Page 40 of Falling for the Single Daddy

“Oh, right.” I take another sip of scalding black coffee. “And what else did she say?”

“She regrets not being there for Emery. She wants to look into joint custody.”

“Hmm,” I mutter. Or maybe it’s more of a growl. “That’s pretty goddamn interesting. What did you tell her?”

“I said I’d ask you about it.”

Maybe I’ve gone for too many years holding my tongue about his sister. Let this go too far. Let my guilt drive me. “Wes, have you ever known your sister to be manipulative?”

“I can’t choose sides, Gray. You know what.”

“I’m just asking you a question.”

He sighs. “She’s not perfect. I’ve never claimed that, and I never would.”

“But have you ever known her to go out of her way to be cruel? To purposefully hurt somebody just for the sake of it?”

Something flashes across his eyes. I’d bet money that he knows what I’m talking about and agrees with me. But it’s an understandably difficult situation for him to be in. They’refamily. “I can’t answer that,” he says. “I don’t think it’s fair of you to ask me.”

I almost snap at him. Wes is smarter than this. But he’s caught in one hell of a tricky spot. “Fine. Then I’ll tell you the truth. Sloane lied to you. I didn’t push Callie on Emery. I didn’t rub anything in Sloane’s face. Last night, Sloane found one of Callie’s ex-employers, a man who had harassed and bullied her and brought her to my house under a fake name.”

Wes’s instinct is to laugh, which drives me nuts.“What?”

“I know. It sounds made up. It sounds like a bad joke. But it’s not. I was there.”

“Callie told you it was this guy, did she?”

His tone is seriously starting to annoy me. He seems determined for Callie to be someone she isn’t, for her to fit into a neat box so that he doesn’t have to like her.

“No. I recognized him from his website. And Sloane bragged about it. She bragged about finding him on an online forum and concocting this scheme. Do you seriously think I’d make something like this up, Wes?”

He grits his teeth. He wants so badly to say yes. But it’s like I can see his mind working. I can see him cataloging all the times Sloane lied. Even if he refuses to tell me about them, there must be some. Because that’s just who she is. It’s not as if she’s going to change that magically and repress that part of her. Sheisa liar, plain and simple.

“Maybe she feels left out,” he says. “Threatened by Callie. She guessed something was going on between you two.”

“Guessed? I thought you said Irubbed it in her face?”

“Yeah, that’s how she guessed,” he says. “It was obvious, she said. She thinks you were trying to get revenge for her walking out.”

“I never wanted revenge,” I snap. “All I’ve ever wanted is for Emery to be okay. I know you know who your sister really is, Wes.”

“You can’t make me choose sides,” Wes says again, sounding so juvenile I want to snap at him.

I remember when we were kids, he brought me to his shed out back, showed me the large canvas he’d been working on, the pride on his face as he said,“Is it something, Gray? Is it good?”And I patted him on the shoulder and told him he was a genius. A dozen other memories attack me all at once. I can’t lose him, but I can’t go along with his delusions either.

“I don’t want anybody to choose,” I say. “But I won’t go along with her lies. Last night, she did a really sick thing. She tried to hurt an innocent woman just for the sake of it. There was no reason to do what she did, but she did it anyway.” When he hesitates, I say, “Hand to heart, do you think I’m making this up?”

He shakes his head slowly. “Sloane is complicated. When we were kids, some things happened to her, things you don’t know about. She didn’t have it easy. If she sometimes behaves in ways she shouldn’t, then she has her reasons. I’m not saying it excuses it; just explains it.”

“I accept that. But it doesn’t change the facts. She lied about last night.”

Wes takes a long sip of coffee. Finally, he says, “I think if you want her to back off, you should find a different nanny.”

My tone goes as cold as my blood. “What the fuck?”

“Even your reaction tells me finding another nanny is the right choice. It’s not a good long-term situation, being in a relationship with her.”

“We’re not in a relationship,” I snap. Maybe I’m trying to make one happen, even if I know I shouldn’t. “And Emery really likes her.”

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