Unexpected Arrivals
Stephie Walls
Prologue
I stared at the paper in my hands wondering what the fuck I was reading. My eyes scanned the area around the mailbox and the perimeter of the house, but there was no one in sight. This had to be a joke. Any minute now, the cameras were going to come out from behind the other homes on our street, or a van would drive up and Ashton Kutcher would slide the door open, laughing hysterically at my melodramatic performance on the front porch. The longer I waited, the longer nothing happened. Kids continued to play in their yards, my neighbor still mowed his grass, and the occasional car still drove by without stopping.
The words on the page jumbled into a toxic mess my brain refused to comprehend.
Please consider this letter as a formal request to arrange a paternity test (DNA) for minor child Airy.
Airy—that was a name I hadn’t heard in years. I’d gone out with Chelsea Airy once, and we’d been friends for a while after my dad’s fiftieth birthday party. I hadn’t heard so much as a peep from her since I’d gotten engaged. I’d reached out a handful of times, but she’d quit responding and fell off the face of the earth, and I hadn’t thought about her since. There hadn’t been a text, an email, a phone call, not even a Facebook message. She’d disappeared from my life as randomly as she’d stumbled into it.
Flipping the envelope over, I again read the return address and wondered who the hell sent this kind of information through the fucking mail. Clary, White, & Boyd—that’s who.
“Mr. Carpenter, are you okay?”
The little girl from across the street pulled my thoughts back to the present, and my hand from my head when she tugged on my elbow. I realized I’d been standing in the same spot since I’d opened the letter and had yanked my hair by the roots since I’d begun reading.
“Oh, um. Yeah. Jamie, I’m fine.”
“You look like my daddy after my mommy yells at him. Did Mrs. Carpenter yell at you?”
“Not yet, but I’m sure she will.” I mumbled under my breath, “Right before she files for divorce.”
“Maybe you should get her flowers. If it’s really bad, my daddy buys my mommy things that sparkle. Maybe Mrs. Carpenter would like sparkles, too.”
All the diamonds in the world wouldn’t fix this—Cora could forgive a lot, but she’d never wanted children.
1
Fifteen Years Earlier
James
After I slammed my locker door shut, I turned to join the sea of people meandering the halls of Harbrook High. Another day in the life with kids I’d known since birth. Shuffling through the crowd, I made my way to second period without so much as lifting my head. The voices that said hello, and the familiar pats on the back never changed. Every day was just like the last. There were never new faces, and I’d grown bored with the old ones somewhere around junior high.
Until today.
I hovered over the desk I’d sat at since the year started, but instead of it being empty—waiting for my ass to grace its presence and warm the seat—there was a girl where nothing should have been. The light streaming through the window behind me cast my shadow over her tiny frame. I’d been prepared to kick her out, until she lifted her gaze and tossed my world on its side just before it sent me spinning.
The way her eyes caressed my body until she found my gaze, the soft pink glow on her cheeks, her long, dark hair falling over her shoulder to cover her breast…it all stole the air from my lungs. I’d never seen eyes so green or skin so smooth. There wasn’t a flaw on her perfect face, and her lips—holy hell, her lips begged to be kissed.
When my heart resumed beating and my chest filled with air once again, I finally managed words. “Hey, I’m James.” Smooth, Carpenter, really fucking smooth.
“Hi.” She waved her delicate hand in greeting. “I’m Cora.” Her name rolled off her tongue like a song, pure and angelic, but sultry and seductive.
Before I could ask her to switch seats with me or decide to sit next to her, an unwelcomed interruption barreled into my shoulder. “Carp, looks like your ass is relocating to the back.”
My head jerked to the side to find my best friend, Neil Samson, with a wicked grin plastered on his face. He was moments away from embarrassing the shit out of me if I stood here like a lost puppy a second longer. I allowed him to move me as he proceeded to his normal hiding place in the last row, but then my eyes held hers until they were forced away.
“What the hell was that, man? You act like you’ve never seen a new kid in class.” Neil’s voice carried around the room. “And since when are you into nerdy-chic chicks, anyhow?”
Backhanding him across the chest, I found a seat as close to Cora as possible. “Dude, shut the hell up. What’s your problem?”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Nothing. Chill out.”
Mrs. Johnson stood in front of the board, anticipating the sound of the bell to start teaching. This had been my least favorite class all year. I sucked at chemistry and struggled to maintain a C in order to keep my spot on the basketball team, but my desire to skip this period all changed in one introduction.
“Why go for the brainiac who looks like a loud noise would make her jump? I wouldn’t be surprised if she was afraid of her own shadow.” Clearly, Neil didn’t see what I saw when Cora came into view.