Page 18 of Outlaw Heartstrings
Alba’s nostrils flare, and I can see that she’s stilldetermined to be weird to me. “Okay. Fine. But just not his forehead,” she says, eyeballing me in warning. She fishes a small notepad and pen out of her purse. “How about this?”
My eyes stay on the boy as I take the pad and start signing my name along with a short motivational note. From the protective way she braces his shoulders the whole time, I have a feeling this isn’t just some random cute little kid Alba is babysitting.
When I’m finished, I hand the autograph to the excited child.
He reads the note and clutches it to his chest like it’s his most valued possession. “Thank you, Mr. Raines.”
“You’re welcome, little man. And you can call me Easton.”
He grins at me before whisper-yelling at Alba. “Wow—this is the best day ever. I can’t believe I got Easton Raines’s autograph. Can you believe it?!”
“I can’t believe it, either,” she says with a pained smile and I can tell there are layers and layers of hidden meaning to the simple statement.
Jagger chatters on. “Can you stick this on my bedroom wall later when we get home?”
“Yeah, of course, Bud.”
When we get home…There. That confirms it.
That’s not just any little boy. He’sAlba’slittle boy.
He’s Alba’s son.
A whole bunch of questions rise into my mind at once.Who’s the father?Where’sthe father? Is he in the picture? Or did he have the nerve to leave Alba to raise this child on her own? Who, dammit? Who? Who is it?
Christopher Madison’s fuckface pops into my mind, alongside a singeing rage I’ve never felt before. Is this hiskid? I glance at Alba’s naked ring finger. Did Christopher abandon his kid?
I open my mouth, hoping to find out more about the whole situation. Hoping to find out if that asshole is still in Alba’s life. But I don’t know where to start. All I know is, none of the questions percolating in my brain would be appropriate to ask in a child’s presence.
So I just stare as Alba quickly turns and hustles the little boy away.
9
ALBA
Back to waitressing at my shitty restaurant job. The one with the skeezy boss. Though thankfully, Mr. Drummond is busy in the back office today and not ogling me in my awful uniform.
I’m on the daytime shift. I fly around the room, taking orders, refilling drinks, handling customer complaints and smiling like I mean it the whole time.
Jules gives me a sympathetic smile from where she’s welcoming patrons at the hostess stand. That little smile reminds me to look for the silver lining in this situation. The upside of being so busy at the moment is that I don’t have time to hyperventilate in the bathroom over what happened with Easton at the library yesterday.
I swoop between tables, platters of steaming food balanced on my palms. I try to avoid eye contact with the woman who has already made me return two dishes to the kitchen for her.
But on the other side of the restaurant, there’s a familiar face calling out, “Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo, Alba!” and waving herarms like an air traffic controller. I have no choice but to head toward her with a smile.
“Yes, hi? How can I help you all?” I say to Emmeline Madison, with as much pleasantness as I can muster.
My ex-boyfriend’s current wife turns toward their preschool-aged child. “Tell the nice lady what you want, Rebecca.”
Rebecca picks up her plasticized menu and starts slowly sounding out the words. “I wantex…tra spi…see chee...darcheese sticks!” She jabs each word with her little finger as she reads.
The mother breaks out into applause. “Such a smart girl! So proud of you! Little genius!” She turns toward her slimy husband who quickly looks away from peeping at my ass. “Aren’t we proud of her, Chris?”
“So proud,” my ex echoes listlessly, picking at the spinach in his teeth with a toothpick.
We briefly make eye contact. He rolls his eyes and looks away.
Instead of punching him in the throat like I want to, I turn my attention to his admittedly cute little girl with her blue eyes and her dark brown curls. “Those cheese sticks are really,reallyspicy,” I tell her kindly. “Do you think you’d like the regular cheese sticks instead?”
