To Be a Dad. Kate Kelly

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       CHAPTER TWO

      TEN MINUTES LATER, Dusty stood outside Teressa’s door and watched his breath plume in the frosty air. It was only a week into November and already it felt like winter. The temperature on the water, as always, was at least ten degrees colder than on land. He’d have to dig out his long johns, that is, if he could find anything after his brother finished ripping his house apart.

      He was stalling. Hard to pretend otherwise. Although he had mixed feelings about going through that door, no way was he going to leave Teressa to face another pregnancy on her own. Aside from everything else, she was his friend, and she’d had a hard life up ’til now. It wasn’t in him to turn his back on a friend in need. Plus, her getting pregnant was as much his fault as hers. Teressa loved children, and he suspected she’d never consider terminating the pregnancy. Truth be told, the thought of doing such a thing made him feel queasy, but it wasn’t his decision to make.

      When he shoved the door open, Anita pivoted around, frowning at the intruder. That was pretty much how he felt, like an intruder.

      “Hey.” He stayed by the door, figuring Teressa would fly into the room and kick him out any second.

      “You came!” Anita made it sound as if he’d shown up at some kind of social function.

      “I thought I should be here.” It came out as one word: IthoughtIshouldbehere.

      His sister-in-law studied his face. “I think Teressa will be relieved to see you.”

      “You think? Cal says to tell you he’s at my house, and he needs your help.”

      His big brother, the tough guy no one could get close to, had fallen head over heels in love with Anita. How had Cal done that? How had he let down his barriers and exposed himself? Anita seemed like a nice person. Dusty was almost certain she loved his brother, but Cal and Anita had had problems lately, and neither one had confided in anyone what those problems were. Which proved, just because you loved someone and got married, there were no guarantees that everything was going to work out.

      He trusted Pops and, he supposed, Cal and Sylvie. But Teressa’s moods were too mercurial to make it easy to trust her. Nine times out of ten she came out swinging. The one thing he did trust about Teressa was that she always tried to be fair. Or almost always, at least.

      Anita grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair and shrugged into it. “She’s pretty high-strung tonight.”

      “I figured.”

      Anita tilted her head. “If you don’t mind my asking, are you going to ask her to marry you?”

      “I don’t even know if she’s pregnant yet.”

      “You realize that she’d probably say no.” She stood with her hand on the door knob.

      “I figured.” Had he? Really?

      “Maybe you better—”

      “Anita? Go, okay? I’ll take it from here.”

      Anita came back into the room and surprised him when she rose on tiptoe and kissed his jaw. His unshaven jaw. Christ, he couldn’t even get that right. “You’re a good man, Dusty Carson,” she said.

      He swallowed hard. “Thanks.”

      “Call Cal later if you need someone to talk to,” she added on her way out the door. She stuck her head back in. “Take your boots off,” she hissed. “You don’t want to upset her.”

      Dusty breathed more easily when he heard Anita pull out of the driveway.

      Teressa had probably heard the vehicles coming and going, too, so he might as well go and find her. He pulled off his boots and left his jacket on a hook by the door.

      Her bedroom was empty, and he kept on going, but hesitated at the kids’ room. Should he check on them? Would he wake them if he opened the door? After a second of listening and hearing nothing, he continued on. So, she was in either the bathroom or her closet of a living room. The bathroom door was closed. He considered knocking, but went with his gut. If he knocked, she could tell him to get lost before he had a chance to talk to her.

      When he opened the bathroom door, Teressa was sitting on the toilet, staring at her hands in her lap. A flat plastic stick sat on the edge of the sink. She looked so scared it reminded him of the Halloween when she was twelve, and he and a bunch of guys had hidden in a hedge and jumped out at her. She’d peed her pants right there on the sidewalk in front of everyone. She hadn’t talked to him for СКАЧАТЬ