Page 31 of Truth or More Truth (Throwback RomComs #3)

twenty-nine

. . .

“ M elissa?”

My heart does the Charleston in my chest when Bobby’s voice rumbles over the telephone line. I’d given up on hoping he’d call, so I wasn’t fully expecting to hear his voice when I answered. I press my hand over my racing heart as I sit cross-legged on my bed, where I’ve been reading a book.

“Hey, Bobby Joe.” Instead of teasing him with his nickname, I should be reprimanding him for not calling sooner. But it appears I can’t help myself when it comes to him.

“I apologize for not calling before now.” He sighs. “I should’ve called sooner, but I … there’s a lot to tell you, and …”

It’s funny to me that this man who negotiates for a living can’t figure out what to say to me.

I decide to help him out. “And you’re scared?”

He lets out a rueful chuckle. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“Newsflash.” I fling an arm out. “So am I. My last relationship didn’t pan out well, so I’m a little gun-shy here, too. Why don’t you just jump right in and tell me what I need to know about the secret life of Bobby Jacobs?”

I hear him suck in a deep breath before he blurts out, “I have a thirteen-year-old daughter.”

Now my heart stops, but only briefly. He has thrown me for a loop with this information, but based on how he interacted with Emily, I’m not surprised.

In fact, I’m surprised I didn’t see the signs.

How else would a grumpy, single, work-obsessed man know how to interact so easily with a little girl?

This also explains how he knows the lyrics to so many current pop songs.

“Her name is Kelli,” he adds, since I haven’t gathered my wits about me enough to speak. “And she’s amazing.” I can hear the smile in his voice.

I press my hand against my chest again, where I can feel my heart beating overtime. “I’m sure she is.”

I don’t doubt that statement. Bobby’s kid is probably awesome.

The question is whether I’m prepared to potentially be a step-mom to a teenager, if things progress with Bobby.

I know he’s not proposing marriage here, but now that I know there’s a kid involved, that drastically changes my vision of what our future might look like.

It also makes things more complicated in many ways—including us needing to be sure of what we’re doing and why, for the sake of his daughter if nobody else.

Bobby says, “I haven’t dated anyone seriously since Kelli’s mom and I divorced ten years ago.

I don’t know how dating as a single dad works, what you need to know, what you want to know.

Tell me what you want to know, and I won’t hold back.

I just don’t know the best place to start.

And tell me how you feel, if you’d like to. ”

After taking a deep breath, I begin, “I feel a bit blindsided, to be honest. My head is spinning. But if you’re worried that you having a child is going to make me run and not look back, I can put your mind at ease.

It might take me a while to get used to this new information about a half-grown daughter and an ex-wife, when I had no idea you had either of those things …

I mean those people … but that fact alone isn’t going to run me off. ”

Bobby blows out a long breath. “I’m happy to hear that.

I truly am sorry I didn’t tell you before.

I don’t tell many people about them for their safety, since I have such a high-profile job and there are a lot of people who don’t like me because of that job.

I was going to talk to you about Kelli and her mom on the way back to Chicago, but … ”

“Yeah, that didn’t happen. Will you tell me why?”

“Yes, but we need to go back a ways so I can explain everything leading up to me leaving Arkansas in the middle of the night. You ready for this?”

“Bring it on, B.S.” I burrow under my covers and make myself comfortable.

He laughs. “I promise there won’t be any B.S.

here. I met Nanette when I was in law school and she was in her last year of college to become a teacher.

She was a friend of a friend, and there was a mutual attraction.

We went out on one date and decided our life goals weren’t compatible—she wanted to stay in L.A.

and save the world through educating inner-city kids, and I wanted to fly all over the country helping athletes make as much money as possible, while also making as much money as possible myself. ”

I’m not sure I like “making as much money as possible” as one of Bobby’s life goals. Then again, he didn’t say that’s still his goal—just that it was fifteen or so years ago.

He continues, “Nanette wanted kids, and I couldn’t imagine myself as a parent.

I also wasn’t all that interested in dating anyone because I was so focused on school and work that I didn’t have the time or energy.

So we decided to just be friends. She and I spent a decent amount of time together with our other friends, and we engaged in harmless flirting.

Well, it was harmless until one night we both had a little too much to drink and one thing led to another, and nine months later, Kelli arrived.

“When Nanette told me she was pregnant, I asked her if she wanted to get married, because that’s what you did in the 70s.

I didn’t want her to have the stigma and struggle of being a single mom, and even though I hadn’t planned on being a father, I was determined to be there for my kid—to be the supportive and loving dad I didn’t have. ”

My heart is both swelling with pride for adult Bobby and breaking for little boy Bobby.

“Our marriage was … OK. We got along fine, but there was something missing. I was working long hours, and when I was home, I wanted to spend time with Kelli more than with Nanette. This might sound terrible, but I realized I loved Kelli with all of my being, and while I did love—and still do love—Nanette as a person and a friend, I didn’t also love her with all my being. ”

“That doesn’t sound terrible,” I say. “It sounds fairly normal. You didn’t marry out of love, but out of a sense of responsibility to both her and Kelli. There’s nothing wrong with that. Plenty of people marry for reasons other than love.”

“That’s true.” He sighs. “But it made me feel like a failure. Like I wasn’t coming through for Nanette like I should as her husband. I wanted her to have a partner who loved her with all his being, and I knew I could never be that man.”

My heart squeezes again. Our mutual friends are all correct—he’s a really good man.

