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JOSHUA
Her story shocks the hell out of me. She’s the product of artificial insemination and has been searching for her birth father this whole time. She also has two sisters she didn’t know she had. If I was a betting man, which I’m not, I’d bet that there are more siblings out there. The letter her donor left as the world’s vaguest clue is a trip. Having all these potential mothers names their daughters after months is interesting as hell. I hate to say this but it kind of makes since that her mom had to go this route, she’s a dumpster fire.
“I’m going to help you with this list. How many more are on it?” I ask, interested in knowing more about this.
“What? Oh, two. Why?” she asks looking at me like I’m crazy.
“There’s no way in hell I’m going to let you continue to go stranger’s door’s alone.”
“What do you mean let me?” she asks haughtily.
“You know what I mean. I have to protect you. You are mine to protect, surely you know that by now.”
“You say the sweetest things, Josh,” she says, fumbling with her hands in her lap. I reach over and put my hand on top of hers to quiet hers. I interlace my fingers with hers. God, how I’ve missed holding her hand.
“Now, tell me the rest, please.” I need to know the whole story. I need to know what made her leave me the way she did five years ago. Why she broke us, why I have to fix us now.
“You want me to tell you why I left you? Like right now?”
“Yes. That. Why did you leave me and keep me from my child?” I can’t get over the fact that I missed out on so much.
“My mom made me think that you wouldn’t want me anymore. With you in college, you’d start sowing your wild oats, being the rich playboy that you are. I didn’t want to believe it, but then I’d lie in bed at night and think about you being with some hot college girl and I lost it. Then I started thinking that your family would then try and take my baby. I was so lost without you, Josh. I had no choice. Then she just sent me away, for my grandfather to deal with, like I embarrassed her by getting pregnant or something.”
“I’m sorry that she made you believe that, Peaches, but that’s absolutely not what would have happened. I would have come home, made you my wife, and we would have raised Junie with love. My parent’s would have helped.” I guess I can see why she’d think that. Not many college guys would want to give all that up to raise a kid, but no other college guy would have had her by their side. It’s like she didn’t know me at all. I have to rein in my anger at this. I hate that I’m mad at all. I don’t even know how to handle this information. I don’t want to be mad at her, but I am. I’m mad at her mom, at the situation, at myself for putting her in the situation in the first damn place.
“You don’t know that.”
“I do, baby. I really do.”
She doesn’t say anything, she just stares out of the window as I put the truck in reverse and back out of the driveway. My heart breaks for her and for myself. Frankly, I’m hurt that she didn’t trust me enough to love her through this.
I get that I should let the past go, but I can’t. I know she couldn’t have done anything about it the first two years because of her age, but what about the last three years? She could have told me at any time, and I would have dropped everything in my life and run to her.
Why didn’t she let me?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MARCH
March
We have been driving for the last three hours, with five more to go, and I know at some point we are not going to be in this car in silence. “Are you hungry?” he asks without looking at me. Not having his eyes on me is killing me now that I am back in his arms. My stomach begins to growl, and I nod my head.
“Seems so.”
“Anywhere in particular?”
“No. doesn’t matter.”
Nodding, he put on his turn signal and turns into a fast-food restaurant. Once he parks and turns off the ignition, I pull the handle to open my door when he growls. “Don’t.” I look at him, shocked and trying to figure out what he is saying, when he leans into me, and his lips graze over mine softly. “I am pissed at you right now, Peaches, but you will not get out of the car before me. Got it?” I suck in a breath and nod my head. As soon as he gets out, I release the breath I was holding and squeeze my legs together.
Together, we walk into the place hand in hand. When we make it to the counter, he lets my hand go when his phone rings. “What do you want me to order you?” He smiles and covers the speaker.
“Doesn’t matter. My favorite thing to eat is not on that menu,” he says right before winking and walking away. Smiling, I turn to the board and look at the options.
“Hi. Welcome. What can I do for you today?” A young man, maybe a college student, stands in front of me. He smiles at me and waits for my order.
“Hello. Actually can you get me a number 1 and a number 4.”
