The Pick Up Wife by W. Lynn Chantale Read Free Book Online Page B

was making sure you weren’t trying to figure out the best way to tell me no.”
    She chuckled, but it did nothing to dispel the tight knot of anxiety lodged in the pit of her stomach. “I still plan to have dinner with you.” She moved further down the hall and the footsteps behind her paused. Without looking she knew what had drawn his attention. Pictures of LJ and Jewel hung along one wall.
    “Melvin had kids? They’re cute. Although the girl looks just like you.”
    Summoning a deep breath she turned to face Leo. He was inspecting the twins’ school photos.
    “Um, no, he didn’t.”
    Leo looked at her, brow furrowed. “How old are they?”
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    The screen door banged open. “Mom! You gotta see this!” Jewel ran past, bumping Leo. “Oh, sorry,” she tossed over her shoulder before skidding to a halt in front of Symmone. Jewel held up a blue plastic bag. “Mel said you wouldn’t mind.
    It’s the bracelet-making set I wanted, and LJ got
    ‘Phineas and Ferb’.”
    The door banged again. LJ and Melvin walked in. “Oh,” Melvin said in greeting.
    Symmone met Leo’s puzzled gaze and then watched realization bloom across his features. He clenched his jaw and her heart sank.
    “How old are they?”
    “Mom?” Jewel looked between the two adults.
    Melvin surged forward. “Let’s give your mom and her guest a moment to talk.” He ushered the 11
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    children toward the back of the house and the stairs, but not before LJ piped up.
    “Is that our dad?” LJ said.
    Melvin glanced at Symmone. “Um, your mom will explain everything.”
    Symmone ran trembling fingers through her shoulder-length hair. “I sure will.” She stared after them, dreading the inevitable encounter with Leo.
    Might as well get this over with. She inhaled a deep breath and waved a hand toward the living room.
    “They’re nine,” she said once he sat down.
    “And you’re their father.”

    ****
    Leo sat only because his legs would no longer support him. When she’d asked him to come meet someone, children were not what he expected. He looked around the small living room, sparsely 11
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    furnished, a six-drawer bureau in front of him, a small end table with a lamp on his left, and the sofa.
    He was a father. He stared at his hands before pinning her with a scathing stare. Fury thinned his lips and clenched his jaw. “You never said a word.”
    She shook her head.
    He surged to his feet, advancing so fast her eyes widened as she stumbled backward. “Don’t you think that’s something I may have wanted to know?” he said, barely bridled anger in his voice.
    “It was my intention.”
    “You had nine years!”
    She flinched at his outburst, but lifted her chin. “You handed me divorce papers. Do you remember that?”
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    “You should’ve said something.”
    “You didn’t want me!” she fairly shouted.
    Her shoulders shook with each ragged breath she drew. Tears glistened in her soft brown eyes. “Why would I think you wanted them? Especially when I didn’t fit into your career plans.” She presented him her back.
    He stared at her. That one day was firmly etched in his brain. She had been excited when she came home, but making a clean break was more important to him than hearing how she’d aced a test. But it wasn’t a school test she’d passed.
    Anger dissipated from his body, and his shoulders sagged.
    When she needed him most he’d walked out on her. Didn’t listen to any of her tearful pleas, just took his clothes and left. He looked around the 11
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    room again. She’d done well for herself. This wasn’t the life he’d envisioned for her, but standing in her living room he had no doubt love prevailed. She’d made a home for her and their children…and then it clicked: her earlier statement about leaving her life.
    He wouldn’t do that to her; he wouldn’t ask her to uproot and start over. It was then his eyes fell on the framed photo next to the television. A lump lodged in his throat. After all