Tempt Me Tonight (40 page)

“Joe,” she began, “I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’ll just say it. Carissa’s real father is in town, and he wants to be in her life. He’s meeting her tonight, in fact.”

Jesus Christ. Had he heard that right? The news hit him like a boulder to the chest.

“I’m sorry,” Bev said, and Joe didn’t even care when she reached out to touch his knee in solace, too stunned to object.

“How the hell did
this
happen?” he managed to ask.

Then listened as Beverly told him about how the other guy she’d slept with just after him had miraculously walked into the Waffle House yesterday afternoon and seen the unmistakable resemblance. She claimed he was a good guy, just out of the Marines, who wanted to know his daughter, and maybe even move here.

The light of infatuation shone in Beverly’s eyes, making him wonder if there was any chance this guy could give Bev that family she’d always dreamed of for her and Carissa. It was hard not to want that—for both of them. But shit. At the same time he felt…weirdly displaced. And hell, there was the chance, too, that the guy would be a jerk, or that Bev would manage to drive him away, that this would all turn out to be a big disaster.

Despite the doubts, though, he heard himself asking, “Can I still be in her life?” He found himself pointing vaguely over his shoulder. “Because I promised her this cat, but told her it could live here and she could come visit, and…” It was the least of the reasons he wanted Carissa around yet had somehow been the easiest to toss out.

“Of course,” Bev said with a calm, sure clarity he’d seldom heard in her voice. In fact, she’d sounded that way since she’d arrived. As if she suddenly had a handle on life.

He felt his eyebrows knit. “Will that be okay with
him?
”

She nodded. “I’ll
make
it okay. I swear, Joe. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but cutting you out of Carissa’s life would be the worst.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Carissa came to the garage for her first training session in the office. It turned out to be more of a talking session, but that suited Joe fine. She told him about her “brand-new dad,” who she described as “tall and really nice.” She said her new dad Charley had decided to move here from Terre Haute. He’d been a surveyor in the service and planned to look for similar work in the area.

“I told him all about you,” Carissa said, sitting in a chair next to him at the desk.

“Yeah? What’d you tell him?”

“That I always kinda thought
you
might be my dad.”

Joe’s stomach dropped as he looked into her sweet eyes. He supposed she’d probably wanted to bring this up for years. “Truth is, Care Bear,” he said slowly, “I always kinda
wanted
to be. But I didn’t want to lie to you about it. And now I’m really glad I didn’t, or you’d be confused as hell right now.”

She shrugged, looking cheerful and acceptant. “Good point, I guess. But can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“If you’re not my dad, who are you? I mean, why have you always been there, hanging out with me, giving me stuff?”

He swallowed. Every damn day of this week just kept getting more and more complicated. “I suppose you’re old enough to hear the whole truth of it, Care.”

“I’ll be in high school next year, you know.”

He couldn’t hold in a soft grin. Woman of the world. “Truth is, when you were first born, I thought maybe I
was
your dad. So I got attached to you and the way you smiled up at me when I was changing your disgusting diapers.” They both laughed. “So even when I found out I
wasn’t
your dad, I just…didn’t go away.”

She bit her lip, her eyes wide, but her voice quiet. “That was nice of you.”

He shrugged. “It worked out good for both of us.”

“Definitely,” she said, nodding. “Is it still cool for me to work for you?”

“Damn straight. Look at this place.” He motioned around them to the piles of invoices and other paperwork littering his desk.

“You’re right, it’s a mess. You need me.”

“Yeah,” he said softly. “I need you.”

By Thursday evening, Joe was spent. He went through the days as normal, working at the garage—that afternoon he’d actually given Carissa some training on the computer—then coming home at night, feeding Elvis and the cats, finding something to pass as dinner, and relaxing in front of the TV a while before heading to bed. Which was what he was doing right now. But it had been a hell of a week. A hell of a
few
weeks, actually.

Now that he’d had a chance to digest the news about Carissa’s dad, he was glad. He still wanted to meet the guy soon, see what he thought of him, but he had a good feeling about it. Maybe he’d miss not being the number one man in her life, the guy who ate waffles with her or took her dress shopping, but he’d figure out his new role as time passed, and she’d be better off for having a real father.

