Yes, her actions ten years ago had been despicable, and she supposed he simply couldn’t trust that her motives now were altruistic. Too much time had passed for her to expect him to know her anymore.
He did, however, seem to sense that there was something more going on with her, as evidenced by his asking more than once about her injuries. Callie hoped her lie would satisfy him, because she didn’t want to get into the real reason of why her arm and head had been hurt. Her friend Tamara’s plight wasn’t his problem. And the last thing she wanted to appear to be doing was using Tamara’s dilemma to gain any sympathy from him.
She supposed she should be happy that he’d let her into the house, allowed her any time to speak.
Her stomach tickled as she recalled the first sight of him after ten years. He still looked good. She had always loved his tall frame, and his six-foot-two body was now packed with more muscles than when she had last seen him.
He had been attractive then, with his easy smile, bright eyes and that chiseled jawline. But good Lord, he was even more handsome now.
Callie frowned as she turned onto the street that would lead back to her childhood home. Was she actually feeling a stirring in her gut? A pull of attraction for the man she had once loved?
It was insane, wasn’t it?
And yet when she thought of him again, wearing only an undershirt, and the sight of his strong, hard muscles and that smooth dark skin…
She was insane. Clearly, she was. How could she feel any morsel of a reaction to his looks after all this time?
The answer to that was clear. She may have put time and distance between them, emotionally cutting him off, but her body still reacted to him as a woman.
* * *
As Nigel headed toward the courthouse, he couldn’t even force himself to think about the murder case where he was about to give testimony. Instead, his mind was on Callie and her bombshell.
There he was at home, getting ready for work as usual, and before he’d left his house he had learned that he was a father.
A father… He had a son.
Nigel was experiencing a whole host of emotions that he couldn’t make sense of. He thought he would only feel anger and betrayal, but there were other emotions in the mix.
And of those, the overwhelming emotion was fear.
He was a father.
Tomorrow, he would meet his son for the first time.
This was wrong. A man shouldn’t meet his son for the first time at nine years old. He should meet him in the hospital, the moment he is born.
Nigel’s hands felt jittery, and he clenched the steering wheel of his unmarked police car to steady them. Had he ever been this anxious? He was scared to meet his child, and that was wrong on so many levels.
Perhaps scared was the wrong word. But he was definitely nervous. Because nine years was a long time for his child to have not known him. What if he didn’t like him? What if he rejected him as his father? Those were very real possibilities, all because Callie had selfishly lied. He didn’t care if they had broken up at the time. She had to know that he was the kind of man who would have done right by his child, no ifs, ands, or buts.
She’d taken away his right to be a father, and that was unforgivable.
As the downtown courthouse came into view, Nigel drew in a deep breath hoping to calm himself. He was angry, yes. But he knew he had to find a way to move past the angry feelings, because they would not be constructive in this situation.
Because the bottom line was that he was father. In an instant, he had learned that he was responsible for the rearing of a human being.
* * *
Callie had planned to go directly to Uncle Dave’s house, but instead she kept walking. She strolled the streets of her old neighborhood, marveling at how different it looked. As a teen, the streets had seemed so big and almost intimidating. But as an adult, they were so much smaller.
As she walked, her mind was on the pressing situation at hand. She would have to talk with her son. She would have to explain to him that he had a father, and that he was going to meet him very soon.
All night, Callie had been concerned about Nigel’s reaction to her deception. Now, she was worried about her son’s reaction. The son she had always told to tell the truth no matter the consequences, would no doubt be hurt to know that she had not been truthful with him.
She could only do what had to be done, and hope that her son understood.
She made her way back to the house, where upon entry, she could see everyone was in the kitchen at the back. Kwame was seated at the table with Natalie and Uncle Dave, while Deanna was at the stove, tending to a pan of sizzling bacon. Kwame was chuckling about something someone had said.
“Naw, not really,” Kwame said.
“I don’t believe that,” Natalie responded. “I’m certain you’re very popular at your school. I know your mother’s going to have to watch over you like a hawk. All those girls who’ll want to date you…”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Callie entered the kitchen. “Hiya, everyone. Exactly what are you all talking about?”
“We were telling your son how handsome he is,” Natalie explained, running a hand over his head.
Deanna, who was at the stove cooking, grinned at her. “And we were finding out the skinny on if he has any girlfriends.”
“Girlfriends?” Callie asked, surprised. “He’s nine.”
“Times have changed,” Uncle Dave said.
“That’s for sure,” Natalie agreed. “Love blooms younger than that these days. I have friends who tell me that their five- and six-year-olds are talking about who their girlfriends and boyfriends are in their classrooms. Obviously it’s all very innocent at that age, but still.”
“I’m certain my son has no girlfriends,” Callie said. And she was happy to keep it that way, as her son was too young for that nonsense.
But when Kwame actually flashed a nervous look, then glanced downward, Callie couldn’t have been more surprised.
Did he have a girlfriend? Obviously not a girlfriend in the true sense of the word, but someone that he liked?
She made her way over to him and sat at the table beside him. “Son? You—you have a girlfriend?”
“Well, I do kind of like this one girl in my class. Felicity.”
“Felicity?” Callie repeated, stunned. Her son had never mentioned this to her.
Kwame shrugged. “Kind of. A little.”
Callie knew that he and Felicity liked to study together, and she was one of the girls in the neighborhood who lived close enough that they could hang out sometimes. But to learn that her son actually had a crush on her…
