“God, I feel so sore,” Regina moans as she pushes away.“You’re going to be sporting some lovely bruises when you get up tomorrow, I’m sure.” I shut the door and walk with her to the front door. “Just rest as much as you can. Don’t do anything stupid, and you’ll be back to normal soon.”“Does that mean I get out of doing homework?”“Sadly, no. I’ll let you off for the first few days, but you must get it done.”Regina pouts.“Dad! How can I work when my writing hand is broken?”“We’ll talk to your teachers about it tomorrow. I’m sure we can work things out.” I open the front door. “In you go. I’m sure Grandma has something ready for you to eat.”“I still feel sick.”“You need to have something to eat.” I kiss her head. “In you go.”For a moment, I think that Regina’s going to complain, but she sighs heavily and goes inside. I know Mom is going to look after her. It will delay her going back home, but when I spoke to her on the phone earlier, she was adamant about helping with her grand
Then again, from the way she barely recognized my name when the doctor addressed me in the hospital, I have a feeling she has no idea who I am. Maybe that’s a good thing; it’s nice to have a bit of anonymity, even if it means that she treats me in such an infuriating manner.“So, you agree with me, then?”“What?” I frown at my brother. “What are you talking about?”“You agree that she’s an awesome woman? I saw the look on your face just then.” Jay smirks. “Is she pretty?”“jay!”“Well, is she? I doubt she would get your attention like this if she weren’t.”I’m not about to answer that, mainly because Jay would notice that I did find Lucia attractive, which is not what I want. Sure, she’s pretty, and her gorgeous green eyes are mesmerizing, but she drives me insane. She rubs me the wrong way.Maybe that’s my way of saying I am attracted to her because she does rub me the wrong way.That doesn’t make any sense. And it’s not happening.“So, you’re not going to see her again?” Jay teases.
“Stop calling him a hot single dad. It’s driving me crazy.”“Well, he is hot, and his daughter said he was single, didn’t she? It’s clear you’re into him.”I wish she would drop it. Sure, Micheal is handsome, but he’s maddening. I’m not about to think about anything regarding him. That would just be asking for trouble.At least Helen’s not talking about Nate. That would drive me insane. I’m still angry that he was at the resort.“Just no more, please? I just want to get inside and decompress before tomorrow.”“Okay, whatever you say.”Helen reaches out and squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry about what happened, but I’m glad you came. It was good to be up on the slopes.”“I won’t argue with that,” I say and manage a smile at her. “You’ll hear from me tomorrow.”“Bye.”As Helen drives away, I jump out and head to the door next to my store. I’m glad that I’m back now. After the ups and downs of the weekend, which turned into a more dramatic occasion than I anticipated, I just want to lie on the
MichealOne Week Later“Dad, come on. Why are you so slow?” Regina complains as she tugs me along.“You do realize that I’m old compared to you, Regina? I can’t move as fast.”“You’re spritely compared to me. Just slow down. We’ll get there eventually.” I manage to get her to walk normally so I can keep up with her. “Now, would you drop dragging me around? You’re a teenager, not a toddler. Do you want me to buy reins for you?”Regina sticks her tongue out at me.“You couldn’t put those on me if you tried.”“I couldn’t when you were a toddler, either,” I mutter. Aloud: “Where are we going, anyway? You wouldn’t tell me.”“You know I’ve been wanting some new books to read?”“I recall you saying something like that this morning.”“Dad! I’ve been asking for new books for weeks now!” Regina rolls her eyes. “God, you are getting old if you can’t remember that.”Now I’m confused. I like to think that my memory is pretty good, and I would remember something like that. Regina likes to read but
Why the hell is she giving me an erection just looking like a damn librarian?“Get five for now. I’m the one who will be carrying them,” I add as Regina protests. “So I think I have a say in what you can buy.”“Fine,”Regina huffs and turns away. “I’m going to explore.”“Take your time, Regina,” Lucia calls after her as Regina disappears between the shelves. She gives me a shy smile. “It’s a bit quiet right now. Everyone comes in during the lunch rush, so you’ve caught me twiddling my thumbs.”“Is it normally busy in here?” I ask, clearing my throat when I start croaking. What the hell is wrong with me?“Depends on the occasion. If there’s a special event or an occasion on the calendar, I get plenty of people in.” She gestures at a notice on the window. “I also have a special hour, as I call it, on Saturday, where you can buy a bag for five dollars and put in as many books as possible. You can buy whatever can get into the bag for the price of the bag.”“I see.” I raise my eyebrows. “D
“They’re going to just kick you out? But you’ve paid the rent for years and never caused them problems.”“I know.”“Does this mean you’ll lose your apartment as well?”I feel a knot start in my stomach. God, why did I allow Helen to take me out? The clarity of the situation is finally sinking in.“It’s attached to the shop. I’ve tried to call the agency to ask if there is anything we can do to negotiate or if I can separate the shop and apartment. But his receptionist says that he’s not taking any calls and to send anything I have in writing.”“But by the time anyone sees the letter, you would have been evicted.”“I would not be surprised.” I sigh heavily. “I’m really stuck. I don’t know what to do, Helen. I’ve paid my rent on time for a long time and kept things clean and tidy. I have never caused anyone any problems, either.”“You could just go to their offices and demand to see the boss. And you won’t go anywhere until the big man sees you.”“You might be able to do that, but I don
