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GIDEON
Sydney’s eyes go wide and the blood drains from her face, leaving her looking like a pale, beautiful, slightly repulsed ghost.
I give her a moment to digest the news, taking a sip of my coffee and setting the mug down near the edge of the table as our server walks by carrying a fresh pot.
“Refill for you too, sweetheart?” the woman asks as she tops me off, glancing Sydney’s way.
Sydney gives a numb shake of her head before croaking, “No, thank you.”
The server casts a curious glance my way—probably wondering what I did to put my dinner date into a semi-catatonic state—before nodding. “All right, let me know if you two need anything else.”
As soon as she’s out of earshot, I murmur, “If you want to leave, I understand. Like I said, I’ll take care of this.”
“I don’t want to leave, I just…” She blinks faster. “I…” Her eyes finally focus fully on mine. “Adrian is your son?”
I nod.
“Not your stepson. Your actual son.”
“Yes, my actual, biological son, the one my ex and I had when we were teenagers.”
Sydney leans back against the pillows on her side of the booth, clearly still in shock. “But you’re so nice.” Her gaze sharpens on my face as she considers me anew. “You are nice, aren’t you? The saving puppies and the planet and being thoughtful and generous and saying sweet things isn’t an act?”
I exhale, having a pretty good idea where this is coming from. “Not to my knowledge, but… Let me guess, Adrian said I was a deadbeat?”
She huffs and mutters, “Something like that.”
I clear my throat, ashamed of the story I have to tell. But it’s the truth, and Sydney deserves the truth.
“My relationship with his mother ended badly.” I briefly describe the way Angela left, manipulating me into agreeing to let her leave the city with Adrian, then using it against me. “The ploy worked, she was granted full physical custody, and she did her best to sabotage our visitations when he was little. It was always a nightmare, no matter how hard I tried. By the time Adrian was in high school, he didn’t want to spend summers with me anymore. He filed a motion with the court, citing parental estrangement, and…that was it. We only saw each other a few days a year after that, when I could convince him to come with me to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving or spend a few days hiking in Colorado. But we always fought when were together, and I can’t pretend our relationship has been anything but strained.”
She studies me quietly, her expression giving nothing away. “Was there a fight tonight? When you told him about us?”
“I didn’t tell him.”
“Why not?”
I sigh. “He wouldn’t talk to me. Said he didn’t have time.”
Sydney rolls her eyes and mumbles something I can’t make out.
“But he said I could text him,” I continue, “and he’d get back to me when he had a second. That’s when I decided I’d had enough of the party.”
“I’m sorry,” she says. “He can be such a dick. But usually only when he’s hurting or feeling insecure. He mentioned that you were coming before we left my place. He seemed stressed about it. He played it off as irritation, but I think maybe he just doesn’t know how to behave with you now that you’re both adults.”
I arch a brow and her lips curve gently.
“Well, you’re an adult,” she amends. “He’s still working on it. But he’s trying, he really is.”
“You think so?”
She nods. “I do. He isn’t a bad man, Gideon, and neither are you. It just sounds like there’s been a lot of miscommunication and outside interference between the two of you. But there has to be a way to make things better.”
“I hope so,” I say, regret making my chest ache as I add, “Though the fact that I left the party with his ex-girlfriend might complicate things.”
Her lips peel away from her teeth in a grimace. “Oh God. Yeah. And the fact that you and I… That we…” She clears her throat and reaches for her coffee, only to set it back down again with a sharp exhale. “I wish I’d asked for more coffee. Or a whiskey on the rocks, extra whiskey.”
I push my mug across the table. “Take mine.”
