Blindsided (Indigo Love Spectrum) Read online

  Norris expelled a long breath. “My daughter.”

  “I gather you don’t question it, but if you want to have a DNA test done, I can arrange it.”

  “That’s not necessary, Gail. I have all the proof I need. I just . . . Everything else is so . . . I need time to think.”

  “I understand.” Gail extended a business card with all

  her numbers. “Just remember I’m leaving in two weeks.”

  Norris moved over to the desk and took the card.

  “Right, two weeks.” He picked up the picture. Reese. His

  daughter. And he thought he had issues dealing with his

  unexpected feelings for Dahlia. “You’ll be hearing from me.”

  * * *

  Norris drove aimlessly about the city, trying to come to terms with the changes that had occurred in his life. Dealing with the idea of falling in love was one thing, but to learn he had an almost adult daughter . . . His body shivered. A daughter.

  Two hours into his mindless travel, Norris remembered his dinner plans with Ryan and Lara and shot off to the Oceanside Grille. He arrived at the restaurant just as drink orders were being placed.

  “Scotch on the rocks,” Norris said to the waiter, sliding into the empty seat across from his friends and breathing in the smell of fresh seafood and charbroiled steaks.

  The man scribbled the order and went about his way.

  “Scotch?” said Ryan. “You don’t drink anything stronger than dry wine.”

  “It’s been a long day, and I need a stiff drink.” Norris smiled at Lara. He had a lot on his mind, but his best friend’s wife glowing with the beauty of impending motherhood was a sight to behold. “How’s the gorgeous mama feeling tonight?”

  “Like I’m carrying two little ones who seem intent on using my womb as a kick ball,” Lara said, looking down at her tummy. “But it’s just to remind me they are happy and thriving, and that’s what matters.” She smiled, rubbing her distended abdomen. “Ten more weeks.”

  Ryan’s hand joined Lara’s on her belly. “They’re so glad to be around their Uncle Norris again they can’t stay still,” he said, looking at Norris. “It’s been forever since we’ve spent quality time together.”

  “We still see each other all the time,” Norris said. “We had dinner the other night.”

  “Yeah. But all you do is eat and leave.”

  “Tax season,” Norris said, which wasn’t a complete lie. Between work and Dahlia he had time for little else, but managed to squeeze time in for Ryan and his family. “April fifteenth was yesterday, but folks are still scrambling. It’s a busy time of year.”

  “Is it just work?” Ryan asked. “You seem distracted right now, and I know something’s been on your mind for a while.”

  The waiter returned to the table with the drink orders, rescuing Norris from his friend’s questioning blue eyes. He drained the iced dark liquid in one swallow. The potent whiskey burned a fiery pathway from his throat to his belly, reminding him why he didn’t drink scotch.

  “Another?” asked the waiter, placing glasses of orange juice in front of Ryan and Lara.

  Norris shook his head. “No, thank you,” he croaked, reaching for his water glass and taking several big gulps. “Are you ready to order?” the waiter asked.

  “We’ll need a few more minutes,” Lara said.

  The man nodded and left.

  “You gonna tell us what’s on your mind?” Ryan asked. “And don’t say it’s nothing.”

  “Okay, it’s something.” Norris closed his eyes, thinking of Gail’s bombshell. “It’s really something, but I can’t talk about it right now. I will soon. I promise.”

  “You sure, Norris?” said Lara. “You seem a bit scattered.”

  “I’m good, Lara.” He gave her hand a reassuring pat. “Really, don’t worry.” He drank more water.

  “So, how did things go with Dahlia today?” Lara drank some juice. “This audit has her on edge. Did you calm her at all?”

  Norris smiled. Did he ever. Dahlia had an amazingly calming effect on him, too. He lowered the glass. “Uh-oh,” said Ryan. “There’s the look.”

  Lara’s brown eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What’s with the grin on your face, Norris?” she asked.

  “Grin?” Norris pressed his hand to his chest. “Me?”

  “Yes, you. Dahlia’s a beautiful woman. You’re not sizing her up for the kill, are you?”