What had happened with Trish, though, continued to eat at him. He’d been so damn mad at her for
still
not trusting in him. But now, as days began to drift by, he found himself remembering the conversations they’d had about the past, and how, each time, he’d felt the pain just pouring from her. He’d truly begun to see the depths of how he’d hurt her.

You should have come after me,
she’d said.

When he envisioned his young, pretty, eighteen-year-old Trish sitting in some dorm room waiting for him, waiting and waiting, and him never coming, it tore him up. If only he hadn’t been so young—and stupid.

When the doorbell rang, he muted the TV, but by the time he rose to answer, the screen door had already opened. Jana stepped inside, looking…a lot less scantily clad than usual. She wore a simple pair of shorts and a fitted tee, the word “Angels” emblazoned across her chest in tiny red rhinestones. Beneath it, an Ohio address. It took him only a second to conclude it was probably the establishment where her husband paid her to take her clothes off for other men. Man, he was
not
in the mood for this.

He got even more miffed when Vinnie himself stepped in behind her. Joe had made some peace with Jana on her wedding day, felt closer to her again, but he’d also made a point of not letting himself think about what she did for a living since then.

“Hey,” Jana said, lifting her hand, flashing a smile.

“Hey,” he returned, figuring he looked ready to kill somebody.

Vinnie’s eyebrows knit, but he reached out a hand toward Joe.

Surprised, Joe took it, shook it. It was either that or punch the guy out.

“Good to see you again, Joe.”

A
You, too
was more than Joe could muster, so he settled on, “What brings you by?” Especially two and a half hours away from home.

“Kittens,” Jana said with a girlish sparkle in her eyes. Then she looked over at her husband, as if they shared a big secret. “Vinnie and I want the twins.”

Joe’s eyebrows shot up. It was a little thing, but about the first to go right for him since the weekend. “Great, they’re yours. Only they’re probably not weaned enough to leave yet. Might want to give them another couple of weeks.”

A slight frown reshaped her face. “Oh, crap. I didn’t even think about that.” Yet just as quickly, she smiled again, a strange look of contentment coming over her as she reached out and took both his hands. “But there’s another reason we’re here, Joe. A bigger reason. A lot has happened today and…well, you were so great at the wedding, stepping in and getting me through being upset about Dad, so I…just wanted to tell you my news in person.”

Joe let out a heavy breath. More big news—not exactly what he needed. Running a hand back through his hair, he simply walked back to the couch, sitting down at one end. Jana followed, settling next to him, and Vinnie wisely took the easy chair in the corner.

“Start talking,” Joe said, seeing no reason not to get to it, whatever
it
was. He supposed maybe his sister was going to admit what she did for a living now, and he only hoped he could keep himself from beating Vinnie to a pulp before the conversation was over.

Jana pursed her lips tightly, dropping her gaze between them, and Joe’s chest tightened. Over all of it. Her being a stripper. And that she was going to tell him. And that it was hard for her to say. And that maybe it was all his fault because if he’d held onto those keys that night a long time ago, Jana’s life would have been different.

“The thing is, Joe,” she began very quietly, “I haven’t been completely honest with you about my job at Vinnie’s club.”

“I know.” He tried not to sound too brusque.

She looked up, surprised. “Oh. So you
did
figure it out.”

“Lotta sequins and silicone at the wedding, hon,” he said softly.

She nodded and looked like she might cry. “I guess you’re really disappointed in me.”

Joe sighed and his stomach churned. He wasn’t sure what to say, so went with simple honesty. “I…want better things for you, Jana, that’s all.” He couldn’t have cared less that Vinnie the Stripper Boss was sitting there listening.

Jana’s lips drew together tightly. Then she blinked, her eyes pretty even if glassy with unshed tears, and she even managed to smile. “Thing is, Joe—that’s why I’m here. Something happened today that changes everything.”

She glanced over at her husband, so Joe did, too—and if he wasn’t mistaken, he saw true affection for his sister in Vinnie’s gaze.

