Making His Baby(178)

I text the picture of Maddie and this man to my phone and hand Nancy’s back to her.

“Maybe I’m wrong,” she says. “Maybe the embrace meant… nothing.”

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I’ll handle it.”

She nods and leaves quietly, leaving me with new thoughts and doubts.

I walk into the kitchen and watch Maddie as she puts the finishing touches on an anniversary cake for a party later that evening. I can’t help but see her in a new, vindictive light. Shaking my head, I try to stay positive until I hear her side of the story. There has to be a good explanation.

“Maddie?”

She glances up at me and smiles. “Oh, hey! Hang on, I’m almost finished.” She swirls the pastry tip up and down gracefully over the top of the cake and steps back to look at the finished product. “What’s up?” she asks, setting down the bag.

“We need to talk, now.” I clench my jaw and look at her through heavy lids.

“Is everything okay?”

“Not really, no.”

She follows me out of the kitchen, grabbing her purse and I lead her into my office.

“Close the door.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?”

I glare at her and she closes it.

“What’s wrong?”

I sit down, contemplating my words carefully.

“Rocco, you’re scaring me.”

“Do you have anything you need to tell me?”

“Like, what?”

I can see her growing uneasy. She does have something to hide. Damn her!

“I know about the picture, Rocco.” She quickly picks up her purse and pulls out a large envelope. “Did you get them too? I didn’t know what to do about them.” She hands me the envelope. Without another word, I open it and pull out the pictures of our intimacy. I look at them carefully and look back at her. I feel disgust build.

“Is this how you were going to do it?”

“Do… what?” she asks with a fragile voice.

“Blackmail me?”

“What?” She shakes her head. “What are you talking about? These were in my mailbox yesterday. I don’t know who sent them.”

I look at the pictures again and see the angle of the couch on my wall. Looking around my office, I walk to a lamp on the opposite wall and examine it. When I see the small device stuck to the side of it, I grab hold and tear it off, holding it out to her.

“Rocco, I didn’t do this.”

“Who is the guy?”

“What guy?” I pull out my phone.

When she sees the picture from Nancy’s phone she steps back. “She is trying to sabotage me again.”

“Who?”

“Nancy.”

“Nancy? Really? Why now?”

“This is her father. He was with us when I met her the other night.”

“So, you are fucking her father?”

“No! She set this whole thing up to make me look bad!”

She watches me intently as I try to decipher the information. All fingers point to Maddie, but I still have a hard time believing it. So pure, so innocent. I guess the quiet ones are always the dangerous ones.

“Don’t you believe me?”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

I drop the pictures on my desk and walk out the door, leaving her there.





Chapter 16





MADDIE



Nancy walks into the kitchen and all I can do is look at her.

“Maddie? Are you okay?” She walks over to where I am sitting, concern in her eyes.

“I don’t know. I can’t figure out what is happening.”

“Maybe I can help.”

“No, that’s okay. I think you have done enough.”

“What? You’re mad at me. Are you mad at me? Did you try to text me? I lost my phone last night. If you tried, I wouldn’t have known.”

“You lost your phone?”

“Yes. I had it before I went to the bar but I can’t find it.”

So, maybe she wasn’t the one who took the picture of her father mauling me at the bar. Then who was it? I rub my head as I try to think back to that night. There were several other people in the bar when we were there. I didn’t recognize any of them.

“I have to figure this out on my own.” I want to trust her. She is actually the only friend I have right now. I look up at her and notice the sweatshirt she is wearing. “Is that my hoodie?”

“Oh,” she says, looking at her arms. “Yeah. I’m sorry. I was cold this morning when I got here and I forgot mine. You must have left it here. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh,” I shook my head, trying to dismiss the odd behavior. “No, I don’t mind. Keep it for the rest of your shift.” I swore I wore it last night to the bar, but I don’t remember bringing it to work.