Midlife Baby (Small Town Lovers)

I laughed at her words. “Thanks Mama, but I’m good. Just busy tonight.”

She swiveled on her bar stool and nodded at the crowded bar. “As the owner this should please you.”

“It does but it also tires me out.”

“Bullshit.”

I blinked. “Mama,” I chided. “Such language from a lady.”

She laughed again. “Boy I ain’t never claimed to be anybody’s lady.” Her laughter faded and Mama shook her head again. “She’s hurting too, you know.”

I shook my head. “She just doesn’t like it because she thinks I’m mad at her.”

“Aren’t you?”

I was but not anymore. “Nope. I’m respecting her wishes. She did everything in her power to push me away and now that I’ve gotten the hint she’s playing the part of the victim.” It was exactly why I kept my relationships short, sweet and uncomplicated.

“Not everything is as straightforward as you want it to be Grady.”

“Not everything, no. But this is.” My stomach turned over as I thought of the idiot I’d been over yet another snooty rich girl. “It’s fine Mama. We have time to learn how to parent the kids together, to be civil and maintain a platonic relationship. It will be fine.”

“Fine yes, but is that what you really want? To watch the woman that you love and your kids end up happy with someone else while you stand on the sidelines and watch?”

“Doesn’t matter what I want.”

“You could listen to what she has to say, for starters. She might surprise you.”

“Doubtful,” I snorted and moved down the bar to make drinks for half a dozen new customers. I turned to grab cocktail glasses and ran into Mama. “What are you doing back here?”

“I’m helping out,” she said as if it were just that simple. “Margot just called and she needs you. Go to her and I’ll take care of this place.”

I shook my head. “She didn’t call me so I’m guessing she needs you. Go.”

Mama shook her head and leaned over the bar towards the county prosecutors. “Gin or vodka martinis?”

“Gin,” they said at the same time and Mama smiled.

“Good boys.” She reached for the top shelf gin and a shaker before she nodded to be. “Go on. She’s expecting you.”

Mama’s serious expression put me on edge and even though I knew she was up to something, the part of me that worried about Margot and the babies got my feet moving towards the back office and then the back exit where my car was parked. I paused a stop signs and pushed the speed limit as I rushed back to my place to check on Margot.

The house was dark as I pulled into the driveway and my heart sped up. Had she fallen in the dark? Was there a power outage in the area? I ran inside and called out for Margot, smacking the wall to check the lights, all of which came on as I rushed through the house. “Margot!”

“Back here,” she called out, no signs of distress in her voice, which slowed me down.

Mama was definitely up to something. “What’s wrong,” I asked and skidded to a stop in the doorway of the kitchen.

Margot stood in the middle of the candlelit kitchen with a nervous expression on her face, a deep burgundy lingerie set showed off her beautiful pregnant boobs and her round belly. “Nothing,” she said with a sigh. “Or maybe everything. I’m not quite sure.”

At her words my shoulders relaxed. Nothing was wrong. Margot and the babies were safe. Me? Not so much. “I was working Margot and I thought something was wrong.”

“Something is wrong Grady. Between us everything is wrong lately.”

I sighed and dropped down in one of the kitchen chairs that kept the table between us. “I’ve given you exactly what you wanted Margot and you’re still not happy. This is just your problem and I can’t do anything to fix that. More importantly, I won’t.”

She flashed a heartbreaking smile and nodded. “You’re right. It was all about me Grady and it was never about you, my attitude I mean. You are…a lot. Big and gorgeous and totally comfortable in your own skin. Even being looked at as an outsider in a small gossipy town didn’t seem to shake you at all and for someone like me, that’s a terrifying prospect.” Her nervous smile cracked the ice around my heart, damn her. “I knew if I was too nice to you or if I let you get too close even as a casual acquaintance that I would fall under your spell. I couldn’t risk it, not again. So I was terrible to you.”

I couldn’t deny that her words shocked me. “So let me get this straight, you were mean to me because you were afraid you might like me?”

A bubble of laughter exploded out of Margot and she laughed. “Pretty much.”

I stood and stared at Margot for a long time, wondering what the purpose of the lingerie was but too afraid to ask because I couldn’t risk falling under her spell. Again. “Thank you for telling me.” I turned with the intention of heading back to my bar.