Not Quite Forever (Not Quite series) (20 page)

Dakota waved her off. “No. Go home, Carol Ann. I appreciate your support but I can take care of myself.”

“Is he really a doctor?”

“Yes, Dad. He works in emergency medicine.”

“Then he should have done a better job of protecting you.”

“I’m half the blame. It does take two.”

“I can’t deal with this right now.” Elaine started toward the stairs. Before long, they heard the door to the master bedroom slam shut.

“Well, that was fun.” Dakota set her hands on each side of the sink, looked out the window.

“Where is this doctor of yours staying?” her dad asked.

“The Morrison . . . why?”

Dennis grabbed his car keys from the hook by the garage door.

“Daddy?”

He turned on her. “That’s right. I’m your daddy. Now you just stay put and let me do what I have to do.”

She moved in front of her father. “We’re adults.”

He kissed the top of her head, smiled. “Which is why I’m leaving the shotgun at home.”

Chapter Eighteen

S
omewhere between the Laurens residence and the hotel Walt found his smile.
She didn’t kick me out.
He wasn’t sure if her hesitation to tell him to screw off with a set of instructions paving the way was because of hormones or fright. But she didn’t tell him to blow. Now all he had to do was help her find her smile and remind her of how good they were together.

Prove it.

If that wasn’t her to a
T.

He’d prove it . . .
Operation Prove It
was about to begin.

He had no freaking idea how he was going to prove it, but he’d figure it out or call every woman he knew to find out what he needed to do to
prove it
.

Brenda could help . . . and Monica.

He’d even bug the crap out of Mary even though she wasn’t on Team Walt. Still, he’d do what he had to.

He pulled the rental car to the valet and handed them the keys. “Good evening, Dr. Eddy.”

He hesitated, looked at the twentysomething that was about to drive his car away. “How is it you know my name?”

The kid smiled. “It’s my business to know who you are, Dr. Eddy.”

The kid winked, jumped in the car, and drove away. Dumbfounded, Walt walked into the lobby, started toward the elevators, and detoured to the concierge desk.

“Good evening, Dr. Eddy. What can I do for you?”

The woman at the desk must have been in her fifties and Walt was positive he hadn’t yet spoken with her. He glanced at the name tag. “Alice?”

“Yes, Doctor?”

He thought about asking how she knew who he was and shook his head. “This is my first trip to South Carolina.”

“Is it?” Her smile was huge. “How are you liking our part of the country?”

“I haven’t seen much of it, actually. I was hoping you might be able to help me.”

Alice placed a hand on her chest and sighed. “That’s why I’m here. Tell me what you have in mind.”

“I’m going to be here for a while. There’s a girl . . .”

“That’s sweet.”

He grinned. Women just ate this stuff up. “I need to know where the best restaurants are . . . the best places to spend the day. Getaways.”

“We’re talking romance?”

More than you know.
“Exactly.”

“You have come to the right woman. I will have a complete list of the right . . . and maybe more importantly the wrong things to avoid in our city to woo your girl. Would you like a suggestion for tonight?”

He shook his head. “I’m fine for tonight.”

“I will have this ready for the morning.” She was already clicking into her computer.

“Alice?”

“Yes, Doctor?”

“How is it you knew my name?”

A Southern practiced smile met her lips. “It’s my business to know who you are, Dr. Eddy.”

His next stop was the reception desk. “Good evening, Dr. Eddy.”

He paused, shook off the strange
Twilight Zone
moment, and went on with business. “I’m going to be here for a while. If a reservation for my room is in place, please let me know so I can move. I know the Morrisons have cleared me to stay, but I really wouldn’t feel right about bumping anyone.”

“That’s so kind of you, Doctor. I’ll be sure and make a note. We do have more than one penthouse suite so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“But if there is . . .”

“I’ll be sure and let you know.”

“Thank you,” he said. “And another thing. Can I make sure that Dakota Laurens or any of her family are let up to my room without delay . . . day or night.”

“Absolutely.”

Operation Prove It
was now under way.

Walt rode the elevator to the top floor more confident than when he’d left.

He stepped out and swiped his key in his door. He stopped cold. “I’m going to be a dad.”

Laughter . . . he heard someone laughing and he wondered for a nanosecond if he was listening to his own thoughts.

“Not the greeting I expected.”

“Trent!” Walt walked into the suite and closed the door. He shook his friend’s hand, took the man-hug that followed. “I’m going to be a dad.”

Trent kept laughing. “So I hear.”

A tiny person was going to look up to him, depend on him to be there day, night, school, first dates . . .

The room spun.

His ass hit the side of a chair before he slid into it.

“I’m going to be a dad.”

Laughter filled his ears. “You have no idea how much I wish my cell phone was on and recording this. Yes, Walt, you’re going to be a dad.”

Walt saw his friend but didn’t really see him. “That’s huge.”

“As life’s moments go. Yeah . . . huge.”

Walt shook off his moment of insanity and smiled. “Not that I’m not happy you’re here, but . . . why are you here?”

“My wife thought you might need a friend.”

He might not ever stop smiling. “Monica’s an amazing person. You’re one lucky bastard, Trent.”

“Damn right.” Trent walked to the en suite kitchen, opened the fridge. “What’s your poison,
Da
d
?”

“Whiskey,” he said with a laugh.

“I take it your conversation with Dakota went well.”

Walt rubbed his hands over his face. “How much did Monica tell you?”

