Melanie strapped Mason securely in his car seat. It hadn’t taken long to give her statement to the officer a few minutes ago, since it was the same as Dawson’s. They’d also relayed their belief that this could be connected to the case in Mason Ridge. The officer had taken notes and then promised to connect to the sheriff’s office.
“It might be best to get out of Texas for a few days until this whole thing blows over,” Dawson said.
“I have to work tonight and I need this job.”
“I’m not sure I like the idea of you going back to work until we sort this out.” He moved to the driver’s side, so she handed him the keys.
She didn’t want to remind him of the fact that she’d had a life before last night that she needed to get back to, a safe life that didn’t include home invasions and arson.
“Do you think he’s here?” She glanced around. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach.
“Might be. Either way, we’re not taking the chance.”
Dawson snaked out of the parking lot and then hopped on and off the highway a couple of times, checking the rearview.
“Sprigs had to be involved with that fire, didn’t he? It’s too coincidental,” she said.
“Do you remember when the Sno-Kone building burned down?” Dawson asked.
“Yeah, I do. It was during one of the hottest summers, late July. They never caught the guy.”
“Dylan saw Sprigs watching from in between cars in the parking lot. He set the fire.” Dawson changed lanes.
“I remember specifically that they never caught the guy. Why didn’t Dylan go to the cops?”
He slanted a look at her and then returned his full attention to the stretch of highway in front of them.
“Right. With Dylan’s criminal history they wouldn’t have believed him,” she said, deflated.
“Or worse, they would’ve accused him of doing it instead.”
“Why would anyone report a crime they committed themselves?” The sheriff’s department needed a serious overhaul. She doubted Sheriff Brine would hold office much longer given his personal association with the Alcorns. The senior Alcorn might’ve been cleared of suspicion, although he had to have been covering, but his son was guilty. And he was going to do the prison time.
“People do crazy things and Dylan isn’t stupid,” Dawson said. “Which is why he didn’t get caught for most of the stuff he pulled.”
“I can’t believe how much he’s changed.”
Dawson quirked a glance at her.
“I’ve been in touch with a couple of the girls. They’ve been keeping me up-to-date,” she clarified.
“He straightened himself out in the military.” Dawson changed lanes again. “I’m guessing the attack on your parents’ house was a crime of opportunity and that means Sprigs or one of his people is watching you. The guy from last night most likely works for Sprigs. When he didn’t get the job done, Sprigs may have decided to step up and take care of it himself at the hotel.”
“Except these are just theories. We have no evidence and we can’t prove anything,” she said.
“True. Rest assured that I have every intention of ensuring your safety personally.” His tone left no room for doubt.
“No one knows where I live in Houston. I’ve kept my address private from everyone but my family, Lisa and Samantha. Those are the only people who can track me down,” she said.
“You’re going to have to open your circle a little wider, you know, now that everything’s changed.”
She didn’t respond. He was talking about himself and, most likely, his family.
“And I’ve been thinking about something else, too. I don’t want you to work. Not while Mason’s little and you have to sling drinks at some bar,” he said, matter-of-factly.
“Not a chance. I don’t want to depend on anyone else for a check.”
“We haven’t been off to a good start here and I’ll take responsibility for my part. However, I get a say in how my son’s brought up from here on out, and I don’t want his mother working in a bar. Period.”
Period? Did Dawson suddenly get to dictate her life? How would that work out for her? The idea of being home with Mason and not being exhausted all the time was serious nirvana to her, but not like this. Not when she’d have to watch the mailbox every month for a check from Dawson, or set her phone on alert to be notified if he made a deposit in her bank account. Just the thought of being completely dependent on someone else made a hot rash creep up her chest. She’d worked too hard for her independence.
“No can do. End of story,” she said a little too emphatically.
“I beg to differ.”
“You don’t get to step in and tell me how to run my life, Dawson.”