“Nanette is the kind of woman who doesn’t let people bottle up their feelings for long, and she could tell I wasn’t happy, so she sat me down and we talked it out.

She admitted she felt similarly—that she loved me but she wasn’t ‘in love’ with me, either.

We took some time to figure out if that was going to be OK with both of us long term, and we decided it wasn’t, but we wanted the split to be amicable.

We’d seen too many couples in our circle go through nasty, contentious divorces, and we didn’t want that for us or for Kelli.

Even though she was only three, she would’ve felt the stress.

So we divorced as quickly and painlessly as possible, and we agreed to shared custody.

By that time, I had a full roster of clients and was traveling a lot.

We’d agreed that Nanette would get our house, and I initially bought a condo nearby.

Then once Kelli was in kindergarten, I built a house near her school.

Whenever I was in town, Kelli was with me most of the time, and she was with Nanette the rest of the time. ”

He’s saying all this in the past tense, which makes me wonder if that isn’t still the way things work for them.

“One weekend when Kelli was ten, she had a soccer tournament. It wasn’t technically my weekend with her, even though we didn’t usually follow the court guidelines on that.

But whenever I’m in town, I go to all of her games, so we all went together.

It didn’t get over until late, and I was driving us home.

We were driving on an unlit section of road when a drunk driver went right through a stop sign and T-boned us on the passenger side—Nanette’s side. ”

My hand shoots up to cover my mouth, and I think I might be sick. Is he about to tell me his ex-wife died in that accident? Is that why he had a panic attack after our near-miss with the deer?

He continues, “Kelli was sitting behind me, and we both had our seatbelts on. We were a little banged up but relatively okay. Nanette was in bad shape. I …,” Bobby gets a little choked up, “I thought she was dead.”

I heave a sigh of relief at the way he said that. He wouldn’t say he thought she was dead if she really was dead, right? “But she wasn’t?”

“No. Her right leg was broken in multiple places, as well as her right arm and a few of her ribs. She also had internal injuries to some of her organs along with a traumatic brain injury.”

My hand goes to my throat and tears fill my eyes. “Oh, Bobby.”

“It was bad, Melissa. We weren’t sure she was going to make it. It was touch and go for several weeks. And it took nearly a year for her to recover from all the injuries. She still walks with a limp—she always will—and lives with random pain flare-ups.”

“And her brain?”

“It healed over time, but she occasionally gets bad headaches. They had dissipated over the past six months or so, but then when I talked to Kelli before the wedding rehearsal, she told me her mom was having headaches again. I was worried, but not enough so anybody could tell other than Diego. Then when I got back to my room after the wedding, I had a message that they’d gone to the ER.

When I got in touch with them, I found out Nanette needed a procedure to drain fluid from her brain, and they were doing it the next day.

I packed my bag, hopped on the next flight out, and made it back here soon after the procedure was over. ”

Bobby’s story is not even in the same universe as what I thought might’ve happened that sent him flying out of Arkansas in the middle of the night.

“I’m so glad you got there,” I say. “Is she doing all right?”

“Yeah, the procedure went fine, and it has a fairly quick recovery time. She’s progressing as expected and should be released from the hospital tomorrow.”

“So are you staying with her and Kelli while she recovers?”

“After the accident, we sold both of our houses, and I bought a home with a decent-sized guest house on the property. Nanette lives in the guest house, and Kelli comes and goes as she pleases between the two homes. I’ll be keeping a close eye on Nanette over the next weeks and months, and I also hired a retired nurse to stay at the house with her as long as needed, which should hopefully only be a month or so.

Opal stayed with us most of that year after the accident, and she comes to help out and drive Kelli places when I’m out of town and Nanette isn’t feeling well. ”

“There’s a lot to think about from everything you’ve just told me.” And it has completely changed my view of who Bobby is—in a positive way.

“I know it’s a lot. This is why I haven’t dated.

I have too many responsibilities. I don’t have a lot of time or energy left over after work and family.

And for the record, Nanette is family. She always will be, regardless of whether either of us marry again.

She’s like a sister now.” He sighs. “I like you, Melissa, a lot. Those days with you were amazing and refreshing and … fantastic. But I don’t see how we can make things work between us.

I can’t leave California, and you just moved to Chicago to be close to your parents.

Long-distance relationships are hard, and I don’t want to start a relationship that I know can’t potentially end in marriage.

I don’t have the time or mental energy for anything else, as strange as that may sound.

“So it’s up to you. If you think moving to California to be with me isn’t possible in the future, we need to just stay friends.

I don’t want you to get hurt, and I don’t want Kelli to get hurt.

Because if she meets you, she’s going to fall in love with you, and I refuse to put my little girl’s heart on the line for a relationship that’s destined to fail. ”

The way Bobby loves his daughter is arguably the sexiest thing about him, and there’s a lot of competition for that status.

He continues, “But if you think this could go somewhere, if you’re not scared off by my family situation and you’re willing and able to potentially move someday, I’d like to give this a shot.

I don’t expect an answer right now. You probably need to think about it and talk it over with your friends or your mom or whoever you talk to.

Leslie and Wendy both know all of this, so you won’t be breaking any confidences if you tell them anything I told you.

I also don’t mind you telling your parents, if you want to. ”

“Okay, thanks. I do need to think about it and talk through it. Thanks for giving me that chance. And thank you for telling me all of this. I know it wasn’t easy, but I’m glad you trusted me with it all. That means a lot.”