Trent laughed. “We’re married. I doubt she skipped any details. Had she talked with Dakota, I couldn’t say that . . . but that isn’t the case.”

“Dakota didn’t kick me out. We came to some agreement.”

“That’s a start.”

“I don’t think her parents liked me.”

Trent paused while he opened tiny bottles of liquor. “You impregnated their daughter. Probably puts you on their shit list.”

“They don’t know she’s pregnant.”

Trent poured drinks and brought them to the sofa. “Then all they have to go on is, she left LA because of you. Still won’t make you top on their list.”

Walt accepted the drink and let the liquid hit the back of his throat. “I’m going to have to change that.”

“Change what?”

“The fact her parents don’t like me. They’re going to like me a hell of a lot less when they find out she’s pregnant. What parent wants their baby pregnant and unwed?” He wasn’t even a dad yet and Walt felt a severe case of hives coming on.

They sat in silence for a small space of time, then Trent asked, “Can I ask you something personal?”

“Seems we passed that.”

Trent sipped his drink. “Do you love her?”

Walt sucked in a breath. “How the hell do you know when you’re in love?”

“Aw, hell. I remember that. You don’t know . . . you think of her all the time, wonder what she’s doing. Something inside you dies a little when you know she’s not going to take your call. I think the biggest deciding factor is just in knowing that moving on without her is so fucking dark you can’t see straight.”

“Damn.” Trent just described the last week of his life. “I’m in.”

Trent placed a finger under Walt’s glass, helped him tip it to his lips. “Drink up, buddy . . . and welcome to the club.”

Walt finished his drink only to have Trent fill it again.

The bell at the door rang and Trent answered it laughing.

“Mr. Laurens.” Walt jumped, felt his heart in his chest.

The man’s glare said everything.

“Come in.”

Trent offered a sympathetic look over Mr. Laurens’s head. Walt introduced the two of them, watched a friendly handshake. “I think I’ll give you some privacy,” Trent said. “You can find me downstairs in the lounge when you’re done.”

Walt offered a thanks and turned to face Dakota’s father once they were alone. “Can I offer you a drink?”

“I’m not staying long.” Mr. Laurens walked deeper into the room, looked around. “It certainly appears as if you have the means to take care of my daughter.”

“I do.”

“Yet you didn’t.”

Walt opened his mouth only to have Dakota’s father stop him with a look.

“I have only been the father of daughters, Walt. When they were teenagers and first started dating, I put the fear of God into the boys picking them up. Elaine and I always worried. As I’ve grown older and my daughters have turned into women, the worry of one of them coming home unwed and pregnant didn’t enter my mind. Until tonight.”

Walt studied his shoes. “I will take care of your daughter.”

“You’re off to a booming start there.”

“I know you’re upset—”

“I passed upset before I got in my car. I’m pissed and I’m here to hear what you plan on doing. Raising children is a full-time job for two parents. Two!”

“I know that. I’m not going anywhere, Mr. Laurens. I am going to be here for your daughter and our child. I’m not sure what else you want me to say.”

Mr. Laurens stepped closer, lowered his voice. “What do you think I want to hear? What will
you
say to the man, who is not your son-in-law, when you learn your child is pregnant?”

Even though Dakota’s father was several inches shorter than him, Walt was happy the man wasn’t in his twenties.

“Marriage doesn’t scare me . . . but divorce does. I won’t do that to your daughter or our child. So when we decide it’s time for that step, you’ll be one of the first to know.”

Mr. Laurens rocked back on his heels, shoved his hands in his pockets. “I think I’ll take that drink now.”

“Not now, Mom.” Morning sickness and her mother. Dakota groaned as she sat on the edge of the bathtub, her head in her hands.

What was I thinking running home?

Three seconds of compassion filled her mother’s face before she crossed to the sink and ran cold water over a washcloth. “Guess who I just got off the phone with?”

“I couldn’t tell you.”
And right now I don’t care.

“Mrs. Pinkerton.”

“Louise’s mother?”

“Yes, Louise. Why did you feel it necessary to tell your friends about your indiscretion before you bothered to tell us?”

My indiscretion?
She let her mother’s words go . . . for the moment, and focused on the question. “I didn’t. Other than Walt and Mary, you guys are the only ones who know.”

Elaine squeezed water out of the washcloth and held it over Dakota’s forehead. The cool relief helped pull her focus off her grumbling stomach. “Teri Pinkerton knows plenty. And if I know her mouth, half of this town will know by noon.”

Dakota regarded her mother with one eye, the other remained under the cloth in silent darkness. “Louise knows nothing.”

“Then she guessed. Oh, Dakota, this is awful.”

She hid her other eye, found a quiet place in her brain, and tried like hell to stay there.

“I’m not the first pregnant twenty-eight-year-old, Mom.”

“You’re not married!”

“Thanks for your support.”

“I’m serious, Dakota. I live in this town, shop here, go to church with Teri Pinkerton and all her friends.”

“Why do you care a rat’s ass what those women think?”

Elaine started to pace the small footprint of the bathroom.

“Holding your head high is hard when people are talking behind your back.”

The motion in her stomach let up and drove Dakota from the bathroom. She found her bed and pulled the covers over her crossed legs. Once again, she’d lied to herself, made herself believe her mom would be less judgmental about the situation simply because she wasn’t a kid. How short-sighted of her. “Let it go.”