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“What’s true?”
She stops and gives me a frank look. “You’re a father.”
If she’d speared me in the heart, I would have preferred that.
“Father?” I’m right behind her as she goes to the oven, pulls on the handle and takes out the roast I made this morning.
I enjoy cooking, especially if I get to change things up. It’s all one big lab experiment to me. But now, just the sight of the roast makes me want to upchuck in my mouth.
“Most of the time, I barely remember to make my own meals. Now I have to worry if some kid has eaten and if he’s studying… hell, school. Does he go to school? Am I supposed to enroll him in something?”
“Adam.” She pins me with a hard look. “The first thing you have to do is breathe.”
I suck in a deep breath through my mouth.
“The second thing,” Nova says calmly, “is to stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Calling him ‘some kid’. I told you. Until we can verify his parentage, he’s not ‘some kid’. He’s yours.”
I feel a knot at the back of my neck that not even the best massage could smooth out.
Nova finishes dishing out the food and takes it into the living room. I watch her offer it to Rowan, whose eyes glitter with happiness when he sees how neatly she filled his plate. Then he pins those glittering eyes on her and I know she’s locked in his adoration for life.
Same, kid.
Nova’s phone rings.
She gets that tight look on her face and pockets the phone without answering. I’ve noticed her doing that a lot lately and it nags me.
Even though we spend most of our time together, she keeps a few cards close to the chest—things like her past, her family, her love life, it’s all been off the table.
I’m a lot more transparent with her than she is with me.
Most of the time, it’s not a concern.
But now that she’s suddenly decided she’s leaving Vision Tech, I’m starting to wonder if I should do my own investigation.
Nova disappears into one of the backrooms and returns ten minutes later. Keeping her distance, she looks at me with her sober brown eyes. “I changed the sheets in the guestroom and set fresh towels in the guest bath. He can stay in there for the time being.”
“Thank you.”
She dips her chin and turns as if she’s leaving.
“Are you going home now?” I ask. My voice has a tinge of desperation that, were it not for the strange boy eating food in my sofa, I’d be ashamed to hear.
“Yes. It’s getting late.”
That’s it.
That’s all I’m getting.
She’s a few steps away before I remember that Rowan’s sudden appearance wasn’t the only bomb that was dropped on me today.
“Nova,” I stalk to the door before she can leave, “about your resignation letter—”
“Let’s talk about it on Monday,” she says firmly.
