Read Have Baby, Need Beau Online

Authors: Rita Herron

Tags: #Romance, #Physicians, #Fiction, #Contemporary, #General

Have Baby, Need Beau (6 page)

So much for nobody finding out she and Seth had been together.

“Mimi, is it?”

“Er … no, not exactly.”

Alison plopped onto Mimi’s bright yellow U-shaped sofa with a paper bag, then pulled out bagels and coffee. “What does that mean?”

Mimi scratched her dog’s ears while she scanned the article. Some stranded guests had spent the night in a local school caféteria, others at churches, when they couldn’t find hotels. The reporter listed the couples’ names. At least he hadn’t identified her or Seth.

“Come on, you might as well tell me,” Alison said matter-of-factly. “Maybe I can help cushion things for Dad.”

“He’s going to freak and think I’m totally irresponsible, especially after I was so stupid with Joey.”

“Are you going to tell Hannah?” Alison sighed and stirred sugar into her coffee. Mimi left hers unsweetened and tore off a tiny piece of bagel for Wrangler, her pug, and another piece for Esmereldo, the stray cat she’d taken in the week before. “No, I don’t want Hannah to find out. Since she’s out of town, maybe she won’t see it.”

Alison studied her and Mimi squirmed. “Oh, my gosh. You actually slept with him, didn’t you?”

Mimi nodded miserably, the horror of what she’d done escalating. “It … it just happened. One minute I was comforting him over losing Hannah and he was talking to me about Joey, then he started looking at me funny, all hot and sexy and
different
, and I challenged him to dance because I didn’t think he would, and he did. And it was dark and he’s actually quite muscular under those suits, and the music was so romantic and he was so tender, exciting kind of tender, not like Joey, and he isn’t boring like I thought he’d be.”

Alison blew into her coffee. “Good Lord, Mimi.”

“I know.” Mimi moaned and folded her legs Indian-style on the couch. “It was because we were stranded, sharing those close quarters. We tried to get two rooms, honest.”

“I thought you didn’t even like Seth. Remember the things you said to Hannah when she was engaged to him? That she might be dreaming about sleeping with another man because Seth wasn’t the kind of man to elicit fantasies.”

“I know.” Mimi dropped her head forward into her hand. “But he was different last night. Way different.”

They sat silently, sipping their coffee. Alison tore a bagel in half and offered part of it to Mimi, but Mimi declined, her throat too full of disgust to swallow food.

“So are you two an item now?”

Mimi nearly spilled her coffee on Esmereldo. “No. We agreed it was a mistake. It won’t happen again.” She shuddered. “But it gets worse, Ali. Jake and Hannah were at the hotel.”

“Did they see you?”

“No, I ducked out a side door and Seth followed later.”

Alison sighed. “Good. Not that I don’t want you to be happy if you want Seth, sis, but it is kind of awkward since he and Hannah were almost married.”

“Don’t you think I know that? I still can’t believe I actually did the wild thing with him.”

Alison arched a brow, her mouth quirked sideways. “So it was wild, huh?”

Mimi grinned in spite of herself. “Wilder than I’d ever imagined.”

“Hmm. Then maybe you should go out with him and see where this thing goes. Maybe—”

“No, we’ve never dated each other’s boyfriends before.”

“Seth is an ex-boyfriend.”

“Ex or not, we’ve never done that and I don’t intend to start.” Mimi gestured toward the photograph. “Do you think anyone will recognize us? I mean, I do have my back to the camera, and you can’t really see Seth’s face that clearly.”

“You’re right. I recognized you because of the dress.”

Mimi felt glum again. “Yeah, that bridesmaid dress is pretty obvious.”

“But look on the bright side. Hannah’s out of town on her honeymoon and won’t be back until next week, so she won’t see the paper. By then, the news will be old.”

Mimi nodded. “Maybe Dad won’t read the paper, either.”

“Dad always reads the paper. He’s compulsive about checking his new ad for the week.”

“Great. He’ll probably knock on the door any minute.”

“Maybe he’ll be so busy at work he won’t have time. And I think he was meeting Mom for lunch.”

“What’s that all about?”

Alison shrugged. “I don’t know. I still can’t believe she came to the wedding.”

“I’m glad for Hannah’s sake, but it was a shock,” Mimi said, shifting restlessly. “Did you talk to her?”

“No.” Alison picked at a chipped fingernail, looking troubled. “At least, I tried not to. But she made it a point to catch me in the corner.”