“I’m offering you an opportunity here. I thought you’d want to grab on to it. Why does it frustrate you? You said you wanted to spend more time with Mason.” That he sounded genuinely confused didn’t help matters.
“I do.”
“Then why are you being so stubborn?”
Is that what he thought? He didn’t have hordes of money stashed in a bank account somewhere. He worked for a living, and he’d started saving for his own ranch when he was a kid. No way would she take his savings away from him. He’d resent it if I did, a little voice in the back of her mind said. Owning his own ranch had been his dream since he was a little boy. And he’d been waking up early and driving into Dallas for a job at a major online retailer running logistics that he didn’t like for a very long time to make it come true. Even though his parents had more than enough money to fund any venture Dawson set his sights on, he was too proud to take their handout. Precisely the reason he should understand her position.
“It’s important for me to take care of us, and I’ve been doing a pretty darn good job of it so far,” she said.
“Just like that?” came out half hurt, half growl.
It was better for her to upset him now than to be the reason he had to abandon his future.
“Thank you, though. I do appreciate the thought. It’s just that I need to be able to take care of things on my own.”
“Like you have been by shutting me out?” he countered.
“I’m sorry about my decision up to this point when it comes to you and Mason. But my life is a different story. I make the calls. You’ll be involved with your son. I get that. And we’ll work out a decent schedule for visitation later.”
“Visitation?”
“Oh, I assumed you wanted to be part of Mason’s life. I totally understand if that’s not the case.” Was she off base?
“Try and keep me away.” His low timbre sent a different kind of shiver down her neck.
Was that a threat? She decided to let it slide. They were both stressed and that had their nerves on edge. Dawson wouldn’t stay mad at her for long. And she had his best interest at heart. He’d see that eventually.
In the meantime, this was going to be one long car trip. One hour down, four to go. Oh joy!
Mason had nodded off in the backseat, which meant that Ms. Waverly, the babysitter, was going to have an interesting time watching him tonight. Or, more likely, Melanie was going to have a tough time tomorrow considering he didn’t do so well when his schedule was off track. Toddlers craved routine.
But then, what if Sprigs figured out where she lived? Would he come for her? Mason could get hurt in the cross fire. Anxiety engulfed her like a wildfire.
“I’ve done everything I can to keep my information private, but what if he finds me in Houston?” She couldn’t keep panic from her voice.
“He won’t. And if he does, I’ll be there to stop him.”
“You can’t stay at my place forever. You have work to get back to. Your life is in Mason Ridge.”
“Let me worry about that,” he said. “Besides, every law enforcement agency is looking for him right now. You’re on high alert and he’s been getting away with his crimes for a long time because he’s not stupid.”
“He could hurt Mason to get back at me.” Her voice sounded small even to her. “Maybe I should call my parents and ask them to pick him up. He could go on the road with them for a little while.”
The idea of being separated from her son even for a short period knifed her heart, but she clamped down the pain. There was no way she’d risk her son’s safety just so she could see him every day.
“Let’s look at this logically. You could call your folks and have them take him on the road. If Sprigs is determined to get to you, then he could track them down. They’re older, unsuspecting—”
“I’d tell them what was going on, Dawson.”
“Fine. Even if they know what they’re getting into, that doesn’t mean they can keep him safer than we can, than I can. I don’t like the idea of being apart. Not when our son could be used against you.”
“You have a good argument,” she conceded. She’d be relieved if not for the fear settling over her. No matter how much this felt like a bad dream, this was real and it might not be going away any time soon.
“No one’s taking our son.” Dawson’s words, the determination in them, brought a wave of comfort over her fried nerves.
“You’re right,” she said. “I’m not going back to Mason Ridge and neither is Mason.”
“For now, I’ll agree to those terms. I’ll tell my family about my son as soon as we get better acquainted and then they’ll want to be part of his life, too.”
It shouldn’t wrench Melanie’s stomach that Mason would have so many more people in his life to love him. She couldn’t think of that without the selfish thought that meant she’d get so much less of him. No matter how she looked at it, there was no way she could or would deny his father or grandparents visitation.
