1. A Long Road

1

A LONG ROAD

F ive Years Later

“What are you doing here?” Michael asked his cousin and boss, Alex Marshall-Fierce. “Don’t you have a doctor’s appointment or something?”

His cousin shouldn’t be on the floor when she was due to have her third child in about a month or so. Only second pregnancy and he’d been shocked when he found out she was having another as she’d said no more after her twins, Cameron and Regan, were born almost five years ago.

He’d be the first to say that things don’t always go as planned when kids are involved though.

“Cade will be here in thirty minutes to take me,” Alex said. “I’ll be back after.”

“You still shouldn’t be on the floor,” he said. “Your husband is going to kick your butt if he finds you here.”

“I can handle my husband just fine. All I have to do is start to fake gag and he’ll go running.”

Michael laughed. He’d never met a man with such a weak stomach as Cade Fierce. “Is he going to change diapers this time around?”

“He is going to,” Alex said firmly but was grinning at the same time. “He’s the one that got me pregnant again.”

“Well,” he said. “I heard that it’s your fault. That you were the one on the pill.”

His cousin growled at him. “And I still got pregnant. I don’t know how the hell that happened. I’ve never missed one pill and don’t think I was on anything that would have countered it.”

Michael grimaced. “Cade joked that the kids got into your pill pack and pushed a few of them out on you.”

“Yeah, he says that to everyone. The worst part is, it might be true, but it’s not like I could go back in time to see if things were off.” She shrugged. “It is what it is. I think if I was sick this time around or carrying twins again, I’d be more upset. I’m breezing through this one.”

“Maybe it was the testosterone with the last pregnancy that caused it,” he said, laughing. “You don’t have that this time.”

“Good point.” Her hand landed on her belly. “Little Jordan has been a good girl.”

“Jolene is still laughing over the fact that you have yet another name that doesn’t distinguish the gender.”

“My little revenge on her,” Alex said.

“All anyone cares about is if the baby is healthy,” he said.

“That’s right,” Alex said, running her hand on his arm. “You got that. Even though it’s been a long road.”

“Don’t remind me,” he said. “And yes, Ty has always been healthy and a good kid with a happy nature.”

“Like his mother,” Alex said. “Electra is always happy.”

“One good thing he got from her. Thankfully not much more that I can see.”

“Don’t be mean,” Alex said.

“I’m being truthful. She isn’t a bad person, just not a responsible one. I guess I can be happy she didn’t fight me on custody too much.”

It only took Electra one month to realize being a full-time mother wasn’t for her and she gladly agreed to give him custody with her getting visitations.

The every other weekend Electra had her son back then was still more than his ex could handle, oftentimes calling him crying and asking him to stay with her to help out or come back earlier.

He did it for his son’s sake and nothing else.

“It all worked out in the end,” Alex said. “You’ve got yourself a wonderful little boy who loves hanging out with his cousins.”

“It’s nice they see each other at daycare,” he said. One of many costs that hit him hard, but he had no choice.

He’d moved back to his hometown when Alex and Cade wanted to try to start their family and he’d been hired as a supervisor. It was a good job and he enjoyed what he did.

But the growth of Marshall Printing to nationwide status and their product expansion, even having to move to a bigger facility, quickly had him as the Chief Operations Officer and Alex the CEO. She did more behind-the-scenes business oversight.

He was on the floor busting ass with his supervisors and making sure orders were met on time and the supervisors under him were getting staffing filled.

He had a nice big office in the back by Alex but rarely spent any time in there.

“Ty enjoys his cousins,” he said.

“Why are you worried?” Alex asked. “I see something going on behind your eyes.”

“Ty spent a few hours with his mother last night after daycare. When I picked him up he said he was hungry. It was seven, he should have eaten, but I know he can be fussy.”

“Did she not give him what he wants?” Alex asked. “That isn’t a bad thing. My kids want things that I’m not making and they still have to eat what was prepared.”

“It’s not that,” he said. “I thought it was and brushed it off, but when we got home, Ty said his mother didn’t have food in the house.”

Alex lifted her eyebrow. “No food at all? Or no snacks that a four-year-old likes?”

“I tried to get more information out of him. It’s hard. He said there was no milk or juice. Only water out of the tap. Not the end of the world.”

