The Baby Shift- Wyoming Read online

  “Mom, can I get three scoops? Since I didn’t have breakfast?” Nicky asked, standing on his knees and leaning on her shoulder to peer at the chalkboard behind her. On it were the flavors of the day, including specials that rotated every three weeks and the classic flavors the shop always kept in stock. Addie knew this from her research and was impressed. It must take ages to come up with those flavors, which meant that Andy was no doubt up at all hours of the night testing out different combinations.

  He’d always been a night owl, sneaking out of bed while she was asleep to study or problem solve. Addie, who was an early-to-bed, early-to-rise kind of person, had never understood his ability to pull all-nighters and spend days working on a particularly tricky set of problems, but it had clearly served him well. She could imagine—even now— him still sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night and tiptoeing to the kitchen down here, tinkering with different ingredients until the sun rose, and she coming in to bring him a cup of coffee.

  Stop that fantasy right now, she scolded herself as soon as she thought of it. The last thing she needed was for Andy to come in and see her cheeks pink with blush by the thought of him shirtless with his hands covered in sugar and vanilla.

  “Mom?” Nicky asked, and Addie turned back to him.

  “Sure honey, you can have three scoops. Just wait a—” she started, but then she heard them. Footsteps. Turning around, her eyes met with Andy’s.

  Chapter 3

  “Addie?” Andy asked, his voice betraying his incredulity. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be her. And yet he would know those chocolate brown eyes anywhere. They were practically burned into his soul at this point.

  “Yup, it’s me,” Addie said nervously, rising from the couch, her purse clutched tightly to her chest like a shield.

  “Mom! Who is this?” the little boy next to her asked. Andy stopped in his tracks, puzzled at the child’s presence. The kid looked familiar, though Andy couldn’t quite place him.

  “And who is this?” he asked, pointing at the kid.

  “Oh! Uh, Andy, this is my son Nicholas. Nicky, for short,” Addie said, her hand coming to rest on top of the child’s messy brown-haired head. “And Nicky,” she said, looking down at her son, “this is Andy. He’s an old friend of mine from back when I lived in Idaho.”

  “Idaho!” Nicky exclaimed. “That’s where I was conceived!”

  A nervous laugh escaped Addie’s mouth as the pink of her cheeks deepened, and Andy followed suit, feeling his cheeks heat more with every second he looked at her. God, she was even more beautiful than she had been ten years ago. How was that even possible?

  “Very cool,” he told Nicky, nodding solemnly. He continued his way to the couch, taking a seat in an armchair across from Nicky and Addie. He perched on the edge of the cushion, unable to relax. What the hell was Addie doing here? Now? After all this time?

  “So, uh, Cassidy said you came to see me? Do you want some ice cream, something to drink, maybe? We do coffee here, too,” Andy said, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans.

  “Ice cream! Yes!” Nicky said, bouncing up and down on his cushion excitedly. “Mom, can I have my ice cream now?” he asked, turning to Addie with saucer-wide eyes and a cute little pout on his lips.

  “Uh, sure, Nicky,” she said distractedly. “Is that okay?” she asked Andy hesitantly. “I promised him three scoops since he didn’t get breakfast before we left.”

  “Yeah! No prob. Come with me and choose your flavors, Nicky,” he said, motioning for the little kid to follow him to the counter. Nicky hopped off the sofa and dutifully did as he was told, skipping to the counter with quick feet.

  Andy laughed at the way the kid practically vibrated with energy as he stood in front of the display case, muttering the flavors under his breath while his eyes scanned the many gallons of ice cream in front of him.

  “I know there are a lot of flavors to choose from,” he said from behind the glass, scoop in hand. “What’s your usual go-to?”

  Nicky looked up at him. “I usually like mint chocolate chip or chocolate and peanut butter, but I like trying new things. There are just so many options!” he said, his eyes returning to the ice cream. He looked like the metaphorical kid in a candy shop.

  “Well, would you like a taste of some of them? To help you decide?” Andy asked.

