his fingers tightening over hers, “But you’re getting ahead of yourself, querida. Santa brings mountains of presents only to those who are good, not naughty like you.”
“Oh, but I’ve been good,” Lola whispered, leaning toward him on the VIP bench as they waited for the parade to begin. Reaching out with her glove, she’d cupped his cheek, still dark with five o’clock shadow as they’d rushed out that morning early with no time for him to shave. “I’ve been very, very good. But maybe I can be even better...”
Rodrigo’s black eyes had gleamed as he leaned down to kiss her.
Then their tired, irritable baby burst into a plaintive cry in Lola’s arms.
She spent the next hour juggling him, with a pacifier and a teething toy. She was so frantic, bouncing him in her lap to keep him from crying, that she barely noticed the enormous balloon floats finally fly past or the marching bands pass by. As Jett continued to fuss, she imagined people around them judging her harshly for bringing a five-month-old baby to sit outside in the freezing cold morning for a parade that took hours. She glared at someone who dared to look at her. She would have yelled something rude, but Rodrigo suddenly took the baby from her.
“Relax,” he told Lola firmly. Then he looked down at the baby in his lap. “Don’t keep your mother from enjoying her parade, mi pequeñito.”
The baby looked up at his father, tears still staining his plump face, his lips parted. But something about the low rumble of Rodrigo’s chest seemed to calm the baby. Frowning, Jett waved a chubby arm in his father’s direction, then chomped quietly on his chew toy, staring up at the big cartoon balloons in the sky.
Lola just stared at them together, tears burning behind her eyes.
After all her years of dreaming about seeing the parade in New York, she barely remembered it afterward. What she remembered was the way Rodrigo had comforted their baby.
After they left, they’d visited an expensive toy store, where Rodrigo ordered thousands of dollars of toys for Jett without once looking at a price. Since Jett wasn’t fussing, it was all enjoyable. Until Lola suggested having the toys delivered to their SoHo loft.
“It’ll be delivered to California,” he said firmly. “That’s our home.”
Lola felt deflated. “I know. But it’s so nice being back in New York. That’s where my friends live. My sisters.”
“My accountant said your sisters still haven’t cashed the check you sent them for college. Did the girls ever contact you?”
“Um... No. Not yet.” Her heart tightened. She was trying not to think about that, or what it might mean. She rushed to say, “Maybe they’ve been busy. You know how teenagers can be...”
“They might be thoughtless, but what about their parents?”
Lola thought of the one and only time she’d spoken to her sisters’ adoptive parents, when she’d showed up unannounced at their suburban home seven years before. When, while the girls had clung to their new mother, their father had told Lola to get the hell out before he called the police.
Lola pushed the painful memory away. A lot had changed since then. Surely they would realize they had nothing to fear from her now, and they’d accept her gift? And, you know, send a thank-you note or something?
But they hadn’t. Even that big check hadn’t made them want to talk to her.
Lola’s heart twisted, but she turned away with a shrug. “It doesn’t matter. Eventually I’ll get through to them.” Biting her lip, she looked up. “Though it would be easier if we lived here in New York instead of California...”
His face shuttered. “No.”
Tilting her head, Lola said thoughtfully, “Did you know that as the film industry is increasingly a worldwide market, New York has become a hotbed of media companies that will dominate the future of the entertainment business?”
Rodrigo looked as if he were fighting a smile. “You just made that up.”
Her lips quirked. “It could be true.”
Rodrigo snorted, shaking his head. Then, as they’d left the toy store, he’d said quietly, “I’m sorry, querida, but we live in California. Enjoy your time here while it lasts.”
Now, as they stood in the hallway of Tess’s new co-op building, Lola looked at her husband, her heart in her throat.
Enjoy your time while it lasts.
Would their marriage last? Or would that, too, soon end?
Every time Rodrigo gets close to a woman, he sabotages it... He actually married you. So the devastation will be twice as crushing when it comes.
“Well?” he said sharply, standing in front of the penthouse door. “You were so worried about getting here on time. What are you waiting for?”
“Nothing.” But as Lola lifted her hand to knock, she heard people laughing inside the apartment, and hesitated.
Looking at the huge diamond ring on her left hand, she suddenly wished she’d told Tess and Hallie the news of her marriage over the phone. Earlier, she’d grinned at the thought of seeing the shock on their faces, that Lola, the one who’d bossed the other two girls into telling their ex-lovers about their babies, had suddenly—without warning—married her own baby’s father.
Because, unlike her friends, Lola had always refused to reveal the identity of her baby’s father. Hallie and Tess had crazy theories about who Jett’s father might be—that the man was married or some kind of criminal. Tess was especially good at coming up with eye-popping theories.
She hadn’t wanted to tell them the simple truth, that Jett’s father was Lola’s old boss. She’d been trying to forget his existence, and thought if she didn’t say Rodrigo’s name, she wouldn’t think about him, either.
But now, she felt like she was springing the news on her friends out of nowhere. Hey, you know how I stubbornly refused to tell you anything about Jett’s father? Well, here he is! And he’s a Spanish billionaire! Ha-ha! And guess what? We’re married!
Well, Lola consoled herself wryly, at least the two women wouldn’t be able to complain about having yet another bridesmaid’s dress gathering dust in their closets for eternity.
Squaring her shoulders, she knocked hard on the door.
A moment later, it opened, and she saw Tess’s beaming, pink-cheeked face, her red hair tumbling over her shoulders.
“Lola!” she squealed. She turned to call over her shoulder, “Hallie! Lola’s here!”
The brunette came quickly, almost at a run. Lola came inside carrying Jett, Rodrigo following a moment behind her, pushing the empty stroller. Helping her and the baby off with their winter coats, he disappeared behind the closet door. Tess’s eyes went wide, and she looked at Lola, her eyes full of questions.
“I like your new place, Tess,” Lola said evasively, looking around the gorgeous penthouse, with two-story windows overlooking most of snowy Central Park. “But where’s your furniture?”
