Page 57 of Dirty Little Secret
I even pulled my cell out of my pocket and found Kane’s name on my contact list. My finger hovered over his number.
But then Taylor called out from the kitchen. “It’s ready, Zandy.”
“After breakfast,” I told myself, and then shoved the phone back into my pocket. “For sure, I’ll call him after I eat.”
Taylor had already sat down with her stack of pancakes, pouring syrup all over them. “Yum, sugary.” She looked at me as I walked by her to make my plate. “Hey, will you make me a big glass of chocolate milk, since you’re up?”
“Yeah.” I put a pancake on a plate for myself then made her some chocolate milk before going to sit down. My coffee still sat on the table. “Here you go.”
I put some syrup on my pancake, noticing that she was looking at my plate. “I made us three each, Zandy. You can have the other two.”
“I’m not really that hungry.” Mostly I wasn’t hungry for this sugar-laden food, but I didn’t want to tell her that. She’d gone through the trouble of making it, so I didn’t want to gripe or come off as ungrateful.
“Suit yourself.” She munched away on her pile of pancakes. “So, if you don’t do anything with Dr. Delicious today, then what are you gonna do with your day off?”
“Don’t call him that.” Jealousy shot through me so quickly that it surprised me. “And if he doesn’t want to do anything with me then I’m going to get on my computer and stay there until I’ve found a job.”
“I see.” She looked toward the sliding glass doors that led out to a patio. “I think I’ll have a day beside the pool, catching some sun and letting the guys ogle my bod. But you stay inside in front of a computer screen all day, Zandy.”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “You do that, Barbie. I’ve got better things to do than that.”
“You sure do.” She winked at me. “You’ve got to turn yourself into Holly Homemaker so you can win the heart of the good doctor and his son.”
“Our son,” I corrected her. “And there are worse things to turn myself into.”
She was just teasing me and I knew that. Taylor would never stand in my way of becoming what I wanted to be. She’d always been a good friend, but she was still a kid in many ways. She probably just didn’t understand why I would even want to take on the role of mommy to a son I’d given away minutes after he was born.
Thinking about Kane and his disapproval the other night at the club, I wasn’t sure why I wanted it either. Living up to Kane’s standards might not suit me at all. But for some reason, I wanted to at least try. Besides, my becoming a mom wasn’t about Kane, it was about Fox.
A knock on our door had us both looking up from out food. “Now who could that be?” I asked as I got up to answer it. Not that Taylor cared, but she was still in a short nighty that she’d worn to bed. I didn’t think she was dressed appropriately to open the door. “I’ll see who it is. You might want to get up and put on a robe, Taylor.”
Stuffing another forkful of pancakes into her mouth, she asked, “Why would I do that?”
Shaking my head, I went to the door and looked through the peephole. “Oh, my God.”
“Who is it?” she asked with a full mouth.
“My son.” I opened the door, a huge smile on my face. “Hey, Fox.”
His face was beet red, and sweat was making his dark hair cling to his face. “Hi, Mom. I came to see you.”
Stepping back, my smile slowly faded as I realized something was a little off. “Come in,” I said, looking out at the parking lot for his father, but seeing no one. “And where’s your dad?”
“Home.” He looked around at the living room. “Nice place.”
“Thank you.” I closed the door. “How did you get here? Your dad didn’t just drop you off and leave, did he?”
“No.” He looked at Taylor and the pancakes she was shoveling in her mouth. “Hi, I’m Fox.”
She nodded then swallowed her food before saying, “I’m Taylor. Nice to meet you, Fox. I’ve heard a lot about you. You want some pancakes and chocolate milk?”
I headed toward the kitchen to make him a place, certain he would want some too. “I’ll get you some. Take a seat, Fox.”
“Uh.” He stood still as he looked at Taylor’s nearly empty plate. “I can’t.”
“Sure you can,” Taylor said. “There’s plenty.”
Something inside of me clicked, and a little motherly instinct came out of my mouth, “So, if your dad wasn’t the one who dropped you off, who was it, Fox?”
