AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Not that he had a thing for his brother’s wife. They lived above the bar, and she always walked through this way to leave for the theater. He had gotten to know her well—and the shoes she wore. Each pair had a distinct sound. It was usually easy to decipher what shoe she wore and the significance behind her choice. Red shoes today meant something important was happening. Her nervousness was a big clue, too.
“Thank you, Corey.” She swiped a tender hand over the side of her head. Not quite touching but as if she were smoothing an unruly strand away. Not that there was a strand out of place.
“What’s going on? You okay?”
“Lunch with my mother.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
Things made a lot more sense. Corey had met the woman when Ricky and Jezebelle got together two months ago. She tried to break up their relationship. She tried to steal the bar right out of their hands. She acted like he was an imbecile and would fall for her tricks. Nobody messed with his big brother—except for him. Corey was not a fan of the woman. She was only out for one thing: herself. While she was slowly warming to Ricky, she still made Jezebelle feel like she wasn’t good enough to live her life the way she wanted. A person could pretend to change and then revert right back to the way they were.
He’d done it too many times to count. Decided now was the time to quit drugs, made that hard choice, and then a few days later, he was getting high once again. It took substantial work to change. Sometimes, it could be done, and sometimes nothing but failure glared in the mirror.
But hehadchanged. He stuck to it and had been clean for more than a year. He had no plans to regress into his old life ever again.
“You don’t need to dress to impress. You’re gorgeous and wonderful the way you are.”
Jezebelle let out a timid laugh. “You sound so much like Brick. I can’t help it. Seeing her always gives me anxiety, especially when it’s the two of us.”
“I got this covered. Ricky can go with you.”
“I wish. She requested I come alone.” Jezebelle rolled her eyes. Then she leaned closer and reached across the bar to rub Amelie’s back. “How’s my darling niece?”
“Teething, I think. I can’t see anything popping up yet, but she had a rough night last night.”
Corey would say he managed about three hours of sleep. Amelie kept waking up every hour or so crying as if the world were ending. No doubt she’d sleep the day away in his arms, especially rocking her back and forth as he was. It was the only thing that helped calm her last night—constant rocking. Every time he tried to lay her back down, she would wake up as if the devil himself had touched her shoulder.
“Oh, poor baby.” Jezebelle made a pouty face as she touched Amelie one more time. “I guess it’s about time for that to happen. I can’t wait to see her cute little teeth popping up.”
Not only had he been devouring every baby book on the planet so he did this fatherhood thing correctly, so had Ricky and Jezebelle. The moment Amelie walked into his life, not only had he stepped up to the challenge, his brother and sister-in-law had been by his side every step of the way. Support he desperately needed because at times he felt like he was drowning in the chaos of his so-called life.
“Yeah, I guess it is. I have to swing by the pharmacy and buy some of that teething gel to help with the pain.”
He hoped it helped because he didn’t want to go through another terrible night like he had last night. He was running on fumes right now.
Jezebelle frowned. “Well, keep me updated. Hopefully, the gel works.”
Hopefully? Why wouldn’t it? It had to be her teething. She was close to that age.
Well, that he knew of. He didn’t know how old she was. Or when her birthday was.
Or hell, even who her mother was.
Two months ago she had landed in his bar with a simple note that her mother couldn’t handle raising her and that he’d do a much better job. So far, he’d say he wasn’t failing at it, but he also wasn’t excelling at it. He’d yet to bring her to the doctor for a checkup, which he knew he should be doing. But how could he without a birth certificate? Without knowing her exact age. Without knowing where she was born and if there were complications.
He was so in over his head and he didn’t know how to climb out of the hole he’d fallen through. All he wanted to do was what was best for his daughter, and as much as he wanted to think he was doing right by her, he wasn’t.
After putting their heads together, they guessed her to be about three months old, which put her at about five months old now. That’s when teething generally started, at least, according to the book he bought.
“Will do. Good luck with your mother. You got this.”
Jezebelle said good-bye and left. He went back to his task, worried Amelie’s behavior last night wasn’t just teething. He had taken her temperature. No fever. Besides being unable to sleep and crying, she was acting normal. Took her bottles like a champ. It had to be teething.
He looked toward the door when the small bell above dinged a person had entered.
He froze, his breath hitching in his throat. Because the woman walking through the door had the face of an angel. Long dark-brown hair, beautiful hazel eyes. Pink kissable lips.
Okay, maybe not an angel, but a devil in disguise. Because those plump, pretty lips were begging to be kissed.
