The Running Series Complete Collection: 3-Book Set plus Bonus Novella (139 page)

“Shea, if it’s all right with you, I can wrap up a couple of our chocolate chip cookies for the drive home.” 

I see a pair of big, brown eyes peeking out from behind her.  He tugs on her pants and in the cutest little voice I hear him beg, “Pwees?”

With Shea’s consent, I hurry to the back and wrap up a handful of chocolate chip cookies for the road.  I grab another and head back out to the bar.  I hand Derek the bag and kneel down to get a better look at Kai.  “This is a very special cookie that I picked out just for you,” I tell him, holding out a cookie.

He looks up at Shea and she gives him a little encouragement.  “It’s okay, Kai.  That’s Juliette and she’s one of my friends.  You can take the cookie.”

Kai comes over to me cautiously, accepts the cookie, and runs away.

“What do you say to the nice lady?” Shea reminds the toddler.

He walks back over to me and says, “Tank you.”  But before turning and running away again, he smiles up at me with the most adorable pair of dimples I’ve ever seen.

Once Upon a Time

I
cannot be wrong.  I rarely am, and this time the evidence is overwhelming.  The clues are all there, literally staring me in the face.  The only thing I can think of is Auggie.  He’s my best friend and my co-conspirator in all things.  This is too much for me to keep bottled up inside.  I send him a text asking him if I can come over.  Thankfully he agrees, and I hightail it directly to his house.

I drive in complete silence, without any music playing.  It’s too noisy in my own head and I don’t need the additional distraction.

Before I know it, I’m pulling into Auggie’s driveway.  I don’t remember how I got here.  I hope I didn’t run any red lights or stop signs along the way. 

I turn the car off, reach into the back seat and grab the bottle of Southern Comfort I nabbed from the bar before I left.  Without knocking, I march right into Auggie’s house, grab a short glass, and pour myself a shot.  Auggie watches me with an expression of concern laced with fear as I pour myself a second shot and toss it back quickly before he can stop me.

“Jette, my pet, talk to me.  What’s gotten you so tied up into knots that you’re doing shots of SoCo in the middle of the afternoon?”  He walks over to the refrigerator and grabs each of us a bottle of cold water.

The thoughts are coming so quickly, I can hardly get them out in any sensible way.  “There’s a baby.  He’s two years old.  He has no father.  The timing is right.  It all makes sense.  I know why she hated him so much. Her sister hated him too.  He’s adorable and tall for his age.  Did I mention he has dimples too?  How could she keep a secret like this?  It’s not right.  It’s not fair.”

“Jepetto, calm down.  You’re not making any sense, darlin’.  Who are we talking about?  What happened?”

I take a deep, cleansing breath and a sip of cool water before I speak.  “Laci Keilani had a baby.”

“And?”

“And he’s two years old,” I tell him, thinking the answer is obvious to anyone with half a brain.

“Oh, okay.  So there’s a little boy without a father who lost his mother in a helicopter crash.  Is that what’s gotten you so upset?”

“No.  I mean yes.  I mean ... you know it’s impossible to be born without a father, right?”

“Obviously.  Are you saying you know who the father is?”  I look up at Auggie as tears begin to pool in my eyes.  “Do you mean to tell me that ... how can you be so sure?”

I wipe the tears with the back of my hand.  “Laci hated Evan.  She spent the last two years of her professional career covering every mistake and wrong turn he made.  She actually took joy from it.  Remember when she came to see me at Rush and tried to get me to badmouth Evan?  Why else would she give a rat’s ass what Evan friggin’ McGuire does with his life?”

“You’ve got to give me more than that, Jepetto,” Auggie tries to rationalize.  “Do you have any idea how many articles, news reports, and gossip pieces are filed about your fiancé on a daily basis?  By your logic, he’s fathered babies with women all over the globe.  And some men too.”

I roll my eyes.  He doesn’t get it.  “You’re not listening.  He slept with her two and a half, maybe three years ago.  It was a one-night stand.  Evan himself told me that she started calling him a few months after their rendezvous.  But he never took any of her calls.”

“And you think Evan was her
only
one-night stand?” he pointedly asks.

“Not necessarily.  But that’s not my only evidence.”

“Okay, like what?”

I start off with the first thing that pops into my mind.  “Kai is tall for his age.”

Auggie interrupts me. “Evan is not the only six foot tall man you know.”

“True.  But there’s one distinguishing trait that takes away all doubt – he has the most amazing pair of dimples.  Now who does that sound like?” I challenge him.

“Evan,” he reluctantly agrees.  Having admitted it to me, he walks over, pours himself a shot of SoCo and tosses it back.

I pace around the room, unable to sit still.  “I can’t keep this from him.  I’ve kept too many things from him already. He has a right to know.  I have to tell him, Auggie.”

“What are you going to tell him other than the fact that Laci had a child?  Do you really think it’s a good idea to get everyone all riled up over something that you might be completely wrong about?  Give it time.  Get to know Shea a little better and see what you can find out.  Right now, all you have are suspicions and theories.”

Damn.  He’s right.  To tell Evan my suspicions and get him all worked up before we have all the facts would be a terrible mistake.  “As usual, you’re my light in the darkness.”

I
don’t sleep a wink all night.  Nightmares torture me the moment I close my eyes.  I don’t remember most of them, just the overwhelming feelings of fear and panic that wake me nearly every hour.

I’ve done a superb job of keeping Evan in the dark.  He has no idea the sort of burden I am carrying with me, weighing me down, sucking the life out of me.  But I have to be strong.  If I can make it just a little longer, the season will be over and I will be able to share my burdens.