  “I can do that?” Nicky asked in wonder.

  Andy laughed. “Yes. Try as many as you want.” He got out five spoons from the box of small tester spoons on the counter and waved a hand in front of him. “Try ‘em all if you want.”

  Ten minutes later, they returned to the couch with a coffee for Addie and three scoops of ice cream for Nicky. He’d chosen mango sticky rice, raspberry lemon cheesecake, and key lime pie. They were adventurous flavors for a kid his age, and Andy was impressed that he’d managed to pick flavors that all went together well. Most kids went for truly frightening combinations like vanilla sprinkle, Mayan chocolate, and banana cream pie. Nicky was the first kid Andy had ever met who seemed to actually understand flavor profiles.

  “Look, mom! Three scoops! And Andy said we didn’t have to pay for any of them!” Nicky said excitedly as he sat down by his mom. Andy saw Addie glance worriedly from her son back to Andy.

  “No, of course, we’re paying for them,” she said, reaching inside her purse, no doubt to retrieve her wallet.

  Andy shook it off, holding her cup of coffee out so she’d be forced to take that, rather than fishing her wallet out. “Please, I insist,” he said, taking a seat across from her. “After all, you came all the way here to see me at the crack of dawn. It’s the least I can do.”

  Andy thought he saw Addie mutter something under her breath that sounded like “wait till you hear why we’ve come,” but he couldn’t be sure.

  “So,” he said, leaning across the table, “What brings you to Wyoming?”

  Addie visibly gulped, her heart pounding as she took a sip of her coffee. She winced, and Andy immediately worried he’d messed it up. So much had changed about her in the last decade. She had shorter hair, a kid. Why wouldn’t she take her coffee differently now, too?

  “Cream and two sugars. That’s still how you like to drink it, right?” Andy asked, nodding his head at the cup.

  “Yeah. Thanks,” Addie said, blushing as she set the cup on the table between them. “You remembered.”

  Andy was tempted to tell her he’d never forgotten a single thing about her, but she might find that creepy, so he stayed mute.

  “We actually live in Wyoming now, me and Nicky,” Addie said, putting her arm around her son, who was engrossed in the cup of ice cream in his hands, swirling his spoon languidly through all three flavors, making rippled patterns in the scoops. “We live in Cheyenne. We made the trip to Casper for…well, for you, actually.”

  “For me? I…I don’t understand. Why? How did you even know I lived here?”

  And then Andy’s eyes happened to land on Nicky. Specifically, Nicky’s hair. Which was wavy and dark as his, a stray lock curling on his smooth, tan forehead. It was early summer, which meant the kid probably hadn’t seen much sun yet, but he was already nut brown. Much like Andy, whose skin darkened at the barest hint of sunshine. All of a sudden, it made sense.

  “Oh my god,” he said, looking from Addie to Nicky and back again. It couldn’t be true? Could it?

  “Is he…?” Andy whispered to Addie, not bothering to finish the sentence. He didn’t need to. Addie clearly understood what he was asking from the way her head was slowly nodding, her expression looking fearful.

  “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

  Chapter 4

  Andy had experienced plenty of setbacks in his life. In fact, for a while it had felt like his life was nothing but a series of setbacks, trials and tribulations that never seemed to let up or give him a chance to get his bearings and catch his breath. Those years had taught him a lot about staying in control of his emotions. He’d never really had reason to freak out bef
ore he met Addie. His life had been smooth sailing up until that point, but after their break-up, things had changed.

  Suddenly he understood why Addie needed yoga so badly. She’d told him early on in their relationship that without the benefits that deep breathing and meditation provided her, she was “a monster.” Andy had seen the effects the practice gave her firsthand, and he’d turned to it himself when life started going badly.

  Now, as a practiced yogi, he was able to stay calm no matter what happened. When he’d found out that his boss back in Idaho was a werewolf, seen the guy covered in fur with his claws deep into a stack of raw ribs, bringing back torturous memories of the break-up with Addie, he hadn’t freaked out. When the pipes in the ice cream shop froze over the previous winter, and he’d had to keep the heating on 24/7, resulting in astronomical electricity bills, he’d kept his shoulders back and his voice friendly through all the calls with plumbers, gas and electricity companies and local banks.

