Page 82 of Fierce-Baker

“I know. My day will come, and I’ll deal with it when it does. I know that.”

“Do you know anything about Shane’s life now? Have you looked into him?”

“As I got close to my due date, I decided to just look. Just see if I could find anything out on him. I found his wife on Facebook. I saw pictures of them as a happy family on a vacation they’d just returned from. His life was going on as if I didn’t exist. I thought of his wife. I thought of how I felt and told myself I couldn’t do that to this woman anymore than I could to those kids.”

“You put yourself in her shoes, but maybe she already knew what her husband did. I’ve lived that life. My mother wasn’t naïve. She just turned the other cheek.”

“And that is what I did when I saw those pictures.”

24

SECRETS NEVER WORKED

“It’s so good to see you, Baker,” Brittany said, rushing into his arms.

She’d texted that she was at Fierce, arrived earlier than she thought, and asked if she could stop in to see where he worked.

He had met her in the front. Damn, it hadn’t seemed like it’d been three years since he’d laid eyes on her.

“You look great.” His hands went to her hair, and fingered a strand. Longer, lighter, frilly. She’d always been a little girly to him.

“So do you.” She gripped his bicep. “A little bigger. Is it to find a chick or in boredom?”

He rolled his eyes. “You never change. And I’m not much bigger.”

At least he didn’t think so. He didn’t hit the gym. Never did and never would.

What he did was in his place, the old school way. Sit-ups, pushups, chin-ups. Burpees. The basic kick your ass things that required nothing fancy.

Because the truth was, he wasn’t a fancy guy and wasn’t going to profess to be.

Not even try to be one.

There was no hiding who he was. If it came back to bite him in the ass, it did, but secrets never worked well in the long run.

Which was why he was struggling with what Tasha told him on Friday.

Did he blame her?

Not really. But it was as he said—he wouldn’t be happy to find out he had a child out there who was kept from him.

There was a throat cleared, then Brittany put her arm around a brunette, the same size as his sister. Same height, same body frame, long curly hair, a bit more makeup and jewelry than his sister wore, but not outlandish either.

“Baker, this is Emme. Emme, my brother, Baker, who I’ve told you so much about.”

He put his hand out. “I’m a hugger,” Emme said, going right in and wrapping him up like his sister had. “I’ve heard so much about you and am thrilled to finally meet.”

“The same. Can’t say I heard all that much because my sister just recently told me.”

Brittany shoved his arm. “She knows that. And she knows why too, but you don’t need to bring it up again.”

“I understand,” Emme said. “My parents were a little nervous early on, but they have been wonderful. They love Brittany.”

“Oh, wow. You didn’t tell me you met her parents.”

“Let’s go to your office. Show me around,” Brittany said. “We can chat then.”

He brought her past the customers toward the door, swiped his card, and let them in. He walked them through the halls, talking about the brewery, then back to his building, and to his office. His sister wasn’t going to be all that interested in how his job worked.