The thing I hate most about the winter months is the mornings.  During spring and summer, the sun rises at a glorious 5:30.  I can start my day bright and early.  But during the winter, the sun doesn’t appear until after 7:00.  On days like this, the hands of the clock move so painfully slowly, it’s like Father Time is just toying with me.

The compulsion to run is overwhelming; it’s all I can think about.  Evan is sound asleep, but I’m sure his alarm will go off soon enough.  And if he discovers me running alone on the beach in the dark, he’ll know something isn’t right.

With no other options and going back to sleep out of the question, as quietly as I can manage I pull on a pair of yoga pants and sports bra and head upstairs to our home gym.  Evan has a state-of-the-art sound system installed, but I don’t want to wake him.  So I plug in my earbuds and start up the treadmill.

When running outdoors, I can push myself to run farther and longer, but here I can really push myself to increase my pace too.  There’s no danger of shifting sand or potholes to slow me down.  I can even monitor my heart rate as I ramp up the pace.  Keeping track of the incline, speed, distance, and pulse keeps my mind happily distracted.  I can actually feel the anxiety leaving my body with each drop of sweat.

As I run, I look around the room with a new appreciation.  Evan has an elliptical machine and a spinning bike.  I know he likes to work on resistance training, but I could easily spend hours here working on cardio and yoga.

Evan finds me when he gets up.  With a brief kiss, he heads out to the stadium for another short practice.

It’s Christmas Eve.  Camilla and Marcus are hosting everyone at their home for dinner tonight.  I have been looking forward to this for weeks.  Everyone will be there except for Reese, who flew home a few days ago. 

By the time Evan gets home, I’ve run eight miles on the treadmill, spent half an hour on the elliptical, and made four dozen cookies. 

Marcus greets us at the door when we finally arrive.  Everyone else is already here, and we find them all in the back room eating, drinking, and laughing.  Derek is the first to greet us when we arrive.  “Hey, neighbor, can I make you a drink?” he teases, standing at the minibar.

“I’ll take a glass of wine.  What’s with the ‘neighbor’?” I ask.

“Yup, that’s what I said.  In a few days I’ll be closing on my first home.  A fully furnished, three-bedroom beach cottage with a detached two-car garage and a wrap-around porch.”

I turn to Evan.  “Doesn’t that sound exactly like the vacant house next door?”

Derek hands Evan an ice-cold Smithwick’s Irish Ale.  “It sure does,” he agrees.

“Well you won’t be able to call it vacant for long,” Shea adds, positively beaming with pride.  “Derek wanted it to be a surprise.”

“It’s the best surprise!” Everyone gets up and offers their congratulations to Derek.  I’m thrilled with the thought of having one of my best friends living right next door.  It’s so nice to hear some good news for a change.

Tonight is exactly what we both need.  Evan has worked so hard all season to get where he is today.  The Sentinels have clinched a top spot in their division.  Win or lose, they will get a bye during the wildcard round and move straight into playoffs. 

Watching Evan unwinding and enjoying himself makes me happier than I’ve felt in a long time.  I push all the negative thoughts from my mind and force myself to have fun.  I eat more than I should.  I drink more than I should.  And I can’t remember the last time I’ve laughed so much in one night.

When we finally arrive back home, I notice we’re both more relaxed.  Evan heads straight for the Christmas tree, where he places the gifts we received tonight among the others that are waiting to be exchanged.  I can see his wheels turning and I know he’s anxious to see what Santa has brought him.  “So, Juliette, how would you feel about opening our presents tonight?”

I can tell by the look in his eye that he was the sort of kid who couldn’t wait and would peek at his gifts.  By the way he’s eyeballing one particular box I’ve wrapped for him, I’m quite certain he’s already sneaked a few peeks at my gifts, too. “It’s only a few more hours, Evan. Can’t you wait?” 

“Nope.  How about just one?”  He grabs a medium-sized box wrapped in shiny red paper with his name on it.  “I have mine picked out.”

There’s no point in resisting, so I give in to temptation and kneel down in front of the tree, examining the gifts Evan has wrapped for me.  There must be at least ten gifts there.  Most of them are in silver paper, but there’s one small gift with a large red bow that catches my eye.  He smiles when he sees my choice.

“Okay, Chief – you first.”  Without hesitation, he tears the wrapping off the box and tosses it to the floor.  When he sees what’s inside, his eyes light up.  Slowly, he removes the red chiffon teddy from the box and holds it up to his chest.  “This had better be for you, because if you want me to wear this, I’m going to need a bigger size.”

“Do you like it?” I ask.

“Hard to say, really.  I’ll have to see what it looks like on.  But I think you should open your gift first.”

Slowly, I unpeel the paper from the box, only to discover a blue Tiffany box sitting in my hand.  Cautiously, I open the box and my heart stops.  It’s a pavé diamond teardrop necklace to match my earrings – the earrings I sold in Denver.

“Juliette, what’s wrong?” Evan asks.  “If you don’t like it I could take it back.”

“No, Evan.  There’s nothing wrong.  It’s beautiful and I love it.  It’s just that ... I don’t want you spending that kind of money on me.  It’s too expensive.”

“You’ve forgotten something, my love.  The Sentinels have made it to the playoffs.  At the end of the season, I’ll be getting a two million dollar bonus.  We can afford this and so much more.  All I really want for Christmas is to see you wearing nothing but your new necklace and my new teddy.”

I walk slowly over to him, keeping constant eye contact, and remove the box from his hands.  “I think that can be arranged,” I whisper in his ear.