“She tried to do the same to me, but I cracked a joke and escaped. What did she want?”

“You won’t believe it.”

“What?”

“She’s setting up a law practice here in Sugar Hill.”

Mimi’s heart raced. “She’s moving here permanently?”

Alison nodded and placed her empty coffee cup on the table. “Right down the street from your coffee shop.”

“I can’t believe it. Does she know you’re looking at renting the space adjoining mine?”

“Apparently so. She asked the real-estate agent about it, but Verna told her I’d already put it on hold. Then she looked at the space on the other side of you, but it was too big.”

“Thank heavens.”

Alison pulled at a loose string on her sweater. “You want to know the real clincher?”

“What?”

“She offered to lend me money to start my business.”

“Unbelievable.”

Alison began to pace. “I know. It’s not fair. She disappears from our lives for years, then suddenly waltzes home and wants to jump right back in as if nothing happened.”

The coffee curdled in Mimi’s stomach. Her mother had married their father because she’d been pregnant with Hannah, but their marriage had ended in disaster. What if… No, she wouldn’t think about the possibility. At least she had a few good memories of their mom, though. Alison had hardly any. “What did you tell her when she offered you the loan?”

“I told her she’d never been in my life before, and I didn’t need her now.”

Mimi rose from the sofa, gently put the cat on the floor and hugged Alison. “My sentiments exactly. We’ve got each other and Hannah and Dad and Grammy Rose. That’s all the family we need.” Her gaze fell to the newspaper and she sighed. She’d do anything for her family, anything to keep them from being hurt.

Even if that meant keeping her secret about Seth from Hannah and never seeing him again.

Chapter 6

«
^
»

S
eth had a bad feeling the entire way home. The feeling grew worse when he discovered his parents’ black Cadillac parked at the curb by his house. His anxiety magnified a hundredfold when his father climbed from the car, waving a newspaper with a color photo of him and Mimi entering an elevator in Magnolia Manor. A potted plant shielded most of his face, but his Harvard ring gleamed in the background. Mimi, with her wild auburn hair and that killer body, would have been recognizable anywhere. Especially wearing that hot-pink bridesmaid dress.

“What do you mean by this?” his father asked.

His mother gasped. “And what happened to your face? You look like you’ve been in a brawl.”

Seth rubbed a hand over the bruise around his eye, remembering the tumble with Mimi. He grinned in spite of himself. “I had a little fall. No big deal.”

“Please tell me you haven’t hooked up with that heathen Hartwell girl.” Mrs. Broadhurst fluttered a hand in front of her forehead as if she might faint at the appalling idea.

Seth’s temper flared. “She is not a heathen, Mother. Don’t be so dramatic.”

“My God, you have hooked up with her,” his father said in an accusing tone.

“Dating the other one was tolerable—at least she was a doctor,” his mother continued, “but after humiliating you in front of the whole town, how can you even consider seeing her sister? Why, the gossip has barely died down from the first debacle. Now you want to start another?”

“Thanks, Mom. I hope you’re not on the sunshine committee for the hospital. You really know how to make a person feel better.”

His father slapped the paper against his hand. “Have you considered what publicity like this might do to your reputation at the hospital?”

Seth gritted his teeth and pushed past his parents to open his front door. “I’m not worried about my reputation. And who I see is none of your concern. I’m an adult.”

“You certainly aren’t acting like one,” his mother said. “Not if you’re cavorting with women like
her
.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Seth asked, irritated when his parents followed him inside.

“So you
are
seeing her?”

“No. I…” Seth bit back the words, refusing to give them an explanation. “You don’t have to insult Mimi.”

“Why not? She’s always in the paper with her dad. That man’s the biggest spectacle in Sugar Hill,” his mother said.

“And she was dating that hoodlum from her father’s dealership. They might all be crooks.”

“Mimi was cleared,” Seth said. “She had no idea DeLito was a thief. She feels terrible about the whole episode.”

His mother waved her hand again. “I can’t believe you’re actually defending her.”

“I’m telling you the truth.” Seth folded his arms and faced them, his pulse hammering. “If Mimi is guilty of anything, it’s of being too trusting.”

His mother leaned against the sofa table, sending the crystal vase into a wobble. “She’s a hussy.”

“She is not.”

“Need I remind you she’s a waitress in a coffee shop,” Mr. Broadhurst said. “She’s simply not on your level.”

