Susan Mallery - Sweet Trouble

Jesse sighed. “We do the best we can with what we have. Didn’t Maya Angelou say that? And when we know better, we do better.”

“I wish I’d known better sooner. I might not have lost him. That’s the irony. I thought I was losing him to you, but in the end, I pushed him away myself.”

“I never wanted to take him from you. Not the way you thought. I just wanted him to be the best he could be.”

“I should have seen that. Instead, I reacted. Matthew’s right. I was happy when I went to see you and Nicole said those things. I knew he would never forgive you. I’m so ashamed of that.”

Jesse knew she could be angry at Paula and justify the emotion. But to what end? “We both made mistakes. Maybe I shouldn’t have left. Except I needed to stand on my own. I guess I had to grow up, too. But I wasn’t deliberately trying to cut you out of Gabe’s life. I honestly never thought you’d be interested.”

“I know,” Paula told her. “With all that happened, what else would you think?”

Jesse felt bad. “I want us to be friends now. I really appreciate you letting Gabe and me stay here. And I know it’s important for Gabe to know his family.”

“I’m happy to have you. As for Matthew, maybe he just needs time.”

Jesse wasn’t sure. “I can’t figure out who he is. The good guy or the bastard.”

“Maybe he’s both.”

Maybe. But where did that leave her?

HEATH WALKED INTO MATT’S office and tossed a folder onto his desk. “The DNA test results are back.”

Matt didn’t bother picking up the papers. “He’s mine.”

Heath nodded and sank into a chair. “You already guessed that.”

“Now we’re both sure.”

“This means you can move forward with the paperwork anytime you’re ready. It’s ready to file.”

“Good to know.”

He could set the wheels in motion with just a phone call. Threaten what Jesse cared about most. Take her son from her.

But Gabe wasn’t just her son. Matt was his father.

It had been a week since the disastrous visit to his mother’s and he’d been unable to forget the sound of Gabe crying. He’d disappointed the boy and he didn’t have a clue as to what had gone wrong. He just knew he never wanted to feel that bad again. He never wanted to make his son cry.

“You know much about kids?” he asked his lawyer.

Heath raised his eyebrows. “Hell, no. Why would I want to?”

“You’ll have them someday.”

“I guess. I’m not the family type. Just like you.”

Matt nodded slowly. These days he avoided entanglements, but years ago, he’d seen himself married, with a family. He’d wanted that in his life.

It had been the usual vague fantasies, him teaching some faceless child to ride a bike. Which he could do now, with Gabe. Assuming Uncle Bill didn’t get there first.

“What about the investigation?” he asked.

Heath shrugged. “I have a preliminary report.” He nodded at the folder. “It’s early yet, but so far, there’s nothing incriminating. Jesse lives quietly in a small rented house in a typical neighborhood. There’s no evidence of a boyfriend. She doesn’t party, doesn’t go out at all. She worked, went to college, took care of her kid.”

That wasn’t possible, Matt thought. “What about Bill?”

“He’s her boss at the bar. Old guy. The investigator is still digging, but so far he hasn’t found anything on the two of them. Looks like Bill was just her boss and a friend.”

Heath’s expression turned sympathetic. “We haven’t found anything we can use against her in court. There’s the fact that she had the kid without telling you. The judge won’t like that.”

Except they didn’t have that, Matt thought angrily. She had told him and he hadn’t believed her. Wouldn’t have believed her. She had to know that. When he’d found out about Drew, it was as if he’d found out she’d been mocking him the whole time.

“How far back can we go?” he asked. “What about who she was before she got pregnant?”

“You know something?”

“I might.” Enough to leave her bleeding on the side of the road.

“Let me know if you want me to use it.”

Matt nodded, knowing there was plenty to be found. Jesse had told him herself. But while he could remember exactly how she’d looked as she’d confessed her past to him all those years ago, he couldn’t imagine sharing her secret. Not when she’d been so broken and ashamed in the telling.

He’d promised her the past didn’t matter. Back then, it hadn’t. Now? Now he wasn’t so sure, except for one thing. He was never going to be the nice guy again.

“Tell your PI to keep digging,” he said. “There has to be something.”

“Will do.” Heath rose. “And then what?”

Interesting question. “Hell if I know,” Matt admitted. “I guess I win.”

JESSE SAT IMPATIENTLY beside Nicole, trying not to fidget as her sister studied the layout for the ad Jesse had designed for the Seattle paper.

