Page 5 of Single Mom's Christmas Wish

“So, let’s get back to Trevor. You said you’ve been having some trouble,” Cole says. “Disciplinary issues.”

“We’re trying to be there for him,” Reed replies. “But then there’s our company, the board of directors, and the stock market fluctuating like crazy these days. We have a lot on our plates, and we’re trying to figure out the best way to help Trevor, to make him feel less… lonely.”

I shake my head slowly. “You can’t hurry the pain away.”

“Excuse me?” Reed asks, his brow furrowed.

The subject strikes close to home for me. Maybe if I explain a little, they’ll take me seriously, and Archer won’t try so hard to make me feel uncomfortable. “I lost my parents in a train accident when I was six years old,” I tell them. “My grandma Sally took me in. She was a patient woman. I put her through a lot. I mean, I gave her plenty of grief before my own went away. It took time, almost a year, for me to finally understand and accept that I wasn’t going to see my mother and father again. But she stuck by my side through it all. On good days and bad days, she never wavered.

“I needed food, safety, and as much love as she could give me, and trust me, she gave me all of it. I needed a routine, an education, a circle of close friends. Day by day, my grandmother took care of me and my needs. She put up with my tantrums, my moments of anger and helplessness, and my constant freezing up. That’s why Trevor spends most of his time in his room, shut in and isolated; he’s frozen.”

“How do we unfreeze him?” Archer asks.

“He’s not a microwave dinner,” I reply with a shrug. “Each kid is different. That’s his coping mechanism. It should be enough as long as he knows you’re there for him. He just needs time, and then you’ll see a difference. He’ll come out of his room. He’ll start asking questions. Difficult questions.”

“Is that what you did?” Reed’s interest in me takes a profound level, and I’m not prepared for the intensity of his gaze when our eyes meet. My heart flutters. My stomach tightens ever so slightly.

“I wanted to understand death, dying, the whole thing. I was too little to wrap my head around it, but I was thankful that I had my grandma trying so hard to explain. Just seeing her try wasenough for me, anyway. Trevor needs time.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Cole tells the triplets. “You guys must’ve been really close to take such a leap.”

Archer chuckles. “Yeah, it was all mojitos and beach babes until the kid came along.”

“Really?” I ask with a cool grin.

He gets serious. It’s becoming an emotional roller coaster with this guy. You never know what you’re going to wind up. “No, not really. We’re running a Fortune 500 company, and we’re just inches away from a spot on the Forbes 50 list. We’ve got thousands of employees depending on us and about 3.5 million clients in California alone. We barely have time to sit down for dinner on the weekends, let alone care for a kid. But we do it because we love him and because we have to make sure he turns out all right.” He pauses, enjoying the moment. He can tell I’m flustered. Oh, he’s absolutely loving this, the ridiculously, annoyingly handsome jerk.

“Well, I stand corrected. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to head home.” I get up and give Cole a friendly nod. “Thanks for having me. Next Friday, it is. Just don’t change the room again.”

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. I knew you wouldn’t be able to handle it,” Archer says, clearly amused. The bulge in his pants speaks volumes, but as soon as he notices me looking down there, he smoothly puts one leg over the other and flashes me the spiciest grin. “I’ll give you points for bravery.”

“Keep ’em. Your ego’s too big for this room, anyway,” I reply and walk out.

What the hell just happened?

“Well, tonight was weird,” I mutter, heading for the stairs.

“Dakota, wait.”

A voice echoes behind me. Instantly, I stop and turn around. Reed walks over, tall as a fir tree—I couldn’t tell when he was sitting, but standing, he’s got me craning my neck.

“I have to apologize on behalf of my brother,” he says.

“Why? He’s a grown man.”

“True, but Maddox and I should’ve stepped in sooner. Archer has a way of speaking his mind without caring about how uncomfortable it makes others feel. It’s usually an excellent advantage in the boardroom, and his brutal, playful honesty is refreshing to most, but tonight, I felt like it was a bit over the top, even for him. We’re insanely stressed about this whole Trevor situation, so I do apologize.”

I offer a calm, sympathetic shrug. “It’s okay. It’s not like I wasn’t fanning the flames in there, too.”

“You’re an interesting woman, I’ll give you that,” he says, half-smiling, scanning me from head to toe again. “You definitely made tonight’s meeting a lot more enjoyable.”

“Glad to be of service, I guess,” I reply.

“Can we keep in touch?”

I stare at him for what feels like an eternity. My eyes widen. My brain comes to a sudden halt. “Keep in touch?”

“Yeah, let’s connect. We’re both single parents, we have a lot to talk about, and I’m not sure that a group setting is the bestway to go about it,” he says, then takes out his phone. “Let me give you my number. I’d love to pick your brain more about this whole dealing with grief thing where Trevor is concerned.”

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