But Annabeth knew.
She’d encountered Kirk’s determined streak for herself. He’d learned a little finesse with it, but it was still there.
The car was the perfect example. Five years after she thought she’d finally gotten through to him, he’d made short work of picking up the argument, and winning.
She pulled some butter from the fridge and cut a knob from the square parcel. “Just mind your manners, Wade.”
“No.” He repeated, and crossed his arms across his chest for good measure.
Annabeth scooped the butter into the gravy pot, and whisked it through. She stirred a little more fiercely than was necessary. But Wade had been pushing her buttons all day, and now she had the added complication of the heart palpitations that wouldn’t quit.
In less than an hour, Kirk would be there. In her home. In her living room, her kitchen. Solidly back in her life, and almost as though he’d never left it.
Her stomach twisted as her body remembered the way his had possessed her, against the boat shed. Pleasurable sensations ran through her. How she ached for him. Again. Already.
Annabeth had spent the last five years telling herself that she was over him. That he was a piece of her past. And now…? Now she didn’t know what the heck she wanted from him, but like the first spark of a match, she was burning with a growing yearning for him. The thought of living without him was anathema to her.
“Do you need to go to your room and think about good behavior?”
“No.” A little less determined this time. Nothing got through to Wade like the threat of a time out.
“Okay then. Go play with your trains, young man. I will do my best to make sure you get your drumstick, okay?”
Like all things with parenting, their disagreement was not about the dinner she’d been preparing all afternoon. Wade was in a stage of needing to call the shots, and intuitively Annabeth knew she couldn’t let him get away with it. As a single mum, she’d needed to be both mother and father, soft and gentle, and authoritative and strict.
A smile thick with emotion touched her lips as she watched his too-small body flounce dramatically from the room. For the hundredth time in an hour, her eyes flicked to the fifties style clock on the wall.
All day, she’d obsessed over trivial details. She was so nervous she thought she might explode. She’d cleaned the house from top to bottom. There wasn’t a lot she could do about the faded wallpaper and uneven floorboards, but she’d fluffed the cushions, cut flowers from the garden and arranged them in every vase she owned, and she’d taken extra care with her appearance. It was quite the trick – to look good without appearing to have tried in the slightest. Her hair she’d washed and blow dried until it was straight and smooth. Then, she’d teased and finger combed it until it looked alluringly disheveled. Her first choice of outfit – a sleek black dress, had quickly been eschewed for her denim cutoffs and an oversized pink t-shirt. Casual, but flattering to her tan and figure. Even the dinner had been agonized over. Her cooking prowess had been acquired long after Kirk had left her. She wouldn’t have been human if there wasn’t a part of her that wanted to show off a little.
But her signature dinner party dish of prosciutto wrapped scallops followed by whole baked salmon would have screamed, ‘I love you, please love me back,’ so she’d opted for a homely roast chicken. With all the trimmings. Because she did love him. She always had, and now? She was even more lost than ever before. The knowledge terrified her.
By the time she heard Kirk’s truck pull up out front, she was almost jangling with tension. “Wade?” She called, trying to remove the screechy sound from her voice. “Kirk’s here. Where are you?”
“I’m hiding.”
Annabeth rolled her eyes heavenward. She didn’t need to deal with Wade’s moods at that point. Her own were causing her enough grief.
“Can you come out, then?”
“No.”
She gritted her teeth and forced a smile. “Okay, then. But if Kirk has chocolate with him, you will not be getting any, I’m afraid.”
Silence.
He was really in a foul strop if even the promise of chocolate couldn’t lure him out of hiding.
With a small shake of her head, she headed out of the house.
Her eyes arrested on Kirk immediately. He sat in the driving seat, staring straight ahead. His tension was obvious even through the darkly tinted windows, and it went some of the way to easing her own stress. However hard this was for her, it must have been thirty times more difficult for Kirk. He was about to meet a son he hadn’t even known existed a week ago.
Sympathy softened her anxiety.