However, the conversation with his mother might not go as smoothly as Dawson assumed. He didn’t have any idea what the woman had said to a newly pregnant Melanie that made her hightail it out of town.
Heck, Melanie had been so naive that for half of her pregnancy she’d expected Dawson to show up, thinking that surely his mother would’ve shared the news at some point. She hadn’t, so Melanie had kept up her end of the bargain. The way she’d read his mother’s threat was that she got to keep her son if she disappeared.
Over time, Melanie had let go of the fear his mother would follow through. The woman had only wanted Melanie to disappear.
Dawson would still be in the dark about his son if Melanie hadn’t gone to Mason Ridge. Even though she was terrified of the future and of the coming changes, she couldn’t regret that decision now.
Dawson knew.
All her cards were on the table for everyone to see, or soon would be. Didn’t that leave a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach? Having Dawson around played havoc with her mentally and physically. And she was already exhausted from both. The thought of bringing more people into the equation didn’t exactly calm her stress levels.
The rest of the drive was unsettling save for the fact that Mason slept most of the way. He’d barely coughed and she figured the reason he was sleeping so much was that his body was fighting the virus.
Getting home to her own apartment was the best part of her day.
The strong possibility that Sprigs was still near Mason Ridge made her even happier to be in Houston. In fact, she didn’t care what Dawson said, she had no plans to return to her hometown after all that had happened. Not until Sprigs was safely locked behind bars. Maybe not even then.
She didn’t care what Dawson thought about her plans, either. He could come to Houston for a visit to his son anytime he wanted to.
Even though it was inevitable, she didn’t want to negotiate with Dawson. She still remembered how broken he’d been when he lost his sister, because it was the same look that was on his face when he realized her son was his child, too.
Was his mother right? Would Dawson always hold her in contempt for bringing back those old hurts?
Was it somehow making it all worse that he found out about Mason this way? Heck if Melanie knew what the best path was anymore.
No relationship, no matter how strong or steeped in history, could survive that betrayal. She’d known that on some level when she made the deal with the devil in the first place. She’d been scared, hormonal and alone, and his mother had pounced on the opportunity to put Melanie in her place—a place below the Hill family. In Alice Hill’s opinion, Melanie had never been good enough for Dawson.
Seeing the hurt in his eyes—hurt she’d put there—Melanie couldn’t argue with the woman’s point.
* * *
MELANIE’S APARTMENT MIGHT lack in square footage but it made up for it in charm. The place was all her, and Dawson didn’t want to instantly feel at home there even though he did.
The living area was open to the kitchen with a large pass-through in between. She’d placed a couple of beige bar stools there. A couch and a pair of chairs flanked the fireplace. The wood mantel had several candid pictures of her and Mason. Dawson could see the age progression in the photos and part of him wondered who’d taken the shots. Jealousy roared through him at the thought of another man being around his son. And Melanie. Touching Melanie.
Okay, fine. He didn’t like the idea of another man’s hands on Melanie, but she wasn’t exactly territory he had the right to claim no matter how possessive he felt. Seeing his son in her arms didn’t help with that particular emotion and Dawson figured he needed to get used to all this. She wasn’t going away. He wasn’t going away. And there could be a man in her life...no... Dawson couldn’t even go there in thought.
No other man got to spend more time with his son than him. Or with Melanie, a little voice inside his head said. Dawson would like to quash that cursed little voice, too. He didn’t need to have feelings for her, especially since he was already jealous thinking of a make-believe guy spending time with her and Mason.
Dawson needed to sort out his crazy emotions and come up with a plan for making this arrangement work. If not for his logistics job in Dallas, he’d consider relocating to Houston to be closer to his son. Then again, he could always find another job once the dust settled.