“Two dollars off six, five dollars off a dozen?” Nicole said, raising her eyebrows. “That’s a big giveaway.”

“We want to generate interest. So far brownie sales have been excellent, but more is always better.”

“Excellent is a bit of a stretch,” Nicole said, returning the sheet to Jesse.

“They’re completely above target.” Jesse opened her folder and pulled out the projections she’d been working on. “Here’s what I had hoped we would sell in the first two weeks. We’ve nearly doubled that. As you can see, we made money on them the first day. With a little advertising, they can become a great seller. Buying a cake requires a commitment, but brownies can be an impulse purchase. Plus, I want to talk about them in gourmet terms so they become something people serve as dessert. I have some ideas for seasonal displays.”

She handed those over to her sister, along with the sales projection.

Nicole’s gaze dropped to the bottom of the sheet. “Internet sales?”

“They’re an obvious next step.”

“You want to do that again?”

Jesse took a deep breath. She knew she was being baited. She told herself to remain calm. That everything was fine. She was mature and able to deal with her sister. The fact that Nicole kept bringing up Jesse selling the famous Keyes cakes on the Internet five years ago was simply an annoying quirk.

“This is totally different,” Jesse said with a smile. “Internet sales are easy. Brownies travel well, the customer pays the cost of shipping and handling, which means our profits aren’t compromised. The prepared packages will be picked up by the carrier of our choice. It’s not a high-risk operation.”

“We don’t have room to do shipping here,” Nicole said. “We’re already jammed in as it is. And before you suggest it, another location would be too expensive for a trial effort that’s probably going to fail.”

Jesse felt her temper slipping. She grabbed on with both hands and held it in.

“I know you’re happy with the sales,” Nicole continued, sounding more like a mom than a business partner. “But this is the rush of something new. They’re going to level off. Let’s see what the real numbers are before we make any commitments.”

“We’ve barely begun to figure out even a piece of the market,” Jesse told her, hating the sense of being talked down to. “There’s buzz. We’re already getting calls from people who’ve moved out of the Seattle area and have heard about the brownies from their friends who still live here.”

“I know you want these to be the next big thing, but they’re not,” Nicole told her. “That sounds harsh, I know. I don’t mean it that way. I’m just saying-”

“You’re just saying you want me to fail,” Jesse snapped. “This isn’t even about the brownies. It’s about the past. It’s about Drew. Despite the fact that I have told you nothing happened, you don’t believe me. Or maybe you could but you don’t want to. It’s easier to blame me and be angry.”

“Why should I believe you?” Nicole asked flatly.

That hurt. Jesse sucked in a breath. “Don’t. Call your ex-husband and ask him.” Not that Drew had told the truth before, but hopefully enough time would have passed for him to be willing to come clean. It wasn’t like she had a choice.

“You should have tried harder,” Nicole yelled as she came to her feet. “You should have fought him off. Why didn’t you? Why didn’t I hear you scream?”

Jesse couldn’t have been more surprised if Nicole had physically slapped her. She stood, not bothering to head off the anger exploding inside of her.

“Is that the condition of your forgiveness? Rape? Sorry to disappoint you. I wasn’t violated. Not that way.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Nicole snapped.

“Of course it is. I wasn’t after Drew. I didn’t try to get his attention. But that’s not good enough. If he didn’t attack me, I’m the bad guy. He blamed me and you believed him. You assumed the worst about me. You’re my sister. You’re supposed to know me better than anyone.”

“I did know you,” Nicole yelled. “I knew what you’d been in high school. Why would you have been any different with Drew?”

Once a slut, always a slut, Jesse thought sadly. That’s what it came down to.

She told herself it didn’t matter, except it did. It mattered and it hurt and she didn’t know how to make anything better between them. All she had was the present and today she was focused on her brownies. She took another deep breath.

“I can’t change the past,” she told her sister. “I’ve told you what happened and you either believe me or you don’t. I don’t know what else to say or do. So I’m done trying. As far as the brownies go, you’re wrong. We haven’t even begun to tap their potential. I want to run the ads. I’m an equal partner in the bakery and this isn’t an extraordinary expense.”

Nicole’s mouth tightened. “What happened to earning your way in?”

“I’m working my butt off here and you know it. While I’m willing to put in the time, I’m not willing to let your feelings about the past keep us from being successful.”