“Hey,” she smiled, as she approached his window.
When Kirk’s eyes met hers, Annabeth felt her stomach turn roll with tension. The pleasurable kind of tension. She felt a throbbing begin, low in her body, that she knew would demand answer.
“Hello.”
“You nervous?” She leaned in the open window of the driver side door.
“Wouldn’t be human if I wasn’t.”
“He’s going to love you,” she promised, squeezing his strong hand in hers.
Kirk slanted her a dubious glance. It was so strange to see this man, who had always burned with fierce confidence and power, seem humbled and unsure.
“Just remember, he’s only four. Don’t pressure him. Let him get to know you and then think about, um, anything else.”
Kirk nodded, his palms sweaty. He wasn’t used to feeling anxious. His work demanded him to be confident and unafraid of new situations. He’d met with the President of the United States the month before, to talk about construction industry grants. And yet the idea of meeting a four year old was filling him with complete anxiety.
“Okay, I can do this,” he muttered, pulling his keys from the ignition and looking up at the weatherboard house Annabeth had made her home. It brought a grim frown to his face.
She’d obviously tried to pretty it up. There were pot plants everywhere, with bright geraniums and daisies spilling over the side. A hedge of lavender spiked on either side of the front steps. But nothing could disguise the fact that the place was about one building inspection away from a demolition order. He looked higher, to the rusting roof, and a window that looked permanently broken, and clenched his hands into fists.
Annabeth shouldn’t be living like this.
His son shouldn’t be living like this.
When he’d made the decision to let her go, he had believed it would be for the best. That she would be better without him, and the burden of loving him. Now, he felt like he’d saddled her with an even bigger burden – raising their child alone, without the means to do so easily.
Mentally, he was calculating just how quickly he could purchase a home nearby in her name. The Robinson name talked in the south, and he would do whatever he could to fix her situation, immediately.
“Oh, and I should warn you, Kirk.” She screwed up her nose in a way that made Kirk want to kiss her soundly. “He’s in a foul mood this afternoon. I’m sorry in advance for any naughty behavior. Although,” she smiled sweetly up at him, “I am certain this naughtiness comes from you.”
His chuckle was like warm butter on her body. She could have melted into him. “I think you’re probably right. Though I do remember a certain senior who put dishwashing liquid and blue food coloring in the town fountain.”
Her cheeks glowed. “Hey,” she whispered, staring up in his eyes, “That’s a secret you’re meant to take to the grave with you.”
He looked around. No one was watching. He pulled her against him. He couldn’t help it. Ever since they’d made love, he’d been barely able to function. Her body felt so good pressed to his. He wrapped his hands around her waist and kissed her forehead. “I’ll keep your secret, Miss Sparks, but it might cost you.”
“Oh?” She could hardly speak through the racing of her heart. “What’s the price?”
“I’m sure I can think of something,” he teased, but his expression was earnest. He wanted to kiss her so bad it hurt. He couldn’t, though. If he kissed her, he’d want – no, need – so much more. And he was about to meet his son for the first time. Other things had to take precedence over what his desire craved.
“Well,” she cleared her throat. “When you do, you just be sure to let me know.”
He wanted so much to make things right. But how could he? Not after what he’d done. He sighed. “Let’s go find this son of mine.”
“Kirk , just remember, we’ll keep it light this time. Don’t go telling him anything. Okay?”
“Of course, Beth. You think I’m just going to blurt out that I’m his daddy?”
“No, but… just watch it.”
He followed her inside, his body awash with sensations.
“Wade, honey. I need you to come here now.” When the room remained still and silent, she threw Kirk an apologetic glance. “Timeout and no drumstick unless you are here in three seconds, young man.”
A sound of a door creaking open. Annabeth grinned. Foot falls on the floorboards. And then Wade, walking petulantly into the room. His annoyance had made him stomp. His face was crinkled into disapproval. And he’d dug out a long forgotten pacifier and wedged it into his mouth, presumably to further infuriate his mother.