Unfinished Ex (Calloway Brothers, #2)(97)

“What it is, Mom?”

“Answer your door, Jaxon. Your father and I are freezing out here.”

How did news travel so quickly?

I open the door. Mom pulls me in for a hug. “My boy. Oh, what a situation you’re in. Two babies? Why didn’t you tell us? And what’s this nonsense about Nicky wanting you back? I wasn’t aware you were having trouble.”

“I’m confused. How did you find out? We weren’t telling anyone yet. Not until we told you, which was supposed to happen last night, but then, well, we just…” I walk into my living room and sit. “I screwed up. I kicked her out when she turned down a job at XTN. She said she did it for me, but all I saw was the past repeating itself. I called her old producer, and now he’s probably going to take her back to Oklahoma, and that scares the shit out of me, too, but I didn’t know what else to do.

And now I don’t know how to fix things.”

“So you didn’t see the eleven o’clock hour?” Dad asks.

“On XTN?”

He hands me the remote. “You DVR it, right? It was near the end.”

Heisman settles next to me as I forward through.

“Stop there,” Mom says. “It was right after that.”

I sit glued to the TV while Nicky announces her pregnancy to the world, along with a plea for me to take her back.

“Holy crap.” I look at Mom and Dad. “A hundred bucks says that Barry guy fired her on the spot after that.”

“Now that’s what I call a grand gesture,” Mom says. “It takes a lot of courage to admit when we’ve done something wrong. To admit it to millions of people takes more guts than I’ve ever had.

She put it all on the line for you, Jaxon. Is it safe to assume you’re going to take her back?”

“Mom, I was always planning on it. I thought one of us would cave sooner or later. I guess I assumed it would be me.”

The front door opens. Tag and Addy come in.

“I don’t know what idiotic thing you did that would make her have to beg you to take her back on national TV,” Addy says, “but if you don’t marry that girl again, you’ll be the stupidest person on the planet.”

“I agree,” I say.

Everyone goes silent. “You do?” Mom asks.

“Guys, I’ve wanted to marry her again since the day she walked back into Calloway Creek.”

Addison claps. “How can we help?”

I laugh. “Addy, proposing to my ex-wife is something I need to do on my own. But thanks.”

“Oh, no. She went on TV and cut herself open for you. You have to do something equally as spectacular. Do you still have the ring?”

“No. But I know where it is.”

“You want to give her the same ring?” Tag asks. “Isn’t that bad luck or something?”

“We never should have been divorced, so yeah, I want her to have the same one.”

“It’s so romantic,” Addy says. “How will you do it? Where will you do it?” She turns to Tag.

“Call Maddie. Tell her he’ll need lots of flowers. I’ll call Ava, Regan, and Paige. They’ll want to be in on it. Oh, and you should get lights, Jaxon. It’s Christmastime. Twinkly lights. Please say you’ll do it tonight. It has to be tonight.”

“I don’t even know if she’ll come over,” I say.

“Then go to her.”

“You want me to take flowers and twinkly lights to her? At her parents’ house? How would that even work?”

Mom checks the time, obviously in on Addy’s excitement. “We have almost ten hours. That’s plenty of time to come up with something.”

Nerves take hold. I’m going to ask her to marry me. Again. The love of my fucking life.

And this time, it’s going to be forever.



~



People have caught on. A crowd has gathered. Phones are out and ready to record.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

I glance around the train station. White lights have been strung on every post and between every pillar. Roses are intertwined with the lights. Bundles of flowers line a pathway under the awning and over to where I’m waiting.

My family is doing a good job keeping onlookers back. I really don’t care if people record it. In fact, it might be fun to show our daughter one day, but I don’t want anyone to ruin it. Like a McQuaid for instance. But among the dozens of spectators, I don’t see one enemy in sight. And I have a feeling my big brother would take care of them if I did.

The train appears in the distance. My heart beats out of my chest. Suddenly, I’m terrified. What if she says no? What if she only wants to be together as partners and co-parents? We never talked about re-marriage. I’m making a hell of a lot of assumptions here.

I take my place among the flowers and lights. Addy tells everyone to shut up. Phones start recording. Brakes squeal as the train comes to a stop. People trickle out, their shoes scraping against the concrete pad. A crying baby gets comforted by his mother. A man emerges and a woman jumps into his arms. I wait with bated breath. Murmurs echo through the crowd. But the train pulls away.

And Nicky isn’t here.

Fuck.

Everyone knows there isn’t another train for an hour. And I know she’s never missed the eleven-p.m. train.