  Norris clicked his tongue in mock outrage. “Lara, I’m shocked. Norris isn’t a predator.”

  “Is that a no?”

  “Yes, that’s a no.” He was sizing Dahlia up for a lot more than the kill. The more he thought about it, the more the idea of longevity appealed to him, especially after hearing he had a daughter. “Dahlia has nothing to fear from me.”

  “Good, because she’s still getting over a painful divorce. She’s only been back in Denburg a little over a year, and my hair will not be happy with her being gone again. The last thing she needs is the Norris Converse treatment.”

  “The Norris Converse treatment?”

  “I don’t have to explain it to you.”

  Norris nodded. “You’re right, you don’t.” ‘Love ‘em and leave ‘em’ had been his mantra for a long time, but now he was ready for a new tag line. “Your friend is safe, Lara.” He checked his watch. Seven-fifteen. Dahlia was probably home now, and he really needed to see her. “I hate to cut out, but there’s something I have to take care of.”

  “Something to take care of?” said Ryan. “Norris, you just got here.”

  “I know, but this can’t wait, and you two never get any time alone.” Norris stood, smiling as he gazed at Lara’s belly. “Well, you manage to find some time, but you know what I mean.” He laughed. “Order whatever you want, it’s on me.”

  “I know something’s troubling you, Norris,” Lara said. “I can make myself scarce if you need to talk to Ryan.”

  “No, Lara, you don’t have to do that. There is something, but I’m not ready to talk about it. When I am ready, I want you to be there.”

  “Think you’ll be ready to talk soon? Maybe tomorrow?”

  Norris moved around the table and kissed Lara’s cheek. “Yes, inquisitive one, I do. Shh,” he said, stopping Lara’s next question at the moment her mouth opened. “I’m not saying anything else until then. You two enjoy your dinner.” He gave Ryan’s shoulder a jocular pat. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “You sure?” Ryan asked. “I don’t think my wife can wait much longer than that for an opportunity to grill you.”

  Norris chuckled. “I’m sure.”

  The couple’s curious mumblings followed Norris as he walked toward the exit of the restaurant. Maybe he should have told them about Reese tonight, but something stronger demanded he tell Dahlia first. The same force that had him dreaming of having someone to whisper things to and fall asleep with every night, an incredible force that had opened his heart to love.

  Chapter 3

  The soft hum of the treadmill grew louder as Dahlia prepared for her final cardio workout: a five-minute, sixmile-per-hour run. She had already completed the first half, an hour of three to six-mile intervals that ranged from an incline of two to fifteen. When she first started this method of training, Dahlia thought it would kill her, but a year later, she loved the challenge of going a step further. And after the chips she’d indulged in earlier, she had all the incentive she needed. Not that she really needed one.

  Thoughts of Norris filled her head, and she needed a distraction from those smoky gray eyes and devilish smile. That incredible touch, his laugh, his voice, his scent . . .

  She shook her head. Stop it, Dahlia! You don’t think about a bed buddy like that. She didn’t know how one should think of a bed buddy, as Norris was her first, but no ties definitely didn’t mean endless dreams, both awake and asleep, of a man you were just supposed to be having sex with.

  The belt speed picked up and Dahlia hopped back on. Three minutes into he
r run, with sweat trailing down her forehead and her heart pounding in a quick, rhythmic beat, the doorbell rang.

  She grunted. Who was interrupting her workout?

  Dahlia grabbed a towel from the handle of her stationary bike and made her way to the door. She looked through the peephole to see Norris looking a bit out of sorts.

  She pulled the door open. “Hey, this is a surprise.”

  “I’m sorry, you were working out. I knew that, but . . .”

  “No, it’s okay, I was about done. Besides, you being here means I can have another kind of workout.”

  Norris managed a weak smile, nothing like the all-out body press she usually received when offering up the goods. Something troubled him. She stepped aside to let him in. “You okay?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, making his way around her and into the living room. He rested his head against the back of the couch. His hands covered his eyes. He sighed deeply.

  “What happened to your dinner plans with Ryan and Lara?”

