Page 49 of Knocked Up in Alaska

“It looks good on you.”

“You think?” She slipped it on, putting a layer of aged leather between roving eyes and underaged curves displayed too well in the tight red tank top. Ford felt his blood pressure level out. “It’s one of my favorites. My mom and I found it last fall in this cool little shop in Manhattan…” She trailed off and her smile faded. “That was a while ago.”

Mad complimented the jacket again—fucker did know the female mind—and then steered the conversation to Mia’s favorite things to do in New York. After the pervert took their orders, Mad turned the conversation to other places Mia had visited. Ford found himself in a painful thrall, watching expressions dance across her face, listening to her voice rise and fall, wishing he’d been there to see her take a surf lesson in Waikiki two summers ago, or ski her first black diamond run in Breckenridge when she was ten. These had probably been family vacations, but she avoided that aspect like a hiker avoiding boggy parts of a trail.

If he wasn’t functioning on five hours of sleep, fresh off serving as Lilah’s unscheduled labor coach, and the emotional wringer of…every fucking thing…he might have actually attempted to participate in the conversation, but his mind couldn’t seem to latch onto a viable entry point.

He got an opening during a lull just after the pervert cleared their plates and took his credit card. She looked over at him, rested her chin on her hands, and said, “Thanks for dinner.”

“You’re welcome. So, Mad’s going to take off now. I’ve reserved us a couple rooms at the Holiday Inn Express tonight, and I’ll bring you back here tomorrow morning.”

She offered him the faint smile again. “Why would we do that?”

His gut clenched, not a good sign, and Mad sent him a look full of warning, but he forged ahead, because, dammit, this was the only acceptable option. “Because you’re catching the six thirty flight to Seattle, connecting through Chicago, and then straight into Pittsburg. I’ll forward the e-tickets to your phone. Your mom will pick you up at the other end.”

“Sorry. No.”

“There’s no ‘no-ing’ this.” Because a headache took a hammer to his frontal lobe, he breathed deep, scrubbed the heels of his hands over his eyes, and then refocused on her. “Look, Mia, I don’t know what your plan was, but—”

“My plan,” she interrupted, utterly cool, “is to spend the summer in Captivity. I have a seat on Captivity Air flight 291 tomorrow at ten a.m. I’m booked at the campground. I have my own money. I’m all set.”

“No. No. No. You’re caught, okay? You ran away, you got caught, and now you have to go home. An unaccompanied minor can’t spend the summer in Captivity.”

“I’m not unaccompanied.” She pointed at him. “My birth father lives there.”

“Your family—the one you ran away from—lives in Pittsburg. You made your point with this stunt, I promise you. Now you have to go back. End of story. I’m the only reason your mom hasn’t already called the cops.”

She continued looking at him, an unreadable expression on her face. “My ‘point’ in coming here was to meet you. Get to know you. Maybe get to know me at the same time.”

“Your point was to send a fuck-you to your mom and dad. Not an entirely unearned fuck-you, I’m sure, but a fuck-you nonetheless.” He probably shouldn’t be saying fuck so much.

“No, that wasn’t my point.” She looked down at the table and smiled. “The fuck-you was just a little side benie. I’m sorry you’re not thrilled with the plan, but if you really expect to put me on a plane tomorrow, you’re going to have to fly all the way back to Pennsylvania with me. Otherwise, I’ll just change my ticket in Seattle and land right back on your doorstep.”

Mad’s I-told-you-so look was loud enough to shatter glass.

“That’s reckless and dangerous, and the fact that you don’t understand why it’s reckless and dangerous only underscores how reckless and dangerous it is. You, little girl, have a target on your back that you don’t even understand. What if some maniac—”

“Heyyy,” Mad interrupted his wild gesturing, “she’s come this far. Seems a shame not to visit the jewel of the Inner Passage before she goes home. You know”—he turned his smile on Mia—“as long as you square it with your mom, why not take some time to explore Captivity?” He turned back to Ford. “It’s small. Peaceful. Beautiful scenery, and trees, and whatnot. True, the wifi can be spotty. There are no IMAX theaters, or cute little shops like you find in SoHo, or fancy hotels like in Waikiki or Breckenridge, but at night you can stare up at our big ole sky and watch the stars. It’s so quiet, you can hear your own thoughts echoing in your head.”

All right. He got it. No need to hit him with a brick. Take Mia to Captivity and bore her to death. After a few days spent splitting her time between his place and The Goose, she’d be begging to fly home to civilization. Plus, if she wanted to take him up on Mad’s offer, that fucking genius had positioned it so she’d have to clear it with Jen, which gave him the ultimate win in the call-your-mom battle.

And yeah, even though he was already sort of terrified of her stubborn streak, that part of him that ached with the pain of missed opportunities every time the calendar turned to May jumped at the chance to spend time with her. Even a lousy week. It could be the start of something. Something that ended with him having a meaningful place in her life, or at least an avenue to provide open support.

Why should he have to forfeit that again? At seventeen, maybe the forfeit had made sense. At thirty-one, he ought to have more of say, and so should she. Especially since the whole “one family would be best for Mia” argument hadn’t held up, long-term. Feeling like nobody loved her enough to put her first—regardless of the unfortunate circumstances—was not best for Mia.

He looked across the table at her and nodded. “If it’s okay with your mom, it’s okay with me.”

Her smile dazzled like a thousand suns. She stood and pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I’ll call my mom.”

He watched her as she stepped out of the restaurant and into the bright lights of the terminal to make her call, his heart thudding in his chest. Jesus, he was going to be a daddy after all this time. Responsible for a young life. Maybe just for a week. Hell, maybe less. Based on how he’d done so far, the idea scared him down to the bones.

A memory of Lilah staring into her newborn’s face that afternoon floated into his mind. She’d looked awed, maybe a little overwhelmed by the beauty of her accomplishment, but scared? Not at all. She hadn’t looked the least bit scared. Maybe she’d share her secret with him, so he had half a chance of surviving this temporary parenthood.

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