  But now, sitting across from his apparent son, a kid who had gone a decade of his life without a father, Andy realized that the reason he hadn’t reacted in any of those situations wasn’t because of some sense of calm he’d managed to cultivate in himself with regular sun salutations and deep breathing. It was because none of those situations had ever warranted a true freak-out. Unlike this one. Yoga was no help in this case. It didn’t dampen his anger one damn bit as he glared at the woman across from him.

  “Did you know he was mine the whole time?” he snapped at Addie, unable to contain the acid in his tone as he leaned against a refrigerator door. Addie had wisely realized that things were about to get ugly and had left Nicky with a puzzle and strict instructions not to touch anything but the puzzle and his ice cream while she and Andy went to “catch up.” Aka scream at each other from the comfort of the shop’s soundproofed, refrigerated kitchen.

  “Yes. I did. There…wasn’t anyone else, after you. So…wasn’t hard to figure out,” Addie said, rubbing her arm absentmindedly and avoiding his eyes as they raked over her.

  She looked good. Hell, she looked fantastic. Her russet brown hair fell to her shoulders now and was shot through with gold highlights that brought out the subtle peach tones of her freckled, pale skin. She was wearing a periwinkle blue maxi dress with a denim jacket and cork wedges that made her seem even taller than her normal 5’9.

  She looked so different than the girl he’d last seen shutting the door in his face over a decade ago. That girl had hair down to the middle of her back, didn’t know an eyeliner from a lipstick, and had existed almost exclusively in jeans and crop tops. Andy had missed that version, thought of it, fantasized about it—often—but looking at her now, he realized he liked this new Addie just as much, if not more. Except for the whole bit where she kept his son from him for the last ten years. That part, he could have done without.

  “Why, Addie?” he asked, running a hand through his hair. “Why keep him from me?”

  “You know why,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. He knew it was cold in the kitchen, with the air conditioning on high and the fridges surrounding them, but he needed to be in here. This room was his kingdom, the place he felt most confident, most assured, and hell did he need a bit of confidence right now. Also, the soundproofing. He didn’t want to scare his newfound son with any yelling he and Addie might engage in.

  “Are you seriously still hung up on that?” he asked, surprised. It had been ten years. Surely Addie would have gotten used to being a werewolf by now? After all, there had never been a better time to be a shifter. They were actually being treated like the human beings they mostly were, for the first time in history. Addie could be open, out, honest about herself without facing any of the repercussions she had so feared when they were together. Andy couldn’t imagine she would still be worried about shifting in front of someone so much that she’d closed herself off from love for over a decade.

  Though, he would admit he relaxed a little, knowing that there had been no other men in her life since he left. It made him feel like he still had some sort of claim on her, messed up as that was to think about.

  “Yes. No. I don’t know. It’s complicated, Andy. You know that. It’s never been easy for me. Having Nicky in my life made it even harder,” Addie said, shaking her head.

  “Look, it truly pains me to hear that you still haven’t accepted what I always thought was one of the most beautiful parts of yourself. But are you telling me you were really so afraid of yourself that you couldn’t tell me we had a kid together? For ten years?” he asked, running a hand through his hair, a nervous tic of his. “I mean, come on, Addie. He’s half mine. I deserved to know about him. He deserved to know me. The fact that you’re still using your own hang-ups as an excuse is pathetic, more so because it isn’t just affecting your life anymore. It’s affecting mine... and his,” he said, nodding out to the main customer area where Nicky was sitting.

  “I know! I know, okay?” Addie yelled, stepping back and huffing out a huge breath of frustration. “I know I should have sorted my stuff out by now. It’s been ten years, and trust me, I’ve felt every single one of them. But I was scared, Andy. I still am. Life is a lot…simpler, without you. Without anyone else. I thought it was enough for Nicky, but apparently, it’s not, which is why I’m here. For him. I’m trying to be better for him.” Her shoulders slumped as she finished her sentence, and she suddenly looked exhausted.

