Troubles in Paradise (Paradise #3)(37)

“I never expected you to move to Cleveland with us,” Anna said. “But the job offer was too good to turn down. It’s the top job in my field in the whole country.”

“Anna, I get it. I’m proud of you. Floyd is proud of you.”

“Since I’m chasing my dream, you should too,” Anna said. “Give it a try down there. You have a lot of potential, Bake, and it’s gone untapped for a while now. Put Floyd in school, then follow your passion.”

“I’m supposed to be coaching,” Baker said. “Which pays approximately five dollars an hour. So I’ll need to find something else.”

“I believe in you,” Anna said. “You’re a hands-on, involved father, an eleven out of ten. Maybe I didn’t tell you that as much as I should have.”

You didn’t, Baker thought.

“You’re incredibly smart and you’re wonderful with people.”

“Not as wonderful as Cash…”

“Every bit as wonderful,” Anna said. “The two of you always claim to be polar opposites, but you do share similar strengths—and shining in social situations is one of them. You both have a magnetism. People gravitate toward you. All those mothers at Floyd’s school, for example. They love you.”

“Well, thanks,” Baker said. He was surprised at how this little bit of validation boosted his spirits. He’d assumed Anna left him because she thought he was a slacker, weak and useless, good for nothing except taking care of their child, a job that she felt was beneath her.

“Just remember that this isn’t the end of the world,” she said. “Ischemic heart disease—now, that’s the end of the world.”

“You’re right,” Baker said. Anna saved lives every single day. Losing a villa that wasn’t his to begin with fell into the no-big-deal category.

“I’m getting an absurd signing bonus at this new job,” Anna said. “I’ll wire you half in the morning. Buy a Jeep. And rent a place, something comfortable.”

“Oh, Anna, I can’t—”

“Sure you can,” she said. “You helped me get where I am. You were the wind beneath my wings.” She cracked up in a way that was very unlike her. “And, yes, I have just had a glass of wine.” She sighed. “Kiss Floyd for me.”



The next morning, there is a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in Baker’s bank account.

The wind beneath her wings, he thinks. Hot diggity dog.

His first order of business is to buy a Jeep. Why not ask right there at the Westin? They have a rental-car concern that must have turnover. And yes, sir—he scores a 2017 four-door soft-top bluebird-colored Jeep Wrangler with 1,200 miles on the odometer for half its original price.

Next up is getting Floyd settled in school. Floyd had loved the Gifft Hill School when they’d visited and Maia was there to show him around, but this, of course, is different. This is for real. Floyd is now the new kid; he doesn’t know a soul, and it’s the middle of the school year.

Floyd takes getting ready in stride. He protests about the shower but submits and then eats four bites of Cheerios. (They have been eating like paupers. Baker bought Cheerios and milk, a carton of OJ, a loaf of white bread, a jar of peanut butter, a package of hot dogs, and a twenty-four-pack of ramen noodles at St. John Market, and even those low-end groceries had cost him thirty-five dollars. It has been a week in his life that he’s not anxious to repeat.)

When Baker pulls the Jeep into the parking lot of Gifft Hill with the other parents, he feels nervous. “It’s going to be fine, buddy,” Baker says. “You’ve already met your teacher. She knows you’re smart, and you’re going to meet new kids.”

“I know,” Floyd says. He has his lunch box with the peanut butter sandwich that Baker made that morning in their hotel room.

A rental, he needs to find a rental—and a real job.

Being with Ayers was Baker’s primary motivation in moving down to St. John, but he has to push thoughts of her away for now. Food, clothing, shelter—then love. He called her; she didn’t answer, but she sent a text: I’ve come down with something. It’s bad and I wouldn’t want you or Floyd to catch it. I’ll call you when I’m better. Frankly, this was a relief; it bought him some time. He assumes she knows what happened from talking to Cash or Maia. As soon as Baker gets settled, he’s going to swing by La Tapa and see her. He’ll ask her out to dinner. They’ll start fresh, as though the whole fraught way they met (at Rosie’s memorial reception, where Baker lied about who he was) and their bizarre first date (they had sex in a beach chair that ended when the chair collapsed) and their one night together (which took place only hours after Ayers had broken up with Mick and two days before she became engaged to Mick) never happened.

They need a clean slate. They’ll get to know each other gradually, without any heavy emotional baggage weighing them down. Everything will be aboveboard, out in the open, uncomplicated.

“Hey there!”

Baker and Floyd have just climbed out of their new Jeep when Baker sees a tall, rail-thin blond woman in expensive yoga clothes (Baker’s eyes land on the woman’s nipples completely by accident) walking toward them and smiling.

“You must be the new dad,” she says. “I’m Swan Seeley. My older son, Colton, is friends with Maia, and my little boy, Ryder, is in kindergarten just like Floyd.” Swan bends over, hands on knees, and looks at Floyd. “Everyone has been waiting for you to get here, Floyd. There’s already a cubby with your name on it and a chair right next to my son Ryder at the blue table, which is where the cool kids sit.”