“Holly, please, just let me—”
“Was she calling to beg for you back?” Holly laughed bitterly.
“She was calling to tell me she was pregnant.”
Holly didn’t say a word.
I sighed. “With my kid.”
“What the actual fuck, Max?”
“I know, it’s a lot, but—”
“You’ve known this for two weeks and you’re just telling me now?” she seethed. I heard her heels clapping against hard floors. A bell chimed and I pictured her storming out of a boutique to stand on the sidewalk in the blistering sun so she could give me a piece of her mind without scaring off other shoppers. “That bitch weaseled her way into your life once. I’ll be damned if she does it again. A baby? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I wish I was.”
Holly growled. “I don’t trust her.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know, Max. You just sprang this shit on me! I’m processing. But I don’t trust her. She’s a snake. You know it, and I know it. And if she thinks a baby will be enough for you to go back to her, she’s—” Holly paused. Her tone darkened. “You’re not going back to her, are you?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Good.” Holly breathed a sigh of relief. “You’d be a fool to consider trying to make things work with that witch. She’s slimy, Max. Real slimy. I knew it the minute I first met her. There’s always a game going on behind those big blue eyes of hers. She sees people as tools. Steps to get where she wants to be. She sees you the same way. The money. The big house. The fast cars. You’re the perfect sugar daddy.”
“Please don’t call me that.”
“It’s how she sees you,” Holly said simply.
I ran a hand down my face. “That’s just great.”
“Which is why you can’t give in and give her what she wants. Knowing her, she’s already asked for money, right?”
I winced. “Maybe.”
I could practically feel Holly rolling her eyes at me on the other end of the line. “You’re so dense sometimes, Max. For fuck’s sake. Do not give this woman what she wants. Yes, you need to step up and be a father, but you’d better not even consider trying to make Sienna’s life more comfortable. What you do should be for the baby only, not for her. She’s sneaky and vile and—”
“Can we stop trash-talking her now? It’s not helping.”
“I’m not trash-talking. I’m stating facts.”
I groaned.
Holly huffed on the other end. “Where do you stand, then?”
“Making things work with Sienna isn’t on the table. All I want is to make sure she has money to provide for the kid and that we have shared custody. I won’t have that if I don’t show up for Sienna. A court will not favor me. Not with all the resources I have. But I will never rekindle things with her, Holly. I don’t love her. Hell, I don’t even like her.”
“Good,” Holly said firmly. Finally, her voice softened. All the hard edges were gone. “Max?”
“Yes?”
“Are you okay?”
I rubbed wearily at my eyes. “Not really.”
“I’m sorry. What can I do?”
“Let me tell you the rest.”
“There’s more?” my sister asked incredulously.
Oh yes, there was more.
I told Holly all about offering Janie the job at my office after she called me two weeks ago, sounding like the world was trying to drown her. At the time, I’d been optimistic that this might be a second chance for us. Yes, I’d offered Janie the job primarily to help her, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hope it would help me too.
I also explained that at the time I didn’t know about the baby. I found out afterward, and now everything had shifted so dramatically, but Janie was here, and she looked just as good as she always did, and she was just as warm, soft, and kind as I remembered, and I needed that comfort now more than ever.
“So I told her about Sienna and the baby,” I finished.
“Holy shit, Max.”
“I know.”
“How’d she take it?”
“She cried. A lot.”
“No kidding. That girl loved you. I’d wager she still does, maybe more than she realizes. Your breakup wasn’t an easy thing.”
No, it hadn’t been.
“How did you leave things with her?” Holly asked.
I grimaced at the memory and braced myself for my sister’s backlash. “I kissed her.”
“You what?”
“I kissed her,” I said again. “I didn’t mean to. She was so close and she was crying—”
“And you thought, hey, I know just how to cheer her up, and kissed her? You’re a jackass, Max. A real solid jackass. You know that?”
“Yes,” I grumbled.
“Do you know how confusing that must have been for her?”
“I didn’t kiss her to try to hurt her. I wanted—fuck. I don’t know what I wanted.”
Holly heaved a long, dramatic sigh. Neither of us said anything for a minute or two, and when she finally spoke, she sounded tired, not angry. “Shit happens, Max. But you’ll have to make it right with Janie sooner rather than later. Let her know what to expect. Set some boundaries. Or let her in.”
I frowned. “Let her in?”
Holly laughed, and it sounded like she was laughing at me. “Yes. That girl has always meant more to you than any other woman you’ve ever been with. Yes, this mess with Sienna will complicate things, but it doesn’t have to ruin your life. People balance far more complicated personal lives and are happy in spite of it. We’ve been through shit before. You can handle this. And maybe Janie will want to go through it with you rather than go through something else without you.”
Her words stirred some hope up in me.
“But first, figure things out with Sienna,” Holly said firmly.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And call me if you need someone to whip you into shape.”
“Deal.”
“I have to go. What started as a shopping trip for one item is now going to be a whirlwind retail therapy sprint. Wish me luck.”
I ended the call with my sister and found my resolve. She was right, of course. Holly had a tendency to almost always be right, which was infuriating seeing as how I was her older brother. Nevertheless, I was going to do what she said.
I’d make things right with Sienna, and once I knew what that future looked like, I’d sort things out with Janie, and we would decide together how we wanted to proceed.
Together or apart.
Chapter 13
Janie
There wasn’t a mirror in my office, but if I dropped the blinds on the windows behind my desk, I could use the glass as a reflective surface. It would have to do because I had no intention of stepping out into the sea of other employees with red puffy eyes and mascara-stained cheeks.
I groaned when I saw my shadowy reflection in the glass.
“You’re an absolute mess,” I grumbled.