  “Okay,” Andy said, drawing a long deep breath and pushing off the fridge. He’d crossed his arms, eager to separate himself from Addie, to create a barrier between them, but no more. There was no point in being angry with her, no matter how good it felt. It just made them both feel bad, and that wasn’t productive. What was done was done, and now they had to deal with the consequences. The present, not the past.

  “That’s done. You made your choice. But you’re here now, so please, tell me why,” he said, tentatively reaching a hand out and placing it on Addie’s shoulder. She tensed briefly, but then relaxed into his touch, bowing her head and huffing out a loud breath. “What do you mean, you’re here for Nicky? Does he know I’m his dad?” Andy asked.

  “Yeah, he knows,” Addie said, nodding. “I’ve been telling him about you all his life. And he’s turning ten this week, and he told me that the only thing he wanted for his birthday was to finally meet his dad. I can’t deny him that chance, especially with you so close. He deserves to know you and vice versa.”

  Andy’s heart gave a little lurch at that, at knowing that the kid out there knew about him. Not enough to recognize him, obviously, but enough to know he existed. To think about him.

  “I never kept you a secret from him. I was honest from the beginning about who his dad was, and I tried to be as honest as I could about why we weren’t together, though I didn’t do such a great job at the second part. And for a while he accepted all that and gobbled it up, no questions asked. But he’s getting older now, and he keeps talking about all the things his friends are doing with their dads that he can’t do with me. Or I guess he could, but I don’t have the time. Being a single parent is…well, it’s really fucking hard. I own a yoga studio, I have private clients, I travel to festivals to teach, and I try to make as much time for him as I can, but the truth is, he needs another parent. He needs you.”

  “So, what do you want me to do? What exactly does he need from me?” Andy asked, bringing his other hand to Addie’s shoulder. She looked up into his eyes, for the first time since walking into his shop, and as with every other time he’d ever seen them, he was struck by the beauty of her golden irises. All shifters had them, but Andy, who had met a fair few shifters in his life, knew that hers were the most beautiful. A thousand shades of amber were scattered in the small circles rimmed in a tawny orange that perfectly matched the freckles scattered all over her face.

  Her eyes were the first thing he’d noticed about her when they met at that college coffee shop in what felt like a million years ago, and looking into them now, h
e felt the exact same butterflies he had then, the exact same words running through his head: She’s beautiful, and she’s mine. The first part was undeniably true, but God how he wished the second part could be as well.

  “I want you to spend time with him. I want him to know he has two parents who love him unconditionally. And I want you to teach him the things that I can’t. He deserves you, Andy,” Addie said, her voice pleading.

  Andy wished, more than anything, that she had told him she needed him, too. Because he knew now—more than ever—no matter what she’d done to him, that Addie deserved him. And he deserved her. It had always been that way, and it wouldn’t stop now.

  Andy left the shop in the capable hands of Cassidy and followed Nicky and Addie out of the shop and down the street, where a great retro diner was open at all hours and served tar-like coffee and the best damn pancakes he’d ever tasted. He needed both for what he was about to do.

  “Mom? Are you sure I can have pancakes and ice cream in one day?” Nicky said as he slid into the booth across from Andy. Addie sat down next to her son, her hands clasped in her lap, looking around her nervously.

  “Mom?” Nicky asked again, poking her in the arm. “What?” she asked, whipping her head back around.

  “Are you sure I can have pancakes?” he asked, looking at her a little worriedly. The kid was definitely emotionally astute, which was not a trait he got from Andy. Before meeting Addie, Andy had been a classic clueless male, more in touch with the bread he made each week at his bakery job than he was with his emotions. Addie had been the one to teach him to vocalize his feelings, to let things out instead of keeping them bottled up inside. Thanks to her, he considered himself pretty emotionally intelligent, which was how he could tell that Nicky was feeling pretty freaked out.