MichealI stare at the screen, but nothing seems to be sinking in. There are so many emails, and I can’t tell which are genuine or what is spam that needs to be deleted. They keep coming through even after deleting, reporting, and blocking spam. It’s ridiculous.But I can’t get my mind focused on anything. Not when everything somehow reminds me of Lucia. I see her in her bookstore, clearly devoted to her work and her love of books. Her store made me feel like I was at home; there was a warm, inviting feeling about the place. I can see why Regina likes it.I have to raise the rent. The land where the store is located is very profitable, and the rent needs to be appropriate for the land in question. That means I have to almost triple it from what Dad asked Lucia. She won’t be able to afford it; I know that much. She can’t get enough for the rent even if it's popular.I know she’s been calling, asking to speak to me. I’ve managed to get my receptionist to deter her and say that I’m not a
“I honestly don’t know. Maybe I don’t want things to get more tense.”“You’re worried about tension with a tenant? You’re slipping, Micheal.”I snort and get up from my chair, pacing over to the window.“I don’t know about that. But I know I’m not in the right headspace. Things have not been the same since that damn trip to the resort. I keep thinking about what might have happened if Lucia hadn’t been there if I’d gone down with her. Maybe we could have avoided the accident.”“That’s something you couldn’t foresee happening, and you can’t blame yourself. Regina is thirteen. She’s going to end up getting into scrapes.”“You wouldn’t be able to say that it’s normal for teenagers to get hurt if you’d seen her on the snow in such pain.”I keep thinking back to when I came down the slope and saw Lucia with Regina. She hadn’t panicked, hadn’t fretted over anything. She was calm and in command, something I should have been and couldn’t do it. I am so glad that she was there when we needed h
It would be so easy to reach out and take the comfort and warmth and pleasure of being with him again. He’d wrap her in his arms and stroke her back and kiss her hair, and she’d feel his body stir with desire for her and…She’d missed him so much. But if she gave in to the need aching through her now,Micheal would be encouraged to stick around, and the inevitable consequences would be worse than her current sense of deprivation.Better to remain independent.“I don’t need your help, Micheal,” she said flatly.“That’s not how it looks to me,Lucia.” He reached out and took her left hand, fondling it warmly, persuasively pressing a link between them as he added, “I think we should get married as soon as possible.”“No!” She snatched her hand away, feeling as though he’d burned her. Her eyes blazed fierce conviction. “I won’t marry you, Micheal.”“Why not? It’s the most sensible, practical thing to do.”“I will not subject my baby to a father who doesn’t want her.”“If you’re worried about
She was tempted to hurl it in Micheal ’s face. It might sober him up. Whatever impulsive and stupid ardour had driven him into this room needed dampening down. He wasn’t thinking straight, any more than she’d been seeing straight. But she could see straight through him! Having figured out what she was doing in a maternity ward, he had a hot case of guilt.“You need looking after, Lucia,” he said gruffly. “And I’m the man to do it. Drink up now.”She sipped, just to moisten her throat. Then she glared her outrage at him. “Don’t you tell me what to do, Micheal. You have no right.”He returned a determined look. “I contributed to this situation and—”“You did not.” She cut him off with more belligerent determination. “You trusted me to get the contraception right, and I messed up. It’s all my fault.”“Accidents happen,” he said grimly.“Well, you don’t have to pay for this one. I take full responsibility.”“Sure! And you’re doing a fine job of it, letting yourself get so run down you alm
Maurice’s question broke through the glaze of horror in his mind. They were looking quizzically at him. Had he missed something? Apart from a nine-month pregnancy?“Sorry.” He sucked in a deep breath and swallowed hard. “I was just thinking how great the three of you look together.”Ingrid laughed. “Time you found yourself a wife and started a family, Micheal.”Join the club. They all said that. Once they were caught in the family trap, it was as though anyone who was free of it was an offensive reminder of what they’d given up. The hell of it was he might very well have a child somewhere on this ward, a child whose mother had decided was better off fatherless than having Micheal in their lives.“Aren’t you thirty-something?” Ingrid persisted.“Darling, I’m forty,” Maurice reminded her. “Age has nothing to do with it. If I hadn’t met you, I’d still be a freewheeling bachelor like Micheal.”Micheal didn’t want to be a freewheeling bachelor. He wanteded Lucia. He didn’t care if she came
