AllFreeNovel
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“I can’t wait to meet her. May I…I would love to see a picture, if you have one.”
“Of course.” I pull out my phone from my purse and swipe to my photos. There’s so many options, but I pick the one from my twenty-ninth birthday in my Favorites folder. Olive is sitting on my lap in front of my cake. Her face is turned, laughing at something, probably her Uncle Cam. We both look so full of joy.
Molly crumples in her chair, letting out a soft “Ooh,” touching the screen.
“And you’ve met this this little girl?” Fred asks, his glare zeroed in on his stepson.
“Yes, and she knows who I am.” Max looks down at the table before he knocks it. “I know the timing of this is shitty, but I think we need to reconsider the practice coming to me.”
“Are you two…romantic?” Fred asks. He stares at me like I single-handedly ruined all his plans.
“I would like to see,” Max says. “Plus, now that I know Olive exists, I want to be in her life. I don’t want to miss another moment. Like my dad did with me.”
He swallows, and I see the way his cheek flexes, trying to hold in the emotion. Fred’s skin has reddened to the shade of beets, his gaze like laser beams on my skin. He’s furious.
“Emily, may I speak with you a moment?” Fred asks. Max freezes and looks at me. Here we go.
I stand but say nothing. I smooth down my dress and follow Fred outside of the coffee shop. Looking back, I see Tara bobbing behind the counter, unsure if she should intervene.
What she doesn’t know is I have ten years of fantasies saved up for what I would say to Fred Sawyer. How I would’ve insisted harder to get Max on the phone. That I would’ve never promised anything in regard to an abortion.
That I would’ve told Fred to go fuck himself.
He ruined Max’s chance to be in Olive’s life from the beginning. Fred robbed any chance we had to see if we could work. There could’ve been children that will never exist because Fred intervened.
Fuck this man. Fuck him.
Once we’re clear of the door, he grabs my arm.
“Emily, I am very disappointed you didn’t keep our agreement,” Fred says. I rip my arm away and grind my jaw. Shoulders back, chin up. I stare him down as he continues, “I paid you fifteen thousand dollars to take care of it. We shook on it.”
Calling my daughter It, well…
“I owe you nothing. You lied to me. You never told Max. You never got him on the phone like you said you did.”
Fred gives away nothing. He has the gall to look me in the eye.
“Do you realize how you ruined his life? How—"
Fred holds up a hand to interrupt me. “I ruined his life?” Fred asks. He looks at me like he’s so furious, he could explode. “You got your hooks into him after a week and tried to trap my accomplished, driven son. You ruined his life. He’s thinking about walking away from something we’ve built together, and you have no remorse. None. I gave that boy everything, when his loser sperm donor couldn’t. I’m not the villain here. I was protecting him.”
Taking a deep breath, I formulate my response. Fred Sawyer is just a sad man who cares more about protecting his legacy than the son he adopted. Nineteen-year-old Emily deserved so much more, and I’m doing this for her.
“Protecting him from what?” I flap my hands down. “I am a good person, Fred. This was an accident. An honest mistake. I never expected my life to go this way. I didn’t chose this.”
“You took my money!” he yells.
“Fuck you, Fred. I would do it again!” I yell back.
Turning back to the building, I see Max, standing in the doorway, his face pale. He swallows, looking at me and then at his stepfather.
He heard everything. I breathe in and out, and calmness takes over my body. It’s all out in the open.
“You took money from him?” Max asks, looking at only me. His face is what I was avoiding. He’s crestfallen.
“I did,” I say calmly. “He wanted me to ‘take care of it.’ I lied and said I would.”
“Fred,” Max asks, looking at him. “Did Emily call the business because she hadn’t heard from me?”
