Page 47 of Love is Grand
“I am, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be one. That I don’t want to be one, I mean.”
“Your moods are too volatile, Cal. You can’t be aloof one minute and downright territorial the next. Which is it? I already have a missing baby daddy from my first kid. Doing this without you doesn’t scare me.”
“Okay, I’ll be territorial all the time. I’m coming to see you.”
She blew out a long breath. “I can’t have every call to you end in a surprise visit. That can’t be your answer to everything.”
“This isn’t a surprise. I’m telling you I’m coming. I want to see you and Weezie, and take everyone out and celebrate. Don’t argue. This is what I’m doing.”
After another few beats of silence, she said, “Don’t boss me.”
“I’m not. I’m telling you. Again. I’m coming to see you. As soon as we hang up, I’m getting a flight.”
“Caleb, you’re confusing me.”
“When I get there, it won’t be confusing.”
I had no idea how I was going to make that happen, but I would.
The next morning, I landed on Grand Cayman, rumpled from having to sit in coach, and tired as shit from a bad night’s sleep. But as soon as I breathed in the salty air, I felt better.
Jack was waiting for me with a smug look on his face. “Hey there, Papa.”
Glaring at him, I growled, “Shut it.”
We rode back to the Grand mostly in silence, the breeze cleansing me.
“I need to buy a car and maybe rent a house for the next six months. Something both Shell and her daughter can visit and will have space,” I told Jack when we rolled up in front of the resort. Then I pulled out a few hundred dollars and asked him if he could help with some of the legwork.
“For you to have a happy ending, I would have done it for free,” he had the nerve to say, and I grinned at him.
“Wait here. I’m going to see her,” I said before jumping out and heading toward reception.
I doubted my room was ready, but I could leave my luggage and get right over to Shell. I’d texted when I landed and said I wasn’t waiting to see her. She was at the coffee shop and told me her parents knew. Maybe she thought this would scare me off, but I was a big boy.
Back in the Jeep, Jack took me to Island Coffee and said he’d be outside making some calls for me.
“Morning,” I said as I walked in the door, catching Sam and Shell hovering over something on the counter.
As soon as she saw me, Shell snatched up the papers and tossed them under the counter. If she thought she was being slick, she wasn’t.
“Morning,” Sam said sternly to me.
“Hi,” I said to Shell, letting her dad know he wasn’t intimidating me.
“Can I get you a coffee?” she asked me, like I was a regular Joe and not the father of her unborn child. No way was she going to treat me like I was any customer.
“Your dad can. I want to see you.” I looked at Sam and said, “Half-and-half.”
“Come here,” I said to Shell, and she came around the counter. Her white shirt clung to her small belly, and I had to grip the counter at the sight of it.
“You okay?” Her palm came to rest on my forearm.
I nodded.
“Shit just got real.” I felt Sam eyeing me, so I added, “Nothing I can’t handle.” Rescuing my manhood, I pulled Shell in for an embrace.
I inhaled her scent like a drug as I held her close. I wasn’t sure why, but my world seemed to settle when I had her in my arms. Paying no mind to her dad, I slid my hand down her side and between us to touch her belly.