“He’s got my ears, poor little blighter.”Micheal smiled. “Well, one can always resort to plastic surgery.”Maurice laughed indulgently. “They’re not that bad. He’ll grow into them.”“Bound to,” Micheal agreed, his face aching with smiling.Micheal obediently performed the comparison, studying the straight, aristocratic nose of Maurice’s buxom blonde wife and the longer, slightly bumpy one of his friend. He forced another smile. “Yes. Much the better nose.”Why was it obligatory to divide a baby’s features between the parents? It was inevitably done, like a ritual, perhaps affirming true heritage, or an assurance that a little replica would fulfil its parents’ expectations. Not only was it a deadly boring exercise to Micheal,, it almost drove him to snap, “Let the kid be himself, for God’s sake!”But that wasn’t the done thing.He wondered whom Lucia had been visiting on this floor. Not that it mattered. No point in trying to find some contact point with her. From the attitude she ha
Her hair was cropped short, but he couldn’t mistake that face, those eyes as she stared straight at him. Recognition, shock, disbelief, fear, anger…each expression pulsed briefly at him from a stillness that shrieked with tension. Then she whirled past him, jabbed a finger at the control panel inside the elevator and hugged herself against the back wall, glaring a fierce rejection of him until the doors closed.The message burned into his brain. She didn’t want him. She didn’t want anything to do with him. He quelled the raging instinct to chase after her, find her, make her listen to him. Useless. She’d made her decision to shut him out. It hadn’t changed. It wasn’t about to change. She’d just done it again.He forced himself to walk away, to check the room numbers he passed along the corridor. He’d come here to oblige a friend. Never mind that he had no heart for it. It gave him something purposeful to do. He had to forget Lucia.But why had there been fear in her eyes? He’d never g
Micheal darkly reflected, undermined every normal, congenial intercourse between intelligent adults. They infiltrated people’s lives even before they entered the world, then took over like tyrannical dictators. Nothing was safe from them.Micheal brooded over these truths as he drove through the tunnel under Sydney Harbour, taking the shortest route to Paddington and the Royal Hospital for Women. He wished Maurice had been satisfied with hearty congratulations on the birth of his son. It was totally unreasonable of him to insist Jack actually come and view the new pride and joy. Paternal enthusiasm run rampant. Micheal wondered how long it would last.One by one his friends had succumbed to the lure of fatherhood, only to find themselves knocked off their happy perches of being the main focus of attention in their households. They’d groaned out their misery and their complaints to him, envying his freedom from the chaos they had brought upon themselves.“Good sex is impossible.”“You
“I think we can sort something out there. You don’t have to worry about that.” I tuck her hair behind her ear. “There's no doubt we’ve got a few issues to iron out, but I want to be with you. The fact that you’re pregnant with my baby is not the driving force, either. It just ends up being a bonus, that’s all.”“Does that mean…?”“That I want to raise the baby with you? Yes, I do.” I tilt her face up and kiss her softly. “I’m not asking you to marry me. I’m just asking you to be my girlfriend. Because I want to be with you—would you agree to that?”“Do you think I can say otherwise when I’m in your arms, and you’re kissing me like this?”“Okay.” I release her and step back. “How about now? Can you give me an answer?”“Micheal!”“What? You said you struggled to give me a proper answer when I was holding you.”“That’s not…” Lucia groans. “God, you’re an asshole.”“There is a teenager nearby, Lucia.”“I’m sure she’s said worse than that.” Lucia regards me thoughtfully. “You really mean i
“Could you put the kettle on and see if you can make Lucia a cup of tea? Then give us some space.”“Sure, Dad.” Regina hesitates. “Is it going to be okay?”I hope so. I send her a smile as I urge Regina to sit down.“I’ll be fine. Off you go.”Regina disappears, and Lucia frowns up at me.“You remember that I prefer tea to coffee?”“Of course I do. How can I not know when you’ve got teabags all over your apartment.”“Hey! No, I don’t!”“Close enough. I do pay attention to these things.”I sit beside her, and I have no idea what to say for a moment. How do I start this? Maybe with what I heard when I arrived. That would be a good starting point.“So…” God, I sound like a fool starting this. “You’re pregnant.”Lucia looks nervous, shifting a little away from me.“I am,” she mumbles.“And it’s my baby?”She doesn’t verbally respond. She nods, and I see the tears in her eyes. I’m about to ask why she’s about to cry when Lucia suddenly starts speaking so fast she’s almost tripping over her
Michael “There’s her dad’s house,” Katie says as she points. “Helen said it had some rose bushes in the garden with a red front door.”“And it looks like she’s already got a visitor,” I grumble as I pull up behind a black sedan. I can see Nathan and Lucia arguing on the sidewalk with a man I’m guessing is Lucia’s dad standing on the lawn with his arms folded and a garden hose in his hand. He looks ready for a fight. I can only hope he doesn’t turn that hose onto me.“Wait here, Regina.” I undo my seatbelt. “I don’t want you getting in the middle of this.”“Why?”“Just…do as you’re told, will you?”Regina sighs and sits back with her arms folded.“Okay, fine.”Grateful that my daughter is listening, I get out just as I hear Lucia shouting at Nathan.What are you talking about? No, of course not! Why would I waste my time and get back with a cheater?“Because I love you.”Well, I don’t love you!” Lucia snaps. She looks like she doesn’t know whether to lose her temper or burst into tear