He and Mimi had certainly been on the same level the night before in bed, but he refused to be goaded. “Mimi’s not just a waitress, she manages the place,” Seth said. “And you two are snobs.”

His mother’s heels clicked as she stomped toward the door, her nose in the air, her head thrust back like an angry ostrich. “I don’t know what she did to you—probably put you under some kind of spell,” Mrs. Broadhurst said. “But one evening with her, and you’re not the same man. You’ve lost all respect for your family.”

She was right—he was a different man. A sexually sated, happy man who’d been in total ecstasy only hours after his former fiancée had married another man. All thanks to Mimi.

“Look, son,” Mr. Broadhurst said, “I know a man has needs. If you want … you know, sex, for God’s sake, at least find a woman who doesn’t flaunt her picture in the paper all the time like these Hartwells.”

Seth fisted his hands. “Mimi didn’t know about the picture,” he snapped. “She’s a nice girl.”

His father ignored Seth’s comment as he slammed the door behind him. Seth collapsed onto his gray leather sofa and glanced around his living room, irritation and worry burning through his veins. Mimi didn’t want anyone to know they’d been together.

He wondered if she’d seen the newspaper.

* * *

The Sugar Hill Café was fairly quiet, Mimi thought, save for her own occasional self-chatter. “Why did you sleep with Seth Broadhurst? You’re a fool, Mimi Hartwell. What if you do wind up…?”

She dumped a cup of cocoa into the rich batter and stirred vigorously. She’d already tried three different variations, but each had failed, and now she was obsessing about whether to add more peanut-butter chips or butterscotch.

Anything to help her forget that revealing newspaper photo. Better to obsess about a recipe than whether or not Hannah might have found out about her and Seth. Or whether she might turn up pregnant. Or whether Seth had seen the newspaper. Or whether Seth was comparing their lovemaking to the times he’d been with Hannah. Not that Hannah had mentioned their sex life.

The last thought had bulldozed into her mind and sent her to work an hour ago to keep busy. Even though she’d told herself it didn’t matter—she wasn’t competing with Hannah, and surely Seth was too much of a gentlemen to compare the sisters—she still couldn’t let the matter go. Besides, Hannah was happily married, and Mimi didn’t intend to sleep with Seth again or be with him in any way, shape or form. She wasn’t going to obsess about Hannah or Seth or their nonrelationship anymore. She would not even give the man a thought.

Except the rich chocolate did remind her of the dessert they’d shared in the hotel. The way he’d tasted all warm and sexy. She licked the spoon, savoring the sensation of chocolate batter on her tongue and remembering the hot way Seth had looked at her when he’d licked the whipped cream off her finger.

Furious with herself, Mimi emptied the batter into the baking pan, popped it into the oven and peeked from the kitchen. Except for Penny and Chris, the two teenagers who helped out on Saturdays, the coffee shop was empty. The young couple stood hunched together, laughing as they sipped café mochas, obviously in love. Simple for them. Not for her and Seth.

The bell chimed above the doorway, and her father walked in, carrying the Saturday paper under his arm. Mimi sighed and braced herself for his questions.

* * *

Normally Seth didn’t schedule appointments on Saturday, but one of the single parents from his divorce group had called, sounding troubled, so he’d told her to meet him at
one o’clock
. Anything to keep his mind off Mimi and the night before. And the way they’d parted.

He had a feeling Mimi wouldn’t call him if she discovered she was pregnant. She’d certainly acted as if it would be the last time she’d ever see him.

His methodical mind kicked in. On one level, the thought of not seeing Mimi again, or any of the Hartwells, seemed like a good idea. He needed to move on with his life. He had to live up to his position at the hospital, the expectations of his parents. He tapped his pen on the desk, thinking of the numerous lectures his father had given him. His father’s father had wiled away all the family money, so Seth’s dad had grown up near poverty. Intelligence, hard work and determination had been the key to his dad’s escape from a destitute life. Not wanting his son to suffer the same fate, he’d given Seth the finest education money could buy. Seth understood it was his duty not to let down his family. His intelligence had been a gift. And he wanted to use it to help others.

Other books

Legends by Deborah Smith
Big Money by John Dos Passos
Games Boys Play by Zoe X. Rider
Harsh Gods by Michelle Belanger
Come Sunday Morning by Terry E. Hill


readsbookonline.com Copyright 2016 - 2024