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Lauren looked at me sharply. “No, and I prefer it that way. If I don’t chase after him for support, he’s happy to leave us alone. Trust me, Grady is better off without his dad around.”
“Who the hell is this guy?”
Lauren ignored my question, drawing attention to her sandwich. “This is pretty good. If the billionaire, independently wealthy gig doesn’t pan out, you can always become a chef or at the very least a line cook.”
“You deflect so quickly when you don’t want to talk about a subject,” I observed, amused. “So what happened between you and your baby daddy?”
“Please don’t call him that,” Lauren said, grimacing. “It was a humiliating time in my life and I just don’t like to talk about it. Besides, Grady and I are a team, we don’t need anyone else.”
“Everyone needs someone,” I reminded her softly, but she just shook her head, disagreeing.
“Nope. My son and I are a duo. We don’t need a third wheel.”
“How does Grady feel about that?”
Lauren shrugged, picking at her crust. “He hasn’t said it bothers him. I assume because it’s all he’s ever known that he’s fine with it.”
“Kids are perceptive.”
“Yes they are, and Grady can see how good things are, so why throw a wrench into things, you know?” She paused, adding with mild annoyance, “What does it matter to you? Are you trying to play matchmaker or something? Because I’m not interested in being with Grady’s father under any circumstances.”
“Is he that bad?” I asked, curious.
“He’s not bad, he’s just...very selfish. Trust me, Grady is better off without an influence like that.”
Now I needed a name. I didn’t understand how a man could walk away from his kid. Even though I wasn’t hoping for a baby mama to show up out of the blue, I would certainly make an effort to be part of the child’s life if one did. Besides, my mother would kill me if she found out she had a grandchild out there whom I’d abandoned.
My brother Luca and his new wife, Katherine, were about to add a new generation of Donatos to the mix with the birth of their first child in a month or two, and my mother was practically wetting herself with happiness at the prospect of becoming a nonna.
“What’s his name?” I pressed, but Lauren wasn’t interested in sharing and got up to put her plate away. I rose to follow her. “Is it a secret? Is that why you don’t want to tell me?”
She glared. “It’s not a secret, it’s private.” But then she exhaled loudly before adding with chagrin, “And there’s a good chance you know him.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Lauren
I HADN’T PLANNED to admit to Nico that there was a good possibility he knew Houston. The information just kinda fell from my mouth in an embarrassing word vomit.
“Now I have to know,” he said. “Out with it. Who is this asshole who may or may not be within my circle?”
I sighed, unable to believe I’d been so careless. “Honestly, I don’t want to tell you. We’ve spent the last six years living peacefully without his influence, and I don’t need anyone to rock the boat.”
“You don’t think at some point this mystery man might decide he wants to be a father and sue for custody?”
I lifted my chin. “There’s literally no reason why Grady’s father would want to suddenly become involved in his son’s life. He doesn’t even know him. It would be a disaster and it would completely throw Grady’s life out of whack. Trust me, it is better for everyone involved for his father to remain absent.”
But Nico wasn’t satisfied. He was like a dog with a bone. I never should’ve said anything. I sincerely regretted opening my mouth. “I’ve seen your shitty apartment. The man should at least be paying child support.”
I hated this argument—it was the same argument my mom threw at me—and just as I said to her, I said to Nico, “It’s none of your business. Back off.”
Nico seemed to understand that he’d overstepped but nonetheless tried a different tack. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but at some point Grady is going to want to know his father. It might be later when he’s a teenager, but it will happen at some point. How are you prepared to deal with it?”
Like that wasn’t one of my deepest fears already, but I couldn’t live in fear of a moment that may or may not happen. “I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Right now Grady is six years old and completely happy with just him and me.”
“And I’m not advocating that you suddenly invite this man into Grady’s life, whoever this asshole is. I’m just pointing out that you’re walking a tightrope and at some point someone might shake the line.”
