Page 41 of Rough Patch

“Yeah. You, too.”

It didn’t take a genius to know Grier wasn’t doing so well with all the information she’d given him. Hell, she wasn’t even sure how she was doing with it, and it didn’t affect her more than heightening her curiosity about Jez.

She walked into her office to find Hamilton waiting in the chair across her desk. “God, it’s good to see you back.” He hugged her like she’d been across the country rather than across town and like he hadn’t spent the afternoon yesterday drunk in her kitchen. She pulled back and walked around to sit in her chair. Hamilton stood, arms crossed, staring. “How did he take it?”

“He took it…” She shook her head. “I have no idea. He put up a wall so high I’m gonna need oxygen to clear that thing.” Normally, she talked to Jez about things like this. Clearly, that was off the table now.

“He going to talk to her?”

Probably she shouldn’t have been drunk when she told him. She would have been able to gauge his reaction, read him better, but too late. Without the assistance of Dr. Who or Marty McFly, she couldn’t undo it. “I don’t know. He didn’t say.”

“Are you going to talk to her?” Hamilton lowered his head. “Ask why she didn’t mention how well she knew Carr?”

Now there was a suggestion she could get behind. They needed information and all the while, Jez had lived with this guy, known him. She nodded. “Yeah. Why don’t you find her for me?” She needed a minute alone to sort this all out and watched Hamilton walk out.

Truth was, Fiona had so many questions she didn’t know where to start and hadn’t formulated a plan of attack yet when Jez closed the office door behind her. Hungover and without makeup, Jez looked older than her forty-four years. “Guess we all had too much to drink yesterday.” Fiona smiled. She only knew she had to start off friendly, let Jez know… everything would be okay. Even though Fiona couldn’t have said for certain.

“Yeah.” Jez sat back in the chair but didn’t speak for a few long seconds. “I guess he knows.” She waited for Fiona’s nod before she continued. “How is he?”

Honesty was all Fiona had. “I don’t know. He seemed okay.” She watched Jez, the slow nod, the way she bit the corner of her lower lip, the way she tried to hide the fact that she was breathing deep and letting it out. “Are you certain it’s him? He’s your… baby?”

“Yeah. He’s the spitting image of my dad.” She took off her necklace, a locket, opened it and handed it to Fiona. “Dad is on the left.”

Fiona didn’t have to ask who the baby on the right was. Instead, she concentrated on the man. Damned if Grier couldn’t have been his twin. It took her a minute to hand the locket back. “Why didn’t you just tell him?”

“I was scared.” She shook her head and gripped the locket until her knuckles turned white. “A coward.” When she glanced at Fiona her eyes were full of tears. “Your dad loved Grier. Even when he ran off, he would’ve never hurt him.”

“And you loved Dad?” The answer didn’t matter. Fiona knew the truth.

But Jez nodded. “He did everything he could for me back then and…” She dried her eyes with the butt of her hands and faced Fiona. “I loved him.”

It didn’t really explain why she’d lied to Grier, and Fiona couldn’t decide if that was her business or not, so she moved on. “So what now?”

“Do you want me to leave?”

Fiona jerked her head back. Jez leave? She was as much a part of the Screaming Demons as Fiona herself. “God, no.” Since Grier wouldn’t talk about it, how the hell could Fiona know what he needed? No. Jez would stay. Grier would stay. And they would damned well figure out what to do. “This is personal business, not club business. I can’t force you to stay any more than I could ever force you to leave. What happens now is between you and Grier.”

“You’re his wife.”

How well she knew, even if he didn’t seem to realize it right then. Until that moment, Fiona hadn’t realized how his not talking to her about this hurt. But that was the last thing she wanted anyone to know. She smiled to cover whatever else Jez might have seen on her face. “And I guess that makes you my mother-in-law.” She cocked her head. “You’ll have to start calling before you come over so I can tidy up.” Joking about it didn’t help much, but until she spoke to Grier, it was all she had.

Jez smiled and looked down. “Did he… say anything?”

“No. He went to bed. Then he got up this morning and decided he wanted to be a stay at home dad today.” And he’d probably be great at it because he was great at everything.

* * *

So far, the baby had turned into a vomit spewing devil. He’d been puked on, pissed on—the kid’s bodily functions had gone haywire—and now, she wouldn’t stop crying. His normally beautiful and well-dressed baby had gone rogue. The last thing he wanted to do was have to call Fiona home, but he didn’t know what else to do. He’d walked and bounced, rocked, sang, turned on the TV, given her a bath—normally happy time in the house—and still… fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

The doorbell rang and he yanked it open. All he could hope was that Fiona had some motherly intuition and had sent in reinforcements to help him out. At this point, as confused and upset as he was, he would’ve welcomed Jez.

Instead Sage walked inside. “Wow.” Of course, the place was a mess. The baby needed… stuff. And Grier could only manage to find the clothes, diapers, wipes, toys, blankets, but not so much to pick them up and put them away when they didn’t work to calm the baby. Also, Grier didn’t need Sage coming in laughing and judging.

“What are you doing here?”

Sage picked up a blanket, then the sleeper London had pissed on, then a diaper to toss at the trashcan. “Looks like I’m helping you.” He held out his free arm. “Give me the kid.”

“I’m not giving you my baby.” Although he’d failed, so there wasn’t much harm in letting Sage give it a try. “Seriously, what are you doing here?”