Recipe For Love by Sean Michael Page B

this is Billy."
    "Hey."
    Billy swallowed hard. "H-Hello, s-sir."
    "I'm Dan, Billy's uncle. Go ahead and sit down. I'll get you both some milk. And cookies. Christ."
    Rache's shoulder were hitching before they sat and Jack just stayed put, ignoring Caroline's phone call as "The Bitch is Back" rang through the bakery.
    They were still all just watching each other when Dan came back with two glasses of milk and a plate of delicious-smelling chocolate chip cookies, which he set in front of the kids. Dan ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. So."
    "It's due in March. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet." Rache hiccupped with tears. "I'm sorry. I just... I didn't know what to do."
    "I... I..." Billy stuttered a few times, just staring at Rache like a deer caught in the headlights.
    Dan put a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Are you and the baby both okay?"
    "Yeah. Yeah, we're good. I went to the doctor, heard the heartbeat."
    Jack closed his eyes. Went to the doctor. Heard the heartbeat. Finished her classes to graduate early. Told her mother she was pregnant. Then took a bus to Texas.
    "No disrespect intended, honey, but you are sure it's Billy's, right?"
    "Uncle Dan!"
    Jack's eyes flashed open. Oh, no he didn't. "Pardon me?"
    "No. I'm not being an asshole here. It's a legitimate question."
    The waterworks started again, Rache's chest hitching. "I haven't. There isn't. You were. I mean. You were my first."
    Billy reached out, took her hand. "I know. Hey, I know. You're my girl." Billy looked at his uncle, frowning hugely. "She's my girl. She wouldn't cheat on me."
    Cheat on him? Jack hadn't even heard this kid's name (at least he didn't remember hearing it) before last night. He was going to hit something.
    The asshole also known as Dan just nodded. "Someone had to ask. Billy's not going to shirk his responsibilities here, so we needed to know."
    Billy was red as a beet. "Do you think... Can we have a couple minutes to talk?" Billy nodded at him and at his uncle. "Like, alone."
    "Rache?" Jack wasn't leaving his baby girl alone if she didn't want him to.
    Rachel nodded. "I'm cool, Daddy. I need to talk to Billy, huh?"
    "Come on, Jack. Let's give the kids a minute. I've got a bottle of something a little stronger than milk in the back."
    "I could handle that." His fucking shoulders were climbing up around his ears and his phone was ringing again. "Ex-wife, sorry."
    "I bet she's ready to commit murder. I know my sister will be when she finds out." Dan locked the front door and turned the sign to Closed , then led him into the back of the shop to the kitchen. There were cakes and cookies and pies and cupcakes everywhere. They went to a little desk at the very back of the room. Dan got a bottle of whiskey and a glass out of one of the drawers.
    Jack rolled his head on his shoulders. "She's fucking furious. Wants me to send Rache back home."
    But, hell, Rache was an adult, and she said she wanted to stay.
    "Billy's momma is going to kill him." Dan poured a couple of shots from the bottle and set a plate of fancy-assed cupcakes down next to them.
    Jack sat, not knowing what to say. Should he ask if the kid got a lot of girls pregnant? Maybe if the kid had another girlfriend? Money to help support the baby?
    Dan drank his whiskey in one shot and sat back, sighing.
    Jack sipped at his, looking at the booze. This was one fucked-up situation. "You gonna call his mom?"
    "Oh, no. That's his job. I'm not the one who knocked someone up. That's one area I don't have to take shit."
    He nodded. "Been there, done that. Not doing it again."
    One of Dan's eyebrows went up. "You saying it runs in the family?"
    "Nope. Saying I've been where the kids are. Saying I hoped Rachel wasn't as stupid as me and her mother."
    Dan tilted his head, opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Jack arched an eyebrow, giving Dan a look. He was man enough to admit when he was dumb.
    "What are you hoping happens next here?"
    "I'm hoping that boy is decent to her and at