“You know what kind of father I had. I didn’t ever want to be a father after the kind of example my dad set. He was gone more than he was with my mom and me.”
“That’s no excuse. You’re the lowest of the low,” Colton said in disgust. “I don’t know how you can call yourself a man. We’ve been friends since high school, but I don’t recognize you anymore. When did you turn yourself into the kind of person you’ve become?”
“You must have gotten pretty close to Stacey to be so defensive,” Joe said. “Did you go to bed with her?”
It was all Colton could do to keep from hitting Joe again. “Go back to Dallas,” he said. “You don’t belong here.”
“Who do you think you are? Dating my ex? Bros don’t cheat on bros. You know the guy code,” Joe said.
“What guy code? You haven’t been here for over a year. What rights do you have?” Colton asked.
“That baby is mine. That woman was mine,” Joe said.
“Was is the operative term. What do you know about Piper?” Colton demanded.
Joe narrowed his eyes, then shifted from one foot to the other. “Not much.”
“Why are you even here now?” Colton asked. “You haven’t been here for months, not even when your baby was born.”
Silence stretched between them. “Someone told me you and Stacey had gotten involved,” Joe confessed.
“You would come back into town for that, to stake your claim on a woman you ran out on, but not when the baby was born?” Colton asked, shaking his head. “Are you crazy?”
“I should have known you wouldn’t understand.” Joe rubbed at his cheek where Colton had punched him. “So, is the baby okay?” Joe asked reluctantly.
“She’s as close to perfect as a baby can get. She’s gorgeous. Big green eyes and blond hair just like Stacey. She’s got a kick to her personality. If she doesn’t like what you’re doing, she’ll let you know. But she’s the sweetest thing in the world when she falls asleep on your shoulder. Makes you feel as if everything in the world is the way it should be.”
Joe stared at Colton. “You love her. You love my daughter,” he accused.
Colton met Joe’s astonished gaze and nodded. “Yeah. I guess I do. I really do.”
Joe raked his hand through his hair and shook his head. “I don’t know what to say.”
“I do,” Colton said. “You need to man up or shut up. If you want Stacey and your daughter back, then you need to go tell her. I think Stacey deserves better than you, but there’s more involved in this situation. There’s Piper,” Colton said. “I’ll give you twenty-four hours.”
Joe stared at him, clearly affronted. “Who are you to tell me I’ve got twenty-four hours?”
“I’m the man who has changed your baby’s diaper, rocked her to sleep and had her poop down my back,” Colton said. “Have you done any of that?”
Joe looked at him in hostile silence.
“That’s right. You haven’t. You’ve got twenty-four hours. Don’t mess with me, Joe. I’m disgusted with you,” Colton said, and tossed some cash on the counter and walked away.
* * *
The next twenty-four hours passed by in minute-by-minute increments. Colton thought about Stacey and Piper when he drove home, when he took his evening shower, when he brushed his teeth and when he tried to go to sleep. His attempt to sleep was completely futile.
When he got up in the morning, he didn’t know how he was going to get through the day, so he did it the only way he knew how. Working. He worked clear through until six that evening. As he walked toward the house, he told himself that he only had an hour and a half to go.
“Hey, sweetheart,” his mom said as he walked through the door. “You want some dinner?”
“I’m not that hungry,” he muttered.
“Well, you should take in a little nourishment after spending all day outside,” she said. “I fixed a pot roast. I think you’ll like it.”
Colton didn’t protest as his mother fussed over him and urged him to take a seat at the kitchen table. In this situation, it was easier to acquiesce than fight her. His mother was clearly in supernurture mode. Colton took a few bites of pot roast and potatoes.
“You must be sick,” his mother said. “You’re not eating.”
“The pot roast is great, but I have some things on my mind, Mom,” he told her.
“What?” his mother said. “What’s on your mind?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said and rose from his chair.
“Is it Stacey Fortune Jones?” she asked.
The question stopped him in his tracks. “And what if it is?”
His mother sighed. “Give her the benefit of the doubt. Her mother says she has fallen for you. But don’t tell her that I told you,” his mother said.
His heart swelled at the possibility that Stacey could have fallen for him. He wondered when that had happened. He wondered if it had happened. “How do you know?”
“I met up with Jeanne the other day at the post office and we got to talking.” His mother broke off and pressed her lips together. “But I’m not going to say anything else. I shouldn’t interfere. This is between you and Stacey.”
Colton stared at his mother in disbelief. “You give advice and opinions about everything, but now you’re clamming up?”
His mother lifted her finger. “Colton, don’t you bait me. I’m determined to do the right thing. You and Stacey need to figure out what’s best for you,” she said and turned away.
Colton, watching the clock every other minute, sighed and put his plate in the fridge to eat later. “Sorry, Mom. I’m just not hungry right now. I’ll eat it for lunch tomorrow.” Colton grabbed his coat and headed for his truck. Eighteen minutes to go.
He drove around for ten minutes.
Colton spotted a deer crossing the road in front of him and slowed down. The driver of a semi must have panicked, though. Colton tried to swerve out of the incoming path of the truck. But he was too late. The impact jolted him. He heard the sound of glass shattering. Pain seared through him, and everything went black.
* * *
Stacey put Piper down with ease and tossed a load of laundry into the washer for lack of anything else to do. She still couldn’t get over seeing that other woman pawing Colton. He had appeared surprised, but perhaps that was because he hadn’t expected the woman to follow him out of the grill. Stacey suspected Malia was everything Stacey wasn’t. Employed, with no baby and no stretch marks. Malia had looked like a girl ready to have a good time, and now that Stacey was a mom, she had to think twice about