“I’m pregnant, Joe. And the doctor thinks it may be twins.” She laughed giddily, even as a tear rolled down her cheek, and Joe went numb. “That’s why we decided to take the cats. We thought each baby could have his or her own kitty—you know? But the bigger thing is, we had a long talk and we both agreed that we need to make a change in our lives. So tomorrow morning, Vinnie’s going to put the club up for sale. He’s already got his eye on a sports bar close to home that went on the market a couple of weeks ago. So”—she looked up hopefully—“what do you think?”

Joe had seldom been more utterly floored. He raised his eyebrows. “I’m gonna be an uncle?”

She nodded, looking at once nervous and excited. “
Twins,
Joe! I’m having freaking
twins!
Can you believe it?”

A light laugh escaped him, trying to imagine Jana handling one baby, let alone two. “You’ll be a great mom, Jana. And…” He glanced over at Vinnie. “It’s a good decision. About the club.”

Vinnie nodded, and Jana smiled—then threw her arms around Joe’s neck. “I’m so glad we came over. So glad we got this cleared up. I hated keeping something like that from you.”

He wasn’t sure they’d really cleared much up—it had been a pretty short conversation. But a warmth he hadn’t felt from his sister in months radiated out of her and into him, and maybe that was enough. He hugged her back, gently at first, but then, on impulse, harder.

She must have felt it, how firmly he was holding her, or somehow she sensed the heavy stuff going on inside him, because she pushed him back to arm’s length. “What’s wrong, Joe?”

He sighed, still trying to smile. He could tell her, but it wouldn’t fix anything. And he didn’t want to rain on her parade. “Nothing. Everything’s fine.” And even though it was a lie, at least a
few
things were fine. Finer than they’d been before anyway.

And by the time Jana and Vinnie departed a little while later, Joe felt…strangely at peace. At least about his sister. And even about her husband. He still wondered about a mob connection, but he was convinced that Vinnie loved Jana and maybe he’d do right by her from this point forward.

And hell, Joe was going to be an uncle. He already had visions in his head of taking two little boys fishing. Or girls. Dress shopping. And he even had to admit to himself that something about this news took a little of the sting from no longer being Carissa’s “sort of” father.

God, he wanted to tell Trish. All of it. About Jana’s sudden turnaround. About Carissa and her dad and how weird it was going to be until they all got used to it. Hell, even about the fact that he’d unloaded two kittens and promised to keep one for Carissa—and now only Pepper’s fate remained to be seen.

Heading to the bathroom to wash up, he looked at himself in the mirror, at the dark stubble dusting his chin, at the faint lines starting to appear at the corners of his eyes. He needed a haircut. Hell, he needed a lot of things he didn’t have at the moment.
Is Trish sitting somewhere in Indy waiting for me right now, waiting for me to come for her? Am I being a fool to just accept her decision, to let her run from me again?

Everyone around him, it seemed, was finding what they needed to make them happy, complete. For Carissa, for Beverly, for Jana, all the little blank spots in the pictures of their lives were suddenly being colored in, every white spot filled.

So everyone had what they needed now.

Everyone but him. And Trish.

“Thanks, that’s great. I’ll talk with you soon.”

Trish hung up the phone. Lois Faulkner had called to say she had serious interest from a new buyer only four days after putting the diner/café back on the market. It hadn’t hurt, she’d been told, that the two storefronts across the street had just been leased yesterday—the scrapbook store and yarn shop were moving in. Lois expected an offer by Monday.

Trish pushed down the wistfulness that grabbed her at the very thought of the café, then slipped into her favorite little black dress. It was Friday evening and she was hosting a party. Just twenty or so friends, mostly from the firm. She’d had to throw it together quickly, but a soiree had simply seemed in order after learning she’d made partner.

The thrill of achievement rushed through her even now as she hooked a black pendant around her neck—a tiny black cat’s face with diamond eyes and nose. The thrill of achievement…kind of like she’d felt upon completing her café renovations last weekend. Yeesh, things had changed so fast—it was like riding a crazy roller coaster.
But you’ll reach the end now, the part where the hills get smaller and then level out. You’ll get back to focusing on your work, your cases.

Why did that suddenly sound boring?

It didn’t matter. For tonight, she refused to allow any negative thoughts to enter the picture—tonight she was the celebratory party girl, partner at Tate, Blanchard & Rowe. And God knew she needed a party.