How would Melanie react? That’s where the confusion began. It wasn’t the fact that he’d had a son with Melanie that threw Dawson. It was that she didn’t trust him no matter how well she knew him—and Melanie knew him better than anyone else. Then there was the simple fact that she was the one who’d kept his child from him and she looked at him suspiciously anyway.
Forget that he’d been naive enough to think they’d had a strong bond as kids. A spark had ignited when they’d started a fling, wasn’t that what she’d called it before she left?
He’d been confused, hurt when she’d pushed him away before, and it made even less sense now. He was, after all, the father of their child and trying to help.
“Would you mind changing Mason’s diaper while I get his dinner ready?” she asked.
“Got it.” Dawson started toward the little tyke. He ran down the hall, squealing in delight. What a different picture from last night.
After completing the task, he returned. He leaned his hip against the kitchen counter, essentially blocking her in. “How about I watch Mason tonight while you work?”
“You’re not serious. And I need to feed him so I can get ready.”
“Oh, but I am. Give Ms. Whoever the night off. I’m here. I’ll just be fumbling around waiting for you otherwise.”
“Are you kidding me? You barely learned how to change a diaper today. It’s too much, too soon.”
There she was, not trusting him again and it hurt more than he cared to acknowledge. “I can take care of my own son.”
“All I’m saying is give it more time.”
“You’ll save money this way. You’ll be at work with a lot of people around you. Sprigs doesn’t know where you live, but we can’t be too cautious, not after what happened at the hotel.” Even she couldn’t argue his logic there. “How old is the babysitter?”
“She’s old. And you have a point. I don’t want to put her at risk unnecessarily.”
Capitalizing on his good fortune, he added, “You can write down his evening routine. I’ll follow it to the letter.”
She stood there for a long moment, contemplating, tapping her toe on the tile. She had that look on her face, the one that said he was wearing her down. Time to be quiet and let her decide. The longer she took to make up her mind, the better for him. At least some things hadn’t changed about her.
“Okay. You win.” She jotted down a list with a satisfied little smirk, which he didn’t quite understand. “It’s easier to bathe Mason in the sink than in the tub.”
“Got it.” He took the list.
“Are you sure?”
“I said I was good to go,” he said.
“Okay. You have my number. Call if you have any questions. Anything comes up and I can be home in twenty minutes if needed.”
“We’ll be fine. Besides, I have this—” he held up his cell “—if I need you.”
“That reminds me. I haven’t charged my phone for the past twenty-four hours. No way do I have battery left,” she said.
“Where’s the charger? I’ll plug it in while you get ready for work.”
“Thanks. That’s really helpful.” She looked surprised.
“We can get along when we try, Melanie.” He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. They’d made progress in the past fifteen minutes toward him not being so angry and her actually giving him real responsibility with Mason. Dawson was going to need to figure out how to put the past behind him if he was going to give his son the life he deserved. And Mason deserved for his parents to work together on his behalf. “I’m sorry I said that.”
“It’s fine.” Her chin came up defiantly. “You’re right. We’re both adults.”
“I’m working on it.” He tried to make a joke to lighten the mood.
“I hope we can make peace for Mason’s sake,” she said before disappearing to get ready for work.
That was exactly what he intended to do. He made himself comfortable on the floor, playing cars with Mason.
When Melanie stepped in the room after getting dressed, Dawson also regretted staying home to watch the baby rather than sit at the bar and watch over her.
The jeans she wore fit her like a second set of skin and she had the curves to prove it. Her white blouse over a black bra showed just enough lace to get Dawson’s imagination going. Her breasts, though covered, were fuller than he remembered. She had more curves, and his body betrayed him by instantly reacting to her beauty.
With her shiny hair long and loose around her shoulders, he almost decided it was a good time to revisit his earlier argument about her not working at all.
“Ma-ma.” Mason bolted across the room toward her.
The blouse she was wearing was buttoned up and Dawson figured that was for his and Mason’s benefit. Imagining her shirt opened a little more wasn’t a good idea.
“You look fantastic, Melanie,” he said, and his voice was deeper than he’d intended.