  Norris lowered his hands. “I left early. I thought they could use some alone time, and I was a little distracted.”

  Dahlia said nothing, but she agreed. She had never seen him so pensive.

  “I want to tell you something,” he said, “but it’s quite a story. And if I’m going to unload on you, I think you should be comfortable. It could take a while.”

  “You saying I’m stinky?” she quipped, getting the laugh from him she was hoping for.

  “Never. I just don’t want you to catch cold in those sweaty clothes.”

  “All right, I’ll only be gone a few minutes.”

  Roughly ten minutes later, she returned to the living room to find Norris eating her box of baked cheese crackers. The bite-size snacks had become a favorite of his. She couldn’t believe a man who grew up in Wisconsin had never had a cheese cracker before she introduced them to him. Then, again, Norris didn’t strike her as the conventional Wisconsin guy.

  Norris shook the empty box. “I’m sorry, I got a little hungry. I’ll buy you some more.”

  “Don’t sweat it. All you had was crackers?”

  “No, I also had an apple and finished up the pasta salad and your milk. I didn’t realize how hungry I was. I hadn’t had a bite since lunch, and I worked that off when you came by my office this afternoon.”

  Dahlia’s whole body flamed under Norris’s intense perusal. He could sell the look in his eyes as a newfangled blowtorch. Suddenly her pink tank shirt and matching full-length cotton bottoms felt like a cellophane bikini. Not since Jonah had a man had such a physical effect on her. It unsettled her.

  Dahlia motioned her thumb in the direction of the kitchen. “Have you had enough to eat? I can whip up something if you’re still hungry.”

  “No, I’m good.” He gave her a once-over and smiled. “I’ve never seen you in pajamas before.”

  “PJs don’t exactly fit in the arrangement we have.” He nodded. “Right.”

  Dahlia joined him on the couch. “What’s got you so unsettled tonight?”

  “I honestly don’t know how or where to start. Not a lot surprises me, but this is something I never expected.” He blew out a long breath. “Not in a million years.”

  Norris’s hedging put Dahlia on edge. Whatever he wanted to tell her was something emotional, and if his emotions were anything like hers . . . She couldn’t hear it. Feeling what she felt for Norris and keeping it to herself was one thing, but to hear he was feeling the same was a validation she didn’t want to contend with. Such a confession from him would cross them into the relationship world, and she didn’t want to have another relationship. She didn’t want that battering ram called love slamming into her heart again. She couldn’t handle it.

  “Norris, maybe you should talk to Ryan about this.”

  “I will, but I wanted to talk to you first.”

  “But Ryan’s your best friend.”

  “We’re not friends?”

  “We’re lovers.”

  “Is that all?”

  Dahlia pulled her top lip into her mouth, a nervous habit she acquired from a desire to lie but an inability to do so. She didn’t know what to say. Why was he doing this?

  “I found out something today,” Norris said, rescuing her from her struggle, but making her guts clench in anticipation and dread of what he might say. “Dahlia, I have a daughter.”

  Dahlia blinked. Norris had started his sentence the way she thought he would, but the finish . . . “You have a daughter?”

  Norris nodded. “I didn’t want to blurt it out like that, but it felt necessary.” He closed his hands around hers. “You’re the first person I’ve told. Saying the words out loud makes it seem more real, but it’s still so unbelievable. I’ve only seen a picture of her, but she’s a beautiful girl.” He smiled. “She kinda looks like me.”

  “Wow. You’re a daddy.” Dahlia gave his hand a little shake. “How are you feeling?”

  “Stunned, proud, angry. Reese is sixteen years old, and I just learned about her today.”

  Dahlia blinked. “Reese?” she said.

  “That’s my daughter’s name,” Norris explained. “She’s named after me. Sorta.”

  “It’s a lovely name.” Maybe this was just a coincidence. The name Reese wasn’t very common, but . . . “You say she’s sixteen?”

