An Unlikely Daddy by Rachel Lee

supplies didn’t interest him.
    Well, it didn’t exactly repel him, but it reminded him of how empty his own life had been except for work. He was nearly forty and had just discovered the whole concept of baby showers. There was something wrong with the way he lived his life.
    By choice, he reminded himself as his feet pounded cold pavement. In his motel room, he did endless sit-ups and push-ups and wished for a gym.
    Then they went to work on the staircase. He liked the three other guys well enough, Hank and his cohorts, but they were as far from his world as it was possible to be. He listened to their conversation, occasionally managed to join in some of the joking, but mostly just kept his mouth shut. They had the new stairs done by Sunday night and watched Marisa try them out. She smiled hugely and thanked them repeatedly...and once again he exited as quickly as he decently could.
    One of his greatest survival mechanisms was being able to read people, and he was reading Marisa. She was uncomfortable around him. She didn’t trust him much, justifiably so. And judging by the way her gaze skated past him so often, she didn’t really want him there.
    So he stayed away. He should have left town, but something made him hang around, anyway. He’d made a promise of sorts, and somehow sticking his nose in the front door and helping build some stairs didn’t leave him feeling as if he was done with it.
    But what could Marisa need him for? She had an ample number of concerned friends. He was no one to her, except possibly the man who had gotten her husband into a deadly situation.
    He sent out some feelers, trying to get more information about what had happened to John Hayes, wondering at himself even as he did so. Did he really need any more secrets to conceal from a grieving widow? But he still wanted to know, and he still didn’t learn a thing. The cloak of secrecy that had been thrown over John’s final activities was as impenetrable as steel.
    That bothered him, too. He was beginning to see the organization he worked for in a new light, one shone on it by Marisa’s loss. The agency was built on secrets, swamped in them, but for someone supposedly on the inside to be unable to learn even something small? Whatever they had asked of John, they didn’t want anyone to know. The secrecy was so deep they didn’t even have a decent cover story to share in-house. It was as if John had never existed, except for one anonymous black star on a wall.
    Then, a few weeks later, while still wrestling with his own demons and trying to ignore the Christmas decorations that had popped up everywhere, he ran into Marisa and almost didn’t recognize her. She was coming out of a doctor’s office, and her belly had ballooned. Late pregnancy was truly on her. He wondered if she was nearing term, despite what she’d told him.
    She saw him and froze mid-step.
    â€œHi,” he said, slowing his jog and stopping. “How are you?”
    â€œI’m fine,” she said hesitantly. “I didn’t know you were still in town.”
    He doubted that. “Well, I don’t need to go back, and I kind of like the place.”
    â€œLike gum on my shoe,” she remarked.
    â€œHey, I’ve been staying away. I know you don’t like me being around.”
    A frown trembled around her mouth, though he could see she was making a valiant attempt to smile. “It’s true,” she admitted finally. “Go home, Ryker.”
    Wind cut through his jogging clothes, despite the jacket and gloves. “Where’s that?” he asked rhetorically, starting to run in place.
    â€œThis is creepy. I feel stalked.”
    â€œI haven’t bothered you anymore,” he argued, keeping his tone level. “I got the message.”
    â€œAnd it’s a free country,” she said sharply.
    â€œLast I heard. Look, I don’t want to fight with you. I’m staying out of your