Electra still was a waitress. She did it full time, but that didn’t mean she had a lot of money. He knew that. Part of the reason he took custody and paid for everything. He never asked his ex to foot one bill for their son. But he did expect she would feed him when she had him.

“No,” Alex said. “He’s not going to get the same things at his mother’s as he will with his father.”

“Everything he has at her house I’ve bought and brought there. Some toys for him, clothes to keep even though we pack him a bag all the time. He’s going back this weekend and I’m going to have to find out what is going on.”

“That’s not an easy conversation to have, but if it’s about Ty it has to be done,” Alex said.

“Exactly. I’m not in the mood for tears or excuses. I’m not sure how much easier I can make things for her. Ty has a right to know his mother and spend time with her even though Electra cancels half the time or hands him off to her parents.”

“Her parents love their grandson,” Alex said.

“They do.” Electra’s parents weren’t in much of a better financial situation, but they cared for their only grandchild. They bought him gifts for birthdays and holidays and his son never said he was hungry when he came home from a weekend there.

“You’ll do the right thing,” Alex said. “You always do.”

“My parents would kick my butt if I didn’t,” he said.

“That’s right,” Alex said. She turned her head when she saw a movement in the glass offices. He turned too when Alex waved. “There is Kelly. She’s later than I thought and I know Cade is on his way. Crap.”

“I’ll deal with it,” he said. “What is she getting?”

“Samples that are in my office. Plus there are a few other items we just got in I need her to take back and figure out too. She’s working on designs for them and we are trying to get it right.”

“Got it,” he said. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Alex walked toward the offices to talk with one of Cade’s employees and he went over to tell his supervisor a few things and would meet them soon.

When he was walking back to the offices, he saw Kelly running her hand over Alex’s belly and laughing.

He found her attractive. Bubbly and fun.

He had fun and bubbly once and it ended up with him being a single father.

He’d sworn that off but found the more serious women he dated bored the shit out of him.

“Hi, Michael,” Kelly said. “Alex said you’re going to show me a few things?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind dealing with me.”

“I can handle anyone,” Kelly said, waving her hand. “I might be able to get you to smile today too. I just told Alex that is my goal.”

He held back a snort. “I’ve been known to smile once in a while.”

“Today is going to be one of those days then,” Kelly said. She put her hand out. “Should we bet on it?”

He reached his hand for hers, felt the heat smack him in the chest, and realized they’d never touched before. What the hell?!

“What’s the bet?” he asked. “I’ve got a lot of control.”

She pursed her lips adorably. A move that normally turned him off, but with her hand still in his he didn’t feel that.

“So do I,” she said. “I work for Cade. I need it.”

Alex laughed and turned to leave. “She’s got a point. Have fun, you two, playing with products.”

“I always have fun at work,” Kelly said. “What’s the use of a job if you don’t?”

“A paycheck,” he said. “Putting food on the table?”

“Boring,” she said, rolling her eyes. She released his hand and he almost wished she hadn’t.

“That’s me, the boring stable one.”

She squinted one eye at him. “Stable isn’t always a bad thing. I used to think it and now I don’t.”

He wasn’t sure what she meant by that but didn’t want to ask.

“So what is this bet?” he asked again. He could have just let the whole thing slide but decided not to. Maybe he didn’t want to be thought of as boring and stable all the time.

“I get you to smile or laugh.”

“So now it’s two things?” he asked. “Even harder.”

“I said or, not and. So one or another because it’s almost impossible to laugh without smiling.”

“You think?” he asked.

“I’m sure if anyone could do it, it’d be you. But back to the bet. I get you to laugh or smile and you have to buy me a drink. Not at Fierce. Anywhere but there.”

“And if I don’t smile or laugh?” he asked.

“Then I have to buy you a drink.”

“So regardless of the outcome of this bet, we are getting a drink?” he asked. “Like you’re trying to set up a date?”

Her smile fell. Maybe he was coming off like an ass, but it’s not like he changed his tone of voice. He was just clarifying things because too many times in the past few years he had to ask direct questions to find out what the hell was going on around him.

“If that idea appalls you so much, maybe you pick what happens if you win?”

He could do that but decided to go with the flow for once. “We can stick to your terms.”

“Sweet,” she said, her smile returning. “Already winning. Let’s go check out some products.”

He wasn’t sure about winning, but it sure didn’t feel like losing. At least that was an improvement.