What Makes A Father. Teresa Southwick

table. “Look, Annie, that wasn’t my finest hour. I admit it, but—”

      “There’s no but,” she snapped. “At the worst time in my life you walked out on me. That doesn’t deserve a but.”

      “No one feels worse about that than me.” The jerk held out his hand, a pleading gesture. “The thought of being a father freaked me out, okay? Two at once is a lot.”

      “Yeah, tell me about it.” Her tone dripped sarcasm.

      “You were distracted and I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to be there for me. For us. But I’ve had time to think. I miss you. I can’t forget you.”

      Mason could understand that. Annie was unforgettable and this idiot had voluntarily walked out on her. The last thing he should get was a do-over.

      Fortunately she appeared unmoved by his words. “Honestly, I haven’t had time to think about you at all, what with two infants to take care of. The fact is, you never cross my mind. In case that’s not clear enough, there is not a snowball’s chance in hell I would ever consider taking you back. You abandoned me once. I won’t give you a chance to do that to me again.”

      “I wish you’d reconsider. We were good together. At home and at work.”

      Dwayne must be desperate, Mason thought. After what she’d just said it was clear she’d made up her mind.

      Annie’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, now I get it. And the verdict is official. You’re a conniving weasel dog and I don’t ever want to see you again.”

      “Annie, please. I really need this—”

      “Oh? I needed you,” she said. “And you couldn’t get out of here fast enough then. I’d like you to do that now. Just go.”

      “Annie—”

      Mason had seen enough. He moved next to her. “The lady asked you to leave.”

      Dwayne’s ingratiating performance disappeared. “What are you going to do? Throw me out?”

      “If I have to.” Mason stared at him and knew the exact moment the moron realized it was over.

      “Your loss, Annie. Remember that.”

      “In my opinion, I dodged a bullet,” she snapped back.

      Without another word, the creep left and slammed the door. Hard.

      Mason and Annie looked at each other and said at the same time, “The babies.”

      They hurried down the hall to check on them but Charlie and Sarah were still sleeping soundly. In unison, they heaved a sigh of parental relief then quietly backed out of the room and returned to the kitchen.

      She met his gaze. “So, that happened.”

      “He’s determined. I’ll give him that.”

      “Yeah.” She closed her eyes for a moment, as if erasing any vision of Dwayne from her mind. After letting out a long breath she said, “I could have called him much worse than a weasel dog.”

      “Me, too, but that was pretty descriptive.”

      “It was a compliment compared to what I was thinking. He’s lucky I didn’t throw something at him.”

      Mason studied her face and realized he had never seen her furious. The cleansing breath she’d taken hadn’t cleansed anything. There was more. “What else did he do? Besides leave you at the worst possible time.”

      She met his gaze. “The last thing he said before bailing on me was that raising some other guy’s brats wasn’t what he’d signed up for.”

      “Son of a bitch—” Mason felt the words like a body blow. He didn’t like the guy but Annie had at one time. He couldn’t imagine the scope of betrayal she’d experienced. Now he was furious, too. “Good thing you threw him out. I’d have tossed him over the railing.”

      Surprisingly, she laughed. “That’s a very satisfying image.”

      “What did he mean about working well together?”

      “He’s a graphic artist, too. It’s how we met, collaborating on a job.”

      So they had something in common, spoke each other’s language. “And when he said he needed this? Any idea what that was about?”

      “He’s employed by a rival firm. My guess is that they’re in competition for this big contract I’ve been working on. If I took him back, he’d have access to my team’s creative direction and could take steps to counter in their own presentation.”

      “So he wanted to steal from you,” he said, seething with anger.

      “That’s my guess.”

      “Prince of a guy. Just oozing integrity. Damn right you dodged a bullet.”

      “Wow,” she said. “Don’t sugarcoat it. Tell me how you really feel.”

      “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings.” That was completely sincere. He would never hurt her. Not deliberately. But he couldn’t hold this back. “I just have to ask. What the hell did you ever see in that guy?”

      Her hazel eyes turned more green than gold. It was a clue that he’d crossed a line. Her next words confirmed that he’d said something wrong.

      High color appeared on her cheeks. “It’s really easy to be on the outside looking in and draw conclusions. I’ve known you, what? Fifteen minutes? Yes, we share the babies and you’re their father. Calling them brats makes him lower than pond scum. But I get to say that. You don’t get a say about my personal life, especially for something that happened before I met you.”

      “Annie, I—”

      She held up a hand. “Now is not a good time to talk. I have another bag of stuff to bring inside. I’ll get it,” she said when he was about to offer. “I’m embarrassed by what just happened and taking it out on you. I need the exercise to shake off this unreasonable reaction.”

      Without another word, she walked out the door. Mason let her go even though every instinct was pushing him to go after her. But moments later he heard her cry out just before a scream of pain. He rushed outside and looked down. Annie was in a heap on the cement at the bottom of the stairs.