollar Pact - Waking Up with the Boss (Billionaire Brothers Club) / Single Mom, Billionaire Boss / Paper Wedding, Best-Friend Bride

Jake used the only excuse he could think of. “The condoms failed.”

“You know that wasn’t what I meant.”

“Yeah, I know.” Clearly, Garrett was suggesting that he should’ve never taken Carol to bed. “But I’m already a mess over it. So I’d prefer not to have you jumping all over me, too.”

“I’m sorry, bro. I don’t want to make this more difficult for you. But it’s just that you got yourself into something major here. And Carol is a nice girl who shouldn’t be left holding the bag.”

“I’m trying to do right by her and the baby. I’m going to set them up in a place in my neighborhood and be there when they need me.” Jake watched a family playing on the beach. The youngest kid was a fair-haired toddler, a rough-and-tumble boy squirming in his mom’s arms. “I don’t really know how, though. To be there, I mean.”

“Just give it some time. You’ll learn.”

“I hope so. I want to keep her and the baby safe.” He kept watching the family. The older kids were running toward the shore with their paddleboards, and the little one remained on his mom’s lap; only now, he was playing with a red plastic bucket his dad had given him.

Garrett said, “Life takes some strange turns.”

“Boy, does it ever.” Being at the beach was making Jake miss the romance he’d had with Carol. But getting reinvolved with her in that way would only complicate things further. “I wonder if I should invite her to stay with me until we find her a house. Not as my lover or anything,” he clarified. “But just so I can get more familiar with her pregnancy. So I can be part of it, too.”

Garrett encouraged him. “That sounds like a solid idea to me.”

“Maybe I’ll take her on a picnic or something tomorrow and we can talk about it then.” Unless she had plans on Sunday. He didn’t have a clue what Carol did with her free time. “It’s hard to say how she’ll feel about it, though.”

As Jake contemplated his all-too-grown-up life, a group of teenage girls walked by, checking out a cluster of boys who were seated on a brick wall. Typical of this generation, the girls were tapping away on their phones, probably announcing their flirtations on social media and sneaking in pictures of the boys, who were on their phones, too.

“So have you figured out what to do?” he asked Garrett.

“About what?”

“Offering Meagan Quinn a job.”

“No, I haven’t.” Garrett seemed oblivious to the teen antics. Or maybe he just didn’t care to notice them. “But there’s plenty of time to decide. Her parole eligibility date is still months away. Then once that rolls around, there’ll be a hearing. After that, her case will go into review. Her release isn’t going to happen overnight.”

“If she doesn’t have a job lined up, she won’t be released. The parole commission isn’t going to let that slide.”

“I know. I’m considering how much weight an offer from me would hold.” Garrett frowned. “Meagan has a child. A daughter, who’ll be around two by the time Meagan gets out.”

“She has a kid that age?” Jake was flabbergasted. “How is that even possible? She’s been behind bars longer than that.”

“She discovered that she was pregnant soon after she went to prison, by a guy who’d already walked out on her. She gave birth while she was incarcerated, and one of her brothers took care of the baby so it didn’t have to go into foster care.”

Jake hadn’t been aware of Meagan’s plight. “Have you been keeping tabs on her all this time?”

“No. I haven’t paid her any mind while she’s been locked up. I didn’t even know that she’d had a kid until Mom told me, just recently. She just found out, too, when she took an interest in Meagan’s parole.”

“Damn. Your mother is really vested in this thing.” Jake considered the circumstances. “I can’t imagine someone having a baby in prison.” The thought twisted his stomach, especially now that Carol was carrying his child.

Garrett squinted in the sun. “You know what else Mom discovered from poking around into Meagan’s life? That she and Meagan’s mother used to belong to the same Native American women’s group. It was a long time ago, and their paths only crossed for a short period, but there’s still a connection. Of course Mom thinks it’s a sign, even if she barely knew the other woman.”

“What happened to Meagan’s mom?”

“She died before any of this went down.”

“So she never saw her daughter get locked up? That’s good, I guess. But it’s sad, too, that she’s dead.” Jake knew what losing family was like. “Your resort would be a good place for Meagan to work, especially with the day care you built for your employees.”

“Are you suggesting I should hire her because of that? Her child isn’t my responsibility.”

No, but from the tone in Garret’s voice, Jake could tell that he was concerned about the kid. “With everything Meagan has been through, she may have been reformed.”

“And maybe she hasn’t changed a bit. She could be the same greedy little thief who ripped us off.”

“You won’t know unless you give her a chance. Besides, you don’t really know what prompted her to take the money.”

“Is there a good reason to steal?”

“No, but sometimes it’s not about being greedy. I started stealing to try to fill the hole where my heart used to be. Then later, I did it to impress the girls I was with. You remember how messed up I was then.”

“Yes, I remember. We were all a mess in those days.” Garrett blew out a breath. “I still don’t know what I’m going to do. But at least I have some time to think about it.”

“I’ve got a lot to think about, too.” Jake shifted his attention back to the family on the beach, where the toddler had been handed over to his dad, so his mom could pour apple juice in his tippy cup or sippy cup or whatever it was called.

Jake was definitely going to ask Carol to stay with him for a while and try to figure things out. But whether or not she accepted the invitation was a whole other matter.

* * *

On Sunday, Carol met with Jake at a park in her neighborhood. When he’d called to ask her to join him for a picnic, he’d told her that he wanted to discuss another aspect of the baby arrangement. She wasn’t sure what that meant exactly. But she understood that there was still plenty to talk about. So here she was, waiting to see what he had to say.

They shared a blanket beneath a big, shady tree, with a cooler of food that Jake’s chef had prepared.

“So what’s on your mind?” she asked.

He filled his plate. “Maybe we can relax a bit before we get into the specifics?”

“All right.” She allowed him the luxury he’d requested, even if she was impatient to know what had triggered this meeting. “It’s a nice park. I’ve never been here before.”

“Me, neither.” He glanced around. “It’s busy today.”

Carol nodded. There was even a group who’d gathered for a family reunion, with homemade signs leading to their get-together. “Lots of people are barbecuing.”

“My family used to grill in our backyard. The whole suburban weekend thing.”

“Did your dad do the cooking?”

“Yes. But Mom always got everything ready ahead of time, and then he would get credit for how good it was.”

Carol turned nostalgic. “It was like that at our house, too.” It was also the type of lifestyle she’d always envisioned having. But this wasn’t the time to think about that, not while she was pregnant with Jake’s baby.

He said, “I don’t like doing things my family used to do. It just makes me miss them more.”

She sighed. “It helps me to remember mine.”