As much as I wanted to end the conversation and erase it from Nico’s memory, I could sense that Nico wasn’t going to let it go. If Nico truly wanted to find out who Grady’s father was, he could easily do so with minimal effort because all he had to do was throw money at the mystery.
In an effort to avoid Nico poking around and inadvertently messing with the beehive, I decided to come clean, but not without scowling for putting his nose where it didn’t belong.
“I’ll tell you, but you have to promise me that you will not say anything to him or in any way encourage him to be a part of Grady’s life, no matter how you feel about the subject. Do I have your word?”
“Of course.”
I didn’t know how strong or good Nico’s word was, so I’d have to trust him. I drew a deep breath before sharing, “Grady’s father is Houston Beaumont.”
As expected, Nico’s expression was one of shock. I knew they probably ran in the same circles. Houston was a rich asshole, too.
“I’ve never heard anything about Houston having a kid,” he said. “That son of a bitch. What a dick.”
I released a breath of relief. A part of me had been afraid that Nico might take Houston’s side. A “bros before hoes” kind of thing, but Nico wasn’t walking that road in this instance.
“So you and Houston were a thing?” he asked, obviously trying to picture that and failing. I didn’t blame Nico; Houston and I had been an odd couple.
“Briefly,” I admitted. “I’d thought I was in love with him, but he bailed when I was four months pregnant. He begged me not to say anything about the baby, which is why nobody in his circle knows about it. At first I thought he didn’t want me to say anything because he wanted to make a grand announcement, but then I realized he didn’t want anyone to know because he’d never had any plans of being a father. Once I realized that, I didn’t want anything to do with him. I was going to raise my baby by myself, and I did.”
“Houston comes from a very rich family,” Nico said. “He might’ve been willing to simply pay child support and not have anything to do with the kid.”
“That’s a gamble I wasn’t willing to take. You have to understand that once I saw Houston’s true colors I didn’t want him having a hand in raising my child. I felt stupid enough as it was that I’d been conned and knocked up by the man. I wasn’t about to subject a newborn baby to his bullshit. Besides, Houston would’ve
wanted to see his kid if he was paying money. Houston is very much possession-driven. He would’ve looked at Grady as nothing more than a possession, and frankly, there’s no amount of money in this world that could make that okay with me. So Houston can go fuck himself.”
I hadn’t meant to reveal so much, but there was something about Nico that unhinged my jaw and the words simply fell out. Maybe it was something I’d needed to say for a long time and I’d finally found an ear willing to listen. Anytime the subject of Houston came up with my mom, she was a broken record. “Go after him for the money.” It was the same thing over and over and over again, and I just didn’t want to hear it anymore.
But Nico seemed to understand that Houston wasn’t a great person to have coparenting a child.
Oddly, his support meant something to me. “How well do you know Houston?” I asked, curious.
“Well enough. We went to school together. He’s an asshole but in certain circumstances fun to have around. However, I wouldn’t consider him an actual friend by any means.”
“Well, like I said, I’ve been lucky to this point in that Houston has had zero interest in having anything to do with us. I haven’t pressed for child support, and he’s been happy to forget that we exist. We don’t travel in the same circles, and it’s not likely that Houston is going to run into Grady anytime soon or vice versa.”
“That’s true enough. Have you ever considered asking Houston if he would terminate his parental rights and just be done with it? That way the threat of him popping in whenever he feels like it is removed.”
Actually, I had thought of that option. But at the time I couldn’t afford an attorney to draw the paperwork, and again, there was always the risk that poking at the issue might ignite some weird need to press the other direction. “I couldn’t fathom the risk of losing Grady. If we went to court for custody, the odds were stacked against me. Even though I’m his mother, the judge could’ve taken one look at Houston’s wealth and my meager means and given custody to the father. Houston would’ve pawned off Grady to some nanny—one he probably would’ve been screwing—and Grady would’ve been shuffled off into the background. I wasn’t about to take that chance.”