  “Yeah. Her mother, Gail, and I met the summer of my senior year at college. I was on the baseball team and I took a nasty shot to the wrist from a wild pitch. The next morning it hurt like hell, so Ryan drove me to the E.R., and that’s where I met Gail. She was my doctor, and a beautiful older woman I was immediately attracted to. We had some good times together.”

  Dahlia couldn’t believe it. Norris’s daughter and her mother were people she knew. And he was right. Reese did look like him. She’d never noticed before. Norris and Gail? That blew her mind. “You and an older woman?”

  “Older, yes, but not old. Gail was thirty-five, and I was a twenty-year-old punk kid who thought he was Mr. Smooth. We had six weeks together. As quickly as she came into my life, she was gone. And now I learn we had a daughter.”

  “Why didn’t she tell you?”

  “She didn’t want me to know. She told me she wanted to have a baby, and I was her way of getting it. For sixteen years I’ve had a daughter, and for the last year and a half she’s been right here in Denburg. I could have passed her on the street a million times.”

  Dahlia nodded. Reese was the best friend of Lara’s young cousin, Diana Monroe. Norris and Diana’s parents were friends. There were all these connections at work, and no one was the wiser. No one but her.

  “If finding out I have a daughter wasn’t enough of a surprise, Gail informs me she’s getting married in two weeks and then leaving the country to do relief work in Uganda for six months.”

  Uganda! Gail hadn’t mentioned that to her, either. “Uganda?” Dahlia said.

  “Yes. She has a need to help,” he said. “While she’s away, she wants me to get to know Reese. Have her live with me.”

  “How do you feel about that?”

  “Worried. I’m her father and we’re strangers. What if Reese doesn’t agree to this?” He sighed. “What if she does?”

  “Either way the answer is the same. You get to know her. She’s your daughter, and that matters.”

  “She’s biracial. Did I tell you that?”

  I already knew. “No, you didn’t,” Dahlia said.

  “Gail is African-American.” Norris dragged his hands over his face, sighing heavily. “When I think of my par ents’ reaction to meeting Lara, I shudder. They treated her like she wasn’t there, and said some of the most ridiculous things after she and Ryan left. And the thoughts they put in poor Justin’s head. Oh, man.”

  “Justin?”

  “He heard them talking about Ryan and Lara burning in hell for being together. Justin was five and took it literally. Scared the poor guy to death.”

  Dahlia shook her head. She hadn’t h
eard about that.

  “This happened years ago, and it was the last time I saw them, but it’s a memory I will never forget. How am I going to subject my daughter to that kind of treatment?”

  “You can’t be responsible for your parents, but you can be responsible for yourself. Do you want to get to know Reese?”

  “I do, but with what she has to look forward to, I wonder why she’d ever want to get to know me.”

  * * *

  Reese pushed away her half-empty plate. “I’m done now,” she said, staring at her mother, who sat across from her at the dinner table. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

  “You didn’t finish your meatloaf,” Gail said.

  “Mom?”

  “Why does something have to be wrong for a mother to make a nice meal for her one and only child?”

  “Because I know you didn’t cook my favorite foods and buy a chocolate chip cheesecake, my favorite dessert, just to do something nice for me. You do nice things for me all the time, but this feels different.”

  Gail nodded. “You’re right. I want us to talk tonight.”

  “We always talk.”

  “Not about this.” Gail drank some lemonade. “You used to always ask about your father.”

  “Yeah, and you never said much. More like nothing. Which is why I stopped asking.”

  “That’s going to change. I want to tell you about him.”

  “Why?” Reese asked, her mother’s desire to discuss her father worrying her all the more. Horrible thoughts filled her head. Was her mom sick? Reese tugged at a curly lock. “Why talk about him now?”

  “He’s your father.”

  “He’s been that for sixteen years, but it never warranted discussion from you.”

  “Things have changed. You remind me a lot of him.”

  “Is that why you didn’t like to talk about him? Because you saw him when you looked at me?”

  “No, I kept quiet because I was selfish. I wanted to be your only parent, so I robbed you of knowledge of your father and the opportunity to know him, and I’m sorry.”

  “I always wanted to know him, but I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. You were everything I needed, Mom.”