Page 16 of Fierce-Jax (Fierce Matchmaking #18)

PLANS CHANGE

“ I ’m glad this worked out,” Jax said on Monday.

“Me too,” Dillion said. They’d pulled into the parking lot of another restaurant for date number two.

He knew last Friday would have been too soon for a second date. The weekend would be with her daughter.

But they did text a few times and she suggested today.

He just hoped he had the same amount of bodily control as he had when he left the restaurant on Thursday.

Watching her eat that dessert made it hard—pun intended—for him to get out of his chair.

And when she acted as if she wanted a kiss in the parking lot, he told himself that a hug was all he had the restraint for.

It was bad enough that he was up all night tossing and turning until he had to relieve the pressure himself.

Didn’t make him sleep any better though.

“How was your day?” he asked.

“Good,” she said. They walked in and he held his fingers up for two when the hostess looked over the heads of a group of people in line to see them. The hostess ushered them ahead and seated them quickly. “Are we going to play the awkward game again?”

“No,” he said. “I wanted to wait until we sat down,” he said. “But I wanted to know how your day went.”

“Better,” she said, smiling. “After I talked to Gianna’s Pre-K teacher this afternoon.”

“Oh no,” he said. “Problems?”

“You don’t want to hear this,” she said. “I’m not even sure why I brought it up.”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to,” he said. “Seriously. I do like kids. You know that.”

“I do,” she said. “Which I have to say has been hard for me. At my age, it’s fifty-fifty if I have a kid or have been divorced, but not everyone enjoys having to worry about fighting for attention or dealing with exes.”

“So you’re divorced?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “I was never married. And I know we touched on this briefly. I’ll swing back to it in a minute if you don’t mind.”

“You lead the conversation,” he said.

They got their drinks and placed their food orders. Going to dinner wasn’t a big deal to him, but it put a limit on the night.

“Thanks,” she said. “You’re from the area, right?”

“I am,” he said. “You?”

“I lived in Cary, but my parents moved just outside of Durham when I was in elementary school. I live in the same community as them now. It’s convenient.”

“As busy as your life is, you need that,” he said.

“I do,” she said. “I was doing my residency in Charlotte. I met Alec Cannon then. Dr. Alec Cannon. He was an ER doctor. He was five years older than me and we hit it off.”

“You probably had a lot in common,” he said.

“We did,” she said. “Or I thought so. I wouldn’t call him a nice guy.”

He frowned. “I hope he’s not like Roni’s ex.”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” she said, forcing out a smile. “He wasn’t a jerk or anything. He didn’t treat me badly. I’m just saying he wasn’t nice and friendly like you. Not to people he didn’t know. He didn’t talk a lot with anyone and kept to himself and it took time to get close to him.”

Jax nodded. “You got close,” he said. “I’m going to assume that is Gianna’s father?”

“He was,” she said. “We’d been dating about eight months and I found out I was pregnant. Trust me, it was unplanned.”

“I wouldn’t have thought it was,” he said. “Unless you’d been married and you said you weren’t.”

She laughed. “Even if I was married, it wasn’t in my plan to have a child until right about now. A few years into my career. Not that I thought I’d own a practice either.”

“Plans change,” he said.

“I’m willing to bet you knew what you were going to do all along,” she said.

“I had goals. I went to school for social work. Got my masters at the same time. So the four-five program.”

“Which would make you an easier hire right out of college,” she said.

“Yes. I worked my way up. I think my personality played a big role in it, but I knew the right people who were willing to take a risk on me at a young age. My superiors encouraged me to apply for this job when I wasn’t sure I was ready.”

“Someone believed in you,” she said. “Everyone needs that. And I can see that you do that with people you meet and think have potential.”

He did.

Always.

“I do,” he said. “No one knows what is going on in another person’s life. What is driving or influencing their decisions. Sometimes a kind word or friendly smile can make someone’s day without even knowing.”

“It can,” she said. “I can tell you more about that too. But I’ll go back to Alec. We were scared and nervous.”

“Scared?” he asked. “How old were you?”

“I had just turned twenty-eight,” she said.

“So he was thirty-three and scared to be a dad? A highly educated person. An adult. We aren’t talking about an eighteen-year-old with a minimum wage job living at home with his parents.”

She snorted. “See, you get that. My parents didn’t care for Alec all that much.

My father more than my mother. But I’m digressing here.

He had a lot of debt, which is normal after med school.

I didn’t. I said we’d be fine, but I’d need help in terms of time and care for the baby.

I never gave him a chance to bring up ending the pregnancy. It was never a thought in my mind.”

“Was it in his?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I didn’t give him the chance, as I said. And it was my choice, not his.”

