“Is it something I’m going to like?”
“Um...”
“So, shit.”
“It’s not bad,” James protested, dropping his foot to the floor and leaning to rest his arms on his thighs. “But I could use some help.”
“What did you do?”
James wasn’t sure if he should be offended that Caleb assumed he’d screwed up somehow or relieved that his friend and boss wasn’t already shooting down his “I need some help” request.
“I slept with Ethan’s sister after his wedding.” He kept his voice down. Ethan was on shift tonight, and even if he wasn’t, everyone in the station knew him, of course.
Caleb groaned. “Dammit, James. Emily?”
“He’s only got one sister?”
“Yes.”
“Shit.”
“Exactly.”
A sister was bad enough, but his only sister? He might be even more protective of her.
“Does he like her?” James asked. Maybe they had a horrible relationship. Maybe she was the black sheep. Maybe they hardly spoke.
“Adores her.”
“Dammit.”
Caleb shook his head. “Why did it have to be Emily?”
James shrugged. “She’s gorgeous and brought me muffins.”
“God, you’re easy.”
“Chocolate cream cheese muffins from Marci’s. You have to get up early to get those before they sell out. The girl put some real effort into it.”
Suddenly Caleb sat up, the footrest of the recliner thunking into place. “Shit. Are you telling me about Emily because you think she might be the mom?”
James nodded.
“Oh, no.” Caleb scrubbed a hand over his face. “Oh, shit, no.”
“But if she is, either Ethan doesn’t know she had a baby...” James shot a glance toward the doorway. The other guys were busy playing pool, sleeping, or were on kitchen duty and were cleaning up after dinner. But soon enough they’d start filtering into the room with the big screen. “Or he doesn’t know it was me.”
Caleb shot up from his chair and started pacing. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.” He swung to glare at James. “You know how this is going to affect the whole house if you two have this kind of issue? Dammit! You didn’t even fucking use a condom?”
“Of course I did!” James shot back, again looking at the door then frowning at his friend. “Jesus. I’m not an idiot.”
“Was it old or something?”
“I don’t have old condoms,” James said. “I go through them plenty fast.”
Caleb ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath.
James just waited. He knew his friend would process the fact that not only had Logan, one of Caleb’s best friends, knocked his now wife up on their first and supposed-to-be-only night together, but Lexi had accidentally gotten pregnant as well. It happened.
“Sorry,” Caleb finally said. “I’m just worried about the house.”
“I know. Me too.”
“So that means you don’t say a fucking word,” Caleb told him, hands on his hips.
James shook his head. “I have to talk to her. He’s the only one who can give me her number.”
“You cannot even hint that something went on between you,” Caleb said. “She didn’t tell him. You can’t be the one to tell her brother about a baby that she gave up, James.”
James thought about that. “So, what do I do?”
“Let me handle it.”
James sat up. “You? How are you going to handle it?”
“I have access to his personnel file. Maybe she’s listed as a contact. If not, his mom or wife surely is. I can come up with some reason that I need her number.”
James was amazed. “Like what?”
“I don’t know,” Caleb said, clearly exasperated. “But I’ll think of something.”
“You’d do that for me?”
Caleb met his eyes. And nodded. “Yeah. I’d do that for you. You’re my friend. I’ll always have your back.”
James swallowed hard. “Thanks, man.”
“And you’re trying to do the right thing. Being a dad is hard enough when you do know everything about the kid from day one. Starting in the dark doesn’t help you or Isaac.”
James knew that Caleb was going out on a limb here. He wasn’t doing anything unethical, exactly. He was going to find a phone number and was going to try to avoid lying directly to his friend if possible. He was helping another friend out. But this was a gray area about how he was using his power and access to records.
“I don’t want you to get into trouble,” James said.
“She dumped the baby on your doorstep,” Caleb said, frowning. “I know you and Ethan don’t get along all the time, but I know him. He’d be pissed at her for that. And I have to believe that he’d want to help the people caring for his nephew however he could. Especially if it was to give them access to his sister’s information so they could make good decisions. That’s not a big ask of him. If he could, you know, separate all of that from the fact that you fucked his sister.”
“Whose sister?” Daniel Abrams came into the room, followed by three other guys.
Caleb and James’s alone time was over.
“Hey, guys,” Caleb said. “James is engaged.”
Caleb’s obvious attempt to change the subject worked. Daniel stopped with his hand on the refrigerator door. He looked over, clearly shocked. “No shit?”
James liked the idea of being engaged to Harper. There was the little detail of her not saying yes yet. But she hadn’t said no either. Words mattered to this woman, and there was no way she was going to give him the biggest one of her life without thinking about it hard first.
But he really wanted that yes.
“No shit,” Caleb answered for him. “He’s a one-woman man now.”
“Who’s a one-woman man?” Ethan asked as he came into the room.
James looked over at Caleb.
“James.” Caleb was watching Ethan closely.
Clearly, Caleb had seen Ethan coming and had timed his comment for Ethan to hear.
“Really.” Ethan gave James a look. “You find Jesus or something?”
Well, Isaac was a biblical name, and he’d more or less found him. “Yeah, something like that,” James told him.
“Huh. Well, good for you. A good woman is what most of us need,” Ethan said, grabbing an apple out of the bowl by the sink.
“Speak for yourself,” Mark Lebers said. “I’m looking for a good man.”
“Or a few good men, right?” Daniel joked.
Mark saluted him with his soda can.
“So we were talking about when James should introduce Harper to his family,” Caleb said. It seemed he was talking to the room at large, but he was looking at Ethan.
“She hasn’t met your family yet?” Ethan asked, taking a seat on the end of the couch closest to Caleb.
“Not yet, but they’ve heard about her.” That was true. James had told his parents about the cute professor who lived across from him and shared custody of his dog. More than once.