Jax nodded. “As it should be,” he said. “You had to carry the child while you were doing your residency. If you thought you could do it, then he should be there to support you.”

“That was my feeling,” she said. “I didn’t ask for much from him. We had a good relationship. I felt if I could do it on my own, which I would have done if I had to, then he didn’t need to do all that much more than be a lending hand. I mean it’d be more than if I was on my own, right?”

“I hadn’t realized how independent you were,” he said.

“Is that a problem?” she asked.

“You’ve met my sister,” he said, laughing. “I’ve lived with Ms. Independence for years.”

“I can tell by the look on your face and the reaction to her ex that you didn’t always agree with her though.”

“No,” he said. “There were times she was too nice and didn’t fight back when I would have.”

Which was funny for a guy that normally didn’t fight back much.

He was better at guiding and instructing. If he couldn’t change something, then he accepted it.

He couldn’t do that with his sister’s situation though.

“She had more than one person to think about,” she said. “Like me. Alec and I moved in together. We were renting an apartment. We had childcare set up. I returned to work when Gianna was four weeks old.”

“Your choice or you had to?” he asked.

“I felt any more time off would put me behind in my residency. I was only in my second year when I had her. I knew I could still stay on track if I put the work in.”

“Stubborn,” he said, lifting an eyebrow.

“Very much so. You should know that,” she said, smirking.

“I already figured it out and don’t have a problem with it,” he said.

She nodded her head. “Things were hard with Alec and me. I think they are hard for any set of new parents. Then factor in our careers. But I thought we were making it work. I wasn’t even back one week when the police knocked on my door.”

His stomach sank into his socks.

“What happened?”

“Alec was shot and killed. Here I am this strong independent woman who can handle just about anything. Not much ruffles my feathers, works me up, or makes me squeamish and the words were said and everything went black. I just crumpled to the ground.”

“I imagine most would have reacted the same way. I’m so sorry, Dillion.” He reached over to lay his hand on hers.

“Thank you,” she said. “I don’t talk about this much, but I wanted you to know. It’s not like there is an ex in the picture or any drama like that. I think that is why I’m telling you.”

“Everyone has drama and even demons. You’ve been going through grief for years. A sudden loss is oftentimes worse than one that has been accumulating to an ending and it’s trying to find the time to cut your losses.”

“I think you’re right,” she said. “There is always more to every story, but for now, I wanted you to know that much.”

“Thank you for sharing it,” he said. “It had to be even harder for you to do this on your own being away from home.”

“I didn’t want to transfer or take much more time off,” she said. “I know that sounds horrible, but work kept me busy.”

“It helped you get through,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with survival mode.”

“It did. My parents were great. My mother moved to Charlotte and stayed with me until the end of my residency. She watched and cared for Gianna and me. I guess I needed someone to look out for me then too. Then I was lucky enough to get my fellowship at Duke. I lived with them for that year. I started to work shortly after and when my boss said he was retiring, I offered to buy the practice. I didn’t buy the building it was in and then it brings us to now. ”

“The condensed version of it,” he said. “That’s wonderfully supportive of your mother to move a few hours away with you. And that your father was just as supportive of it. I’m assuming your mother didn’t work.”

She laughed. “You don’t know who I am, do you?”

“Dr. Dillion Patrick,” he said. “Who are you supposed to be?”

“That’s who I am. I guess my father is who I’m talking about. Ever heard of Patrick Auto Group?”

He looked at the grin on her face. “Shit,” he said. “Dylan Patrick is your father?”

“He is,” she said. “Kind of full of himself naming his kid after him. If I were a boy, I’d be Dylan Jr. My mother at least talked him into spelling mine differently.”

“His is one of the biggest auto groups in North Carolina.”

“The biggest,” she said, laughing. “Just so you know. When you meet him, he’ll make sure you’re aware.”

That told him things were going well enough for him to get that far.

He smiled. “Good to know. Will he bust my balls about not driving one of the makes he sells?”

Jax had what he thought was a run-of-the-mill SUV. Nothing cheap but not a luxury brand like her father sold.

Multiple brands were part of the Patrick Auto Group.

“No,” she said. “He won’t. Doesn’t mean he might not try to sell you one.”

He laughed. “I’m pretty firm with that. I’m only interested in you, not what your father has. Not even what you have, just you as a person.”

If he hadn’t felt unsure of things before, he sure the hell did now.

She already had a higher earning potential than him.

Not something he ever put much thought into since he did pretty well himself.

But knowing about her family's worth was much more intimidating.

Could that be part of why she didn’t date much too?

That she didn’t know if someone would be after her for that?

“That’s good to know,” she said. “But if I thought any differently, we wouldn’t be having our second date.”